Primavera Sound Festival Barcelona: Day 1 – in which I see Dinosaur Jr, Metz, Savages, Deerhunter, Woods, Wild Nothing, Hot Snakes, Phoenix, Grizzly Bear, Animal Collective, Neko Case, Simian Mobile Disco…and more.

Local Natives played a warm, inviting and love-filled show in Vancouver at the Commodore Ballroom on April 27. Here are a ton of portrait photos to show you what that looks like.

GOBSMACKED…is how the gig was described by a fan after the fact. So what makes a show a gig of the year? Let me explain how The Palma Violets perfectly, majestically owned Vancouver and its Biltmore Cabaret on April 26.

A round up of just a few of the shows that March spat out. But we took it, gladly, and joyously. Here’s a look at Veronica Falls, Wampire/Foxygen/UMO, Widowspeak, English Beat, Diamond Rings and OMD in photos and words.

A legendary performance by a legend: king among post-punkers Bob Mould from Hüsker Dü (joined by Superchunk’s Jon Wurster and Telekinesis’ Jason Narducy) played the Horseshoe. It was, literally, epic.

San Francisco’s chaos-mongers Thee Oh Sees put on a mean live show – and their albums of crazy psych rock are pretty damn tasty too. In this, I interview high-hoisting bassist Petey Dammit on the subject of their new LP Floating Coffin.

The first post of 2013 and I’m laying it out. My name’s Mikala and I’m a Foals-a-holic. And I’m also now trying to wrap my head around their new album “Holy Fire.”

In which I dissect the year in a painstaking, list-like fashion. The last few months may have sucked, but overall, this was a ROCKTACULAR year for the BSR.

Every once in a while, several rockhands of such brilliance MAGICALLY appear in your inbox, from another Rockhands Soldier out there in the trenches. That someone so awesome, like Braden Deans of Vancouver, would take the time to corner the awesomely weird magicians, both Penn AND Teller, and get them …