Rumpus Original
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The Rumpus Interview with Todd Snider
While the electric guitar marks a departure from Todd Snider’s last few records, Agnostic Hymns and Stoner Fables falls squarely into the groove he hit after 2004’s East Nashville Skyline. A laid back traditionalist whose wry lyrics belie his stoner…
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Who Cares When Your Record Was Digitally Remastered?
I’ll admit I’m obsessive about dates in general, and music-related dates most of all. So when I started using the music-streaming service Spotify, I was pleased to see a year listed next to the name of every album in their…
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The Rumpus Interview with Geoffrey O’Connor
When you are on the cusp of hating a song, you simply decide to commit to what you have and celebrate. It’s like marriage really.
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The Dreams of a Shrinking Nation
I’ve been thinking a lot about the decline of the Japanese birth rate lately. It’s a peculiar obsession, admittedly, but one that should worry Japan lovers everywhere. And while it wasn’t on my mind as I hurried up Wilshire Boulevard…
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The Rumpus Interview with Luke Rathborne
Maine-born, Brookyln-based musician Luke Rathborne is still in his early 20s, but he is already off to a promising start. Rathborne has opened for the Strokes and played with Devendra Banhart, among other accolades.
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The Rumpus Interview with James McMurtry
I call James McMurtry late one morning when I’m visiting Austin, Texas. By now, I’ve seen him play three times, in Arkansas, Oklahoma, and California, and I’m always struck by the way audiences in different parts of the country identify…
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The Rumpus Interview with Mirah
Mirah Yom Tov Zeitlyn (born in 1974) came up in the fertile Olympia scene of the late ’90s. She was part of the K Records renaissance along with bands like the Microphones, the Blow and Old Time Relijun – all…
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Record Related #2: Wild Flag, Wild Flag, Wild Flag
Wild Flag, S/T (Merge) / live at The Bowery Ballroom, NYC, 10/18/11 Eleanor Friedberger, best known as half of The Fiery Furnaces, sings the ultra-catchy, ’70s-damaged “My Mistakes.”
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Songs of Our Lives: Simon & Garfunkel’s “America”
It’s Christmas morning, 2001 and I’m fifteen. I unwrap a record player, but am more immediately captivated by the record collection that comes with it.
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The Rumpus interview with Jóhann Jóhannsson
The Icelandic musician and composer Jóhann Jóhannsson specializes in disparate, subtly moving themes and careful musings on the ways in which industry and society intersect.
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Silhouettes
I never thought I’d shoot a gun. But here I was, standing at the glass counter, looking down at an array of gleaming pistols laid out like deadly jewelry.
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Record Related #1: At the Looking Glass
Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks, Mirror Traffic (Matador) / live at Webster Hall, NYC, 9/25/11 “I’m also a Jick.” —Stephen Malkmus, Amoeba Hollywood in-store appearance, 8/24/11 Mirror Traffic opens with a fake-out.