Percussive elements can often be the driving force behind a piece of music, encompassing its energy and guiding the direction of the song. But they are often limited or underexplored in popular music, as the melody tends to dominate the listener’s attention. Read more...

Yeah Yeah Yeahs “Show Your Bones” Interscope In “Fever To Tell,” Yeah Yeah Yeahs frontwoman Karen O sang about love ““ and she was pissed about it. Read more...

Most moviegoers decide whether to see a new film in the span of one to three minutes. As a marketing device, movie trailers are highly effective tools that can determine the next blockbuster or flop at the box office. Read more...

Aside from the Ying Yang Twins’ “Wait (The Whisper Song),” Asian-Americans have been conspicuously absent from the hip-hop scene. Meet fourth-year Asian American studies and economics student David “FD” Nguyen. Read more...

The Flaming Lips “At War with the Mystics” Warner Brothers Records Back before the career-making opus that was “The Soft Bulletin,” The Flaming Lips were kind of a gimmick band. Read more...

Sondre Lerche and the Faces Down Quartet “Duper Sessions” Astralwerks Records A lot of pop music flirts with the influences that inspired its artist. It catches a seventh chord here and there and people can call it jazzy, or the lyrics tell a story and automatically it becomes folk. Read more...

The Flaming Lips “At War with the Mystics” Warner Brothers Records Back before the career-making opus that was “The Soft Bulletin,” The Flaming Lips were kind of a gimmick band. Read more...