Fans longing for an Outkast reunion should imagine how Big Boi feels. The rapper has made no secret of his desire to see his pioneering Atlanta hip-hop duo end its indefinite hiatus, but his estranged collaborator André

 It’s hard to listen to the hushed, minimal pop of The xx’s debut album without feeling like you’re eavesdropping. When guitarist Romy Madley Croft and bassist Oliver Sim trade verses with each other...

An experiment in genre-bending, Nicole Atkins’ latest album, Neptune City, incorporates influences well beyond the requisite Springsteen-styled Americana expected from a New Jersey singer-songwriter. The record also shows the 28-year-old’s roots in psych-folk, chamber-pop and alternative. Atkins, who headlines . . .

A male artist who imagines an ideal woman and brings her to life?

Milwaukee trio Fahri's song “Lazy Fruit” begins in defiance of its own title. With its rolling drumbeat and poppy guitars, it expels an air of delicious nervousness—the kind of thrills that come from campy horror movies, grade-school...

Despite what their moniker promises, The Scotland Yard Gospel Choir, which plays an 8 p.m. show tonight at the UWM Gasthaus, isn't from Scotland; they don't play gospel; and, for that matter, they're not a choir. They're a Chicago co-ed indie pop ensemble with a warm, dreamy sound and the requisite allegiance to Belle & Sebastian...

Once coldly dismissed as yet another Promise Ring side project, local indie-rockers Maritime have picked up a well-deserved following over the years, as their records became better, their live shows stronger and their pop sensibilities tighter. Last year they released their finest record yet, the tuneful, peppy Heresy and the . . .

Mark Waldoch had saved up the necessary money, prepared himself emotionally to leave behind Milwaukee, his home of 15 years, and was ready to start a new life in New York. What he hadn't planned on, though, was developing a kidney stone the size of a golf ball shortly after his arrival. "I was in and out of the hospital for two months, put under anesthesia and all that," Waldoch shudders. "It was rough. I mean, talk about insane, they put a laser up my wang to blow up the kidney stone. I had to wear a catheter." With no health insurance to fall back on, Waldoch quickly exhausted his savings. In considerable debt, he returned to Milwaukee . . .

David Berman’s latest is an album where the sleeve art outshines the record itself. Think of your most hated prog album (is it Yes’ Topographic Oceans? I bet it’s Yes’ Topographic Oceans) and you’ll get the picture. A beautiful sepia-tone painting depicting Babar (that’s right; the beloved elephant) amidst jagged rocks . . .