Parisians Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo and Thomas Bangalter, better known as Daft Punk, are kind of a big deal. Their fourth album, Random Access Memories, which will be released come next Tuesday, is the first studio album for the duo in a whopping eight years. Its coming has been foretold by borderline excessive media fanfare the likes of which I’ve never witnessed for any electronic artist. In light of the upcoming release, now is as good a time as any to count down the best singles the elusive duo has released thus far. Keep ‘em coming, guys!
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The prevalence of new artists on the Internet is a double-edged sword when it comes to electronic music. On the one hand, you have access to an unending torrent of new music in every permutation of every genre that has ever existed. Instantly. On the other hand, quantity isn’t necessarily an indicator of quality. A lot of people are making music. Most of them will not be in a few months (c’est la vie), but here are a few I think have some staying power.
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So it’s time. The members of the class of 2013 are donning their caps and gowns and leaving the warm womb of academia for the real world.

I am one of these soon-to-be college graduates. Knowing the impending event looms in the very near future, I can’t help but be terrified. Whenever anyone asks me what I’m going to do next, I just say that I don’t know.
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For centuries, the culture of music has being growing and expanding, evolving from the African drum used for communication and celebration to high-tech programs and applications that can be used to create sounds never before heard. In the last 30 years alone, some truly incredible musicians have experimented with music in ways that have permanently altered their genres. I am definitely using the term “experimental” loosely, but the following artists are responsible for some of the most important sonic experiments of the past three decades.
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If this year’s truly surreal appearance of R. Kelly during Phoenix’s Coachella headline set proved anything, it’s that people love an unlikely collaboration. Especially since the days when Aerosmith and Run DMC teamed up to have a super-size hit that gave people the idea that rock and rap could mix (for better or worse), music has been littered with some unlikely and, at times, unnecessary tag teams with a decidedly mixed bag of results. These are just a few of the best.
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If you’ve been keeping track of the spring’s upcoming releases, you know that May is going to be a good month music-wise. However, the sheer volume of choices out there can be daunting. So I’m here to help with the month’s Top 5 Most Anticipated Albums!
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Both weekends of Coachella 2013 have ended, but in a matter of weeks, hundreds of thousands of us will be anxiously refreshing our browsers in the seconds leading up to 10 AM, hoping for the opportunity to buy festival passes to the 2014 edition. If you’re lucky enough to get access to the purchase page (emphasis on the “if”), you’ll have a steadily ticking counter staring at you while you try to complete your purchase. It’s perfectly normal human behavior to pray to any and every deity in the sky for your transaction to be devoid of any unfortunate technical hang-ups. All so you can spend, at minimum, $350 for a festival that’s practically a year away and whose lineup you won’t know for another several months.

This is what modern music festivals have become.
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Last year I road tripped through the South for an unforgettable experience at New Orleans JazzFest. With summer bearing down upon us, the festival circuit well underway, and Coachella now in our rearview mirror, let’s take a look at some other lesser-known festivals across the country. These are the American music festivals you didn’t realize you should be going to.
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Mmm…Hear that? That’s the sound of summer music festivals slowly creeping their way towards us. Hard Summer and EDC are quite a ways away, but it doesn’t have to feel that way. Thank goodness for Busy P.
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From psychedelic stunners on the Outdoor Theatre to heart-pounding turntablists in the Sahara Tent to unforgettable alternative on the Main Stage, Coachella Weekend 1 offered a little something for everyone. With the first weekend over and the second weekend fast approaching, there’s no time like the present to recap what were, in my opinion, the most memorable sets of the weekend.
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