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: Anton Corbijn In music journalism, there’s a concept known as the five-album-test: any band that has released five consecutively great albums passes. The test is imperfect and controversial – rewarding consistency over irregular bursts of excellence – but the bands who pass it, undeniably, belong to the very highest echelons of music. Most would… Read more
Photo Credit: Zachary Gray The best, most beloved Paramore songs managed to meet listeners where they were and capture their collective feelings like lightning in a bottle. The snarling “Misery Business” captured desire in its most intense, brattiest, most unreasonable, most teenage form, while the lilting “The Only Exception” captured the ecstasy and anxiety of… 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: COIN via Facebook While the pandemic was a time of pause and reflection for most musicians, it marked the most productive moment for Tennessee-based COIN, which has released a steady stream of music across the last two years. Now, on their third album, the band who broke out in 2016 with the song… Read more
Photo Credit: Frank Ockenfels The opening cut from Tear for Fears’ first album of all-new material in seventeen years, The Tipping Point, has already secured a place among the best songs released in 2022. The appropriately-titled “No Small Thing” is absolutely incredible, starting as ’70s folk-rock a la Cat Stevens before an echo-drum beat kicks in and… Read more
Photo Credit: Oliver Eclipse Since first making their debut in the late ’70s, Midnight Oil has become arguably the greatest band ever to come out of Australia. Outside of their native country, they’ve never come close to the commercial success of AC/DC or British transplants the Bee Gees. Even INXS during their heyday probably established… Read more
Photo Credit: Courtesy Republic Records Abel “The Weeknd” Tesfaye’s After Hours wasn’t just a success, it was a record-breaking triumph. The album’s second single “Blinding Lights” spent over a year in the Top 10 and was recently declared the biggest Billboard Hot 100 hit of all time. Meanwhile, “Save Your Tears” – buoyed by a remix featuring Ariana Grande… 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
Photo Credit: Matt Salacuse When Bleachers released their 2017 album, Gone Now, the band was still relatively undiscovered. The band had a taste of widespread success with one of their first singles, “I Wanna Get Better”, and followed it up with a strong debut and sophomore album that was well-received by both fans and critics. After… Read more