Scott Faingold

A little math to put things in perspective: Shonen Knife played its first Osaka, Japan, gigs in 1981, the same year the Go-Go's released Beauty and the Beat. This means that by the time the trio reduced the usually taciturn Kurt Cobain to a self-described "nine-year-old girl at a Beatles...

n early 2006, previously unknown Minneapolis indie-rockers Tapes ‘N Tapes found themselves riding high on a proverbial tidal wave of hype. Enthusiastic music bloggers had gotten the band so much attention that indie megalith Pitchfork took notice by slapping an extremely positive 8.3 rating on the band's debut CD The...

Starting in 1990, Bill Callahan recorded and released highly idiosyncratic, stubbornly low-tech music under the name Smog. As time passed, his material became increasingly accessible and better-recorded. Another six years down the line, the spanking new Woke on a Whaleheart appears, credited to plain ol' Bill Callahan. So, what's different?...

Eschewing the blatant political anger that dominated 2004's Liberation, Trans Am goes for sheer dance-floor energy on the eclectic new Sex Change. Not to say they've completely checked their Bush-baiting at the door ("Exit Management Solution," anyone?), but now that most of the country has gotten the picture on W,...

"Kick those white mice and black dogs out! / Kick those white mice and baboons out! / Kick those baboons and other motherfuckers out and / Get it on!" So bellows Nick Cave at the start of Grinderman, his new quartet's self-titled debut, out this week on Anti. The disc...