Guardian Music — Neko Case talks to Leonie Cooper about the ups and downs of being a country singer raised on rockEight years ago, Neko Case played a "plaza party" at the home of country music, the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, Tennessee. It didn't go well: partway th... more info

Guardian Music — The trend for bands offering glorified bootlegs of their own gigs ignores why we go in the first place – to construct our own idealised version of a great live experienceFranz Ferdinand are the latest in an increasingly long line of bands offe... more info

Idolator — One of the benefits to surrounding yourself with friends obsessed to a greater or lesser degree with pop culture is that you're rarely lacking for agreeably inane chitchat during late-night bull sessions or trips to the bar. When they're smart people... more info

Idolator — Hey, it's a list! Let's argue about it? Esquire has published an "unranked, incomplete, yet highly tasteful and informative" rundown of 75 long-players that "every man should own" with the usual bite-sized commentary the magazine devotes to these sor... more info

JamBase — ELECTRO POP SURVIVORS TOUR THE UNIVERSE Do you like my clingyspace age shirt? Depeche Mode will begin the North American leg of their "Tour of the Universe" on July 24th in Toronto. With more than 2 million tickets already sold for their Europ... more info

Guardian Music — Few can chronicle the storms of an economically-savaged America better than the BossLast month saw the release of Darren Aronofsky's The Wrestler, a film set in working-class New Jersey. For the closing track Aronofsky chose seasoned soundtrack artis... more info

Pitchfork — Virgil Griffith is a 25-year-old grad student at Caltech, and in his spare time he makes elaborate charts comparing people's SAT scores to their tastes in music and books. And you know what that means: Caltech grad students have way too much spare t... more info

All About Jazz — WE BLOW OUT A CANDLE FOR THE MAN IN BLACK If he were still with us Johnny Cash would have turned 77 last Thursday, February 26. As it is, he's been gone almost six years. Yet he remains hauntingly present, floating inside American music like a demon... more info

JamBase — WE BLOW OUT A CANDLE FOR THE MAN IN BLACK If he were still with us Johnny Cash would have turned 77 last Thursday, February 26. As it is, he's been gone almost six years. Yet he remains hauntingly present, floating inside American music like a ... more info

Radio Exile — Today is Johnny Cash’s 77th birthday.  We miss him dearly! Def Leppard to tour with Cheap Trick and Poison this summer.  These aging rockers are now just glorified cover bands [Billboard] Why the “indie music” label should be dropped from... more info