Susannah Samuels

Sweet Jane When John Cale left the Velvet Underground, everything changed. The viola player was the unsung hero of the band’s experimentation and overall weirdness. Though they only put out two albums with Cale — “The Banana Album” and White Light/White Heat — he became a signature part of their … Continue Reading

CBGB FestivalUnder the K Bridge, 9/27/25 I woke up way too early to get in line at the Bowery Presents office in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, for tickets to the CBGB Festival. Named in memoriam of the infamous East Village punk-rock club, the event boasted a lineup featuring big names like Iggy Pop, … Continue Reading

Dollywood As a city kid, my first experience of the South was our Dear Lady Dolly Parton’s Appalachian theme park in Tennessee. The park is located in a tiny town called Pigeon Forge, in the middle of the Smoky Mountains. Pigeon Forge is kind of a mess. Driving through the main drag, you’ll see a … Continue Reading

Car Seat Headrest, The Scholars Popular music seems to be continuously wavering between favoring longer, meandering songs (think Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin) to favoring 2-minute highly-structured poppy cuts (think ’50s and ’60s classics or pop stars like Katy Perry and Miley Cyrus). The former has … Continue Reading

Dead Kennedys at Irving Plaza  Zine-making is a dying art. Recently I found an old zine in my room called Broken Nights Brooklyn. I remember picking it up at an old guitar shop a couple years ago and thinking that it was one of the best zines I had ever read. Which it probably still is, I’ll be … Continue Reading

In order to understand what Hüsker Dü accomplished as a band, it’s important to look at the vacuum in which it existed. The band was created in 1979 — a time when the Ramones, the Damned, the Clash, and Buzzcocks were the hip new things. But when I listen to Hüsker Dü now, it doesn’t really feel … Continue Reading

Horsegirl, Phonetics On and On A couple years ago I went to see Pavement at Kings Theater in Brooklyn, which was fine. The real surprise of the evening was seeing Horsegirl open for them. Bob Nastanovitch, a longtime member of Pavement and a family friend, had gotten us the tickets and said that I … Continue Reading

A younger, less mature version of myself hated the idea that somebody could sell out. I viewed art as the most sacred and personal thing in the world. Turning it into profit would be completely blasphemous, right?  It wasn’t until a couple weeks ago, when I went to see Modest Mouse play at Brooklyn … Continue Reading

Riot Fest is one of the biggest alternative music festivals in America, with three days of music, and genres across the spectrum. They even have their own alcoholic soda brand and a chapel inside of the festival. I desperately wanted to go to Riot Fest last year, but the festival was scheduled … Continue Reading

Soon, kids all around the world will have to make the mental shift from not knowing what day of the week it is to being forced to pay attention to what’s a school day and what is a weekend day. Personally, I believe I’m much too cool for school. But with back-to-school coming up, and the threat of … Continue Reading

Illinoise  Sufjan Stevens is an indie musician best known for his low-key song “Mystery of Love,” which was featured in the film Call Me by Your Name — a gay romance set in Italy, based on a novel by André Aciman. This is why it was so strange to hear that Stevens’s album Illinois had become the … Continue Reading

Aghori Mhori Mei — Smashing Pumpkins There seems to be a crazy divide occurring within The Smashing Pumpkins fan base. The band is probably one of the most important alt-rock bands of all time. Their 1993 masterpiece Siamese Dream is probably one of the best albums of all time, and has majorly … Continue Reading

CBGB, as most insufferable oldheads will tell you, was the epitome of all musical culture in New York City, and therefore on the entire planet, especially punks. But since its demise in 2006, three years before I was born, the insufferable oldheads have seemingly switched their attitudes from, … Continue Reading

Joni Mitchell and Neil Young Are Back on Spotify  In January 2022, Neil Young left the crappy streaming service Spotify for two reasons. First, because of its despicable music-destroying streaming quality, and second, because the platform hosted Joe Rogan's podcast, which Young believed had spread … Continue Reading

On October 21, 2003, Elliott Smith, who was known for writing depressing songs, allegedly killed himself. This would seem completely plausible, especially considering the fact that Smith was a heroin addict. Except, the case is still open 20 years later, and has yet to be solved.  The first real … Continue Reading

Concert Review In the past month, I admittedly did not see as much live music as I usually do. Attempts were made, but schedules didn’t really line up. January and February are mostly dead months for concert bookings anyhow. Which is why when I found this show at Pineapple, only a couple days … Continue Reading

Some say the fun of winter is being able to trudge through the snow while imagining that your fingers have fallen off because you can't feel them. But I think it's about the calm after the storm, drinking hot chocolate by a crackling fire while watching the snow fall outside. Either way, there are … Continue Reading

CONCERT REVIEW Dinosaur Jr., Music Hall of Williamsburg December 7th was the second-to-last show of Dinosaur Jr.’s eight-night “residency” at the Music Hall of Williamsburg in Brooklyn, New York. Amid all the Starbucks and pricey jeans stores, the grungy venue with its marquee claiming “DINOSAUR … Continue Reading

Wilco, Cousin If you’d have asked me about Wilco a couple of months ago, I would have told you that I liked the band just fine. They even made it onto the “light” section of my curated playlist in County Highway’s Issue #2. After listening to the band’s new album, I would probably say the same … Continue Reading

Sparklehorse, Bird Machine Indie rock band Sparklehorse released Bird Machine, their newest and final album, on September 8th. It’s the first album the band has put out since the lead singer Mark Linkous died by suicide in 2010. The album itself was recorded in 2009 and was set to drop that year, … Continue Reading

I first discovered Built to Spill about a year and a half ago, when I was flipping through a stack of records at a local store. I saw their record There's Nothing Wrong With Love, with its ominous cloud and off-white background, and flipped past it. The reason I remember this moment so clearly is … Continue Reading