Summerfest can be unkind to indie bands, as the nuances associated with the genre are often swallowed up by cavernous stages and unforgiving sound systems (as well as audiences). At first glance, The Walkmen did not seem like a good fit...

The Walkmen's distinctly bittersweet take on turn-of-the-century New York guitar rock is at turns blissful and brutal, a dynamic best documented on the 2004...

Ben Folds has kept busy since he disbanded his piano-rock trio Ben Folds Five shortly after the release of its bold final album, 1999's The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner. He's recorded plenty of solo albums...

I've lavished some almost recklessly lavish praise on Okkervil River over the years, but I still stand by it all. After releasing two of the defining albums of my college years, the vibrant Don't Fall in Love with Everyone You See and the lovely Down the River of Golden Dreams, the group wowed me with some of the most frenzied live shows I've ever seen. It turns out that those shows, as Will Sheff...

The Walkmen's distinctly moody take on fashionable, New York guitar rock is at turns blissful and brutal, a dynamic best captured on their 2004 album Bows Arrows and its seething single "The Rat." Although stock in the band has fallen a bit since then, they . . .