Photo Credit: Acacia Evans For all the success that pop-punk has had in the charts in recent years – the genre’s standard-bearers generally haven’t fared so well. Green Day’s most recent full-length Father of All… was received poorly by fans and critics alike, as was Blink-182’s confused 2019 statement Nine. Even the genre’s most consistently… Read more
Photo Credit: Reuben Bastienne-Lewis Long-running, off-and-on multi-platinum (in the U.K.) London Britpop band Blur returns with their first album of all-new material in eight years. Despite the title, The Ballad of Darren is not a concept album (longtime frontman Damon Albarn more than takes care of that approach with his other major project, the Gorillaz)…. Read more
Photo Credit: Matty Vogel Since their early hardcore days, Massachusetts trio-turned-solo-project PVRIS have pivoted further and further towards electro-pop and pop-rock – and though the album art for their fourth LP, Evergreen, may initially suggest otherwise, this newest offering presents a continuation of this trend. Of course, as PVRIS moves further into pop territory, the prospect… Read more
Photo Credit: Andy Ford Earlier in the year, Sleep Token released various singles from their third studio album Take Me Back to Eden, with each single gaining over 17.5 million streams. This included “The Summoning,” which stayed within the top ten of Spotify’s viral global playlists. It’s no surprise that the singles did so well…. Read more
Photo Credit: Paul Elledge Unlike fellow ’90s alt-rock icons, Liz Phair, Alanis Morissette, and Courtney Love, Billy Corgan-led The Smashing Pumpkins maintained a steady output of new music throughout the 2010s – with each release seeming to generate less excitement and attention than that which preceded. Indeed, going into the band’s latest era, far more… Read more
Photo Credit: Andreas Neumann “I love animals so much,” Queens of the Stone Age frontman Josh Homme recently told NME. “They just do exactly what they’re supposed to. They fight to the bitter end, even with a broken leg.” On their eighth – and first post-pandemic – record titled In Times New Roman…, the band… Read more
Photo Credit: Danny Clinch We should begin by asking the obvious question: “Who’s playing drums?” After all, the Foo Fighters did experience the death of longtime drummer Taylor Hawkins last year, who not only appeared on the band’s last eight studio albums but emerged as the very heart of the band. So much so, that… Read more
Photo Credit: Julian Burgueño California quartet The Aces are part of a growing group of alt-pop artists using the genre to tell compelling female-led, unapologetically queer stories (see also: Carlie Hanson and Hayley Kiyoko). On their new album, I’ve Loved You For So Long, The Aces best showcase their strength in this area on the… Read more
Photo Credit: Kurt Iswarienko When Taylor Swift decided to re-record some of her earlier albums (most recently, Red), she was a woman on a mission. “I do want my music to live on,” she told Billboard in 2019. “I do want it to be in movies, I do want it to be in commercials. But… Read more
Photo Credit: Jonathan Weiner No one quite seems to know how to classify the music of Joseph Edward Mulherin – who performs under the moniker of Nothing, Nowhere. Every label from “indie rock” to “emo” to “pop-punk” to “hardcore” has been used to describe the 30-year-old’s music. Such speaks to the increasingly futile nature of… Read more