I was just pondering writing a post about the artists I hope will release new music in 2015, and Django Django was at the top of the list. Then, like Christmas (without all of the family obligations and head colds), a new song from them arrived today. The band is being a bit mysterious about […]
I’m a total sucker for live-in-the-studio radio performances. For a lot of the music I love, these sessions provide a new perspective on artists and their work. Sometimes the recordings yield results that are sonically “better” than the “official” versions of familiar material, as musicians that otherwise rely on self-recording or tiny studio budgets, or who have suffered […]
The geodesic white dome at MOMA PS1’s performance space where Panda Bear (a.k.a., Noah Lennox, one-quarter of the group Animal Collective) showcased his to-be-released January 13th Panda Bear Meets the Grim Reaper song cycle fit like a hand in glove with sound complementing space complementing artist complementing crowd and so on and so on. As […]
This tasty morsel of delicate laptronica marks the return of below-the-radar indie popstar Emmy the Great. Hong Kong-born, London-bred and now Brooklyn-based, Emma-Lee Moss hasn’t released any music under her Emmy the Great stage-name since 2011, when her introspective anti-folk seemed primed to capture the attention of listeners attuned to Laura Marling, Regina Spektor and […]
Seasonal music here: a bitter wind howls outside a creaky house at dusk, rattling crispy, frozen leaves against a front door. The gusts dying down, an old piano is heard in the distance, its ascending chordal figure evoking a familiar happiness now lost. A young woman sings in a low, plaintive vibrato of love’s suffering: […]
Was it your new year’s resolution to ease off the “dad rock” in 2015 and embrace louder, more paint-peeling sounds? Then grab your earplugs, because A Place To Bury Strangers has a new album and tour coming. The New York City trio uses analog electronics and homemade guitar effects to turbocharge a bracing fusion of […]
Ultimate Painting is the name of the collaboration between James Hoare (Veronica Falls, The Proper Ornaments) and Jack Cooper (Mazes), as well as the name of their album and the first song on it. The duo play a defiantly and aggressively unambitious style that could be called “good taste rock”, eschewing notions of innovation or newness, and simply […]
Maybe you know the feeling: it’s not even new year’s eve yet, you haven’t had a sip of alcohol all day, but 2014 has you feeling hung over. More than aspirin, brunch, a nap, or any other go-to cure, you need a restorative music that doesn’t deny our self-medi(c)ating virtual hyperreality but embraces it. Time […]
So often where a musician is from or calls home locks them in a little box with a label slapped on that reads “[fill in genre here].” This ain’t no new concept, duh. It’s called marketing and helps keep the music-biz-masters knowing where to slip&slot the songs and albums they work with. But sometimes, even […]
Behold! 11 musical things I enjoyed in 2014, all-in-all a good year for music. Check out all of our 2014 year-end lists here. 1. Ariel Pink – Pom Pom Pom Pom is my favorite album of the year. Lipstick is probably my favorite song of the year. Even with his flaws and unfortunate Kim Fowley detours, Ariel […]