Photo Credit: Nasty Little Man Gorillaz began more than two decades ago, originally a form of collaboration that was unique, to say the least, between a musician (in this case, Blur vocalist Damon Albarn) and an illustrator (Jaime Hewlett, creator of the British comic book series Tank Girl) with the purpose of creating a soundtrack… Read more
Photo Credit: Ebru Yildiz P!nk begins her ninth studio album in the same mode that she has spent most of the last decade in – a straightforward, polished piano ballad. “I think of you // When I think about forever // I hear a joke and I know // You would’ve told it better,” she sings,… Read more
Photo Credit: Aidan Zamiri Although some synth-pop nerds might remember Chairlift, most people probably heard the name Caroline Polachek for the first time when she started her solo career in 2019 with Pang and her shimmering indie-pop hit “So Hot You’re Hurting My Feelings.” Now, on her second solo effort, Desire, I Want to Turn… Read more
Photo Credit: Nathan James Musicians have been writing love songs dedicated to the object of their romantic affection for millennia, but we honestly can’t remember the last time we heard anyone as out-of-their-mind in love as expressed in a song on a particular track from God Save the Teen, the latest album from rock drummer… Read more
Photo Credit: Louie Banks In 2017, Shania Twain ended a fifteen-year gap between albums with Now – re-introducing herself to the public with a newly mature sound that attempted to show she’d evolved without losing her signature charm. That album’s best songs did just that (“Home Now” and “Life’s About to Get Good”), but the… Read more
Photo Credit: Marilyn Hue 28-year-old Albanian-American Ava Max has always felt like an oddity in the 2020s mainstream pop landscape. The maximalist pure-pop of her 4x Platinum-certified hit “Sweet But Psycho” stood in stark contrast to her chart-topping peers, who were either throwing it back to the ’80s (The Weeknd, Dua Lipa), penning stripped-back singer-songwriter… Read more
Photo Credit: Michael Bailey Gates When Sam Smith first rose onto the music scene in 2013, they were marketed as yet another inoffensive, vocally impressive, soulful crooner – the sort that Britain has long excelled at generating. Smith, who then went by he/him pronouns, was seen as a sort of male equivalent to Adele –… Read more
Photo Credit: Kent Tarver It worked for Ed Sheeran, it worked for Shawn Mendes, and it worked for Tom Odell. Dean Lewis’ Australian heritage sets him apart from the rest, but apart from this not much else sets him apart from his peers. What does the late ‘80s Mercedes-Benz on the front cover represent? Hour-long,… Read more
Photo Credit: Sarah Doyle Badged “Irish alt-country,” this might turn you off. That would be a mistake. CMAT’s hilarious debut is one of 2022’s most remarkable achievements. 26-year-old Ciara Mary-Alice Thompson describes herself as a mix between Dolly Parton, Katy Perry, and Weird “Al” Yankovic. If that sounds like an unbelievable fusion, nothing could be… Read more
Photo Credit: Daniel Sannwald “Una mariposa, yo me transformo…Me contradigo, yo me transformo // Soy to’a’ la’ cosa’, yo me transforma,” sings Rosalía on the opener, “Saoko” to her third studio LP Motomami. In English, the lyrics translate to “Like a butterfly, I transform… I contradict myself, I transform // I’m everything, I transform.” It’s… Read more