Modern Mystery brings you news, updates, interviews, reviews and music ramblings about some of the best indie bands out there.

We love to interview bands, so never hesitate to bug us for an interview when you’re in town, or even through e-mail. Technology is a pretty rad thing.  We’ll also help you sell Merch at your show if you need us to when you’re in town. Yes, we love music that much.

To send material to or to suggest a band, drop us an email at ModernMysteryBlog@yahoo.com

 FAQs (An ever growing list)

Where are you located?

Modern Mystery started in  New York, but now we have staff writers from all over the country.  See below for our writer bios!

Where did you get the name Modern Mystery from?

Its from the Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin album ‘Pershing.’  Its a great record. Go get it, now.

Do you take submissions?

Of course we do! Feel free to contact us if you have something you are interested in submitting.

Do you have a Myspace/Facebook?

Yes we do.  www.myspace.com/modernmystery and http://apps.facebook.com/blognetworks/blog/modern_mystery_an_indie_rock_blog/

MODERN MYSTERY BIOS

MORE UPDATED BIOS TO COME AS OUR STAFF HAS GREATLY GROWN OVER THE PAST MONTH (9/21/10)

Name: Melissa Nastasi
Location: New York
Modern Mystery Position: Creator, Writer, Photographer, Editor
Favorite Band to See Live: The Spinto Band. By far the most energy I’ve ever seen on stage and Sufjan Stevens.
Favorite Venue: The Mercury Lounge in NYC.
Favorite Album of All Time: Sloan Navy Blues. Perfect.
Current Favorite Album: Miniature Tigers Tell it to the Volcano  and The Wooden Bird’s ‘Magnolia’.
How did you get into writing about music? I wrote for the newspaper all throughout school and last year I realized I missed writing about music. Something was just calling me to it. One big inspiration of mine was actually Cameron Crowe’s ‘Almost Famous.’  I loved watching William Miller getting to know his favorite bands, finding out what was behind every song. Mixed with that I was also inspired to start Modern Mystery after seeing a video of The Morning Benders and thinking the world needs to hear about them. From there I decided it was time to start a serious blog.
What is your favorite part about music in general? The way it makes you feel. It’s like a security blanket. It’s always there to keep you warm at night and refresh you in the daytime. It becomes a part of you that you should never let go of.

 

Name: Danielle Quebrado
Location: California
Modern Mystery Position: Writer
Favorite Band to See Live: I love artists who are overly active on stage so I will have to give it to Lykke Li, that girl can dance! Also, Gravy Train!!! puts on a sexy good time.
Favorite Venue: The Echo in Los Angeles, California beacuse it’s so small that you can catch the most unique and purely talented bands in such an intimate setting for such a low cost. I am not a fan of large venues; I feel that they rob you of the experience.
Favorite Album of All Time: I have many favorite albums but I will have to say anything from Bikini Kill; one of my favorite bands of all time.
Current Favorite Album: Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix by Phoenix
How did you get into writing about music? I have always enjoyed writing and it was probably one of the few things I was sincerely good at when I was younger. I was raised under a roof defined by an eclectic range of music which varied from my sister’s Cypress Hill mixes, Motown records and glam rock playlists, my mother’s Mexican rancheras, salsa and cumbias. Then after, I entered the music scene when I was younger as my curosity grew and I ventured into d-beat and anarcho punk bands. As I matured and dabbled in various musical genres, I found my rightful place in Indie Rock. Intially, I never thought of intertwining music and writing but as I became more dependent on music and my ability to play with words, I fell into the spell of being and Indie Rock writer and the joy it brought to me.
What is your favorite part about music in general? Personally, I feel that music is so distant from reality and can remove you from that when the world appears so tarnished and fragile at times. More so, I love that music can be so immensely complex through the manipulation of instruments in cohesion with lyrical abilities but can ultimately produce such a simple satisfaction.

Name: Liv Hauck
Location: Boston
Modern Mystery Position: Contributing Writer and Photographer
Favorite Band to See Live: It’s a tie between the Dropkick Murphys and The Presets.
Favorite Venue: The Paradise Rock Club in Boston.
Favorite Album of All Time: Yikes, there’s no way I could narrow this down. Garbage’s Absolute Garbage, The Presets Apocalypso, Muses Absolution and the Kaiser Cheif’s Employment. Now that I think about it, ‘Employment’ is my favorite.
Current Favorite Album: The Everyday Visuals Self Titled album
How did you get into writing about music? It simply happened. I want people to be aware of the music that I love.
What is your favorite part about music in general? I am in awe of people who can create sounds that have the ability to change my mood or entire outlook on life with simply one beat of a drum, or one guitar pluck.

Name: Krista De La Rosa
Location: Texas (Where the tea is sweet, and the sun melts your face)
Modern Mystery Position: Writer and Photographer.
Favorite Band to See Live: Anywhere from Dignan to This Will Destroy You to Spoon.
Favorite Venue: A tie between Stubb’s BBQ in Austin, Emo’s in Austin, Incubator in McAllen, and the Ten Eleven in SA.
Favorite Album of All Time: Elliot Smith ‘Either/Or’
Current Favorite Album: Miniature Tigers William Fitzsimmons ‘The Sparrow and the Crow’
How did you get into writing about music? As a high school student, I would never attend parties. Instead I’d go to the local music venue an hour away from me. That is when I first discovered Dignan. I had always had a passion for writing, in general, but after hearing Dignan for the first time, it gave me this urge to write about the beauty of sound. After that, I spent all of my time (and money) at shows and all these rush of feelings and emotions that these musicians made me feel all turned into wrods on paper for me. I feel as if writing about music is the best way to express what I truly go through when listening to all the sounds.
What is your favorite part about music in general? The rush of emotions that fill my entire body is my favorite part about music. Listening to the passion and beauty is always an easy way to make me weak in the knees.

Name: Joe Paolucci
Location: New York
Modern Mystery Position: Writer
Favorite Band to see Live: Pavement….In advanced since there show isn’t till next year. This is a hard question. The Walkmen…
Favorite Venue: The one’s that let me in for free.
Favorite Album Of ALL TIME: …….
Current Favorite Album: Life of Leisure by Washed Out….exactly at this moment anyway it changes too much.
How Did you get into Writing about Music?: When Melissa was like: “hey…do you wanna write about some music? ” and then I was like: “Yep.” Otherwise I just wanna write For the T.V. Movin’ pictures.
What’s your favorite part about music in general?: A good bass line, and that specific part of a song that gives you the chills.

Name: Viktorsha Ulivanova
Location: New York
Modern Mystery Position: Writer
Favorite Band to See Live: The Horrors, Devendra Banhart and Felix Da Housecat brought down some good energy and glowsticks at Coachella of 09.
Favorite Venue: Anything that’s cozy with a good quality sound system.
Favorite Album of All Time: It’s always evolving, but if I had to pick one it would be Bob Dylan’s Freewheelin. He will always have my heart!
Current Favorite Album: ‘Sharpen Your Teeth’ by Ugly Casanova
How did you get into writing about music? Growing up, I always had an intense craving for writing. Living in Russia, limited my ability to know anything beyond dried-out pop culture snobs; this set me out to discover outside the bubble. At first it was my Mum’s european techno recordings, in California I moved onto street Punk and some Finnish hip-hop( still, my guilty pleasure). I’ll never limit myself to a music genre, and writing is sort of an expression of this ample spectrum.
What is your favorite part about music in general? Music works like a time machine. It’s able to drown its listener in the sound so immensely, that it can correlate colors, smells and that gut numbness to your memories with just a play of a song. With music, we are able to relive those moments over and over.

Name: Paola Capo-Garcia
Location: New York
Modern Mystery Position: Writer
Favorite Band to See Live: Yeah Yeah Yeahs, The Mars Volta, Animal Collective, and just saw Phoenix (KILLED IT).
Favorite Venue: Anything outside, more conducive for rain dancing.
Favorite Album of All Time: De-Loused in the Comatorium by The Mars Volta, their first and best. Showed me how to love.
Current Favorite Album: I’m taking current to mean “right now.” Iron and Wine’s The Shepherd’s Dog and anything Portishead.
How did you get into writing about music? I decided to start writing about the things I loved. So food and music play a big part in anything I write. I did a lot of reviews in college and started my own blog, which I lazily ditched.
What is your favorite part about music in general? The thump, the head sway, the shoulder shake, the toe tap. I just don’t know of anything else in the world that can transplant you as much, that can make you remember and forget. But, specifically, it’s that explosion in a song, that crescendo that all of a sudden breaks into tiny little pieces of sound.

Name: Elissa Suh
Location: New York
Modern Mystery Position: Writer
Favorite Band to See Live: Explosions in the Sky is pretty incredible.
Favorite Album of All Time: …..
Current Favorite Album: Visitor by The Dodos
How did you get into writing about music? I like writing and I like music. Creative huh?
What is your favorite part about music in general? How a song is never exactly the same every time you listen to it. I guess that could be a bad thing, too…

Name: Ivy-Noelle Weir
Location: New York/Philadelphia
Modern Mystery Position: Photographer
Favorite Band to See Live: The Futureheads are amazing live or Handsome Boy Modeling School, that was a little too much fun.
Favorite Venue: The First Unitarian Church in Philadelphia. Sure, not the greatest acoustical quality, but you couldn’t ask for a more intimate venue.
Favorite Album of All Time: Logic Will Break Your Heart by the Stills. I’m pretty sure it’s as close to a perfect album as they come.
Current Favorite Album: Bonnie et Clyde by Serge Gainsbourg and Bridgette Bardot…60s French pop at it’s finest
How did you get into music photography?: As a musician myself, I’ve always understood the passion that goes into a live performance, and I want to capture that feeling for others to experience even if they weren’t at the show themselves.
What is your favorite part about music in general?: Gee, I don’t know. Everything. I love that moment when you’re listening to a song and you realize you are connecting with it on such a crazy-deep level…like you know EXACTLY what the songwriter was thinking/feeling when they wrote the lyrics. That’s beautiful.