“We know you built your life around us…but we had to change some,” Colin Meloy admits freely on the mostly tongue-in-cheek opening track of his band’s seventh album. It has been nearly fifteen years since The Decemberists’ first release, and in order to survive this long as a quirky indie project, change was unavoidable. Whether […]
Released 3/17/15 This is a rough outing for the once great – or at least inimitable – Modest Mouse. Strangers to Ourselves is the band’s first proper LP in eight years. Combine a long hiatus with major lineup changes (including losing the legendary Johnny Marr) and one cannot help but listen with cautious optimism. Unfortunately, […]
You know how your parents tell you to get a real job – meaning, something like a doctor or a lawyer and not as a musician or artist? Lily Lambert forestalled all parental criticism by going for both. After successfully obtaining that law degree, the Irish-Welsh singer/songwriter headed for New York City to pursue her […]
“It’s my fifth studio album and I’m pretty excited about that,” says Karl Wolf of his new release, Stereotype. “This album is a little different.” “This album goes in a different direction – let me show the world what I have inside of me. I want even the haters to hear this album,” he says. […]
Straight up blues with an electronic chaser – that’s the winning combination of Tomás Doncker with his Tomás Doncker Band in Moanin’ at Midnight – The Howlin’ Wolf Project (independent – July 8, 2014). Tomás is the head of True Groove Records and a veteran of New York City’s music scene since the early 1980’s, […]
My people are coming for what’s ours Going all out ‘cause it’s now or never, ‘breakin’ the chain, we gon’ sever… In the world of North American pop music, ‘being political’ is seen as a choice – something of a fashion statement at times. But depending on where you live, just talking about everyday realities […]
Sometimes everything just comes together at the right time, as it seems to be unfolding with Scottish punk duo Hello Creepy Spider (Matt Johnston, Stef Watt), whose album I Don’t Wanna Die In A Fire was just released May 12. With the frenetic energy of early punk releases, the duo takes their inspiration from bands […]
It’s been three years since we heard from Jenn Wasner & Andy Stack. 2011’s Civilian wasn’t necessarily a major commercial but it found success after The Walking Dead featured its titular track. However, in those three years, those two found something special in their sessions together leading up to Shriek and oh how grateful we should be. The project […]