There’s an extended scene in Freedom, the 2010 novel that landed Jonathan Franzen on the cover of Time, in which an aging indie rocker finds himself at a show in Washington, DC. He’s there to see “the suddenly hot band Bright Eyes, fronted by a gifted youngster named Conor Oberst.” The scene takes place in...

Bright Eyes are announcing their second wave of “Companion” releases, which consist of the band rereleasing their entire catalog, plus some new recordings. On November 11, they’re sharing Lifted Or The Story Is In The Soil, Keep Your Ear To The Ground: A Companion, I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning: A Compani...

Last year, the first Through The Soil benefit compilation came out, raising money for the NAMI COVID-19 Mental Health Support Fund. While that project arose from the pandemic, it went well enough that they did it again. Today, Through The Soil II arrives. This time, all proceeds will go to the Trevor Project, the organization focused on suicide...

After flunking their first European gig, Metallica smashed up their dressing room in frustration. Enter Venom’s Cronos with a lecture which stopped the furious four self-destructing on European soil

Gel come from New Jersey, which has historically been fertile soil for tough-guy fight music. But Gel couldn’t be more different than that. Gel’s sound is plenty hard, but it’s the frantic basement-show style of hard. Gel’s sound is raw, fast, reverb-drenched punk rock, and it draws a lot of its firepower ...