Returning to the U.S. for a whirlwind April-May tour, Khaira Arby promises to mesmerize audiences with an intensity that flows from her home and from her unique spirit. Cities include Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Montreal, New York, San Diego, SF Bay Area, and Toronto, as well as the Festival International in Lafayette, LA and the Joshua Tree Festival in Joshua Tree, CA. Born in a village not far from the famed city of Timbuktu, Arby is firmly planted in…

With a title like At Echo Lake, the fifth album from New York's Woods intimates a modern rock aesthetic fully informed by historical manifestations of teenage along with a concomitant feel for the specifics of time and place. The distance between 2007's At Rear House and 2010's At Echo Lake may at first seem only semantic but it more properly represents a move from a kind of informal back porch jam ethos to a fully-committed vision of the infinite possibilities…

Hanni grew up in San Franscisco, California. The son of Palestinian and Filipino immigrants and the first American in his family, he became obsessed with classic Americana and pop culture of the 1950s and 60s. Influenced by pioneers of early rock and r&b (Johnny Burnette, Sam Cooke, Johnny Cash), El Khatib created a musical aesthetic to match his vision. The multi-instrumentalist serves as singer, songwriter & producer for his one-man band (live he is joined by a drummer) that is…

What do you do when you're sixteen and in deep shit? You're looking out at the world from the strip-mall and the detention hall, from the basement and the cul-de-sac and it just looks like there is a wall around you. Everybody tells you and your friends that you're going nowhere, that your lives are already ruined. What the fuck do you do? You hang around and smash stuff and get high and try to be a bad-ass, that's what…

Former MTV reality show contestant-turned-rapper, Riff Raff, apparently landed a record deal last week, inking a deal with Soulja Boy's SODMG imprint. The 20-year-old rap star delivered the news in a simple tweet on Wednesday (June 1), welcoming the Internet rapper to his label. "everybody welcome my newest artist @RiFFRAFF_SODMG to SODMG," Soulja Boy wrote (@SouljaBoy). In response, Riff Raff thanked his new label boss with a tweet of his own. "THANK YOU @SOULJABOY .... iM BOU TO 'BRiNG THE…

RTX are splitting into Black Bananas!!! The fruit is ripe and the bread will be FRESH. After three albums under the name RTX, Jennifer Herrema and her bunch decided to flip the script, to kick open the doors of perception a little bit . See, RTX was not Royal Trux, not a metal band,not a 70's bar band and not a toxic substance; RTX was something, all of those things and none of them and way more, including Black Bananas…

"Wowser Bowser is better than N'SYNC, hands down. They hail from Atlanta, GA. There are usually at least three of them on stage. They like balloons and dancing. They dislike candy corn. Yuck. Wowser Bowser plays children's music for adults. Dragon-Pop. Dance-tastic jams. Wanna cookie? How about 500 cookies that you place in your ears?!" - Sean Pritchard / The Blue Indian