When T.S. Eliot wrote, “Mankind cannot bear much reality,” he inadvertently (“post-rock” hadn’t reached Oxford yet) described Montreal-based Godspeed You! Black Emperor’s bombastic sound. The band’s music is classically structured and is often lumped into a genre called “post-rock,” though the band dismisses this as a pretentious term. “Post-rock” is used to describe instrumental groups that include the traditional rock n’ roll instrumentation -- guitar, drums, bass -- but breaks from pop song structures. Instead, post-rock draws from a diverse array of influences, most evidently jazz and classical music. The detached, introspective sound of many “post-rock” bands is nonexistent in Godspeed’s music. 

Keeping a more low profile in recent years has fans wondering whatever happened to Estafan, who was such a presence in the 1980s/90s music scene.  We were able to catch up with Estefan recently, along with Karin Caro, Donna Drake and The Village Connection Magazine,  for an interview while the reality show  The Next  was being produced on Long Island at The Paramount Theatre in Huntington, New York. Reality TV seems to be a last bastion of great artists who land on television to either mentor others on the road to fame or keep the irresistible spotlight of fame shining  as long as possible. 

It’s been 25 years since Rap’s finest practitioners, Public Enemy, arrived on the Hip-Hop scene with their powerful aural assault, uncompromising message and high-octane live performances. The group now marks its quarter century with two new concept albums, Most Of My Heroes Still Don’t Appear On No Stamp released in July and The Evil Empire Of Everything coming in September.

If Guthrie were alive today, he would be turning 100 years old on July 14, 2012, and there are festivals and events across the country celebrating his achievements and contributions to America on this, his centennial year. Many activists today would like to believe that if he were still around, Guthrie would be traveling on, speaking the truth in a world filled with lies, opening peoples’ eyes to the contradictions and injustices that abound, and giving hope to the hopeless, not unlike his friend and contemporary, Pete Seeger.

The Royalty is a hard band to pin down. At times they sound like Vampire Weekend, or else like Marilyn Monroe. They can go from channeling Beach House to the Crystals without taking a breath. They sound like a band straight out of the ‘60s or ‘70s that built a time machine and started listening to St. Vincent and Weezer (two of the band’s major influences). Royalty’s front-lady, Nicole Boudreau, recently spoke with Highbrow Magazine.

Peter Link is a legendary composer, dexterous lyricist, and eminent music producer and artistic director who resides in New York City.   He has worked on Broadway, in television, on films, and he has also composed for the ballet. Link has been nominated for two Tony Awards and sold millions of records. He is the CEO and director of Watchfire Music. Link recently spoke with Highbrow Magazine about his career, his passion for inspirational music, and how a young Alicia Keys once helped his son to learn to play the piano.

From charanga to son to timba, Cuba has long been a country world-renowned for its distinct musical styles and traditions. Nevertheless, people in the United States – even the most ardent music lovers -- aren’t likely to become aware of the newest Cuban artists or to hear the latest musical trends, short of paying an actual visit to the island. Greg Landau is a producer, musician and educator from the Bay Area who's traveled to Cuba more than 30 times. New America Media’s Jacob Simas sat down with Landau in his Alameda, Calif., recording studio, where they spoke about Cuban music.

While many indie record stores have disappeared in recent years, notably with the closing of Tower Records’ in 2006 -- just like indie book chains and video stores -- there has been an ever-growing demand for the charming antiquity, the arguably superior sound quality (even with the crackles and pops that annoy proponents of digital sound), and the artistic merit of vinyl records. 

An influx of Mexican immigrants in recent years has swelled Texas’ Hispanic population by a third and, in the process, changed the Lone Star State’s musical tastes, supplanting Tejano with Norteño–a regional Mexican genre with modern lyrics and a younger fan base. That demographic shift has prompted music industry impresarios to buy up radio stations to cater to the swelling ranks of Norteño fans as the Tejano fan base has dwindled. 

The rise of the Internet has pushed artists committed to operating apart from "the system" further into the fringes. Any artist who insists on remaining “indie” must forget that the Internet exists, and work through tight mediums. As Rob Horning of n+1 Magazine wrote in June 2011, “The total-corporate state may have arrived without our really having noticed it.” Branding becomes much easier. Thus authenticity, which the independent music scene focuses a significant amount of energy on, must find new ways to be expressed.