When you pop a Mozartkugel in your mouth, you can tell if the chocolate and marzipan confection is authentic or not. But is that portrait on the wrapper the real Mozart? Did he actually look like that? Come on, now!

Read the full article »

After spending the better part of a decade in the musical minor leagues, Death Cab for Cutie went pro with 2005's Plans, a record whose optimism and Technicolor sound gave the band enough leverage to finally enter the mainstream. "Soul Meets Body" became their biggest rock single to date, but it was Ben Gibbard's delicate love song, "I Will Follow You Into the Dark," that earned the quartet a Grammy nomination and legions of new fans. Some bands might have taken a cue from such success and resigned themselves to a career of acoustic ballads, not unlike the Goo Goo Dolls' transformation in the mid-'90s. But Narrow Stairs roughs up Plans' bright palette with something starker, more harrowing, and altogether darkened by Gibbard's blues.

Read the rest of this entry »

We love 1999 a whole lot, but maybe not quite as much as we love making lists. Each month (or so), until we have covered every year we can remember (unless we get tired), we will take a look at our favorite albums and singles released during a given year. In the year 1999, Basement Jaxx, Eminem, Mos Def, the Flaming Lips, the Dismemberment Plan, the ageless Tom Jones, the mighty LEN, and dozens of others produced nonperishable goods that would've gotten us through a Y2K drought of just about any magnitude.

Read the full article »