Rob Harvilla

Yeah, pal, that's "indie rock," scare quotes very much included. Look, it's a meaningless term. As are "college rock," "alternative," "hipster," etc. Let's not overthink this. Here we have ten splendid records with an amorphous rock 'n' roll designation, albeit in a perhaps slightly more experimental and thoughtful vein than...

Love and indifference are your only real options with Detroit-based sextet Electric Six. Their remarkable production values are unaffected: Singer Dick Valentine begins shows wearing a customized cape ("FLASHY") for the song "Flashy Man," removing it at song's end to reveal a second customized cape ("SHOWTIME") for "It's Showtime." His...

We can all agree that the eons-delayed, punchline-defying, free-Dr.-Pepper-triggering release of Guns N' Roses' Chinese Democracy marks the death of something — some combination of the music industry, "the album" as a unit of cultural import, old-guard rock stardom, irony, sincerity, free-market capitalism, hip-hop, the spread offense, and neoconservatism. Regardless,...

In Defense of the Genre, Say Anything's 27-song, two-disc quasi-concept album — which is twice as long and nowhere near as good as its predecessor, 2004's Is a Real Boy — is about Max Bemis' struggles with drug abuse and his very public bipolarity. (He was busted in NYC last...

In Defense of the Genre, Say Anything's 27-song, two-disc quasi-concept album — which is twice as long and nowhere near as good as its predecessor, 2004's Is a Real Boy — is about Max Bemis' struggles with drug abuse and his very public bipolarity. (He was busted in NYC last...