Will Oldham remains an elusive figure, but the show is a gentle reminder of why he is often cited as one of the finest singer-songwriters in contemporary American music. Oldham was a student of music history, clearly, but he never sounded studious. He had an eerie, strangulated voice, half wild and half broken. And he sang vivid and peculiar songs, which sometimes sounded like old standards rewritten as fever dreams or, occasionally, as inscrutable dirty jokes. These days, he calls himself Bonnie “Prince” Billy, and his music is a little bit easier to love and a lot harder to […]

Who doesn’t like Sharon Van Etten? I’ll tell you who: Dicks. That’s who. Since we know for a verifiable fact that no dicks read Phawker (I can’t talk about this too much because the Patriot Act blah, blah, blah but when you click on Phawker your permanent record comes up and it is instantaneously vetted for dickish behavior, like driving around with your dog on your roof, eating a man’s face off, defending Jerry Sandusky in the court of law, that kind of thing) it is safe to assume you would be interested in two tickets to see Sharon Van […]

BY MIKE WALSH POP ACADEMIC Matthew Sweet’s Girlfriend was released in late 1991, just four weeks after Nirvana’s Nevermind, but it took another six to eight months of word-of-mouth before it became a hit. That was probably because very few people had heard of Sweet prior to Girlfriend. But within a year, the record sold a half-million copies. It is now considered a power pop classic, and Sweet has toured the country the last nine months playing Girlfriend in its entirety. Sweet, who will perform Girlfriend beginning to end  World Cafe Live tonight, grew up in Lincoln, Nebraska, and moved […]

Time is short, so let’s just cut to the chase. It’s summer. The sun is warm and the grass is green. Very green, if you get our drift. That can only mean one thing: It’s time for Reggae In The Park, featuring the legendary Jimmy Cliff headlining at The Mann tomorrow along with Luciano, Beres Hammond, Trevor Hall and many, many more, mon. (sorry, had to) We have a pair of tix to give away to the first reader to email us at FEED@PHAWKER.COM with the words EVEN THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES GOT HIGH in the subject line. […]

[Illustration via EDGEART] If Jonathan Richman didn’t already exist, we would have never thought to invent him, which is a testament to both his originality and the shortcomings of our collective imagination. For more than 35 years, Richman has been a tireless advocate of hopeful romanticism, rugged individualism and unyielding optimism, travelling the world like some post-modern Jimmy Stewart with a guitar telling anyone that would listen that, despite all the hard-bitten cynicism that surrounds him, it’s still a wonderful life. He is, in short, the immaculate heart on the dirty sleeve of rock n’ roll. Years from now  – […]

In 1977, the Dirty Dozen Social and Pleasure Club in New Orleans began showcasing a traditional Crescent City brass band. It was a joining of two proud, but antiquated, traditions at the time: social and pleasure clubs dated back over a century to a time when black southerners could rarely afford life insurance, and the clubs would provide proper funeral arrangements. Brass bands, early predecessors of jazz as we know it, would often follow the funeral procession playing somber dirges, then once the family of the deceased was out of earshot, burst into jubilant dance tunes as casual onlookers danced […]

  The fascinating 2004 documentary Dig! chronicles the roller coaster existence of two indie bands who who go from friends to rivals – The Dandy Warhols and The Brian Jonestown Massacre – as they try to survive and thrive in a messed up, backwards music world. How messed up is it? It might be the only documentary you will ever see showing scenes from the filming of a music video that features dancing hypodermic needles. No kidding. The Dandy Warhols look like proper rock stars should, but they come across as relatively normal, and seem poised to achieve stardom via their […]

[Artwork by ELI BRUMBAUGH] We have a pair of tix to see everyone’s favorite Windy City weird-beard math-pop indie rockers Maps & Atlases at Union Transfer tomorrow night along with The Big Sleep and Sister Crayon. Because we like you we’re gonna make this super easy. First listener to email us at FEED@PHAWKER.COM with the words MAPS & ATLASES in the subject line wins. Please include a mobile number for confirmation. Good luck and godspeed!