music features « Laura Leebove

New music feature (my first cover story!!!): Andrew W.K.

November 22, 2009 3 Comments

But—you can’t read it online (at least not yet). Sorry! There are photos of it after the cut, though, and maybe that will get you to buy the magazine ;)

So, after covering Andrew W.K.’s presentation at CMJ for PompOnline.com, I was asked to write the cover story on him for the survival-themed issue of Pomp & Circumstance, which is out now! It’s my first cover story so, if you can’t tell by the way I’m typing this, I am SO excited. I’m still waiting to find out where you can buy the mag in New York, Chicago, and Michigan…so more on that soon.

Andrew W.K. will always make me think of being on drumline in high school, because all the guys in the grade above me loooved him and would always bang on shit while singing/yelling “Party Hard” (they did this at our band camp talent show one year). But now when someone mentions Andrew W.K. (which, if you live in New York, is ALL THE TIME), I’ll be more likely to think of a really freaking cool guy who has an amazing outlook on life and just wants to make people happy, even if he tends to do some really crazy stuff. Also, my interview with him—a couple weeks ago in Brooklyn, before the photo shoot—was one of the best I’ve ever done, not because of the questions I asked but because it wasn’t forced and actually felt like a conversation. Sorry for being super cheesy but the whole experience, the magic of everything coming together perfectly, helped reaffirm that this is really what I want to be doing right now and all of my hard (and sometimes unpaid) work will pay off sooner or later. Hopefully sooner rather than later…

Anyway, on Thursday night Pomp had a party for the issue release and there was a panel about survival with W.K., author Tony O’Neill, and comedian Lianne Stokes, which was filled with talks about hard drugs and losing jobs, and also involved W.K. sitting like a statue for what had to be at least 15 minutes. Many, many thanks to my amazing friends who came to hang out—I had so much fun!

My MSU buddies Nick and Robb flipping through the mag

Me and Andrew W.K. after the panel. My Michigan friends and I bonded with him over our accents.

Photos of the magazine + more from the panel and party after the jump!

Filed under blog, music features Tagged with andrew wk, music feature, pomp and circumstance

New music news feature: Pink Martini

November 9, 2009 Leave a comment

Woooo, last-minute, quick turnaround story! Last week was full of them between two show write-ups, a big, super-exciting story TBA very soon, and this.

Pink Martini feature on Billboard.com (and in Happening Now section of the Nov. 7 issue of Billboard)

Pink Martini‘s new album, Splendor in the Grass, is out now on the band’s label, Heinz Records.

Filed under music features Tagged with billboard, music feature, pink martini

New music feature: Dashboard Confessional

November 4, 2009 Leave a comment

Music news feature on Dashboard Confessional on Billboard.com (and the lead music-section story in the Oct. 31 issue of the print magazine)

I can’t say I’ve really listened to Dashboard since I was in high school, but at least Chris Carrabba was a really good interview, and I truly appreciate that more than whether or not I like the music (in cases like this at least).

Dashboard Confessional’s MySpace (I think the new album, Alter The Ending is streaming right now)

Filed under music features Tagged with billboard, chris carrabba, dashboard confessional, music feature

New music feature: Steel Panther

October 17, 2009 Leave a comment

I’ll spare you the photo because I think it might scare people away from my Web site, but you can find plenty of photos here.

Steel Panther story on Reuters.com (full version in the Oct. 24 issue of Billboard)

A couple of quotes surrounding my being assigned this story:
“I know this isn’t really your thing but…” (editor)
“If there were ever band on god’s green earth that spelled out ‘Laura Leebove’s Worst Nightmare,’ Steel Panther be thy name. They appear to be antithetical to you in almost every way.” (friend)

Ain’t that the truth. I know it’s supposed to be funny, and it is funny in a “Wow, I feel sad that there are people who can objectify women to this extent, even if it’s a joke” kind of way…but it’s too much. Among their song titles: “Asian Hooker,” “Fat Girl (Thar She Blows),” “Stripper Girl,” “Community Property,” and “The Shocker” (yes, it’s about what you think it’s about)…

Filed under music features Tagged with billboard, music feature, steel panther

New music feature: The Raveonettes

September 21, 2009 Leave a comment

Raveonettes feature on Reuters.com (original story published in the Sept. 26, 2009, issue of Billboard Magazine)

UPDATE: You can read the full version here!

The Raveonettes’ new album, In and Out of Control, is out Oct. 6 on Vice Records. It’s good stuff, check it out!

Filed under music features Tagged with billboard, music feature, raveonettes, reuters

New music feature: Yo La Tengo’s Ira Kaplan

September 17, 2009 Leave a comment

Interview with Yo La Tengo’s Ira Kaplan on Billboard.com

I think I did this interview in June…? It got pushed back, bumped online, yada yada, but you can read it now! Also, I had only gotten the band’s new record, Popular Songs (out now on Matador), a day or two before the interview, so I didn’t have time to fall in love with it before talking with Ira. I’ve had plenty of time since then, and it’s great. I’m in the middle of a very Yo La Tengo–filled couple of weeks: Last week my roommates and I went to the band’s album release party at a gallery in Chelsea (Oh yeah, I live in Brooklyn now!), and next Friday I’m going to see them at the Roseland Ballroom.

Speaking of upcoming shows, I have a bunch of them on my calendar (tentative list on the left sidebar if you feel like tracking me down). Expect lots of live reviews + photos in the next couple of weeks!

Filed under music features Tagged with billboard, interview, matador, music feature, yo la tengo

Not-so-new music feature: Regina Spektor

September 17, 2009 1 Comment

Regina Spektor feature in the Chicago Sun-Times (by way of Billboard)

The original version of this story was published in Billboard a few months ago, but it was so kindly pointed out to me that the Chicago Sun-Times picked it up (and cut out a big chunk of the story) just last week! Eventually I hopefully will have a scan or PDF of the whole thing—my biggest so far for Billboard, which was quite exciting, although it is the product of one of the most stressful weekends of my life…

Filed under music features Tagged with billboard, music feature, regina spektor

New music feature: Those Darlins

June 22, 2009 1 Comment

Those Darlins Billboard feature via Reuters (slightly edited version that’s not as business-y; full story is in the June 27 issue of Billboard)

I’m not a huge country fan but these ladies are a lot of fun and they’re releasing their self-titled debut LP on July 7 through their own label. Pretty sure I’m going to see them in Pontiac next month (on July 15, the day after my birthday!) since I’ve heard their live show is great.

Those Darlins’ MySpace page

Filed under music features Tagged with billboard, music feature, those darlins

New music feature: Phoenix

May 2, 2009 Leave a comment

Phoenix story for Billboard (slightly edited/cut-down version by way of Reuters … full version in the May 9 issue of Billboard)

*Update: The full version of the story is now online here!*

I’m sort of embarrassed to say I had never heard of Phoenix before I was assigned this story, but now I think they are awesome and their amazing upcoming album, Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix (out May 26 on Glassnote), will be in heavy rotation this summer. This is my first lead music-section story in the magazine, so I would be lying if I said I wasn’t kind of geeking out about it.

Frontman Thomas Mars on the album title:

“It’s almost like unleashing a kid in a museum, or drawing a mustache on Mona Lisa. It’s something very childish. It’s messing up with something very iconic and I think maybe the fact that we grew up in Versailles, which is a very historical place … and the classical, all those names are very big weights and you can’t really have a future because you’re overwhelmed constantly by what happened before and what was greater before. I think it’s just something in that idea that you try to make something overwhelming, you try to make it your own and just mess up with it and have a chance to create something out of it.”

Video for Phoenix’s “Lisztomania”: