5.1.2012

Last November, I visited Patrick Watson’s second-story recording space off of Boulevard Saint-Laurent during a trip to Montreal, Quebec. From the moment I entered this cozy space, the Canadian...

Before they were playing jazz festivals all over the world, the Dirty Dozen Brass Band honed their skills in a small bar called the Glass House in one of New Orleans’ toughest neighborhoods. The first...

Much of the focus of HBO’s new series Girls has centered around the star-making turn by creator Lena Dunham. And deservedly so. But viewers with a predilection towards ornate quippery and the...

Tiger Style Games’ recent iOS release, Waking Mars, is the rare adventure game that doesn’t require you to kill. Instead, your scientist character must cultivate a variety of strange plantlike...

When I interviewed Brittany Howard for last month’s cover story on the Alabama Shakes, she told me, “Nothing pisses me off more than when people talk through a quiet song.” Amen, sister. It would seem...

Two weeks ago, I read a profile of Armando Ianucci, the creator of HBO’s new comedy Veep, in The New Yorker. That’s where I learned that the British director had also made the film In the Loop, a...

Sometimes, all we want are the easy answers, the ones that just jump out and bite us. We can feel the teeth go in, clamp down and then remove themselves from the incisions. We’re satisfied knowing...

As a member of the Wolfgang’s Vault family, Paste has access to a rich archive of historic audio interviews from a variety of sources. Many of these interviews have never existed in text form. Our new...

Santi White wants our attention. She’s certainly had it before: Almost every facet of her genre-defying 2008 debut was head-turning, from her brash delivery to the invigorating jolt of originality in...

Few people twist the opposing aesthetics of lush and stark with the dexterity of Rufus Wainwright, the chanteuse with the steady aim on broken hearts and sumptuous agony. On Out of the Game,...

Whirring forward—at times slick with the velvety magnetism of psychedelic riffs, other times peppered with the oddly attractive hiccups of a vintage movie reel—Nootropics, the latest record from...

I first encountered Norwegian singer/songwriter Ane Brun on art-rock master Peter Gabriel’s orchestral New Blood tour. While I was slightly put off by her contributions to Gabriel’s massive tunes...

Before recording Salt, LP No. 3 for the Philly-based Hoots & Hellmouth, the band had to weather the departure of Andrew “Hellmouth” Gray who’d started the band as a pared-down folk duo with Sean Hoots...

The first ten minutes of Sound of My Voice are some of the most claustrophobic, dread-filled moments to grace American cinema in years. With no preamble, we follow a young couple as they voluntarily...

Most of us are suckers for a good child prodigy story. Be it Bobby Fischer, Akeelah Anderson, Salinger’s Glass family or Anderson’s Tenenbaums, we gawk at the seemingly miraculous abilities, identify...

Slow and steady: That seems to the mantra The Killing has decided to take. While the first season wasn’t action-packed, the current season has slowed down considerably, allowing for events to unfold...

Some things never change. That’s the slogan for Heinz baked beans that Megan came up with this week, but it’s also the idea Matthew Weiner and company tried to sell us all on with “At the Codfish...

Every time Community does an episode fully in the style of another TV show or movie, it risks losing part of the audience who doesn’t know what it’s talking about. In an episode like “Critical Film...

Awake has a silent brilliance to it. The show slowly gives you the clues you need, hints at ways you might be able to solve the weekly crimes yourself and then plays out, giving the audience all the...

For the latter half of this season, New Girl has been trying to get its characters to get out of the stereotypes that were initially put upon them. Jess has become less obnoxiously quirky; Schmidt is...

For the most part, Touch is pretty decent at telling an interesting story about Martin and his son Jake. The show knows well enough that this is its most important aspect and that the connections are...

Okay, so I’m getting past the whole unlikability issue. I may never like these women as people, but their self-absorption isn’t as prominent as it was in Girls’ first episode. Lena Dunham doubled-down...

Holy long walk for a short drink of water, Batman. It’s great when a character says something that sums up an episode for us. While this season of How I Met Your Mother has done an excellent job of...

The living dead are stumbling down I-85. Black helicopters fly overheard. You are in handcuffs, stuck in the back of a police car. Welcome to the end of your world.In Telltale Games’ The Walking Dead:...

Skullgirls is the first fighting game ever made that wants you to play it like a fighting game. Most fighting games don’t care at all if you play them like a fighting game; they leave that to the...

Ski SafariPlatform: iOSDeveloper: Defiant DevelopmentRelease Date: 04/26/2012Price: $.99 Ski Safari feels a bit like an mobile “greatest hits” anthology rolled into a single game. There are many...

When it comes to the pleasures of reading, my tastes grow increasingly promiscuous. My favorite books of the past few years include a father’s...

Of Monsters and Men entered last year’s The Icelandic Music Experiments: Músiktilraunir, a nationwide “battle of the bands” competition and took home the winning title. In the midst of traveling,...

Husband-and-wife duo Patrick Riley and Alaina Moore are joined live by drummer James Barone as they tour behind their latest effort, last month’s Young & Old. While their debut, Cape Dory, was...

Vintage Trouble is bringing a jolt of electricity back to rock ’n’ roll. The Los Angeles quartet got noticed for their opening slot on Bon Jovi’s stadium tour last year, but Vintage Trouble’s classic,...

Everybody has their favorite old song, the one that still commands their attention and affection even after hearing it a million times on the radio. For Trent Dabbs and Amy Stroup, who make up the...

Rock veterans BoDeans have made 10 albums, undergone numerous lineup changes and tirelessly toured for the past 29 years. The group, originally formed in Waukesha, Wis. in 1983, won’t be stopping...

Winnepeg-based indie rockers Imaginary Cities, who recently joined Lollapalooza’s 2012 lineup, combine soulful vocals and modern pop riffs to create a formidable sound. With just a quick listen, it’s...