Music

In their debut album, Titus Andronicus may have went into hipster overload with spoken word Albert Camus and Shakespeare. But with their release of "The Monitor," these Jersey kids prove that they've grown up and moved on to more mature territory.

Haiti has been in the news a lot lately, mostly because of the earthquake and the extensive recovery effort afterward. But that is not a complete picture of Haiti. Warm up those earmuff headphones - here are five Haitian musicians who you should be on your radar.

As part of the Independent's coverage of Black History month, here is a list of black artists who helped shape the history (and future) of rock music.

The second coming of Matt Skiba is here; the band has finally made it out of their goth kid phase and gone back to their roots of slick (but sincere) pop punk.

Introducing the Mish-Mash, a chronological playlist of outstanding recordings by my favorite black artists. In honor of Black History Month, plug in those headphones, turn up the volume, close your eyes and drift away. You won't be disappointed.

His rock-steady hands, grasping two wooden drumsticks, hovered over a pair of trembling golden cymbals. After four hours of almost non-stop drumming, Jimmy H. showed no signs of fatigue except for the beads of sweat on his forehead.

I just pulled a record off the back shelf from the kings of extraneous punctuation, You Say Party! We Say Die!. It’s their newest album, "XXXX", and if you’re wondering why you forgot about it or never heard of it, it’s because the album is, quite frankly, terrible.

It’s almost Valentine’s day, and in this most sexy of holiday seasons, it is often hard to ignore the fact that while there are tons of romantic playlists for Barry White fans, there is very little out there for those of us who prefer a louder, faster soundtrack to their Valentine smoochin’.

San Francisco-based band, Girls, fall into the category of overhyped college music despite their best attempt to stand out from the grain.

While Beatles fans of all ages scoop scrambled eggs and French toast onto dinner plates, Strawberry Fields takes the stage for a weekly performance at B.B. King’s Bar and Grill. Mop-top wigs, phony English accents and an all-you-can-eat buffet brunch accompany the set, which spans the Beatles' entire career.

Dr. Conor Nelson balanced an eager crowd on the sprightly whistle of his flute. Silken vibrato notes rippled out in a pleasant ode to acute finger dexterity and lung capacity. Nelson was the third flutist to win the Samuel Baron prize since its inception.

Mars Volta front man Omar Rodriguez- Lopez combines electrical anarchy with thoughtfully structured composition on his twelfth studio album "Xenophanes."

You would think that after thirteen years, five LPs, tons of Eps, as well as several side projects, Atmosphere would have slowed down or fallen off the face of the Earth. Ah!—but Slug knows his relevancy is only equal to his exposure and propagation of his art-form

The Stony Brook Symphony Orchestra presented an Orpheus-style concert at the Staller Center for the Arts Saturday evening, replete with a program of Romantic-style anthems and a marriage proposal.

The Lovely Feathers' new album, "Fantasy of the Lot," is basically the same song played over and over. Listening to the boring lyrics and chord progressions through my headphones gave me an uncomfortable trapped feeling. I had musical claustrophobia.