Nicholas Hall

Popularity can be a mixed bag for a band. With mass acceptance often comes a form of indentured servitude, with each entitled fan expecting the band to continue his or her personal notion of the band's trajectory, even if that trajectory is effectively standing still. Moody pop-punksters Alkaline Trio have...

Jonathan Richman is one of the most enigmatic American performers of the rock 'n' roll era, both in spite of and because of his devotion to simplicity. Even when Richman was bashing out three-minute proto-punk with the Modern Lovers, there was a naiveté to his work that would only grow...

Oberst has the tendency to be heavy-handed with metaphor and with language in general, often reading like a hipper, more literate version of a 16-year-old's poetry journal. His newest effort, recorded in a rural Mexican locale dubbed Valle Místico, doesn't shy away from that kind of grating poetic license. Here,...