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Rob Rubsam

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Topshelf Records: Thriving While Building a Community
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Mars Volta Remembered: Eulogizing the Prog-Rock Greats

Tim Mosenfelder, Getty Images It can feel strange writing up a eulogy for a band that seems to have been forgotten. In critic circles, the constant deluge of new Mars Volta material made each subsequent album feel less like an event, and it seems many people simply chose to tune out circa The Bedlam in Goliath. But here I am, and I have come ...

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Swans Interview: M. Gira Won't Let Critical Acclaim Go to His Head

Dennis Van Doorn Michael Gira calls in late for our interview. He only recently got back from touring Europe with his long-running, and recently resurrected, band Swans, and he admits he's been spacing out. He's got a lot to think about. Since releasing The Seer back in September, the second LP since Gira reconstituted Swans back in 2010, and ...

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Pianos Become the Teeth, 'Hiding' -- Song Premiere

Evan Dell The owners of Topshelf Records will tell you that one of the hands-down biggest records for their label was Pianos Become the Teeth's 2011 LP The Lack Long After. Thanks to that eight-song meditation on death and grieving driven by slick guitars, gut-punch drums and frontman Kyle Durfey's spine-tingling screams, the've had a ...

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Corin Tucker Gets the 'Blues' Over Lack of Progress on Women's Issues

John Clark On the Corin Tucker Band's new album Kill My Blues, the former Sleater-Kinney guitarist and vocalist has taken the personal details of her 2010 solo debut, 1,000 Years, and blown them up to completely different proportions. Simply, these songs rock, employing disco beats, razor-wire staccato guitar and Tucker's typically dynamite ...

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Future of the Left, 'The Plot Against Common Sense': Singer Andy Falkous Talks 2.4 Percent Life Change, New Album

FutureOfTheLeft.Net A word you often hear when talking about Andy "Falco" Falkous and his music is "caustic," and it fits. A riffy virtuoso, Falco has been through the noise-rock ringer a few times -- most notably in current band Future of the Left, as well as infamous doers of Dallas, Mclusky -- and his guitar and snarl can destroy any ...

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What Levon Helm Meant to Woodstock

Douglas Mason, Getty Images If you go to the Woodstock the way I go, crossing the Hudson and heading west, before you get into town you'll pass a sign on the side of the road. This particular sign celebrates the most recent album by Levon Helm, Electric Dirt, its cover writ large on a blown-up canvas. But, really, the sign celebrates Levon ...

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