One half of me is upset that I’m just now discovering Miike Snow, but the other half of me is falling in love with them so fast that it feels like we’ve been friends forever.  ”Animal” was my first introduction to the band via a free download on Amazon Mp3 and immediately made it’s way [...]

I feel like pop music gets a bad rap by critical music listeners these days. I mean granted, Lady Gaga is crazy, Ke$ha spells her name with a dollar sign, and Katy Perry makes me vomit in my mouth a little, but I can only listen to so much introspective-afro-acoustic-shoe gazer-alt country-electro surf rock before [...]

A couple months ago a friend that knows my music taste well mentioned she had seen Local Natives the night before and that I should check them out.  Later that week my Paste Magazine music sampler arrived featuring “Sun Hands”, Local Natives first single from “Gorilla Manor”.  From there I feel like I’ve been hearing [...]

Until now, The Black Keys have, for some reason, stayed on the periphery of my musical vision. I know of them, I’ve heard of them, probably have a few of their songs in my iTunes from Paste Samplers but I’ve never made any real connection to their music until recently with their latest release “Brothers”. [...]

Coney Island Beach by Depuis We’ve all got a song that within the first 15 seconds of hearing it, we’re immediately taken back to Summertime.  This week on the Relevant Podcast (a weekly must listen) they were talking about creating the ultimate summer playlist.  I took this challenge on for myself and have put together [...]

I picked up Damien Jurado’s latest album Saint Bartlett on Amazon a couple weeks ago for $5 (Have I mentioned how much I love their monthly 100 for $5? Oh, I have?).  Listening to Saint Bartlett for the first time felt like putting on a new pair of shoes that were suspiciously well broken in. [...]

I’ve recently found myself in the middle of a few heavy projects that require a sound track that is engaging enough to keep me focused on the tasks in front of me while at the same time not distracting me from said tasks. Enter “Weathervanes” by Freelance Whales.  The New York based band is best [...]

John Butler Trio holds a very sentimental place in my heart. I first heard them in 2005 while living in Australia when their single “Zebra” was released.  That song is still one of my favorites, with one of the catchiest hooks of all time. On the (very) rare occasion that I pick up a guitar [...]

On Wednesday, over at the Scoutie Girl blog, Tara asked readers to share their favorite music that gets their creative juices flowing.  Naturally, this was a tough question for me to only pick ONE answer to.  My initial reaction was “Liztomania” by Phoenix because that ALWAYS gets me going.  So I went with that.  But [...]

For most of life, my creative outlet has been found in music. My Dad is a music teacher, my mom is a pianist, my brother plays the bass and is finishing his degree in sound engineering and I grew up playing piano. Until 1998 when Jennifer Knapp hit the scene. At that time I dropped [...]