“So excellent they’re almost tiresome.” Those are the words an editor of mine used to describe Calexico, the Tucson Tex-Mex collective semi-permanently gathered around singer-guitarist Joey Burns and drummer John Convertino. He had a point. When a new Calexico album comes out you almost look to avoid it, simply because you know the music will […]

As an Australian-based journalist, it’s a little rare to interview an American artist on the verge of an album release. But not as rare as it used to be: independent musicians now make the majority of their money touring, and that includes touring internationally. Sometimes the timing gets a little awkward. I caught up with […]

We’re a long way from turntablism’s halcyon days in the late 90s and early 00s, when stars such as Mix Master Mike and Qbert scratched and picked their way across the globe. The shows were frequently amazing – jaw dropping displays of technique and skill set against the visceral backdrop of rap music – but […]

On a Previous Episode of the Passion of the Weiss: The Top 50 Albums of: 2011; 2010; 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006 50. House Shoes – Let it Go [Tres] No best album list is complete without something from Detroit. Nowhere else is as no frills and unvarnished. It operates as a palate cleanser to remind […]

 On a Previous Episode of the Passion of the Weiss: The Top 50 Albums of: 2011; 2010; 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006     50. House Shoes – Let it Go  [Tres] No best album list is complete without something from Detroit. Nowhere else is as no frills and unvarnished. It operates as a palate cleanser […]

Now with ZIP File.  Download: Passion of the Weiss Top 50 Hip Hop Songs, 2012: Part II (#50-26) (Left-Click) Passion of the Weiss Top 50 Hip Hop Songs, 2012: Part I (#25-1 ) (Left-Click) Previously: Passion of the Weiss Top Hip Hop Songs — 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006 Novelty Bonus – “Hot Cheetos […]

Previously: Passion of the Weiss Top 50 Hip Hop Songs, 2012 (#50-26) Passion of the Weiss Top Hip Hop Songs — 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006 25. Azealia Banks – “1991” As much as Azealia Banks’s Twitter is the worst thing on the internet and the blogosphere’s obsession with her Twitter is the second […]

Matt Shea is a maestro on the begena Listening to a new jazz artist can be a total chore. The genre’s stylistic purview is so wide that somebody handing you music and telling you to check it out is a sure fire way for said music to end up under the bed or, these days, […]

Your interpretation of Nada Surf’s career probably depends on your genre specifics. If you were a slacker rock fanatic, then they were the one hit wonder kiss-off to the mid-90s movement — their epic single “Popular” a moment of focussed truth-telling before the band disappeared into indie obscurity. But if your tastes run a bit […]

The Afghan Whigs provided us with one of the more surprising reunions of recent memory. As recently as two years ago, singer-songwriter Greg Dulli flatly talked down the idea of the Cincinnati-based four-piece – who steamed through the 90s on the back of a clutch of exceptional, if occasionally flawed, albums – putting aside other […]