Idolator

Supermarket shelves in other parts of the world (and at certain specialty shops in the US) contain a food product called Marmite, which is basically a bread spread made out of yeast extract. I personally tried it when I was 16, after an Australian pen pal sent me a few packets, and my Cool Ranch and Domino's-trained palate found it absolutely repellent; I haven't tried it since, because the thought of doing so makes me shiver. But apparently it's pretty divisive in the UK, to the point that the product name is actually being used by some music-biz insiders to describe certain artists who have a love-'em-or-hate-'em appeal. The musical omnivores at Popjustice explain: "the phrase describes the sort of band or artist which divides opinion as strongly as the disgusting/delicious yeasty food product Marmite. It is not a phrase used to describe how good or bad something is—there's no value judgment involved." Popjustice says that Alphabeat, the Scissor Sisters, and Bob Dylan are all "Marmite artists"—although a shitty band being pushed by a publicist to no avail is not, so don't try it next time, publicists. Confused yet? Well, in keeping with our English-class form, the term is used in context after the jump! More »

From time to time, we like to round up the all-important, all-summarizing last sentences of the biggest new-music reviews. Under consideration in this installment is the new full-length by My Morning Jacket, Evil Urges, which hits stores today: More »

Once again, we present Rock-Critically Correct, a feature in which the most recent issues of Rolling Stone, Blender, Vibe, and Spin are given a once-over by a writer who's contributed to many
of those magazines, as well as a few others! In this installment, he looks at the new issue of Spin: More »