Rolling Stone catches up with John to have him chronicle his musical evolution into the bluesy Trio format. It's a thirty-minute podcast outlining everything from how he met Steve and Pino to the limitations of pop and the new Continuum record to why blues is the answer. It's an in-depth look at his new direction in life, brain spilling out on the table for us to pick through. This is a must listen for any John Mayer fan.

Listen to the entire podcast at Rolling Stone

With the release this week of Depeche Mode's latest Playing the Angel, frontman David Gahan gets his first songwriting credit in the band's twenty-five year history. Angel marks a return to synth-rock after the lacking Exciter. Gahan sits down with Rolling Stone to discuss how he doesn't care for his own voice, what he thought of Johnny Cash's "Personal Jesus" and his experience with life after death.

Read the full interview at Rolling Stone and look for the PM review of Playing the Angel coming this week.

It seems rising star Courtney Jaye has made Playboy's shortlist for Women on the Verge. She sits in the spotlight with other notable musicians like Charlotte Martin and Martina Topley-Bird (former female lead vocalist for Tricky). Playboy managed to pin down Ms. Jaye to discuss why she is singing the national anthem seemingly everywhere, what's up with those tattoos on her arm and when she might display her um...other unique talents.

Source: Playboy (Warning Explicit Ads)

For a while we seem to have been caught in a modern look at nostalgic sounds. One of the more interesting guests to the party is indie outfit Blondefire. This brother sister duo seem to channel 80's electronica, meshed with a Brazilian tint fueled by the seductive voice of Erica Driscoll. Now factor in they self released their debut EP Don't Whisper Lies, under their old name Astaire, paid for with their credit cards. I'm perplexed why a major hasn't swooped down to gobble them up. I downloaded it this morning, and it is a fabulous disk. Very reminiscent of Ivy. Discover this act before the world does.

Read the full Independent Study feature at MSNBC and make sure you stream "L-L-Love."

Billy Corgan recently unveiled his first solo album TheFutureEmbrace only to negate his independence the same day by saying he wanted the Smashing Pumpkins together again. What is going on under that chrome dome of his? He's parked himself for long enough to discuss publishing his autobiography on the Internet, what a resurrected Pumpkins would look like and what exactly became of the ill fated Zwan.

Read the full interview at MSNBC.

Yeah I saw you checking out Joss Stone's butt when she was slithering around in her recent GAP ad. It seems you aren't the only one as Joss was just as fascinated by her butt double in a recent CNN interview. At 18, she has accomplished two hit albums snaring two Grammy nominations, but she's more concerned with what she hasn't done. "It does make me happy when I look at it. But, still, I'm very critical of myself in every situation, even if it's something really good. I always find one note wrong. Always. Every single time," Stone said. She goes on to discuss how a white chick from England can sound like a black soul mistress, the schizo in her head and what's in store for her next work.

Check out the full interview at CNN

The Bravery has mysteriously become the poster child of inauthentic, unoriginal rock n' roll. They dodged insults while performing at Coachella and bands tried to pick fights with them. Anti-Bravery fliers have been cropping up in Manhattan's East Village and Killer's frontman Brandon Flowers even slighted the group as being "disingenuous ripoff artists." So how does Bravery frontman Sam Endicott feel being rocks biggest target? Spin sat down with him to discuss this strange phenomenon and his Ja Rule versus 50 Cent dynamic he's got going with Brandon Flowers.

Read the full interview at Spin and check out the PM review of their self titled debut.

A bold statement in a pretty solid music year thus far, but Independent Study writer Gregory Perez is ready to make it. Okkervil River is an indie group hailing out of Austin, Texas who seem a bit of a cross between the Arcade Fire, Bright Eyes and maybe a bit of the Shins. Will Sherf has crafted a very interesting listen in Black Sheep Boy. Unique compositions, dipped in passion over sharp lyrics create an album that stands out from the crowd. So is it the album of the year? Well I have that reserved for the White Stripes thus far, but Okkervil River definitely has something worth exploring.

Check out the full Independent Study feature on MSNBC that includes 3 tracks available for stream. Look for the PM review on Black Sheep Boy in the week's ahead.

Van Morrison has been around since music was first created it seems and he's still creating compelling albums that are artistically fresh and commercially viable. At 59, his latest release Magic Time is a fluid work genre hopping between light rock, soul, jazz, blues and just about anything else he can conjure up. Rolling Stone caught up with the icon to find out what where this eclectic collection came from, what it was like to work with legends Ray Charles & Solomon Burke and what he thinks about George Bush having him on his iPod.

Read the full article at Rolling Stone and check back soon for a full review of Morrison's latest Magic Time.

Nick Hodgson, principal songwriter and drummer for the Kaiser Chiefs - the latest Brit band to storm the shores of the United States - isn't tired of talking about where his band stands on the retro continuum, because, well, no one's really asking him about that. Interestingly, Hodgson says that only in America is his group, with its rollicking new-wavish sound, discussed as a nostalgia act.

"Where we come from it doesn't sound retro, but in America people say we sound like '80s stuff. But nobody in England says it. It's weird," Hodgson said. "To us it's really odd because we don't hear it at all. Maybe because in the '80s, American culture was much more interested in the bands like the Cars which didn't make much of an impact in Britain."

Read the full article at MSNBC.

Our celebrity guest commenter from last month has taken the time to sit down with One Times One to answer a boatload of questions surrounding the making of Six Kinds of Passion Looking for an Exit. He outlines his absence, the relationship with his ex-Cardinal band mate Richard Davies as well as discusses the future direction he is taking with the mountain of new material he is sitting on.

Check out the full interview at One Times One and read up on his latest work in our review.

Ray LaMontagne believes in the power of music. "I'm a real music lover," the 31-year-old singer-songwriter said, calling from his home in Wilton, Maine. "I know there are some people who never listen to music and it's just hard to imagine for me. Nothing can make me feel the way music can."

His devotion shows in his major-label debut, Trouble (RCA), in the way he makes lines such as "I've been saved" sound like an Otis Redding triumph in the title track or the way "How Come" recaptures the Americana swagger of The Band circa 1969. It shows in the way LaMontagne deliberately avoids the concerts of his heroes such as Bob Dylan and even the appearances of contemporaries he respects such as Ryan Adams.

Read the full article at Newsday and be sure to check out the PM review on LaMontagne's latest Trouble.

A week before launching the Pixies reunion tour last spring, frontman Frank Black headed into the studio to record his eleventh solo effort, Honeycomb. Out July 19th, the album fulfills Black's decade-long fantasy of making a Nashville record with serious Southern soul talent, with producer Jon Tiven wrangling veterans of legendary studios Muscle Shoals, American Studios and Stax Records.

Read the full interview at Rolling Stone.

It was the best of times, it was most assuredly the worst of times. Initially, 2001 looked like a banner year for peppy techno-rock quartet Garbage. Still swooning from the alterna-chart success of its eponymous 1995 debut and punkier '98 followup Version 2.0, the band--comprised of three brainiac producer/ prodigies and a Scottish siren named Shirley Manson--believed the release of its third salvo Beautiful Garbage would be a career-topping cakewalk. But Dickens himself couldn't have scripted a more disastrous downfall.

Read the full feature article at Paste Music and look for a review on Garbage's latest album Bleed Like Me next week.

Spirituality is often feigned and frequently copied for its cache value. The figure most commonly associated with spirituality is John Coltrane. And his divinity is authenticated by his associations (Eric Dolphy, Sonny Rollins, Kenny Burrell) and the indisputable gospel of the Church of St. John Coltrane. A commanding presence, Charles Lloyd (unedited and in his own words), an erstwhile disciple, has matured to emerge as a messenger of the music. Paralleling Trane, the company Lloyd has kept (Billy Higgins) ultimately validates his spirituality.

Read the full interview at All About Jazz and look for a review on the jazz master's latest CD Jumping the Creek in the weeks ahead.

Here is an interesting factoid for you. Ben Folds released his first solo effort Rockin' the Suburbs on September 11, 2001. It was a disappointment critically (not from this critic) and commercially. Even though it's been four years since his last full release, Ben has been busy. He's released three EPs, a live album and a collaborative effort with Ben Lee and Ben Kweller cleverly named the Bens. He also produced William Shatner's wonderfully interesting Has Been. Ben seems to be abandoning the traditional music industry model in favor of the Internet and he's thriving.

Read the full article on this fascinating musician at MSNBC and check back soon for a review of his latest album, Songs for Silverman.

Lead Singer, Britt Daniel, sits for a CMJ interview and talks about Spoon's long awaited 5th album, Gimme Fiction, and how Mexican food makes life worthwhile. Read the full article.

Also, be sure the check out the PM Review of Gimme Fiction.

The story goes that more than 10 years ago Parisian-born Dominique Durand came to the United States to learn how to speak English. She had never sung before and had no aspirations to front a band. But Adam Schlesinger must have known what he had on his hands. Schlesinger, who would later display his awesome ability to create catchy pop tributes (as displayed when he penned the Beatle-drenched "That Thing You Do!" for the Tom Hanks film of the same name as an assignment), must have heard one breathy, heavily accented word from Dominique's mouth and knew that he had a shot at forming his own private Velvet Underground. The trio was rounded out with Andy Chase and Ivy was born.

Read the full Independent Study feature on Ivy at MSNBC, including three tracks available to steam. Watch PM in the weeks ahead for a review on Ivy's latest release In the Clear.

Ours took up residence in modern rock four years ago with the release of their debut, Distorted Lullabies. It is still one of the best albums ever made in my humble opinion. They released Precious the following year which befell the dreaded Sophmore slump as creative control was pulled away by the producer. After a good gap of silence, Gnecco is back on the record talking about the status of Ours, the comparisons to Jeff Buckley and how he's grown as an artist since Precious.

Read the full interview at Dallas Music Guide.

The new New Wave explosion is in full swing spearheaded by talented groups like Franz Ferdinand, Interpol and the Killers. As the Killers year old debut Hot Fuss loiters around at the top of the charts, Brandon Flowers sits down with Rolling Stone to discuss meeting David Bowie, what song will be playing in hell and an assortment of other interesting questions.

Read the Q&A Session at Rolling Stone.

Josh Rouse has proven himself to be one of the brightest stars on the musicial horizon. Riding high on his latest release Nashville, Rouse is taking on a whole new sub-genre, alt-country, with disarming results. He is starting to catch the notice of the music press with features like the following.

Read the Independent Study article at MSNBC which has three tracks off of Nashville available for stream. Also be sure to check out the PM review for Rouse's Nashville.

Man, right now there is something smart and shiny and good in the water in Montreal. The Stars share a hometown with the Arcade Fire, the Dears, Broken Social Scene and the recently defunct Unicorns, among others. The whole scene is tweaking old recipes and creating something new and tasty. Maybe it's that Canada actually gives grants to talented musicians to explore whatever they want. On their third album, the Stars explore imperfect love and how it sounds on a bed of crisp green electropop.

Read the full Independent Study feature of the Stars at MSNBC as well as stream three tracks off of their latest release. Check back in the weeks ahead for a review of Set Yourself on Fire.

No, we aren't talking about the 80's cheese ball cartoon, but rather the Welsh born singer sensation. Jem is starting to make a name for herself stateside. She has had songs featured on "24", "Without a Trace", promo spots for "Desperate Housewives" as well as a performance on "the OC". All this exposure has given a boost to her debut effort Finally Woken which seems to fuse Dido with Frou Frou. She is currently setting out on tour to support Gavin DeGraw.

Read the full article at MSNBC and be sure to pick up Jem's impressive work Finally Woken.

Although most people reading this probably think that Snow Patrol is a brand-new band, the Ireland-born, Scotland-based quartet has quietly been making great music since 1998, when they released their critically acclaimed but commercially ignored (in the U.S., anyway) indie-pop debut, Songs For Polar Bears. In 2001 they followed up with the equally wonderful When It's All Over We Still Have To Clear Up, which solidified and boosted their underground fanbase but unfortunately did little to provide that big breakthrough that eludes so many U.K. bands trying to make it in America.

Read the full interview on Yahoo Music.

Ambrosia Parsley has a quirky ritual. Every Thursday, she takes a stack of daily newspapers to her favorite restaurant for a little bloody mary and huevos rancheros. She finds an interesting story and she writes it up to perform on a segment called "Ambrosia Sings the News" on Air America Network. Shivaree recently scored a record deal with Zoe records and her effort Who's Got Trouble is causing people to take notice. Quentin Tarantino used "Goodnight Moon" in the closing credits of Kill Bill v.2.

Read the full article on Shivaree at Paste Music and check back next week for a review on her latest release Who's Got Trouble?

One of Britian's hottest rock acts Kasabian is set to take America by storm with the stateside release of their eponymous debut next week and a slew of tour dates. Kasabian, who lifted their name from the Manson's family's getaway driver, feed into a more classic sound reminiscent of the Rolling Stones or perhaps the Stone Roses.

Read more on Kasabian at Rolling Stone and find out when they will be in a city near you.

On my list of 10 tens albums for 2004, The Killers are a modern alternative to the alternative with 80's sensibilities. This Las Vegas quartet rocks the Brit Pop/Retro New Wave sound, and it's exactly what the industry's needed. Hot Fuss, is a fierce debut from a band that will bring back memories of Duran Duran and Pet Shop Boys while creating an edgier identity all their own.

Check out CNN's feature on The Killers.

Buy it now!

They're identical twin sisters, they're lesbians, they choose to live on opposite sides of Canada so they're able to work together without driving each other crazy, and their record label requested that they please write songs about "something other than love." Yeah, right. Considering the way these two adore writing love songs, it's easy to picture Tegan and Sara politely giving the finger to that request.

Read the full article at MSNBC now.

When everyone seems to be talking about a band, I usually feel a bit wary. Even yesterday as I was driving home, my local public alt-music station KEXP claimed that The Arcade Fire's debut CD was "one of the best albums of the year." Well, like I said, I usually feel wary. But in the case of The Arcade Fire, I can only say that I totally agree.

Read the full article at MSNBC.

Every morning, for about three weeks now, I've been getting in my car and cranking up "Me and Mia" for my commute to work. It's the first and best song off Ted Leo's new album Shake The Sheets, and by golly it's the only song I think I'll ever need ever again for my morning drive. It's coming close to replacing coffee.

Read the full article at MSNBC.
Download "Me and Mia" for free at Abercrombie Music.