Oxford Collapse, 'Bits' (Sub Pop)
Diligent Brooklyn rock vets make unexpected great leap forward.
By Steve Kandell 08.04.08 10:38 AM
Your town probably has an Oxford Collapse -- a tightly coiled indie act, smart-but-not-too-smart, hard-working, well-respected purveyors of shout-along choruses who've never quite broken from the increasingly crowded pack of same.
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Wolf Parade: Animal Collective of Montreal
Following up a revered debut album with a more, um, challenging one often inspires catty backlash. But the scruffy Canadian indie rockers of Wolf Parade are too busy playing in 17 other bands to worry. Is this the new careerism?
By Steve Kandell 06.23.08 8:11 PM
Montreal is only 47 minutes from New York in a plane no bigger than a school bus. But on this cloudy late April morning, each of those 47 minutes is teeth-gnashingly, stomach-churningly turbulent, making it impossible to forget that you are, in fact, not on a school bus, but rather inside a thin metal tube careening rapidly 35,000 feet above the ground in a manner antithetical to man's nature.
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Weezer: Heck on Wheels
Thanks to a renewed sense of fun and a clutch of great rock songs about, um, rock -- not to mention some good ol' marital relations -- Weezer are riding high. Not literally, of course.
By Steve Kandell 05.26.08 11:12 PM
Our June cover story involves some old friends: Weezer. Deputy editor Steve Kandell checks in with the Weezer camp, taking stock of the power pop poobahs' perch at this point, six albums deep into their career.
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Mudhoney, 'The Lucky Ones' (Sub Pop)
Like the Ramones, but with seasonal affectation disorder.
By Steve Kandell 05.15.08 2:03 PM
The Crowd Pleasers: Death Cab for Cutie
Indie vets made good are enjoying the view from the top. Specifically, the view from Ahmet Ertegun's office suite.
By Steve Kandell 05.03.08 5:05 PM
Here's a taste of the Death Cab for Cutie Q&A from our May issue. Get the full story on newsstands, or in SPIN Digital (free registration required).
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The Raconteurs
Deputy editor Steve Kandell delivers our first impressions of Consolers of the Lonely, out today (for people who buy music, at least).
By Steve Kandell 03.25.08 10:08 AM
What's the Deal? Jack White's evil scheme failed, the one where he'd sneak the second Raconteurs album into stores today, under the cover of darkness, bypassing the customary press advance copies, so that all fans could hear the music for the first time at the same time, pure and untainted by critical white noise. But the album leaked Friday. On freakin' iTunes.
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