Authors

Rebecca Kunin

Rebecca Kunin is a scholar, zine maker, drummer, and dog mom who currently resides in Bloomington, Indiana. Working on a PhD in Ethnomusicology, she does research on punk music and zine culture as they intersect with notions of identity, health, and education

Cut and Paste

A Brief History of Zine Publishing

CUT AND PASTE is a new column that celebrates proto-blog culture by delving into the world of self-published print media - colloquially referred to as zines - which cover a wide scope of the personal and political lives of its authors and their various cultural obsessions. The column will be a mix...

Playing Bloomington

Situation X Brings Peruvian Punk to NOISE Gallery

As a professor of anthropology at Indiana University, Dr. Shane Greene's focus on Latin American and Caribbean Studies brought him to an unexpected area of research: the various underground punk movements of Peru. For American and UK audiences, punk symbolized rebellion through aggressive music and...

Playing Bloomington

Live Music Highlights From August

Rarely a night goes by in Bloomington without locals filling the basements of show-houses, bobbing their heads to punk, garage, and grunge riffs. Once a month, Rebecca recounts some of the live music highlights from the previous four weeks. Read and listen below for a bevy of Bloomington bands that...

Playing Bloomington

Meet Fresh Kill

Jess Mann and Emma Johnson of Fresh Kill, one of the newest bands to appear on the local scene, began writing songs together almost immediately after Emma started taking drum lessons back in February. In the notably short span of time that has since passed, the two have been busy writing and...

Playing Bloomington

Live Music Highlights From July

Reviews · Playing Bloomington

On Dasher's Powerful Debut Sodium

Kylee Kimbrough knocked over her drum set and walked off the stage as the crowd took pictures and cheered at the Dasher release party this weekend. Along with bandmates Gary Magilla (bass) and Derek McCain (guitar), she had just delivered a stormy live performance in celebration of Sodium, Dasher’s...

Playing Bloomington

Gluestick Zine Fest

This Saturday I drove to Indianapolis to attend the second annual Gluestick 2017, Indianapolis’s zine and small publishing festival. Held at the historic Irving Theater, Gluestick featured zines, comics, prints, and limited circulation books from publishing companies and individuals from...

Playing Bloomington

Jessie Grubb and Bethany Lumsdaine of Shut up and Listen

Shut up and Listen is a serial zine based out of Bloomington, Indiana that focuses on the (mostly local) underground music scene. Jessie Grubb and Bethany Lumsdaine are the creative partners and best friends behind the zine and radio show under the same name. Grubb and Lumsdaine have been self...

Playing Bloomington

Live Music Highlights From June

(June 24) Jacky Boy @ the Void Bloomington locals Mark, Stone, and Steve constitute the trio of secular rockers known as Jacky Boy that opened up the night at Punks Give Back #4. Punks Give Back! Bloomington is a local branch of Punks Give Back!, a national, not-for-profit organization that...

Playing Bloomington · Live Review

Femme Night @ the Dream

The Bloomington house show network is comprised of dozens of privately owned and rented houses that are scattered across town. On any given night, students and other young adults freely filter in and out of these spaces, packing themselves into hot, stuffy, unfinished basements in order to...

Playing Bloomington

The Dancing Cigarettes

Whenever I tell people that I research the Bloomington punk scene, they are often surprised to learn about its existence and skeptical about its ability to be anything other than a small-scale replica of more famous scenes in larger cities. While Bloomington reacts to and against other punk scenes,...

Playing Bloomington · Live Review

Punks Give Back @ the Root Cellar

Punks Give Back! Bloomington is a local branch of Punks Give Back!, a national, not-for-profit organization that supports local artists and organizers to raise money for local nonprofit organizations. Punks Give Back! Bloomington organizes a monthly event with music and poetry in order to channel...

Interviews · Profiles · Playing Bloomington

Amy O on Zine Culture and Basement Pop

Seventy low laps around the track You’ll want to look back From Ohio to the east onto the midwest Time pools in the past Amy Oelsner (otherwise known as Amy O) has been fine-tuning her brand of grunge-infused basement pop since 2004. Although some might know her as one-half of the Bloomington-based...

Playing Bloomington · Live Review

A Lo-Fi Showdown at King Dough

Located on the north end of the city square, King Dough is Bloomington’s bourgie-hipster pizza spot, the type of place that offers a pizza topped with grapes, bleu cheese, and honey (which I highly recommend), alongside charcuterie and local craft beer. Drawing from an industrial aesthetic and open...

Playing Bloomington

Landlocked Record Store Day

It is no secret that in the increasingly capitalized digital age we now find ourselves living in, independently owned record stores are struggling more than ever to remain afloat. The first annual Record Store Day was celebrated ten years ago as an initiative to support independently owned record...

Playing Bloomington

Why Bloomington? an Intro to Hoosier Punk

The back cover of MX-80 Sound LP Out of the Tunnel. Photo by Kim Torgerson (c. 1980) I moved from Brooklyn, New York to Bloomington, Indiana in the fall of 2014 to pursue a PhD in Ethnomusicology at Indiana University - in a nutshell, to study music within its cultural context. Coming from a...

Album Review

Big Talk EP

What do you get when you combine the catchy choruses of Icona Pop, the domineering persona of Robyn and the percussive singing style of Charli XCX? A musician that at first glance sounds a lot like Conway. While I try to avoid making these definitive connections, Conway seemingly fills a slot...

Flashback Friday

Pete Seeger

It's the hammer of justice It's the bell of freedom It's the song about love between my brothers and my sisters All over this land. I used to go to the Hudson Clearwater festival every year as a child with my mom, dad, brother and grandparents. I’m not sure if this is a real memory or not, but one...

MUSING · Album Review

Wild Beasts "Present Tense"

In 2002, guitarist Hayden Thorpe and guitarist Ben Little met in the charming town of Kendal in the Lake District of England. After eventually outgrowing their small town, they exchanged the rolling hills of the Lake District for the industrial streets of Leeds, where their careers began to kick...

MUSING · Track Review

Jenny Lewis "Just One of the Guys"

There’s only one difference between you and me When I look at myself all I can see I’m just another lady without a baby Jenny Lewis has had a long and fruitful career since she began singing as the lead vocalist for Rilo Kiley back in 1998. After putting out five albums with the band - Take Offs...

MUSING · Video Review

The Mast "Luxor"

Electronic duo The Mast (vocalist Haleh Gafori and percussionist Matt Kilmer) haven’t had much downtime this year. They began 2014 with the release of their sophomore album Pleasure Island, following it up with a handful of NYC performances and a music video for “Nuclear Dragon.” Now, The Mast...

MUSING · Album Review

Cerebral Ballzy "Jaded and Faded"

Let’s get fucked tonight, cuz it’s pretty in the city. Let’s just dance tonight, cuz it’s pretty in the city. Let it go tonight, cuz it’s pretty in the city. One of these days we’ll take the town, but for now we’ll just buy a 40 oz Cerebral Ballzy entered the music scene in 2011 when they released...

MUSING · Album Review

Archie Bronson Outfit "Wild Crush"

Hailing from the charming city of Bath in southwestern England comes Archie Bronson Outfit, who make the kind of blistering rock n' roll more commonly associated with acts on our side of the pond. Since their debut in 2004 with Fur, Archie Bronson Outfit have released Derdang Derdang (2006),...

Femme Unfiltered

Childbirth

Twice a month, AudioFemme profiles artists both emerging and established, who, in this industry, must rebel against misogynist cultural mores. Through their music they express the attendant hurdles and adversities (vis-a-vis the entertainment industry and beyond) propagated by those mores. For our...

MUSING · Video Review

Cold Beat "Mirror"

Now that Memorial Day has come and gone, I can happily say that the summer has unofficially begun, and if you are like me, then you are probably gearing up your Summer ‘14 Spotify playlist. Heads up: it would be incomplete without the likes of Cold Beat, who released a video for their delightful...

MUSING · Video · EYE CANDY · Video Review

"Night Falls on the General Assembly"

Leverage Models, Shannon Fields most recent solo endeavor, released its self titled debut full length album on October 1. The album’s ten tracks are filled with poppy synth beats, heavy percussion and dramatic vocals. While Fields is the man behind the music, he did not hesitate to enlist the help...

MUSING · Track Review

Spider Bags "Back With You Again in the World"

This night might be filled with sorrow Your heart might still feel so blue But I’ll be back with you again in the world tomorrow I’ll be back with you again in the world It’s hard to put the music of Chapel Hill-based Spider Bags into words. At their core, they could probably be described as a...

Reviews · MUSING

FILM Review: Mistaken for Strangers

Save the strawberry blonde hair, the baritone speaking voice, and the obvious affinity towards the arts and everything creative, Matt and Tom Berninger have nothing in common. Matt, who heads one of the most popular and critically acclaimed rock groups of the present, The National, is sarcastic,...

MUSING · Track Review

Julia Holter Remixes Boardwalk

Experimental indie/electronic artist Julia Holter stripped down Boardwalk's "I'm To Blame" (from the band's self-titled 2013 LP) and made an unsettling and totally possessing remix. Boardwalk (Mike Edge and Amber Quintero) liked it so much that they decided to make the stems for the track avalaible...

OUT AND ABOUT · Live Review

Margot and the Nuclear so and So's @ the Bowery Ballroom

After living in New York for a while it's easy to get wrapped up in the inevitable cynicism that encapsulates the city, which is usually charming but at times can be exhausting. This is most likely why I was initially welcoming of the undeniable midwestern charm of Indianapolis/Chicago-based Margot...

Track of the Week

Bebe Panthere "Gimme All Your Money"

Steven Chu Photography Brooklyn based pop diva Bebe Panthere (aka Effie Liu, former backing vocalist for French Horn Rebellion) might be classically trained on the piano and violin, but if “Gimme All Your Money,” the first single off of her upcoming EP Pink Sweat is any indication, she's doing...

MUSING · Album Review

Pink Mountaintops - Get Back

I saw a photograph lying in the street Picture of you Oh and how times change Though it has been five years since we've heard anything from Pink Mountaintops, frontman Steve McBean has remained incredibly busy. Moving from his homebase in Vancouver to Los Angeles didn't stop him from releasing...

OUT AND ABOUT · Live Review

The Mast @ Glasslands

Brooklyn-based band The Mast have been busy since their formation back in 2011. The release of their debut album Wild Poppies introduced the world to percussionist Matt Kilmer and vocalist Haleh Gafori. They followed that up with a 2012 single for “UpUpUp,” released along with five remixes of the...

MUSING · Track Review

Brian Reitzell, "Last Summer"

"I wasn't making a pop record… I was experimenting with sounds to further my knowledge for creating music for my film projects and exploring new ways to make music." ********** Los Angeles based Brian Reitzell has been keeping very busy as a behind the scenes musician for quite some time now. Since...

MUSING · Live Review

Suuns @ Death by Audio

Last weekend I got to see Suuns at Death By Audio, along with three local gems, Azar Swan, Bennio Qwerty and FLAG. Unsurprisingly, the night was filled with heavy basslines, intense vocals, and an indescribable energy that extended to all of the genre transcending acts of the night. Ben Shemie...

Interviews · Live Review

Kaki King's the Neck Is a Bridge to the Body

“As I'm playing, these images are telling this entire amazing story of creation, and travel, and how the guitar perceives itself, and all of this will happen as I’m playing live” We often personify objects that are important to us. People name their cars, feel personal attachments to their...

Album Review

Dress Rehearsal

“There’s a darkness in you, and I feel it turning.” Philadelphia based Corey Regensburg, aka Moon Bounce, has been making experimental, genre transcending electronic music since 2011. After solidifying his experimental pop / electronic sound with his first two EPs, Darn Your Best Frock (2011) and...

MUSING · Track Review

"Taking Chances"

Sharon Van Etten has gone a great distance musically, and probably emotionally since we first heard the sad, minimal, unpolished and vulnerable laments of heartbreak on Because I Was In Love back in 2009. It was pretty clear right off the bat that Sharon Van Etten had some serious musical chops,...

MUSING · Track Review

"Pyramids" (Frank Ocean Bootleg)

Based out of Seattle, Blue Sky Black Death (BSBD) consists of Kingston (Kingston Maguire) and Young God (Ian Taggart). Both Kingston and Young God were beat makers and hip-hop artists throughout the early ‘00s. In 2005, they eventually met up with each other and collaborated on a double album, A...

MUSING · Track Review

Young Magic, "Fall In"

gold dreamers, aspiring planet wanderers, silk sounders If I had gone to the Purity Ring show back in January '13 at Webster Hall like I was supposed to (I had to work), then I would have seen the Brooklyn based experimental electronic duo, Young Magic, open up. Unfortunately I missed out on what...

OUT AND ABOUT · Live Review

The Box Tiger @ Rock Shop

So let’s set fire to our friends. We can watch them burn ‘till their dead, dead, dead. The Box Tiger is an indie rock band from Toronto, Canada. Formed in 2009, They released initial material, a self titled EP in 2010. After teasing us with a few singles, they finally dropped their full length...

OUT AND ABOUT · Live Review

Neutral Milk Hotel 1/22

Neutral Milk Hotel announced their tour dates in July. The tickets went on sale on August 2nd at 12:00 pm. I bought my tickets at 12:01. I printed out the tickets at 12:02. By 12:05, I worked out that I had approximately 173 days and 8 hours and 55 minutes to wait. I have never been the poster...

MUSING · Album Review

Farewell Young Lovers

Todd Gautreau, the man behind Crushed Stars, left behind electronic music for more melodic, folky sounds demonstrating his exceptional talent as a singer, multi-instrumentalist and composer along the way. Crushed Stars released its fifth album, Farewell Young Lovers on January 21, 2014. Its nine...

Flashback Friday

"Goodnight Irene"

I woke up this morning to my first Brooklyn snow storm. After promptly deciding that I wasn’t going to leave the my apartment for at least 24 hours, I poured myself a cup of coffee, curled up next to my cat, and put on some folk music. While some children needed their blankets or teddy bears to...

Reviews · Track of the Week · MUSING

TRACK OF THE WEEK 01/20: The Mast, "Luxor"

Riding over ruins on a red balloon twilight For all those who have yet to satisfy their thirst for experimental electro pop this year, don’t worry, you will soon be satiated. Brooklyn based duo The Mast is releasing their newest album, Pleasure Island on January 28th off of Channel A Records....

Femme Unfiltered

Hand Job Academy

Twice a month, audiofemme profiles artists both emerging and established, who, in this industry, must rebel against misogynist cultural mores. Through their music they express the attendant hurdles and adversities (vis-a-vis the entertainment industry and beyond) propagated by those mores. For our...

Live Review

ALBUM + LIVE Review: Flagland

Brooklyn based trio Flagland is releasing their third full length album, Love Hard, on February 25th on Father Daughter Records. For Love Hard, Flagland drew from a number of ingredients to cook up their own specific and unique musical concoction of panicky rock. Kerry Kalberg (vocals and guitar),...

Femme Unfiltered

Lizzo

Track Review

"Obstacle Eyes"

Deny it all you want, but there is a point in every New Yorker’s day during the bitter winter cold when we think, screw it, I’m moving to California. While I will never act on this moment of temporary insanity, it is nice to keep the dream alive. Regardless of the fact that I am doomed to live in...

Femme Unfiltered

Perfect Pussy

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