Bob Dylan wins a Nobel Prize
Lyrics are literature. Bob Dylan has been awarded the 2016 Nobel Prize for Literature, becoming the first songwriter to win the prestigious award. Good choice, based on his strong poetic style (the [...]
Music News
Ray LaMontagne cancels show due to Texas’ Campus Carry law
Last week, musician Ray LaMontagne decided to cancel a show at the Bass Concert Hall, located on the University of Texas at Austin campus. The reason he gave on Facebook was due to the recently [...]
Lady Gaga is banned in China. Join the club!
Lady Gaga has been banned in China after meeting with the Dalai Lama before he presented the keynote address at the annual United States Conference of Mayors in Indianapolis on Sunday. She has now [...]
Free stuff from Tickemaster! But not free stuff you want.
Hey, remember that whole Ticketmaster fiasco from, like, 13 years ago? Yeah yeah, you remember…from The Washington Post: In 2003, two men purchased tickets to a Wilco show and — like many [...]
More copyright infringement, this time with Ed Sheeran
Coming on the heels of Led Zeppelin’s upcoming court case over “Stairway to Heaven” is news that the attorney who won the “Blurred Lines” case has just filed another [...]
Train gives us what nobody was asking for
Train has re-recorded the 1969 album Led Zeppelin II and is releasing it at Starbucks. Let’s just let that soak in for a moment. Needless to say, the reaction from both music critics and music [...]
What’s going on with Radiohead lately?
A couple of days ago I was on Pitchfork and came across this article about Radiohead erasing their internet presence. I checked out their Twitter, Facebook, Google+, even their website, and indeed, [...]
Car Seat Headrest is set to blow up
A few weeks ago, All Songs Considered featured a new song from Car Seat Headrest in the New Mix. Bob & Robin were all, “It’s the greatest song you’ll ever hear in your life; I [...]
Welcome to SXSW 2016!
Anyone who knows me knows SXSW isn’t my jam (am I the only music journalist who really doesn’t get excited about big festivals?). It’s mostly because it makes downtown nearly [...]
Hey, how about those Grammys?
Full disclosure: I didn’t watch the Grammys because I don’t have TV (I’m one of THOSE people). I prefer to just let them happen, then read/watch/listen to the recap the day after. However, the [...]
Our culture loves music. Too bad our economy doesn’t value it.
In today’s Washington Post there’s an important article by composer and producer T Bone Burnett. In it, he discusses the cultural, emotional and economic role music plays in our lives, [...]
Farewell LivingLovingMaid, Hello Smack Madness
Hey, have you guys noticed that Led Zeppelin hasn’t actually been a band since about 1980? Yeah, me too. So while this site started as a fanzine for all things Led Zeppelin, it’s become more [...]
Feel free to sing “Happy Birthday” now
If you follow any old-person music news, you’ve probably heard that the copyright to the “Happy Birthday Song” has been in dispute for a while now. If you don’t follow [...]
China says “nah” to Maroon 5; can’t say I blame ’em
Sometimes I ask myself, “Why, exactly, have I seen The Backstreet Boys three times in my adult life?” It’s because the tickets were comped, I lived in Shanghai, and viable musical [...]
So your song’s been picked for a political campaign
I am thrilled about Donald Trump’s presidential announcement. My entire life for the next 16 months will be built around the bonkers debates, campaign ads and speeches that are sure to come from [...]
Donald Trump for President!
Donald Trump is running for president, which is AMAZING. Maybe the most amazing thing to happen to me all year because I adore Donald Trump. Well, I adore Donald Trump the Character, not so much [...]
Joni Mitchell — my favorite covers
Joni Mitchell’s medical status is still a little dicey — a couple of days ago it was reported that she’s in a coma, but today it’s being reported that she’s not and in [...]
Record Store Day (Austin 2015)
Dudes, I was SO THRILLED when a record shop opened up in Shanghai (What up, Uptown Records! Hope you’re still around). And I was also really psyched when they started recognizing Record Store Day, [...]
McDonald’s comes to SXSW and acts like a corporation (UPDATED)
A couple of days ago I wrote about the love/hate relationship musicians and Austinites have with SXSW, touching on the fact that while the conference has become more commercialized and grown in [...]
Hello, Austin
It’s hard to decide where to go after Shanghai. It’s hard to decide to go anywhere, ever, actually, but eventually you can no longer live out of a suitcase or on couches (or with your [...]
Goodbye, Shanghai. It’s been real.
Today I’m leaving Shanghai. FOREVER! I’ve been saying it’s my last year in Shanghai every year since I got here — 5 years ago — but when it came to ACTUALLY doing it; to [...]
Let’s talk about the banjo
Last September, British band Mumford & Sons announced they were going on hiatus, which sometimes means bands are breaking up and sometimes means they aren’t breaking up. If Mumford & [...]
Cough vough, my lungs are full
I have tons of shows to review. Tons. Temples. Delorean. Sebadoh. Okkervil River. And of course: Neutral Milk Hotel. But in the meantime, I’m back in Shanghai and am trying to breathe this [...]
My ears are the youngest thing on my decrepit old body
There was a news story a few years ago about higher-end retailers in the US playing high frequency tones in order to keep kids from loitering and whether that was fully legal or not. Damn kids. Get [...]
Nicki Minaj to bring her special brand of crazy to Shanghai
There’s a rumor that Nicki Minaj will perform in Shanghai as part of an electronic music festival planned for November. I don’t know if this is true or not, but I’m spreading it, [...]
Neutral Milk Hotel, breaking my heart one tour date at a time
Huge list of new dates/places for Neutral Milk Hotel‘s tour here. And Shanghai’s not there, because life is black and pointless and sad. If you don’t want to look at the list, I [...]
New band or delicious snack? You be the judge.
So I was out and about last night, minding my own business, and happened to catch a street performance by either a possible new band in Shanghai or a delicious new imported snack: the Lil Meat Pie [...]
The Led Zeppelin runion, Part 2: President Clinton edition
So apparently former US President Clinton can negotiate with North Korea to get hostages released, but even he can’t convince Led Zeppelin to get back together for a reunion show. One [...]
Neutral Milk Hotel reunion, Asian dates, hyperventilation
There have been rumors abounding that Neutral Milk Hotel would be reuniting for a some shows for a while now, but now it’s officially, no bullshit, honest-to-god happening. And it’s a [...]
Some bands are so hip they don’t even exist yet.
Jimmy Kimmel Live went to the Coachella Festival to ask some super hip cool kids about the hottest new bands. Except, of course, that all the bands the correspondent asked the people about are [...]
Smack Madness 