Photo Credit: Kenneth Cappello Of the over 13,000 albums on the database of Metacritic – the review aggregation site – Charlie Puth’s debut Nine Track Mind holds the unfortunate distinction of having the 7th lowest critic’s score; Spin labeled it an “inoffensive dross,” while Q Magazine said that it “whimpers like a sad kitten.” With… Read more
Photo Credit: Dayglow © Dana Trippe Springy, bouncy, and spongy. The 23-year-old from Texas spreads joy on his third album – but not much more. Another day, another TikTok sensation. That’s how the music business works in 2022. Sloan Struble, professionally known as Dayglow, had his break in 2018 with the Gold-certified “Can I Call You… Read more
Photo Credit: Edward Cooke Though one of the most popular songs from their great 2021 debut album W.L. was “Glasgow,” for a major city in their native Scotland (though they’re actually from West Lothian), the Snuts widen the range of their subject matter quite a bit on their second album Burn the Empire. The title… Read more
Photo Credit: Kelly Mason Reading Dan Campbell’s lyrics is often like reading a first-person novel. Opening his songs with lines like, “Justin and I have got the windows down // the AC is busted, it’s hotter than hell,” “It’s newly summer, and Tony Bourdain died,” “It’s already June // the light paints you pink,” and… Read more
Photo Credit: Jimmy Fontaine / Courtesy of Atlantic Records Since their 1998 debut album Something About Airplanes Bellingham, Washington alternative rockers Death Cab for Cutie at least outwardly appear to have missed out on mainstream success, even though four of their albums went Top 10 in the U.S. between 2005 and 2015. The band’s tenth… Read more
Photo Credit: Ross Halfin After choosing several surprising (and potentially polarizing) collaborative partners on his last album, Ordinary Man (Elton John, Post Malone), heavy metal’s ultimate icon Ozzy Osbourne by and large revisits familiar territory on his new full-length release Patient Number 9. This is mainly in regards to the guitarists he’s recruited this time… Read more
Photo Credit: Carlos de la Reina On her first – and, to date, only – Billboard Hot 100 hit, “Undrunk,” Cari Fletcher defined her brand of songwriting; slinky, melodic synth-pop that’s unabashedly explicit without being sensationalist or voyeuristic. On her debut LP, Girl Of My Dreams, Fletcher combines a more commercial than ever sound with… Read more
Photo Credit: Andy DeLuca From what it appears from interviews with the band, 5 Seconds of Summer is all about having a good time. Like, for instance, playing video games with your friends at your “creative retreat” in Joshua Tree while being amazed about just how clever it was to name their fifth album 5SOS5…. Read more
Photo Credit: Thurstan Redding The title of Rina Sawayama’s second album, Hold The Girl, is taken from a phrase she learned in therapy about nurturing one’s so-called inner child. Fittingly, it’s this theme that takes center stage on the LP – from the short and sweet introduction “Minor Feelings” and the glitchy title track to… Read more
Photo Credit: Sonya Jasinski It’s fair to say that Michelle Branch has spent nearly two decades living in the shadow of her first two albums – 2001’s The Spirit Room and 2003’s Hotel Paper. How could she not after taking a fourteen-year break from solo output between her second and third LP? If Branch’s fourth,… Read more