“You have 20 years to write your first album and you have six months to write your second one,” said Elvis Costello in 1981. The best debuts bottle up and release decades worth of insight, feeling, and experience into a singular, captivating musical statement. From indie rock and pop to folk and country, below are some… Read more
Photo Credit: Shervin Lainez The last time Julien Baker, Phoebe Bridgers, and Lucy Dacus recorded together on their 2018 boygenius EP, they had just started their individual solo careers. As the three best friends reunite in the studio five years later, they have all, individually, climbed to the elite of the singer-songwriter scene. Their latest… Read more
Photo Credit: Mary Ellen Matthews The run-up to SZA’s sophomore effort SOS has been long, unpredictable, and reliably confounding. Its lead single – and SZA’s first solo top-ten hit – “Good Days” arrived almost two years before the rest of the album and wouldn’t enjoy an official music video until March 2021, by which time… Read more
Halloween’s easily one of the best yearly holidays and while the classic Halloween songs will always be classics (“Thriller,” “Monster Mash,” “Ghostbusters”), there’s nothing wrong with wanting to breathe new life into your holiday playlist. Below are 10 songs that probably aren’t already on your Halloween playlist, but need to be. 10. “Halloween” – Phoebe… Read more
With the spooky season now upon us, it’s time to start curating a soundtrack for the next few days of pumpkin carving, dressing up, and going out. Below are 10 perfect albums to put on to get you in the Halloween mood. #10. Demi Lovato – Holy Fvck On their eighth album, Demi Lovato abandons… Read more
Photo Credit: Getty/Roskilde Press The post-festival discussions about the 50th edition of Scandinavia’s biggest festival have mainly dealt with the Strokes’ reportedly awful performance. I, who ended up at the festival thanks to a fortunate coincidence, had to travel back home before the Strokes, and instead of going on about Julien Casablanca’s awkward dialogues for… Read more
Photo Credit: Isaac Schneider Muna’s self-titled third album starts out by touching several bases right away. The first few seconds of the opening cut “Silk Chiffon” introduce a subtle synth intro before an acoustic guitar and vocals that suggest that what we’re in for is mainly a singer-songwriter vibe. Then, less than a minute in,… Read more
Photo Credit: Beth Garrabrant Given half the chance, most of us would probably like to completely erase the memory of 2020; a year of illness, upheaval, and isolation. For Taylor Swift, however, the year could hardly have gone better (at least from an artistic perspective). Her indie-folk lockdown albums Folklore and Evermore earned her the critical acclaim that had… Read more
Photo Credit: Danny Clinch In late 2019, The Killers announced their follow-up to 2017’s Wonderful Wonderful was on its way. That album, Imploding The Mirage was The Killer’s best full-length work to date, a daring leap of sonic ambition that also happened to be hugely enjoyable. Brandon Flowers and company, however, had no way of… Read more
Photo Credit: Pamela Littky Man On The Moon III: The Chosen is the seventh studio album by Cleveland bred rapper Kid Cudi, and it feels like when your favorite rock band reunites and their stage costumes don’t quite fit well anymore. Bummer right? Their pants are either too tight or not loose enough by today’s… Read more