Music of Ireland traces the origins of Irish music, and features exclusive interviews with U2’s Bono and Adam Clayton, Michael Flatley and Bill Whelan of Riverdance, Live Aid and Band Aid founder Bob Geldof of The Boomtown Rats, Sinéad O’Connor, Pete Seeger, The Chieftains’ Paddy Moloney, former Celtic Woman Órla Fallon, Black 47’s Larry Kirwan, six-time Academy Award-nominated director Jim Sheridan, the late Liam Clancy in his final U.S.

Taken from a storming 2 hour set at [Burning Man's] Opulent Temple in the Black Rock Desert this past summer, Carl Cox released his debut Global Underground mix album, ‘Black Rock Desert,’ on January 25th, 2010.

The Cold War Kids’ boss Nathan Willett had more than enough of his own toxic-guitar to go around on the band’s latest EP, Behave Yourself, a slight dip in consistency from 2006’s Robbers & Cowards and 2008’s Loyalty to Loyalty.

Maura Kennedy, one-half of the folk-pop mavens, The Kennedys, released her first solo album on Planned Effervescence Recordings on January 19, 2010. Parade of Echoes is a thirteen-song soliloquy to the light and dark sides of pop, cast in the brilliant sheen of her carillon harmonies and bell-like lead vocals.

Vampire Weekend is back with their sophomore album, Contra. The four-piece indie rock band met at Columbia University before producing their debut album in 2008. The band has said that their influences are drawn from popular African music and western classical music. Give one of their songs a listen and you’ll quickly realize how true this is – and indeed, how great it sounds.

It was the Adelita Bar. “There were a bunch of young, really pretty girls and I realized it was basically a brothel,” explains Rick. “I chatted with one girl, questioning why she was living this life? And I wrote a song about it. The band name emerged from the sad stories behind the ‘Way’ they lived at the Adelita—Adelitas Way.

A 15-strong-track album of flammable-fresh at-home and in-club orientated music, it will again bring F&P’s name to the very epicentre of the dance scene. Filo & Peri have brought some of the world’s finest (and previously undiscovered) singers and songwriters into the spotlight.

“Sparkle Lane is a street in England where my grandmother lived,” Rogers explains. “The concrete was mixed with pieces of broken glass, so when I was a kid and I’d go to my grandmother’s house in the evening, the street would always look like it was sparkling. That’s how life felt to me as a kid.”

“I’m really confident with what we’ve put together with II,” Raekwon states. “It’s another classic. I challenged myself and I didn’t try to repeat myself or topics. I just had to make sure I captured the feeling that the first one had and gave to the listener.”

McCready said, “I’d sum it up as kind of a tight, concise, rock ‘n’ roll record with kind of pop or maybe new wave elements to it… It’s a really quick record, but I like that element to it. I like the sparseness of the songs and the way that Brendan pulled us together and made us play as good as we could.”

After months, if not years of Internet speculation and rumor, the man many call The God MC, Rakim Allah released his long awaited new album The Seventh Seal on November 17, 2009. Guest artists include Busta Rhymes, Jadakiss, Maino, Tracey Horton, IQ, Styles P, and others, including Destiny Griffin, Rakim’s own daughter.

On September 15, British progressive rock band Muse is getting released their 5th studio album entitled The Resistance. In an effort to bolster opening day sales the band opened up for U2 on the east coast leg of their 360 degrees tour. You can also her the album’s first single, “Uprising” during certain highlights on ESPN’s Sportscenter.

While getting hit by a “HA-DOU-KEN” or “SHYO-RYU-KEN” may land you in the hospital being pounded by a “SONIC BOOM” can leave you wanting more like it did for a packed Santos Party House when the Boom Boom Satellites (BBS) unleashed a barrage of audio mayhem on the big apple this past November.

Also known as the “Techno Capital of Norway,” Tromsø has produced many talented musicians like Bjørn Torske, Frost, Kings of Convenience’s guitarist/songwriter Erlend Øye, and most notably Röyksopp’s Torbjørn Brundtland and Svein Berge, who in late November lit up New York City’s Webster Hall brighter than Tromsø’s winter skies.

UnRated NYC caught bassist Geoff Council, drummer Jeff Olson, guitarist Andrew Burns, and lead vocalist/guitarist Jason Brody on stage at The Suffolk in late October performing tracks off their self-titled EP to a group of enthusiastic concert goers.

By Lindsay Wallace
Chicken Soup For the Soul: The Story Behind the Song
The Exclusive Personal Stories behind 101 of Your Favorite Songs.

Jo Ann Geffen compiled a book of 101 songs by your favorite artists from Kanye West to Richie Sambora. Why hadn’t anyone ever thought of this before? Surely at some point in our lives, everyone [...]

Chester Bennington may have found global success with Linkin Park, but just one day after the release of his new band’s debut album Bennington pumped New York City’s Blender Theatre full of rock mayhem. Out Of Ashes is Dead By Sunrise’s debut album, and on it Bennington also performs guitar and keyboard.

On October 8th and 9th, the legendary Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band rocked Giant’s Stadium with the final of five shows at the venue. These shows are the last that Giants Stadium will ever see before it is knocked down.

Isolation is more than just being alone. You could be in a room full of people and still be isolated. In a effort to thwart loneliness some people use creativity to express themselves which is exactly what singer/songwriter/producer Michael Nova does on the live music multimedia project, X: The Human Condition.

For fans, seeing U2 live in concert is a downright religious experience. But for those who haven’t been able to catch them on the 360 tour, the best way to describe it would be along the lines of “strikingly beautiful” or “gloriously splendid”.