Photo Credit: Emma Viola Lilja Almost immediately after bursting onto the music scene, Britain’s Sam Fender was hailed as the future of rock music; winning the esteemed Brits Critics Choice award – previously awarded to the likes of Adele and Sam Smith. Fender’s full-length debut largely delivered on his early promise; filled with anthemic, timely… Read more
Photo Credit: Ebru Yildiz On previous albums Parquet Courts have turned out since their inception in New York, they have put out a kind of garage punky jangle-dance that a lot of bands started doing around the same time. They have some bangers for sure, but nothing too memorable. However, Sympathy For Life, the Courts’ seventh… Read more
Photo Credit: Jordan Hemingway When Wolf Alice is good, they’re really good. Brilliant. The second track on Wolf Alice’s third studio album is one of the most well-written songs of the year, telling the tale of a young girl’s quest for a spot at the top in the City of Angels (“I’m socially anxious and… Read more
Photo Credit: Phoebe Fox London musician Holly Humberstone released her first EP Falling Asleep at the Wheel in 2020 and has recently returned with a follow-up EP, The Walls are Way Too Thin. While the artist fits in comfortably with the current wave of deceptively-quiet-but-brutally-honest young female singer-songwriters, Humberstone still manages to carve a niche that is all her… Read more
Photo Credit: Grant Spanier If you have ever heard of this Ohio-based indie pop band before, it is likely thanks to their 2014 smash hit single “Shut Up and Dance” from their Talking Is Hard album. Their following release What If Nothing lacked a new irresistible hit single to boost their sales and went largely unnoticed by both critics… Read more
In the rock era alone, there have been many, many cover versions recorded and released. From live-only interpretations to deep album cuts, to #1 hits (even the Beatles, who we’ll get back to in a minute, started as a cover band). In some cases, artists’ cover songs are well-known just because the original already proved… Read more
Photo Credit: Tom Ham Ever since Bristol’s IDLES rushed to widespread acclaim with their second album Joy as an Act of Resistance back in 2018, they have arguably remained the most important band within the so-called post-punk revival. Like so many other groups, they are returning from the pandemic as a more reflective and wiser band, which… Read more
Photo Credit: Shawn Brackbill Philadelphia’s The War on Drugs return with I Don’t Live Here Anymore, their first new studio album in four years. With their last offering, they already set the bar pretty high for themselves simply by titling it A Deeper Understanding. The album became their first Top 10 release in the US, meaning that… Read more
Photo Credit: Collages via Billboard Most people will tell you that the only success that translates financially is “success.” In music, certainly, it’s thought to be almost entirely mathematical: the more records an artist has sold, the more “successful” they are (of course, in recent decades the number of downloads and streams would also have… Read more
Photo Credit: MTV VMAs This year’s MTV Video Music Awards (which aired live on September 12th) tell us pretty much all we need to know about how the state of rock ‘n’ roll is 2021. Actually, we can even go all the way back to 1997: The award category that had once been “Best Heavy… Read more
The Music Matters Media Podcast new intro and outro credit: Ryan Brion @bri_on_beats (Audio Engineer, Music Producer & DJ) based in NYC. For booking inquiries, send him an email at: BrionBeats@gmail.com
Follow Ryan’s latest projects here: linktr.ee/brion