Julien Baker and Mackenzie Scott (a.k.a Torres) are indie singer-songwriters with Southern roots. Baker is from Memphis, and Torres hails from Macon, Georgia. They’ve both always been excellent storytellers with an eye for the harder-edged emotional details in life. On Send a Prayer My Way, they get together for a …
Read More »OK-Go Take On Life With a Power-Pop Smile
Since releasing the fun-on-treadmills-on-a-budget clip for their punchy song “Here It Goes Again” nearly two decades ago, the Los Angeles-via-Chicago band OK Go has become as known for its visual offerings as it has for its music. But when you strip away the Rube Goldberg machines, trompe l’oeil trickery, and …
Read More »Bon Iver Lets a Little Light In
Over the last two decades, Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon has become a stalwart of the indie music scene. Since the release of his revered 2007 debut For Emma, Forever Ago – a cult-classic isolation record composed by a heartbroken Vernon in a cabin in the Wisconsin woods – the musician …
Read More »A Quiet Night With DJ Koze
In electronic music, a “comedown album” is mellow, mid-tempo, made for cushioning the post-rave crash. But there’s a kind of comedown LP that feels like a retreat from an artist’s previous work, and the newest release by the beloved Frankfurt dance producer DJ Koze presents us with both. Music Can …
Read More »Djo Is Anything but Basic on 'The Crux'
If you look closely at the cover of the third album singer-songwriter-actor Joe Keery has released as Djo, you can see him hanging out a window, his back turned to a busy, sunny street scene in which no one seems aware of his precarious situation. The self-obscuring image can pretty …
Read More »Malcolm Todd Steps Into the Pop Arena With Knockout Debut
Malcolm Todd wants to be the next Main Pop Boy — and his debut album Malcolm Todd proves that he’s willing to fight for it, even if he gets a little bloody and bruised in the process. There’s been a noticeable absence of Bieber-esque figures in pop music for a …
Read More »Elton John and Brandi Carlile's Heartwarming Collaboration
Elton John retired from touring in 2023, and last year, he experienced a serious health scare involving his vision. But for an artist with his work ethic and drive, slowing down was never really an option. In fact, his latest collaborative album, with country maverick Brandi Carlile, is a heartwarming …
Read More »Momma Hit the Slacker-Angst Sweet Spot
Momma deliver their fantastic new album Welcome to My Blue Sky just in time for a whole new Summer of Grunge. Momma’s Etta Friedman and Allegra Weingarten are longtime friends who met as high school Pavement fans in Southern California, now raise hell in Brooklyn, and cram their guitars full …
Read More »Skrillex Cranks Everything All the Way Up
Dance singles are usually made for DJs to mix into and out of, and tend to array their effects over long running times, the better to guide a room full of dancers to collective peaks. But when Skrillex arrived in 2010, he was having none of that. With him, you …
Read More »Lil Durk's Sleepy Prison Opus 'Deep Thoughts'
Say what you will about Lil Durk, but understand upfront that he’s all about a vibe: Whether bucking lyrical shots or crooning a love song, the drill innovator makes moody, hypnotic songs that relate like one relentless, sinuous trance. Almost always, we’re game for being seduced by Durk’s melodic turnups. …
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