REVIEW - A band called The War on Drugs is a band you’d expect to be wild. Or at least political to the point of tear gas. But Adam Granduciel and Kurt Vile, who each play a pharmacy’s worth of instruments, spent their time in the green room of the First Unitarian Church on Nov. [...]

Philadelphia-based indie rock act Dr. Dog will perform live at the Fillmore at the TLA on South Street Nov. 10.
For many listeners and fans of the band, this is where the mystery ends. But it isn’t the whole story - in fact, this isn’t even the half of it.
Behind Dr. Dog, The Teeth, The Capitol [...]

MTV’s channel geared toward college students, mtvU, will host its fourth-annual Woodie Awards show Nov. 17. Unlike the entertainment-heavy Video Music Awards, the Woodies focus on the musical achievement of independent artists, handing out awards that honor everything from originality to effective viral marketing, all of which are determined by online voting.
Stephan Friedman, the general [...]

FreshoutMedia.com, a Web site for people to share their passion for music and art, isn’t afraid to explore uncharted territories. Its user-friendly site breaks down the barriers that keep independent and underground artists silenced.
It is also a hub for readers and writers of the underground media to speak their minds. If you want to find [...]

REVIEW - I thought singer-songwriter Josh Ritter was going to be very excited to talk to me last week. After seeing him be genuinely affable on stage in September, I assumed the next time we’d meet, I’d be catching up with an old friend.
But Ritter turned out to be just a thoughtful guy who didn’t [...]

Candy ravers everywhere will hate me for saying this, but Radiohead’s pay-what-you-want album In Rainbows isn’t that progressive. A band of millionaires released their seventh record as a free download - so what?
Fishtown’s Eric Harms has been doing that for years. Since 2005, he has provided hundreds of free digital albums on apolloaudio.com.
His Web site [...]

If I had known Internet stardom was as easy as being overweight and wearing a spandex gold suit, I would have video-taped my typical Friday night much sooner.
Unfortunately, Leslie Hall, frontwoman of electro-dance rap group Leslie and the LY’s beat me to the punch. Leslie and the ladies of Leslie and the LY’s are making [...]

REVIEW - The 15-year-old in me is not enthused with the new Jimmy Eat World album. And they used to be my favorite band. Chase This Light, due out Oct. 16, is an 11-song mess of contemporary pop ideas that don’t come close to Clarity or the self-titled Jimmy Eat World. But I certainly don’t [...]

Put on your dancing shoes and get ready to shake your butt - !!! plays the Fillmore at the TLA in South Philadelphia tomorrow night.
!!!, commonly pronounced “chk chk chk,” is an explosive mix of funky grooves, infectious dance beats and raw attitude. Guitar, percussion, bass, synthesizer, saxophone and vocals compose the Sacramento octet’s idiosyncratic [...]

REVIEW - Philly’s live music scene triggered my latest existential crisis Saturday. Two psych-rock patriarchs played the same night: Devendra Banhart at the Fillmore at the TLA and Animal Collective at the Starlight Ballroom. As a sucker for any music of the New Age folk, tripped out, changes-my-brain-waves persuasion, it was a tough call.
Plus, both [...]