What are the hot new bands of the spring? From Zooey Deschanel to LCD Soundsystem, two music journalists round up the music you’ll be listening to as the weather heats up.
Alex Littlefield is an editor and writer whose work has also appeared in Nylon, Paper, Radar, Slice, the New York Press, the Brooklyn Rail, and on the websites of New York magazine, Black Book, Flavorwire, and Impose, among others. He lives in Brooklyn.
From French pop-rockers Phoenix to Jay-Z’s new style of hip-hop, here are the best nine albums of 2009. Journalists John Ortved and Alex Littlefield on what to listen to and what to avoid.