"The sudden triumph of Fiona Apple’s return exists in the same cultural moment as people sharing photos of gay couples who’ve just been married, or female protesters (hilariously) trolling Rick Perry’s Facebook wall with questions about menstruation to protest his stance on reproductive health. It’s the thrill of voices dismissed as silly or excessive in the past now deriving power from the ordinary details of their everyday lives."
— Lindsay Zoladz writes about Fiona Apple’s welcomed comeback in our latest feature story, “Mind Is Your Might”.
Carrie Battan discusses how the relationship between homosexuality and hip-hop is changing– and who’s changing it– in our latest feature: “We Invented Swag: New York’s Queer Rap”.
Our new mailbag feature kicks off with answers to questions concerning Pitchfork’s rating system, letters about Grizzly Bear, Modest Mouse, and the Flaming Lips, as well as one of the most bizarre internship applications we’ve ever received.
Art-rock great Robert Wyatt rhapsodizes on Miles, Mingus, and more in our latest 5-10-15-20 feature. Photo by Alfie Wyatt.
"Rockism is clearly pretty useless as a totalizing way of looking at the world, but what about the possibility that it also works as a sort of… passing urge? I mean, if there’s music out there that magically thrills the soul of the rockist, that creates actual pleasure in the gut of this horrible stinky villain, then it stands to reason that there’s a hole– however small or particular or unadaptable to different-shaped pegs– somewhere in that rockist’s heart. And if that hunger exists, then certain pieces of music can be brilliant at sating it. This is true of every musical genre, I think."
— Nitsuh Abebe defends rockism in his latest Why We Fight column.
"At the Gainesville kickoff show, an eager dude jumped out of his car and smashed his head on the entry-stanchions. I watched another group of patrons steer each other around his stains by saying, charitably, ‘Careful where you step, somebody got their period.’ Behind me in line, a dude told his companion, 'I’m already coked out of my mind at 9:50.’ When a guy surmised that a girl cut in front of him en route to the eventual redemption of their $28 tickets, he heckled her in a classist manner; no kidding, y'all, I heard a guy in designer flip-flops try to start a feud with a girl in flared jeans by saying, 'Why don’t you go to Wal-Mart and get some conditioner?’ The winner of the night’s douche kebab, however, was the dude who pushed his own friend into the wall after the poor friend said Girl Talk was his favorite DJ. Pusher grabbed his friend and grumbled, 'Girl Talk’s not some DJ. He’s a mastermind.’"
— William Bowers went to Sleigh Bells/Diplo/Liturgy’s “Paradise Lost” tour of Florida and lived to tell the tale.
Underscore, our new feature series that surveys undervalued artists, eras, and scenes of the musical past, kicks off with a deep analysis of Portland punks Wipers by Nick Sylvester.
"The whole thing with LiveJournal, WordPress, and Blogspot was oversharing in a detailed way, whereas Tumblr encourages you to just post an image and it’s done. It’s so easy to create this collage of yourself where each image means nothing and gives no information, but when you compile them all together you can create this person that you want to be. It is fucking spooky."
— Some Tumblr-on-Tumblr analysis from Los Campesinos! frontman Gareth.
"I’d probably sell vibrators with my name on them. The thought of a girl wankin’ it with my name on it is pretty cool to me."
— Rapper Danny Brown on his dream merch table item.
Retromania author Simon Reynolds breaks down electronic dance music’s shift from minimal aesthetics to the digital maximalism of artists like Rustie and Flying Lotus in our latest feature: “Maximal Nation”.
