A little over three minutes into “Temple Doors,” the opening track from the debut album by Philadelphia doom metal band Crypt Sermon, frontman Brooks Wilson sings the seemingly nonsensical phrase “fool, fool.” The words float there, isolated, between the song’s first chorus and second verse, and they don’t appear…

In Hear This, A.V. Club writers sing the praises of songs they know well. This week, we’re picking songs that have a person’s name in the title.

Of all of the Amendments, I’d have to say that the 21st is the most American. After all, it’s just declaring “take backs” on the 18th Amendment and what’s more American than saying, “Oops, I goofed”? San Francisco’s 21st Amendment Brewery celebrates this fantastic piece of legislation and the spirit of the U.S.A. the…

In Hear This, A.V. Club writers sing the praises of songs they know well. This week, in celebration of Mother’s Day, we’re picking songs about moms—or that have a mom-related word in their titles.

In Hear This, A.V. Club writers sing the praises of songs they know well. This week, in celebration of Mother’s Day, we’re picking songs about moms—or that have a mom-related word in their titles.

In Hear This, A.V. Club writers sing the praises of songs they know well. This week, in celebration of Mother’s Day, we’re picking songs about moms—or that have a mom-related word in their titles.

In Hear This, A.V. Club writers sing the praises of songs they know well. This week, in celebration of Mother’s Day, we’re picking songs about moms—or that have a mom-related word in their titles.

If reviewers talk about pretty much the same thing in every Best Coast review, it’s because Best Coast does pretty much the same thing on every album. Despite a few variations in delivery—country-influenced here, hazy dream pop there—what remains constant are the band’s soaring, summery melodies and catchy choruses.…

A legendary producer, songwriter, and performer, Todd Rundgren has been releasing albums since the late ’60s, when he first found success with Nazz. Later, on his own, he hit it big with “Hello It’s Me,” “I Saw The Light,” and “Bang The Drum All Day,” and his 1972 record, Something/Anything? went gold. Last month,…

Hate all you want on Mumford & Sons’ vest- and suspenders-adorned, banjo-worshipping, stomping, clapping, kick-drumming brand of poser-folk, but at least it was their thing. Not only was that thing a massive mainstream success, but it also put frontman Marcus Mumford on a gradual path to earning his genre bona fides,…

After a decade together and a handful of lineup changes, it’s startling to hear how confused Coliseum is on Anxiety’s Kiss. At various points in the band’s career, it’s been classified under one of punk or metal’s various subgenres, due in part to bandleader Ryan Patterson taking scraps of each style and piecing them…

Jim James has become an unashamed sentimentalist. On My Morning Jacket’s 2005 major-label release, Z, the band’s frontman reared his thoughts upward with a spiritual tilt, molding them around godly references. Now, his focus is inward, musing on beliefs that pray for self-realization. As he sings to open The Waterfall,…

Mac McCaughan has always had a vibrant parallel solo career alongside his main squeeze Superchunk, mainly with the shapeshifting Portastatic. Still, incredibly, Non-Believers is the first solo album McCaughan is releasing under his own name. Judging by the significant demarcation between this music and his previous…

Heading into a sophomore album, generally there are two routes facing indie noisemakers like Metz—either expand outward for a shot at wider popularity, or burrow inward and create a more distilled version of the thing that got the group to this point. With “Acetate,” the lead single and opening track from II, Metz…

Born from the same freak scene that immaculately conceived prolific front men like John Dwyer and Ty Segall, the more unassuming Mikal Cronin—who has long collaborated with his pal Segall, both live and on record—has been just as keen on playing both master and puppets with his solo work. Beginning with his great 2011…

Melbourne, Australia’s Hiatus Kaiyote describes its sound as “future soul,” which is vague, inert language, but it’s hard to blame the four-piece funk outfit. The band’s music is such a fast-moving, shape-shifting target, reducing it to a pithy genre descriptor is a fool’s errand. With its 2012 debut album Tawk…

In We’re No. 1, The A.V. Club examines a song that went to No. 1 on the Billboard charts to get to the heart of what it means to be popular in pop music, and how that has changed over the years. In this installment, we cover Alanis Morissette’s Jagged Little Pill which spent two weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Top 200…

In Hear This, A.V. Club writers sing the praises of songs they know well. This week, in celebration of Mother’s Day, we’re picking songs about moms—or that have a mom-related word in their titles.

Summer is just around the corner and you know what that means: The annual Gathering Of The Juggalos. Insane Clown Posse, its horde of fans, and other musical acts will descend upon the small town of Thornville, OH from July 22-25 and will likely leave behind a mess of blood, sweat, and empty Faygo bottles. But, before…

In Hear This, A.V. Club writers sing the praises of songs they know well. This week, like the sheep we are, we’re picking songs by the first bands we loved because a significant other loved them.