Record of the Week: The Hard Quartet’s ‘The Hard Quartet’

The Hard Quartet is a new four-piece composed of Stephen Malkmus, Emmett Kelly, Matt Sweeney and Jim White, each of whom boasts big bona fides and decades of output in indie rock. The band's sonically diverse self-titled debut record on Matador features the members taking turns on lead but always gelling thanks to their affinity for each other and the "social experience" of music-making. Hear Kelly and Sweeney discuss the LP and the enviable, agenda-free hang that is The Hard Quartet.