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Feist
Leslie Feist’s presiding force reached its peak during the early 2000s with her second and third albums Let It Die and The Reminder respectively, even earning a Top 10 hit off the surprise success of “1234” when it was featured in an iPod commercial. Before her breakout, Feist worked closely with Peaches and toured with […]
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Colin Stetson
Experimental saxophonist Colin Stetson is arguably indie-rock’s most in-demand woodwind specialist, having performed with Arcade Fire, Feist, and the National in addition to earning critical acclaim for the series of solo albums, the most recent of which was 2013’s New History Warfare Vol 3: To See More Light. It’s as a performer, though, that Stetson’s […]
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Colin Stetson
He’s a multireedist who specializes in bass saxophone, a behemoth instrument tamed by Anthony Braxton, Hamiet Bluiett, and few others who dare to take on the beast. He also tours with Bon Iver, and has played with Feist, TV on the Radio, and others, but these bands all stem from more avant-garde origins than what […]
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Rachel Yamagata
Almost certainly the only singer to have appeared on records by both Jason Mraz and Bright Eyes, New York-based Yamagata hits City Winery (with her pal Mike Viola) for a pair of sold-out shows in support of Chesapeake, the new album she put out in October. It’s thoughtful, handsome stuff—and perfect for folks who thought […]
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FEISTY GIRL
“When you comfort me,” Leslie Feist sings on her new album, “it doesn’t bring me comfort, actually.” She could be speaking for her fans: Although it’s unquestionably pretty, Metals shows off a darker, more haunting side of this Canadian art-folk star; the closest thing to her soothing 2007 hit “1234” is called “Graveyard.” The hardest-core […]
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Fall Arts: Music Picks
The Raincoats September 16 The post-punk trailblazers (and Kurt Cobain faves) are set to reenact their influential 1979 debut in December at England’s All Tomorrow’s Parties festival. Prior to that, though, the Raincoats are doing a brief North American tour in support of a new reissue of Odyshape, the sophomore set that turns 30 this […]
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James Blake vs. The Machine
The first most non-geeks heard of James Blake was in October, when he flayed a Feist deep cut, stuffed it with dubstep’s dank sub-bass, and left the seams raw and exposed. On one hand, his “Limit to Your Love” was a public capstone for a year in which Blake curated three EPs of his itchy, […]
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‘Girls & Boys Presents Boys Noize+Rusko’
Boys Noize straddles underground electronica and the pop world: Carl Craig-inspired Hamburger makes the sort of maximalist electrohouse that lights up German clubs, but he’s also remixed Feist and the Kaiser Chiefs and been sampled on Estelle’s “American Boy.” Rusko also knows about big, burly sounds; he and Leeds mate Caspa play laddish, pummeling dubstep. […]
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SWEET ‘N’ LOW
Juana Molina, from Buenos Aires, has been playing music for longer than she has worked as a comedic actress, yet nearly everything written about her still mentions her background in television because it’s so unlikely: Imagine if Chan Marshall of Cat Power had been on Laverne & Shirley before she started writing songs about drinking […]
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THE WORLD IN TIME
Broken Social Scene, otherwise known as Canada’s mafia, claims members with a wide swath of side gigs: Stars, Metric, Feist, Charles Spearin’s Happiness Project. But none of the gaggle have proven quite as exploratory as Andrew Whiteman’s Apostle of Hustle; inspired by the guitarist’s family trip to Cuba, the project blends traditional Spanish sounds (mambo, […]