Lawrence Ferber

MARUMARISupermogadon (Carpark) Even the name‘s cute. Signifying “round ball” in Japanese, Marumari, a.k.a. Josh Presseisen, is a boyish, fresh-faced 25-year-old who lives in an unassuming house outside Boston with girlfriend Sasha and their bunny-chasing dog Bacon. Over the course of four albums he’s constructed an instantly recognizable, shimmering aural bridge......

Placebo don‘t live up to their name. Indeed, they eschew the inert, the faux, that which is designed to compare with the real. Over the course of three albums -- 1996’s eponymous debut, 1998‘s Without You I’m Nothing and this month‘s Black Market Music -- they’ve reinvigorated Britpop with genuine......

Emiliana Torrini‘s over Bjork. That is, she’s over being likened to the femme face of contemporary Icelandic pop. Of course, a loose description of Torrini could easily fit Bjork Gumundsdottir: Icelandic, petite, emitting a childish, delicate voice tinged with an accent best described as precious, while packing a warble capable......

The wonderful thing about Tigger is that Tigger‘s a wonderful thing. And the springy-tailed Tigger’s really wonderful because he likes to bounce. Same goes for Saint Etienne, the U.K. trio -- Sarah Cracknell, Bob Stanley and Pete Wiggs -- that since 1991 has concocted a contagious pop potion of Modernist......

Photo by Rankin"JUST BECAUSE YOU'RE A SPICE GIRL, you can't have everything," claims Melanie C., formerly Melanie Jayne Chisholm, a.k.a. Sporty Spice. It's a claim most would view with incredulity, particularly when coming from a 25-year-old millionaire whose bubble-gum band has weathered scathing tabloid trashings and a member's departure while......

Photo by Corinne Day"I HAVE AN INHERENT DISTRUST OF PEOPLE whose first sexual experience was good," Moby explains while discussing his loss of virginity at age 16. As my own experience was wholly unsatisfying, completely unromanticizable, it's good to hear that counts for something in this world. Or at least......

Photo by Anton CorbijnWhen concert spotlights last bathed our dearest friends Depeche Mode, during Songs of Faith and Devotion­era 1993, things were undeniably different. Though celebrated for their moody, dark compositions, the band had fallen into a rut, albeit one well suited to their music. Drugged-up and gangly beneath a......

"You think that I wake up and put crystal suppositories in my ass," lightheartedly scoffs almighty pop oracle Tori Amos during a trademark conversational inroad. The subject she's addressing is her widespread public image as a fairy-dust-sprinkling, religion-'n'-mythos-obsessed songwriting proxy for "voices" that emanate from within a cranberry-plumed noggin. "Right......

"Let your freak flag fly! Whatever you are, don't be afraid to let it come out. We support people's individualism . . . and freaky-deakyness." This proclamation comes not from Abbie Hoffman or Bill Clinton; instead, look to Kate Pierson, one-fourth of the most relentless group of revelers our millennium......

The name Nick Currie, much like his alias of "Momus," draws little more from most Americans than a confused head tilt, clouded eyes or general disinterest. Until now, Momus - who took his appellation from Greek mythology's sarcastic little god who venomously mocked other gods, resulting in his permanent expulsion......