Photo Credit: Zamar Velez If there’s one thing that unites Gen-Z’s most popular singer-songwriters, it’s that they all capture – to one extent or another – that being young often sucks. Whereas the last generation of pop stars presented youth exclusively in its brightest, most ecstatic hues (think Kesha’s “TiK ToK” or Katy Perry’s “Teenage… Read more
Photo Credit: Guadalupe Bustos Eight albums and fifteen years removed from their debut, The Maine have arrived at their self-titled era – traditionally a marker of a band at their most accomplished and confident. The Maine, however, does not necessarily register as a towering magnum opus when compared to the band’s previous efforts. What it… Read more
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: 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: Lindsey Byrnes The fifth full-length album by electronic music producer and DJ Nicholas Daniel Miller – known professionally as Illenium – opens with “Starfall,” an all-synth electronic instrumental. This is hardly the curtain-raiser a listener might expect if they choose to look ahead to the sixteen-song track listing, to see that upcoming cuts… 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
Photo Credit: Samantha Harter Ever since 2018’s “Only One,” Wisconsin’s Carlie Hanson has felt like an indie cult star perpetually on the brink of a major breakout – the charms of her evocative, homespun indie-pop and pop-punk immediately obvious. Her sophomore album, which shares a name with her home state, might be too quiet and… Read more
Photo Credit: Freddie Stisted Surrey’s You Me At Six enjoyed modest commercial success in their home country during the late 2000s and early 2010s, with five Top 40 singles and two chart-topping albums to their name. If any mid-sized band should be set for a revival of fortunes, it should be this English quartet –… Read more
Photo Credit: Celia Kenyon From the very first moments of their newest album, the now-trio emo rockers Pierce the Veil want you to know this isn’t just another generic pop-punk revival album – an intense swirl of sirens reaches almost deafening heights, suggesting this is going to be an album that has more in common… Read more
Photo Credit: Pamela Littky Fall Out Boy’s newest album, So Much (For) Stardust, begins with a dramatic, repeating piano line and a luscious arrangement of strings – it sounds like the sort of thing that should kick off some epic, wildly expensive action movie. Then, the song abruptly switches gears into the sort of frenetic… Read more