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13 items by Ryan Reed Ryan Reed’s Profile on

  • Empire of the Sun Aim for American Pop Radio on Expansive New Album

    Empire of the Sun Aim for American Pop Radio on Expansive New Album | ARTICLE

    Everything about Empire of the Sun is larger than life: The band name, the futuristic stage personas, the Dune-inspired album art and – most importantly – 

    June 10, 2013 8:00 AM ET
  • Of Montreal's Kevin Barnes on Channeling the Summer of Love in New Album

    Of Montreal's Kevin Barnes on Channeling the Summer of Love in New Album | ARTICLE

    As the chief songwriter and creative force behind of Montreal, Kevin Barnes has built a career out of following his own instincts. His band's 11 albums have been full of sometimes jarring U-turns – moving from psychedelic...

    May 17, 2013 9:00 AM ET
  • Big Boi Thrills With Career-Spanning Set in Asheville

    Big Boi Thrills With Career-Spanning Set in Asheville | ARTICLE

    Asheville, North Carolina isn't exactly a cultural hub for rap music; it's a hippie college town, full of bohemian street buskers and hipster hookah bars. But nobody seems to have informed Big Boi,...

    April 20, 2013 9:19 AM ET
  • Jim James Spreads the Love in Louisville Tour Kickoff

    Jim James Spreads the Love in Louisville Tour Kickoff | ARTICLE

    As ominous blue lights darted through the expanses of Louisville's ornate Brown Theatre, Jim James and his four-piece band strode onstage to a murky synth drone. James, dressed in a dapper chocolate-brown suit, carried the awkward glow...

    April 18, 2013 9:50 AM ET
  • Iron and Wine Haunt 'Ghost on Ghost' With Strings and Horns

    Iron and Wine Haunt 'Ghost on Ghost' With Strings and Horns | ARTICLE

    Sam Beam, Iron and Wine's eternally bearded songwriter, is responsible for some of his generation's most affecting records, from the intimate folk of 2004's Our Endless Numbered Days to the sprawling psychedelia of 2007's The Shepherd's Dog...

    April 16, 2013 12:15 PM ET
  • 'Weird Al' Yankovic Lets His Pop Absurdity Do the Talking

    'Weird Al' Yankovic Lets His Pop Absurdity Do the Talking | ARTICLE

    For a man of such hammy, spastic brilliance, "Weird Al" Yankovic doesn't speak much onstage. The world's most legendary pop parodist ended his Knoxville gig – the second date of his summer tour – with a...

    April 12, 2013 11:40 AM ET
  • Fitz and the Tantrums Broaden Their Sound on New Album

    Fitz and the Tantrums Broaden Their Sound on New Album | ARTICLE

    Deep into the recording of his band's sophomore album (and Elektra Records debut), More Than Just a Dream, Fitz and the Tantrums frontman Michael "Fitz" Fitzpatrick suffered through "many, many sleepless nights." Battling a frenetic, air-tight recording...

    February 5, 2013 9:05 AM ET
  • Nigel Godrich Keeps Busy With Atoms for Peace, 'From the Basement'

    Nigel Godrich Keeps Busy With Atoms for Peace, 'From the Basement' | ARTICLE

    For the past two decades, Nigel Godrich has remained one of alternative music's most influential and sought-out producers, working with high-profile acts Radiohead, Beck, Paul McCartney and R.E.M. But in 2012, Godrich stepped...

    December 20, 2012 11:45 AM ET
  • Red Hot Chili Peppers Play 'Basement'

    Red Hot Chili Peppers Play 'Basement' | VIDEO

    Inspired by the intimacy and high fidelity of The Old Grey Whistle Test on the BBC, Nigel Godrich created his in-the-studio concert series From the Basement based on a simple premise: "It's just about having friends and...

    December 15, 2012 7:40 PM ET
  • Coheed and Cambria's Claudio Sanchez on His Band's High Concept

    Coheed and Cambria's Claudio Sanchez on His Band's High Concept | ARTICLE

    With their intricate conceptual sci-fi universe the Amory Wars, Coheed and Cambria and their heady brand of prog have always been a bit out of step with the modern rock scene. Sure, forefathers like Rush and...

    October 9, 2012 1:35 PM ET
  • Song Premiere: . . . And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead, 'Catatonic'

    Song Premiere: . . . And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead, 'Catatonic' | ARTICLE

    . . . And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead's explosive indie-prog is defined by the push and pull of Conrad Keely's epic mysticism and Jason Reece's primal punk surge. But when it came...

    September 25, 2012 10:00 AM ET
  • The Bad Plus Raise a Ruckus on Tour Opener in Knoxville

    The Bad Plus Raise a Ruckus on Tour Opener in Knoxville | ARTICLE

    A few songs into their lean, heavy-hitting set at Knoxville's Bijou Theatre, during the reflective coda of "The Empire Strikes Backwards" Bad Plus drummer Dave King squeaked an amplified toy duck, while pianist Ethan Iverson bathed the...

    September 21, 2012 12:05 PM ET
  • Grizzly Bear Conjure Eerie Magic at Tour Kickoff

    Grizzly Bear Conjure Eerie Magic at Tour Kickoff | ARTICLE

    As Grizzly Bear glided through "Adelma," an ambient interlude from their new album, Shields, the band's rainbow-hued stage lights faded to black. Light bulbs flickered in glass jars, drifting above the quintet's silhouettes, while multi-instrumentalist Chris Taylor...

    September 17, 2012 12:10 PM ET