From The Spin Bookshelf
By its nature, emo refuses to be categorized, but in his debut
book, Spin senior contributing writer Andy Greenwald pins
down the misunderstood genre and its teary-eyed, dedicated
listeners. Taking its title from a Promise Ring song, Nothing
Feels Good: Punk Rock, Teenagers, and Emo is an enthusiastic
and exhaustive journalistic account of the music's history, tracing
its roots from D.C. hardcore acts such as Rites of Spring to early
breakthroughs Sunny Day Real Estate to present-day success stories
New Found Glory and Jimmy Eat World.
By Adrienne Day; Spin Staff 11.03.03 4:00 AM
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The Libertines, 'I Get Along' (Rough Trade)
By Jon Dolan 10.31.03 4:00 AM
The “British Strokes” can be as tradition-bound as their U.S. counterparts--they’ve got the Clash’s ear for riff vandalism and a Sex Pistols jones for tabloid-punch-line excess.
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Belle & Sebastian, 'Dear Catastrophe Waitress' (Rough Trade)
Scottish pop miniaturists Belle and Sebastian go wide-screen.
By Will Hermes 10.28.03 4:00 AM
Belle and Sebastian are more than a band of underachieving indie-rock layabouts from Glasgow. They represent an international cartel, a network of used-bookshop-haunting, obscurantist-mix-tape-swapping types who fret over what to do about grad school and their on-again, off-again boyfriends/girlfriends while working jobs that'd be laughable if they weren't so soulsucking.
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Peaches, 'Fatherfucker' (Kitty-Yo/XL Recordings/Beggars Group)
XXX-centric techno producer gets jiggy, meets Iggy.
By Laura Sinagra 10.16.03 3:00 AM
She's got the magic shtick. There may have been no real electroclash "movement," but there certainly was a Peaches--a thirtysomething, self-producing, omni-horny, androgynous Canadian breathing heavy over the skittle-diddling beats of her trusty fuzzbox.
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Atmosphere, 'Seven's Travels' (Epitaph/Rhymesayers)
Minneapolis MC thinks locally, raps dopely.
By Michaelangelo Matos 10.10.03 3:00 AM
The usual pop story is that you can’t go home again, but in hip-hop you’re suspect if you leave. That’s never been a problem for Minneapolis rapper Slug. He may tour 200 days a year, but he’s remained outspokenly loyal to his hometown since 1997’s Overcast!, taking as much pride in his boho-Midwesternness as Outkast do in being ATLiens.
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Death Cab for Cutie, 'Transatlanticism' (Barsuk)
Indie wanderers see the world.
By Andy Greenwald 10.08.03 3:00 AM
It’s possible--and profitable--to build a career on being young and hopeless. But comb your faux-hawk down, flip it, and reverse it: Death Cab for Cutie cutie Ben Gibbard is the poet laureate of the young and hopeful. On three previous DCFC records--and on his masterful detour into indie electro, the Postal Service’s Give Up--Gibbard has made a compelling case for yearning.
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