Leila Sunier releases her new debut EP, Where Everything Is Perfect, on 9 October. Drawing on influences such as Angel Olsen, Perfume Genius, Bright Eyes, Continue Reading
Music Dose
Songwriter Shelly Peiken Revisits "Bitch" for '2.0' Album (premiere)
Shelly Peiken is no stranger to a good song. She’s co-written two chart-toppers for Christina Aguilera (“What a Girl Wants”, “Come on Over Baby”) and Continue Reading
Ryan Hamilton & The Harlequin Ghosts Honor Their Favorite Songs With "Oh No" (premiere)
Ryan Hamilton & The Harlequin Ghosts latest single, “Oh, No” arrives on 14 August ahead of the band’s full-length release Nowhere to Go But Everywhere, Continue Reading
Viserra Combine Guitar Heroics and Female Vocals on 'Siren Star'
Los Angeles-based Viserra’s debut album, Siren Star, is a tight six songs in just over 30 minutes. The hard rock band pull influences from a Continue Reading
Arlo McKinley's Confessional Country/Folk Is Superb on 'Die Midwestern'
Impressing the legendary John Prine with your songwriting is a little bit like having Picasso say you’re a pretty good artist. Shortly before he passed Continue Reading
The Inescapable Violence in Netflix's I'm No Longer Here (Ya no estoy aqui)
One of the most enduringly popular songs by Lisandro Meza, the King of Cumbia, is “Lejanía (Distance)”. Over his accordion, he sings of “waiting for Continue Reading
Jazz's Denny Zeitlin and Trio Get Adventurous on 'Live at Mezzrow'
Pianist and still-practicing psychiatrist Denny Zeitlin doesn’t live in New York, the jazz capital of the world, but it is an event when he makes Continue Reading
Rufus Wainwright Makes a Welcome Return to Pop with 'Unfollow the Rules'
We’ve all been there, haven’t we? You emerge sometime in the morning after, bleary-eyed, furry-tongued, and with an aching, but indistinct feeling that you did Continue Reading
Natalie Schlabs Starts Living the Lifetime Dream With "That Early Love" (premiere + interview)
Nashville-based artist Natalie Schlabs not only writes what she knows but conveys the meaning of an emotionally charged experience with such tender-hearted expression that it’s Continue Reading
The Band's Discontented Third LP, 1970's 'Stage Fright', Represented a World Braving Calamity
As with any new decade, 1970 ushered in both the promise of fresh prospects and the continuity of the same misfortunes. For roots rockers the Continue Reading
Greta Gerwig's Adaptation of Loneliness in Louisa May Alcott's 'Little Women'
“I miss everything.” So says Jo March at a central moment in Greta Gerwig’s film adaptation of Little Women. Having just been asked if she Continue Reading
Great Peacock Stares Down Mortality With "High Wind" (premiere + interview)
Great Peacock’s Forever Worse Better, out 9 October, stands as the Nashville trio’s definitive statement. It’s a deeply personal record that reflects the struggle between Continue Reading
Kristin Hersh Discusses Her Gutsy New Throwing Muses Album
Maybe the secret to making great songs is to stop worrying about making great songs. Kristin Hersh, the 1990s alternative icon of Throwing Muses, guitar Continue Reading
Laraaji Returns to His First Instrument for 'Sun Piano'
Reissues, re-appraisals, belated recognition, musician/fan curations, and re-contextualizations have all done a tremendous service for pioneering experimental, ambient, and drone artists over the last decade Continue Reading
Jim O'Rourke's Experimental 'Shutting Down Here' Is Big on Technique
Jim O’Rourke fired off “Cede” 20- or 25-odd years ago as a salvo in the battles within his alien landscape of a musical mind. Shutting Continue Reading
King Buzzo Continues His Reign with 'Gift of Sacrifice'
Ipecac Recordings advanced two singles off King Buzzo’s much-anticipated second solo LP, Gift of Sacrifice: “I’m Glad I Could Help Out” and “Science in Modern Continue Reading
Whitney Take a Master Class on 'Candid'
Historically, covers albums are a sign of trouble. They’re the products of contractual obligations, creative stasis, or cash-grabbing labels. In the grand scheme of artists’ Continue Reading
The Redemption of Elton John's 'Blue Moves'
“Blue Moves is an Elton John album. It is not his best.” Thus begins the latest book in Bloomsbury Academic’s 33 1/3 series, each volume Continue Reading
Buridan's Ass and the Problem of Free Will in John Sturges' 'The Great Escape'
Based loosely on Paul Brickhill’s 1950 first-hand account, The Great Escape (1963), directed by John Sturges, carefully recounts the story of a mass escape of Continue Reading
Planningtorock Is Queering Sound, Challenging Binaries, and Making Infectious Dance Music
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, UK-born, Berlin-based artist Planningtorock – otherwise known as Jam Rostron – was on the remote Estonian island of Hiiumaa, visiting Continue Reading