Wye Oak may just be a duo, but when you close your eyes, it sounds like a much bigger band is cranking out these grand and sprawling songs. One of their marvelous tricks is that drummer Andy Stack is able to simultaneously play keyboards, pumping out shimmering sheets of sound even as he's... More >>

German cabaret sensation Max Raabe once studied to become an operatic baritone at the Berlin University of the Arts. But fate had other ideas. Although Raabe never did realize that ambition, his prodigious talents led him to the fabulous world of Berlin of the 1920s and '30s. As if he were... More >>

Ann Magnuson's taking Mayan predictions of an apocalypse later this year pretty seriously — well, seriously enough to put on her own cabaret show with frequent collaborators Kristian Hoffman and drummer Joe Berardi. The actor/columnist/performance artist/diva (who's appeared in such films... More >>

We've long been told sophomore albums are a make-or-break marker in a budding band's career, which puts New York chamber-pop outfit Ra Ra Riot in an interesting position. Their lavish 2008 debut full-length, The Rhumb Line — full of peppy melodies and orchestral-esque string arrangements... More >>

Here's an artist unafraid to push the limits of accessibility. On his latest EP, Headcage, he blurs the line between experimental electronic music and unabashed pop. With "Around a Fountain," he delves into soothing, borderline-ambient sounds, but then he brings on the slow, driving funk with... More >>

With his grizzled voice, easygoing flow and knack for spinning hyper-detailed yarns, Nova Scotia's cult-beloved Buck 65 has long been acknowledged as indie hip-hop's answer to Tom Waits. And over the years (it's been 20 since Buck's first release), the man born Ricardo Terfry has only seemed to... More >>

Chicago's Disappears is not to be missed. We could tell you that since the demise of Baltimore's Double Dagger, they're easily the fiercest post-punk outfit operating. Or that this four-man wrecking crew was formed by Brian Case, ace ax-slinger for garage greats the Ponys and prog powerhouse 90... More >>

Seemingly able to do no musical wrong, Atlanta's Bradford Cox has consistently wowed critics and fans alike with his ability to blow past the usual limitations of experimental music. With his band Deerhunter, he bridges art-punk to dream-pop and winds up with something that Beach Boys... More >>

Longtime purveyors of what Gram Parsons called "cosmic American music," I See Hawks in L.A. go all-acoustic for their latest, called New Kind of Lonely and due out March 6. It's lovely, beautifully harmonized stuff (with some sweet fiddle action by Gabe Witcher of Punch Brothers), but what... More >>

These South African rave-rap jokers didn't quite manage to jump from Internet fame to the real-world variety after Interscope issued a commercial version of their self-released debut, $O$, in 2010. So that's probably one reason Die Antwoord's new sophomore disc, Ten$ion, arrives not with Jimmy... More >>

Garland Jeffreys is a longtime performer whose songs capture slices of New York street life as definitely as the work of his peers Lou Reed and Bruce Springsteen. The Brooklyn native's latest album, The King of In Between, is as lively and diverse as the City That Never Sleeps, bursting with... More >>

Maybe, taken independently, the elements of Lila Downs' music are nothing you haven't heard before. But her signature arrangements, combining traditional sounds of Mexican music with jazz, blues, African and some Klezmer-style instrumentation, capture a genius all her own. To call her craft... More >>

One needn't start a campaign in order to Keep Wales Weird, but if such a movement existed, Cate Le Bon would no doubt sit high in the ranks. She's collaborated with the vanguard, members of both Super Furry Animals and Gorky's Zygotic Mynci,and her new album, Cyrk, is a vintage-sounding... More >>

Abby Travis is almost too talented for her own good. The singer-bassist first came to attention in the mid-'80s with Redd Kross spinoff the Lovedolls, and her solidly melodic bass playing has backed a virtual galaxy of stars, including Elastica, Vanessa Paradis, Beck, KMFDM, Exene Cervenka,... More >>

With indie rap ensconced in its punk phase, every buzzworthy lineup is a chance to witness one of two entertaining extremes: best show ever, or total train wreck. But these headliners are seasoned showmen with a love for both drama and comedy. Das Racist may have kick-started their career with... More >>

While these Chicagoans have been rightly roasted for sounding like the Blood Brothers', well, blood brothers, there's still space for their spastic vaudeville punk (the BBs were hardly household names after all, and left us five years ago). Victorian Halls mash some squelchy electroclash keys... More >>

One of the top three L.A. records of 2010 was A Sufi and a Killer, for very simple reasons: bass, dirt, echo and obliterating force of personality from Gonjasufi and Low End resident Gaslamp Killer both, who hacked together two thick LPs' worth of psycho-conceptual hardcore future-primitive... More >>

Few bands in the tumultuous 1960s were as wild as Austin, Texas' 13th Floor Elevators, who were best known for the classic track "You're Gonna Miss Me," which was a key link between primitive garage rock and the more free-flowing psychedelia that closed the decade. Bandleader Roky Erickson was... More >>