Features / Music

It's been a long year, right? You may well find yourself examining the last twelve months and trying to remember what music got released so you can include it on your "2023 best of" and still look cool. But—disaster! You can't remember anything! Thankfully, SPB has got you. We've reached … Read more

It's a SPB tradition to formally "pass the mic" to our artist and label friends to tell us about their year in music. What albums did they enjoy? What shows did they see? What are they looking forward to for the new year? We're joined this year by a host … Read more

Pass the Mic is a Scene Point Blank tradition dating back to 2006 in which we turn the tables, sending a set of questions to bands, artists, and labels to get their opinions and memories of the past year in music. This year we've broken it into two pieces. Instead … Read more

Since 2006 we've aimed to make our year-end roundups feature not just our thoughts on the best records of the past twelve months, but the thoughts of the people producing them: the bands and artists who make our scene what it is. In this collection of 30 interviews, we've spoken … Read more

It's the end of another year, and time for us to ask some of our favorite artists and bands for their reflections on the past twelve months in music. As is customary, we find out what theuir favourite releases were from 2015, but we also find out what they're up … Read more

It's the second half of our annual Pass The Mic feature and this time we're handing the microphone over to the bands and artists who brought us great music in 2016. We ask them to reflect on the year gone by and to share with us the sounds that shaped … Read more

By now you are familiar with Scene Point Blanks "End of the Year" features. Youve read what our staff thought of 2006, and now weve passed the proverbial mic along to individuals from prominent and up and coming record labels to let us know what they saw this past year. … Read more

Scene Point Blank is now in our third year of the "Pass the Mic" feature as part of our evaluation of the best music of the year. With this year's "Pass the Mic" feature, we turn to some of our favorite bands, record labels, and other music business friends to … Read more

It's year number four of Scene Point Blank's "Pass the Mic" feature as part of our evaluation of the best music of the year. With this year's "Pass the Mic" feature, we once again turned to some of our favorite bands, record labels, and other music business friends to get … Read more

Another year ends, and another Scene Point Blank year-end feature rolls around. This time though we're firing on all cylinders - the site has relaunched, we've recruited new staff, and we've spoken to a record number of participants for our annual Pass The Mic report for 2010 - 50 bands, … Read more

Another year, and another Pass The Mic feature. As has become SPB tradition, we turn the tables on the music industry and ask labels, bands and other key figures about their experience of the past year, including favourite albums, bands, predictions and more. We have over 50 participants in this … Read more

For our first 2012 retrospective, we're passing the mic to record labels and artists to tell us what they thought of the past twelve months in music. As well as asking about their favourite albums of 2012 and what they're looking forward to for 2013, we also ask bands, artists … Read more

Pass the Mic is a Scene Point Blank tradition dating back to 2006 in which we turn the tables, sending a set of questions to bands, artists, and labels to get their opinions and memories of the past year in music. This year we've broken it into two pieces. Instead … Read more

Every year we pause in our relentless quest to document the best music coming out of the punk, hardcore and indie scene and ask those on the other side to tell us what they've enjoyed: first the bands and artists, and secondly, the record labels. In this year's instalment we … Read more

Every year since 2006, Scene Point Blank has made it our mission to find out what our community thought of the previous twelve months in music. At the end of each year we reach out to artists, record labels and other industry figures working in punk, hardcore and more to … Read more

Now in its tenth year, Pass The Mic is a SPB tradition where we ask the artists and record labels producing some of our favorite music to comment on the year in music: what albums they enjoyed, what bands they discovered, what their label released and what they're excited for … Read more

Pitchfork Media announced on January 19th, 2007 that they would hold their third music festival in Chicago, IL at Union Park on July 13th through the 15th, having three days of music as opposed to only two at previous festivals. Technically, this was only Pitchfork's second festival using their name. … Read more

Pitchfork Music Festival descended on Chicago’s Union Park for the thirteenth straight year (their "curation" of 2005’s Intonation Music Festival notwithstanding) for what’s turning into a third weekend in July tradition. What started as a summertime platform for a lot of buzzy under-the-radar acts has swelled into a verifiable hodgepodge … Read more

  Hey punks: Put down those razors and electric shavers, it's time to let the facial hair flourish. You too ladies; nothing says sex appeal like a well-grown dirt-lip. And to all the social drinkers and self-professed professional drunks: you better start cracking open the cold ones. It's time to raise … Read more

It's that time again – Record Store Day 2015. We all have a favorite or recommended store to pick up new releases, discover hidden gems or even sell old unwanted albums onto unwary shoppers. In this feature, we round up nine of our favorite local record stores, ranging from Dublin … Read more