"Can you write Vagina Panther and then go: Snatch. Pussy. Cunt. Twat?” asks drummer Trent Good. I told him I would. So there it is. This is a highlight of a slightly insane and scattered conversation at the Palace Cafe in Greenpoint, a dark bar with loud music and cheap beer. more

The bands name comes from the typographic term for the spacing below a headline. dont worry, i didnt get it at first either. i thought it was more along the lines of descender = one who is descending into hell. more

WEIRD OWL GETS shit on a lot. Spin ranked its record, Ever the Silver Cord be Loosed, as having the 17th worst album title of 2009. The Village Voice said it has the worst band name from a borough with a band called Cheeseburger. The positive reviews usually include the phrases “from Brooklyn, but...” or “I can’t believe these guys are from New York.” more

I HEAR FLAMING TUSK from three houses down, which is good since Astoria is a foreign country to me. I stand in front of the porch in the rain and listen to the band blast through “Ichor,” a song off the new album Old, Blackened Century. The singer sounds like the meanest motherfucker in the world, scratching out lyrics about the horror of Vietnam including the line that’s been stuck in my head for weeks: “Ho Chi Mien Kissinger!” The guitars seamlessly alternate between doom riffs and classic death metal with a solo that’s best described as Fast Eddie Clarke from Motorhead. The sidewalk shakes. I’m in the right place. more

PEOPLE LOVE LITURGY for the same reasons other people hate Liturgy. Im not sure what philosopher said it, but if you hate something enough, its not all that different from love. You spend time hating.Your hatred defines you. If you are courageous or fucking stupid enough (depending on your perspective), you act on it. more

I've been listening to a bootleg of Shellshag’s new album for a few months now.When I interviewed the band at a three-story apartment in Bushwick, I left my tape recorder on a table with the unmixed tracks playing in the background while I toured the apartment. I ended up on the bathroom floor; the two of them were sitting in their bathtub and smoking out the window.We were drinking High Life and they were finishing each other’s sentences.We made our way back into their music room and realized I had the entire album bootlegged.They were nervous so they made me promise to lock it away in a vault until its official release.These last few months I’ve guarded it with my life, listening to the shitty recording over and over like I owned the holy grail of bootlegs, the best kept secret since The Vaselines. On Feb. 9, the rest of the world will hear Rumors in Disguise and I can finally scream to the goddamn heavens about how great it is. more

"Those who are attuned to the Naam are beautiful."- Sri Guru Granth Sahib (Sikh Scripture)Let California have desert rock. Let the ’70s have space rock. Right now, we've got mountain more

“I MET HIM only once, at a goddamn stupid party” is a line from Catcher in the Rye. It’s not well known or anything. It’s not in anyone’s high school yearbook.Yet for some reason, a few dudes from Brooklyn decided to name their band after it. Now you’re thinking, “Why the hell would anyone name their band after such a weird quote?” Or maybe, “Why the hell would anyone name their band Stupid Party?”Well, these guys don’t give a shit what you’re thinking. more

THERE’S SOMETHING obnoxious about the singer-songwriter label. Oh, how talented you are, not only do you sing your own songs, but you write them too! There’s got to be a better way to talk about someone playing an acoustic guitar and singing songs. For Sharon van Etten, the best word I can come up with is “songstress.” more

BLACK IS PLAYED out as a band name, but not as the second word, says Vincent Cacchione, the mastermind behind Brooklyns psych-folk band Soft Black. Hes right.There are thousands of bands whose names begin with black. more