Features
Beat*Shot Music Festival Recap: In The Presence Of A Pharoahe
To begin, a brief historical survey of Albany: The New York Giants used to hold training camp at SUNY Albany. The author, William Kennedy, wrote Legs, Billy Phelan’s Greatest Game, and Ironweed, a trio of novels about the city of…
Potholes Interview: Talented Producer submerse Talks The Internet, Pokemon & Nostalgia
When the world we presently inhabit begins to inhibit our wellbeing, we all have differing coping methods. Escapism typically underlies it all, be it picking up a novel or submerging ourselves in a bath of nostalgia, though reading and recollection…
Rap Convos: Examining Jay Z’s Albums Post-Retirement
Amazing conversations arise around elevators. Work, and the week, had come to an end when I walked to the office floor lobby with another intern several Fridays ago; incredulous, I listened as she told me how she felt about one…
G-Eazy Is The Latest To Sacrifice Originality For Stardom, But “These Things Happen”
One of the myriad ways in which Kendrick Lamar’s good kid, m.A.A.d city was a departure from the conventional was how it simultaneously pleased both the label and hip-hop head—a feat rarely accomplished in a genre with such a vast…
Potholes Interview: Rootnote Collective’s Ruff Draft Has His Eye On The Future
Ruff Draft is ready. The multitalented musician and founding leader of the Rootnote Collective talks in a steady tone, loaning his lengthy experience to a conversation with a stranger. Evidently levelheaded, the man born Brandon boasts a humble mastery of…
The Best Songs Of 2014 (So Far)
Songs are the bread and butter of the recording industry. We (typically) consume music in song format, moving from one composition to the next. However, once upon a time, the album provided the lion’s share of recording revenue. As that…
The Best Albums Of 2014 (So Far)
Time keeps passing us by. It feels like yesterday when we were arguing about orderings, placements and picks for our “Best Albums of 2013” list last December, and now 2014 is more than half-over. As a given year transpires, some…
Wake Up And Acquaint Yourself With MaLLy [Interview]
While I was in Minneapolis a few weeks ago taking in the Soundset festivities (which you can read about here), I spent a lot of time getting to know the artist known as MaLLy. Discovering his material roughly three years…
Artists To Look Out For: Planetarian Reminds Us That Being Different Is Rewarding
In J.D. Salinger’s classic novel The Catcher In The Rye, central protagonist Holden Caulfield heavily relies on the term “phony.” Frankly, he says it so much you’d think he invented the descriptor himself. For all his judgmental thoughts and mental struggles…
Rap Convos: An Apartment Owner Confirms That Cozz Is The Real Deal
New York City is a glamorously unglamorous place, overflowing with people (and rats) from all walks of life. It’s beautiful one block, disgusting the next. Often, the two polar opposites coexist in the same place, the same moment. The result,…
