Stephin Merritt hates touring. The frontman for indie legends the Magnetic Fields is bored by the constant travel, the grueling routines and the anonymous accommodations. “I...

In another era, they’d have been called “touched”: musicians who have channeled the pain and confusion of severe mental illness into a certain kind of genius. Austin alt...

November is Gratitude Month, and this year I’m thankful for: Growing up in the Detroit area and having so many amazing radio stations form my ecumenical musical interests. T...

When Gary Clark Jr. tells an audience “you gonna know my name by the end of the night,” it’s not a warning; it’s practically a guarantee. The 28-year-old Austin, Texas...

Every toiling indie musician dreams of getting into a breakout band, selling hundreds of thousands of albums and filling venues all over the country. But for members of the Po...

Though it’s the opposite of quiet time, heavy metal is like meditation in that it forces you to think about things you might otherwise ignore. Two new full-lengths from D.C....

In one version of the backstory, Major Lazer is a Jamaican warrior who survived a zombie attack to gain lasers for hands. In reality, Major Lazer is a collaboration between su...

After poet T.S. Eliot saw Igor Stravinsky’s “The Rite of Spring” in 1921, he wrote a letter saying the avant-garde ballet took “the barbaric cries of modern life” ...

Every music geek has wondered what it would be like if two of their favorite artists collaborated. As a teenager, Spoon frontman Britt Daniel envisioned an especially unlikely...

You have to be a dedicated cinephile to watch silent movies and a hardcore movie nut to go to the theater to watch them. But you can’t touch the Alloy Orchestra’s celluloi...

By 1940, Woody Guthrie was sick of hearing Kate Smith sing Irving Berlin’s “God Bless America,” which he thought ignored the incredible divide between the nation’s ric...

On Election Day in 2008, Swedish singer-songwriter Jens Lekman found himself all alone in Washington. The night before, he had played a set at the House of Sweden for Swedish ...

You probably know her name, if not quite how to pronounce it. You know her look, the close-cropped hair or shaved head, the bare arms that look like arms should look after sli...

Scientists think Neanderthals went extinct around 30,000 years ago. But cavemen DNA has survived in the humans making pummeling music for D.C.’s Windian Records. In the endl...

It’s Virgin Mobile FreeFest time again, with the huge concert taking over the grounds of Merriweather Post Pavilion. If you’ve already scored tickets, chances are you’re...