POSTED // Aug 13,2008 - It was like calling to see if your second-grade friend could come out to play. It starts with the ringing, then the, “Hello?” “Yes, hello. This is Martha’s phone,” a woman says sweetly, her voice chiming a bit—like...

POSTED // Jul 23,2008 - There’s a little room—a break room, actually—in the back of Ben Nichols’ family furniture store. There’s not much to it: a few tables and chairs, little else. All the good stuff—the plush couches and mattresses, the...

POSTED // Jul 9,2008 - Alan Sparhawk is basically a Chinese box. At first glance, the frontman and songwriter for Low—Duluth, Minnesota’s purposefully sluggish slowcore pioneers—seems like just a simple guy. He has a family. Plays in a couple bands. Tries...

POSTED // Jun 25,2008 - Dallas Taylor’s grandpa used to tell him the story—even if everyone in Ocklawaha, Fla., already knew it: How the Barker-Karpis gang had terrorized the South. Robbed stores. Kidnapped people. Killed a few county sheriffs. And then went down...

POSTED // Jun 11,2008 - The sad fact of rock journalists: We’re all kinda the same. We’re like sheep—just with a superiority complex, a creepy knowledge of chord progressions and at least one famous friend we can namedrop when it suits us. (Mine: Ronnie Vannucci...

POSTED // May 28,2008 - There are probably a few critics who would love to kill Aaron Behrens—the more painful the better. Maybe some slow torturing. Or one of the medieval things that resulted in—well, let your imagination go. Just as long as it hurt—a lot—and...

POSTED // May 7,2008 - Let’s blame the ’80s. Or more specifically, let’s blame dance music in the ’80s. Or even better, blame Al Jourgensen. It’s all his fault. And maybe Dave Gahan’s. OK, those guys from Gang of Four, too. They’re...

POSTED // Apr 30,2008 - The exhaustion just leaks from his voice. Every word that comes out of Reggie Youngblood’s mouth seems to beg for a nap. “My body is just wrecked,” he says with as much laughter as he can muster. “I always used to laugh whenever...

POSTED // Apr 23,2008 - There are few things that Sabbath-loving potheads and Renaissance-fair geeks can bond over: Celtic myths, dragon-shaped daggers, severed limbs. Add in indie rockers and it’s an even smaller subset: beards. And maybe leather. But mostly beards. And...

POSTED // Apr 2,2008 - Basically, Nedelle Torrisi was lonely. That’s the easy way to explain her new band Cryptacize. The official explanation: Well, that involves a convoluted press release, an apartment that may or may not have been as crooked as a canyon road, and...