She might be better known today for her flamboyant style, plastic surgery excesses and dumb blond stage persona, but before she became a pop-culture caricature, Dolly Parton was a tremendous singer, under-rated songwriter and country music ambassador to the world.
By the age of 13, Parton had already been signed to a label and appeared at [...]

This installment in our Covers Project series is a two-fer. St. Vincent joined up with The National to cover Crooked Fingers‘ “Sleep All Summer” for Merge Records‘ 20th Anniversary compilation.

Can you feel the music video renaissance?! We can. In this episode of video roundup, St. Vincent plays a feminist book store, Broken Bells (Shins/Danger Mouse collab) wander around a dark highway, Beach House shows us a world dominated by silver people, and Taken by Trees retreats to nature for a cover of Animal Collective’s [...]

Welcome back to Video Round-Up, where the SD crew picks through the flurry of videos circulating this particular week and posts the highlights.
This week, we remember two late greats: John Hughes (who passed away yesterday, 8.6.09 from a heart attack at the age of 59) and Heath Ledger (who directed a video for Modest Mouse [...]

Yep, it’s time again for the quintessential “so far” list — no music site is complete without one! 2009 is shaping up to be an interesting year, with old favorites and newcomers alike issuing strong releases. In an attempt to make some sense out of everything, our staff got together to vote on our favorites.
We’d [...]

Well, it’s two weeks after the fact and I’m finally able to wrap my head around the musical smorgasbord that was Bonnaroo 2009. 75,000 people descended on Manchester, TN, (population: roughly 9,500 for 361 days of the year), for the festival’s eighth year.
The musical equivalent of Willy Wonka’s world of pure imagination, Bonnaroo once again [...]

Welcome to Video Round-Up, where the SD crew picks through the flurry of videos circulating this particular week and posts the highlights.
This week, we’ve got some excellent visual stimulation from Animal Collective, Cursive, White Denim, Blur, Doves, the Gaslight Anthem, St. Vincent, Frightened Rabbit, the Gossip, Sonic Youth, Fever Ray, Girls, the Dead Weather, Phoenix, [...]

St. Vincent’s sophomore release, “Actor,” will be out on May 5. Pre-order here or stream the entire album here.

Neko Case – “Middle Cyclone”
Neko Case’s follow up to The Fox Confessor Brings the Flood was released this past Tuesday, March 3rd. So far I like what I hear, even if it is a little bit “more of the same” – check out the title track, “Middle Cyclone.”

Wavves – “So Bored”
Really, really, really hot mics [...]

Annie Clark (aka St. Vincent) is set to release the follow-up to her critically acclaimed debut, Marry Me on May 5 (pre-order available now).
A former Sufjan Stevens Illinoisemaker and Polyphonic Spree member, Clark put her own stamp on the polyphonic folk of her former ensembles with Marry Me.
The officially released teaser single, “The Strangers,” [...]