The stage was set for Jack White’s September 16 show at Fenway Park. An tiny relic of a television stood in the center, while guitars, fiddles, bass, a drum set, and even a theremin were set. Above, three large I’s (White’s logo) loomed. Only one thing was missing: the band. Suddenly, an announcer introduced White’s […]

Before he takes over Fenway Park tomorrow, let’s take a look back at the work of Jack White, one of music’s weirdest, most prolific, and consistent artists. The beginning of his eclectic, detailed career can be found in 1999, with the self-titled debut from his blues-rock duo The White Stripes.  Claiming his ex-wife drummer, Meg […]

On paper, the indie-rock group Spoon sounds rather ordinary. Formed twenty years ago, the group consists of five guys playing catchy, rhythmic rock and roll. There’s none of the sweeping theatrics of Arcade Fire, the “preppy” Paul Simon pop of Vampire Weekend, or the color-coded vinyl experiments of Jack White. Spoon doesn’t have a high-concept […]

Over the last ten years, Arcade Fire has quickly ascended from blogged-about indie favorites to the Grammy-winning kings of arena rock, updating their sound but keeping their indie aesthetics intact. They’ve gained a legion of devotees calling them the “greatest band in the world” and plenty of haters who think they’re pretentious, bloated, and boring. […]

Before their performance tomorrow at Mansfield, Massachussets’ Xfinity Center (expect a review), I decided to re-listen to the songs of Arcade Fire, Montreal’s indie-rock kings. The band began in 2001, when frontman Win Butler met singer Reigne Chassagne (they married two years later). After a self-titled EP, the band signed with indie label Merge Records, […]

As fans cheered Beck back for an encore, it seemed obvious that an already unforgettable concert wash’t finished. Suddenly, the genre-bending singer-songwriter invited a special guest to the stage: Jack White, fresh from closing out day two of the Newport Folk Festival. White played along to some of Beck’s biggest hits and provided a fitting […]

Today, Saturday 26, Beck is coming to the Providence Performing Arts Center. Before I see his concert tonight (expect a review), here’s my chronological picks for the always evolving indie icon’s best songs. “Loser”- Mellow Gold (1994) This was the song- four minutes of sublime slacker hip-hop styled folk- that shot a newbie singer-songwriter from […]

In a recent interview with NPR’s All Songs Considered, Jack White discussed the meaning of the word “lazaretto”: “It’s a word for a quarantine hospital, or a quarantine island, or something like that. It’s a beautiful-sounding word, too.” He goes on to say he wants the “powers that be” to lock him in a quarantine hospital […]

Indie pop pranksters OK Go’s viral music videos have always been as memorable as their music-from the treadmill dance routines of “Here It Goes Again” (21 million You Tube views) to the ingeniously intricate Rude Goldberg contraptions of “This Too Shall Past” (43 millions views). It’s no surprise, then, that their newest song (“The Writing’s […]