It’s easy to draw petty comparisons to Auditorium, but this album is seriously hard to explain. Composed and recorded solely by Spencer Berger, a writer and actor from working out of Los Angeles and New York, Auditorium’s debut “Be Brave” is a lot easier to enjoy than it is to describe. 

After listening to it constantly for a couple of days, I’ve decided to go with “Josh Groban on acid.” But I mean, like, ’60s acid. This is groovy operatic chamber pop, but not in a nerdy way. Fans of Simon & Garfunkel should feel at home here.

“Be Brave” is a unique and carefree mesh of brilliant psychedelic pop tunes and pleasantly sparse, swirling acoustic compositions. A lot of the songs are less than 2 minutes long, which is musicus interruptus for catchy melodies like these, but even the 46-second “The Owl” is as memorable as the longest song on the album.

We spoke with Berger, the man behind the music, about the three years he spent holed up writing and recording “Be Brave,” as well as his affinity with strong emotional lyrics and his devotion to keeping melody at the forefront.

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This week, we’re taking a look at Ivan & Alyosha, an independant rock group straight out of Seattle. But they aren’t your typical Seattle band. I&A chose to avoid the idiosyncratic beardo-folk image that’s popular in the Northwest, instead opting for a gentler orchestral pop sound more reminiscent of acts like Rufus Wainwright or Arcade Fire. Their latest EP, “Fathers Be Kind,” shows the group’s musical prowess, especially evident in frontman Tim Wilson’s equivocal lyrics and wistful melodies.

We spoke with Tim about coming up in the Seattle music scene, how Ivan & Alyosha have matured in the last two years, and what it takes to make it in independant music today.

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Back in 1995 — before Kanye and 50, before Jay-Z and Eminem, back when 2Pac and Biggie were still around and rappers were all about love for the streets — the underground hip-hop scene was a new and difficult market to break. Most of the artists who made a half-decent living off of the music at the time did it by breaking into the mainstream; to turn independent hip-hop into a career was practically unheard-of and not at all a simple task.

Only a handful of MCs and rappers from that era were able to turn their passion into a comfortable career without compromising their art or handing over their creative vision to a major label, but Corey Scoffern, better known as The Grouch, did just that. Now he’s supporting a happy and healthy family on the far-off dream he had nearly two decades ago, and he’s enjoying every minute of it.

We had a chance to speak with The Grouch about his meager beginnings, how underground music has evolved since the mid-’90s, and how he feels about his unexpected success today.

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“Motown” is not a style commonly picked up by aspiring contemporary indie groups, so when you first listen to Fitz and the Tantrums it’s a little difficult to separate the new and the old. While their debut album “Pickin’ Up the Pieces” is a contemporary recording by anyone’s standards, it’s so packed with timeless hooks and finger-snapping grooves that it’s easy to forget these guys are new. It’s like they channelled the Temptations, threw in a little crocodile rock and modern sensibility, and unleashed it on the unsuspecting L.A. scene in the guise of a smartly dressed indie pop act.

We were lucky enough to get the chance to talk to Fitz himself (né Michael Fitzpatrick) about Motown, how the group met, and their quick rise to success. Read PopNews »

The Walkmen are an innovative indie rock group based in New York City and Philadelphia. The band’s five core members have been influenced by a wide range of musical styles, from the poetic folk ballads of Leonard Cohen to the bluesy rock ‘n’ roll simplicity of the Rolling Stones, and their sound has been compared to ambient rock acts like U2 and The Cure.

Their fifth album, “Lisbon,” heralds a transient new approach to the writing process. Taking nearly two years to sort out, the new album is clearer and simpler than previous releases. Where their old music was dark and raw, “Lisbon” is clean and comforting–like a peaceful stroll through a foreign city. But the aching themes fans have gotten used to are still there, buried beneath an ethereal optimism.

We spoke with Walkmen singer and guitarist Hamilton Leithauser about simplicity, the Stones, and the recording of “Lisbon.”

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You don’t listen to Lost in the Trees if you’re in the mood for something light and fluffy.

For their second album, “All Alone in an Empty House,” the band’s soft-spoken founder, 29-year-old Ari Picker, has drawn on his parents’ turbulent marriage and divorce, his late mother’s mental illness (she passed away just over a year ago), and the death of his twin sisters at birth (before he was born). Lyrics such as “I spent my whole life on you/And I built you a gorgeous house/to put up with your bitched mouth” are brought to life by a seven-piece orchestra.

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If you’re expecting us to describe what Suckers sound like, we’ll only be able to take you about halfway. Think psychedelic pop with a tribal feel and more instruments than most bands would know what to do with. Like other Brooklyn bands, such as the Dirty Projectors, MGMT, and Yeasayer, Suckers are difficult to pigeonhole into even a few genres, because despite the wide array of influences lurking beneath their debut album, “Wild Smile,” there’s still a familiar rock ‘n’ roll sensibility behind the whole thing. Swirling arrangements, ethereal harmonies, and jangly percussion give “Wild Smile” a spontaneous airiness without succumbing to careless experimentalism. We spoke with singer and guitarist Austin Fisher about Suckers’ unique way of writing songs and how the Brooklyn scene has impacted them.

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He’s been called a "scuzz-blues pioneer," a "scuzz-rock hero," an anti-rock visionary, and "Elvis on acid."

Now, two decades after he reinvented garage rock, Jon Spencer and his blues-rock band, the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, are reissuing their newly remastered catalog, along with rare and unreleased bonus tracks.

Whether you owned a copy of "Extra Width" in 1993 or missed them the first time around, it’s a treat to listen to albums like "Dirty Shirt Rock N’ Roll: The First 10 Years" (a compilation of the band’s best recordings released in March), even if just to try to pick out the group’s wide variety of influences. Read PopNews »

British singer/guitarist Kelechukwu “Kele” Rowland Okereke won over disciples around the world with his indie rock band Bloc Party. Following three platinum records, he released his first solo album, “The Boxer,” in June — and he’ll kick off his first solo U.S. tour on Sept. 2. We asked Kele about his exciting new sound and his decision to go solo — and why you shouldn’t call “The Boxer” a dance album.

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Danielle “Ate the Sandwich” Anderson doesn’t need fancy equipment to get fans; all she needs is a Webcam, a ukelele, and something to sing about. Witty lyrics and soothing melodies come naturally to the young singer-songwriter, and she’s proven it time and again, releasing a steady stream of brilliant, raw recordings to her YouTube fan base of more than 20,000 subscribers, with almost three million views to date.

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