I’ve been waiting for this day for quite some time now: my first-ever Lobsterfest. I put on a nice layer of sunscreen, grabbed a blanket and a pillow, and brought my laptop like the geek I am. I am ready for the day. I hope you’re ready for the rundown in the form of a live blog.

Lollapalooza is in Chicago, Illinois. Bonnaroo is in Manchester, Tennessee. Coachella is in Indio, California. These festivals may be fun, but they come complete with a lengthy drive and steep prices. A free alternative is right here; Ohio Univesity students, prepare yourself for Lobsterfest 2009.

It’s criminal, how easily we loyal lackeys of academia forget the importance of questioning the world around us. “Tomorrow’s Unforgiving Sun,” the latest album from Athens’ incendiary ensemble The Red Army, demands listeners halt and recall the importance of “why?”

Every spring, Robbins Crossing at Hocking College gets littered with tattoos, puffs of smoke, tie dye, floor-length skirts and floor-length hair in what is known to most as the Nelsonville Music Festival.
Mudhoney, Jolie Holland and senior splendor Willie Nelson (among other artists) will rip away a pair of Speakeasy editors’ NMF abstinence this year. Krisi [...]

Every spring, Robbins Crossing at Hocking College gets littered with tattoos, puffs of smoke, tie dye, floor-length skirts and floor-length hair in what is known to most as the Nelsonville Music Festival.

Mudhoney, Jolie Holland and senior splendor Willie Nelson (among other artists) will rip away a pair of Speakeasy editors’ NMF abstinence this year. Krisi Nehls (Assistant Entertainment Editor) and I (Courtney Baldasare, Music Editor) will provide live coverage below, carefully documenting our endeavors, discoveries and sensations about this year’s artists and festival quirks.

This month sees the release of two new albums from acts that have been active since the 1980s and have garnered a reputation as sacred cows of experimental music.

In the digital age, underground musicians often face enormous pressure to live up to the hype surrounding them on message boards, sites like Last.fm and the online music press. Here are two releases that live up to the impossible hype.

Columbus lo-fi indie-rockers Times New Viking headlined the first night of Blackout Fest 2009, held April 17-19 at The Union. Speakeasy caught up with the band, who are signed to Matador Records, at their second Athens performance in a year to discuss their influences and how their pop sensibilities mix with the noise scene.

It is that time of year again - spring has a’sprung, and the Ohio University music scene is no longer confined to the dingy walls of the bleak indoors. It’s mid-April in Athens, and if the trill of guitars and sweaty drunkards stumbling out of bars are not enough, Blackout Fest 2009 is officially underway. There to join the the musicians and party-goers alike will be a staff of Speakeasy bloggers, filling you in along the way.