Indie Rock Face-Off: Neo vs. ’90s
March 4, 2020

Indie Rock Face-Off: Neo vs. ’90s

The ’90s have never sounded better than they do right now—especially for modern-day indie rockers. There’s no shortage of bands banging around these days whose sound suggests formative phases spent soaking up vintage ’90s indie rock. Not that the neo-’90s sound is itself a new thing. As soon as the era was far enough away in the rearview mirror to allow for nostalgia to set in (i.e., the second half of the 2000s), there were already some young artists out there onboarding ’90s alt-rock influences. But more recently, there’s been a bumper crop of bands that betray a soft spot for a time when MTV still played music videos and streaming was just something that happened in a restroom. In this context, the literate, lo-fi approach of Pavement has emerged as a particularly strong strand of the ’90s indie tapestry, and it isn’t hard to hear echoes of their sound in the work of more recent arrivals like Kiwi jr. or Teenage Cool Kids. Cherry Glazerr frontwoman Clementine Creevy seems to have a feeling for the kind of big, dirty guitar riffs that made Pacific Northwestern bands the kings of the alt-rock heap once upon a time. The world-weary, wise-guy angularity of Car Seat Headrest can bring to mind the lurching, loose-limbed attack of Railroad Jerk. And laconic, storytelling types like Nap Eyes stand to prove that there’s still a bright future ahead for those who mourn the passing of Silver Jews main man David Berman. But perhaps the best thing about a face-off between the modern indie bands evoking ’90s forebears and the old-school artists themselves is the fact that in this kind of competition, everybody wins.

Diet Cig’s Stuck Inside Playlist
June 17, 2020

Diet Cig’s Stuck Inside Playlist

What’s This Playlist All About? The self-proclaimed “slop pop” duo out of New York offer up a soundtrack for solitude. These are the songs they’ve been listening to in the comforts of their home as they celebrate the release of their second album, Do You Wonder About Me?, a fidgety set of vulnerable indie-rock confessions. What You Get: A breezy sampler of raw, emotionally resonant sounds—both young and old—reflecting the messy (and sometimes silly) reality Diet Cig so naturally capture themselves. This includes a mix of young DIY punks (Nouns), indie-pop underdogs (The Spook School), blissful bedroom-pop darlings (Addy), Icelandic disco groovers (Daði Freyr), and some of the 2010s’ most potent voices, like Perfume Genius and Billie Eilish. They slip in a few indie mainstays as well, including Bright Eyes and Broken Social Scene, alongside avant-garde heroine Nico.Greatest Discovery: The woozy, wispy wanderings of Someone, the moniker of artist Tessa Rose Jackson, whose “Forget Forgive” is the ideal accompaniment to pensive moments of daydreaming out the window. Best Pick for Anytime You’re Stuck Inside: Bring some sunshine into your home with The Friends Of Distinction’s shiny, happy, conga-banging psych-soul classic “Grazing In the Grass”—an activity that feels downright rapturous after too much time inside.

The Beths I Feel Sad Today Playlist

The Beths I Feel Sad Today Playlist

On their debut record, Auckland, NZ four piece The Beths channel their longtime friendship into hook-filled, energetic guitar pop with attitude. Titled Future Me Hates Me, the pessimistic, self-loathing wit is inescapable while the upbeat soundscapes juxtapose that stance nicely. Influenced by guitar-driven pop, name-checking Rilo Kiley and Fall Out Boy as influences, The Beths are creating thoughtful power pop for a jaded generation. As explained to Pitchfork, frontwoman Liz Stokes "typically writes her lyrics most when I’m upset," so when we asked her for a playlist, we werent too surprised that she honed in on that sadness to come up with this mix.Says Stokes: "I feel sad today and so it was difficult to compile a playlist of anything other than songs where I can wallow and commiserate. Of course, I like my sad songs to have a beat and a melody. It should be hard to put on a happy face when youre down and out, but sometimes its the easiest thing to do. So I feel like these are songs that can shuffle along next to me with a smile while I go about my day, without giving too much away."Listen above or go right here.

Cat Powers The Woman Playlist
October 8, 2018

Cat Powers The Woman Playlist

Whats This Playlist All About? Named after "Woman," the lead single from Cat Powers new album Wanderer (her first in six years), this mix shows a little of Chan Marshalls indie rock roots as well as her respect for GOAT singer-songwriters and the women who have consistently challenged the music industrys status quo.What You Get: A selection of classic odes dedicated to the power and struggles of women, alongside modern-day classics devoted to the baddest bitches around (see: Trina and Rihanna). The Woman Playlist aptly starts with her own "Woman," the smoky duet with Lana Del Rey, before kicking into "The Other Woman," the sad mistress tale perfected by Nina Simone. Its then sprinkled with tragic indie anthems (Husker Dus "Diane"), poignant folk secrets (Joni Mitchells "Little Green"), and, of course, John Lennons own "Woman."Biggest Surprise: On the surface, 2Pacs "Keep Ya Head Up" may seems a strange addition, but the rap icons 1993 hit single is a powerful critique of misogyny and the incredible strength of women through it all.What Does This Playlist Say About Women? This is no fluffy statement about girl power. Many of these songs are heartbreaking and tragic as they show the many complexities of being a woman—through all of her trauma, toughness, sadness, and open-heartedness.

The Best Unearthed Music of 2018
December 18, 2018

The Best Unearthed Music of 2018

We’re supposed to be living in the age of infinite, unimpeded access to the entire history of recorded music. The reality, of course, isn’t so simple. If streaming services are the new record stores, they can be just as susceptible to supply-side issues as their brick-and-mortar predecessors. In other words: sometimes, the album you really want to hear isn’t in stock. In the streamiverse, certain artists’ discographies can resemble digital Swiss cheese, particularly if they bounced between number of labels over the course of the career, and especially if some of those labels went belly up. Historically, reissues have taken the form of lavish packages that come loaded with outtakes, rare photos and detailed liner notes, and that often still is the case. But in this day and age, “reissue” has also just become a fancy code word for “old album I can now stream on Spotify.”As such, some of the year’s most welcome new arrivals to the streaming world were technically reissues of once-lost records whose preceding reissues had also gone out of print, such as Simply Saucer’s crucial early ‘70s proto-punk document Cyborgs Revisited or pre-teen disco-punk diva Chandra’s 1980-era Transportation. 2018 also proved that there are still obscure private-pressed singer-songwriters (like Colorado-based pro-rock-climber-turned-troubadour Pat Ament), ‘70s space-rock groups (Canada’s Melodic Energy Commission), ‘80s post-punk bands (New Zealand’s Nocturnal Projections) and unsung ‘90s grunge groups (Australia’s Magic Dirt) out there waiting to rediscovered; still unsung funk auteurs deserving to be rescued from the crates (Tim Jones a.k.a. Preacherman); still no limit to the synth-fueled freakery lurking in the back catalog of late electronic-music pioneer Bruce Haack (check the proto-rap jam “Party Machine”); and still no bottom to the well of wiggy grooves emanating from West Africa in the 1970s (see: the Benin-focused second edition of Analog Africa’s Africa Scream Contest series).Among more high-profile reclamation projects, The Beatles’ 50th-anniversary White Album box set proved to be the rare classic-rock cash grab whose bonus tracks are just as mythical as the original material. (On top of providing fans with official versions of oft-bootlegged curios like “Revolution 1 - Take 18”—which connects the familiar acoustic sing-along with the sound-collage chaos of “Revolution 9”—the alternate Take 10 version of “Good Night” suggests Ringo invented the third Velvet Underground album a few months early.) In some cases, reissues transported us back to a watershed moment in rock history, be it Detroit’s mid-’60s garage-band scene (via a pre-fame Bob Seger’s band the Last Heard) or Neil Young’s infamously rowdy post-Harvest/pre-Tonight’s the Night residency at the Roxy in Los Angeles circa 1973. With others, we revisited notoriously mercurial bands at a key early stage in their evolution, like when The Flaming Lips started to dress up their psych rock with bells and whistles (on the ‘92-era gem “Zero to a Million”) or when Brooklyn bruisers The Men started to infuse their punk-rock roar with more emotional undertones on “Wasted.” And then there were reissues that gave us an intimate audience to private moments of creation—like Prince’s largely improvised Piano & A Microphone1983, Julee Cruise’s early ethereal demos, or the 25th-anniversary excavation of Liz Phair’s lo-fi Girly-Sound Tapes, which was perfectly timed to reify her profound influence on a new generation of confessional indie-rockers.But some of this year’s most notable archival projects were less about satiating completists than commemorating lives cut short far too soon. Women guitarist Chris Reimer—who passed away suddenly in 2012 at age 26—was honored with a collection of private home recordings, Hello People, that showcased his budding talents as an ambient soundscaper. The legacy of Ross Shapiro, the late singer/guitarist for Athens indie-rock hopefuls The Glands, was fortified with the release of the outtakes collection Double Coda. The free-ranging career of Chris Cornell was encapsulated by an box set featuring a handful of previously unreleased oddities—including a cover of U2’s “One” that subs in the lyrics to Metallica’s “One”—that present a more playful portrait of the brooding grunge god. And a survey of Joe Strummer’s solo career, 001, was capped with the 1988-era castaway “U.S. North,” a valorous 10-minute cavalry charge that marks a rare reunion with Mick Jones, suggesting the sort of epic rock music The Clash might’ve headed toward had they survived into the late ‘80s. It’s a reminder that the best reissues and compilations don’t just preserve history, but allow us to imagine an alternate one.

The Best Indie-Rock/-Pop/-Whatever Songs of 2018
December 18, 2018

The Best Indie-Rock/-Pop/-Whatever Songs of 2018

Elvis Costello famously opined that once rock ‘n’ roll dropped the “‘n’ roll” part of the equation and just became popularly known as “rock,” something vital was lost—all “the sex and swing,” as he put it. A similar observation could be made about indie rock, which has, over time, largely shed the “rock” half of the term and is know just casually referred to as “indie.” For old-school underground denizens, that minor semantic shift is indicative of a greater identity crisis: A sound that, 30 years ago, represented an abrasive affront to and stern ideological rebuke of mainstream pop has become so diluted, sanitized, and co-opted that many of its modern-day adherents are pretty much indistinguishable (musically and beard-wise) from the ‘80s dad-rockers that indie rock initially set out to overthrow. However, seen from a different angle, indie rock’s evolution into “indie” isn’t so much indicative of what the genre has lost as what it’s gained: an explosion of aesthetics that has opened up wide swaths of the underground for artists other than scruffy, wool-toqued white dudes with guitars and fuzzboxes.At this point, indie has become so sonically eclectic that finding commonality among the countless artists huddled under its umbrella requires some Cliff Claven-in-Final Jeopardy logic. But amid the buzzing, infinitely-tunnelled ant farm that the underground has become, the 100 artists in our Best of 2018 indie revue rise above by exuding a certain fearlessness, be it a willingness to lay their eccentricities, vulnerabilities and peculiar curiosities bare; a burning need to speak truth to power; or an unfettered eagerness to blow it all up—expectations, traditional song structures, the world itself.That restless spirit manifested itself in all sorts of wonderful ways this past year. It’s in the ripped-off-BandAid lyricism of Snail Mail and the rousing motorik protest-punk of IDLES. It’s Jeff Rosenstock racing through the most epic, exhilarating song ever about paralyzing ennui (“USA”). It’s U.S. Girls reminding us that the problem with American politics goes way deeper than 45 on “M.A.H.” It’s Khruangbin turning Middle Eastern surf-funk into the new psychedelia on “Maria También” and Beijing duo Gong Gong Gong administering hypno-therapy via primitive drone blues on “Siren.” It’s Let’s Eat Grandma setting out to make a bright synth-pop record and ending up with the dark prog album that Lorde has yet to grace us with. It’s Father John Misty stepping out of his head and showing us his heart on “Just Dumb Enough to Try.”It’s former Dirty Beaches drifter Alex Zhang Hungtai closing his latest record with a 20-minute church-organ-summoned slow-motion apocalypse. It’s Sandro Perri opening his with a 24-minute electro koan (“In Another Life”). It’s Zeal & Ardor welding chain-gang chants with heavy-metal muscle to forge a modern soul music. It’s former Pipette Gwenno using her blissed-out psych-pop reveries to resuscitate the lost language of Cornish. It’s the reformed Daughters rendering their brutal industrial post-punk with heavenly grandeur on “Satan in the Wait.” It’s Deafheaven making arena rock for burning hockey rinks (“Honeycomb”). It’s MorMor turning a bedroom beatmaking exercise into a personal exorcism on “Heaven’s Only Wishful.” It’s lapsed hardcore crew Fucked Up dropping some E and stepping onto dancefloor on “Dose Your Dreams” (and going ‘til the break of dawn with their promising New Order-esque offshoot Jade Hairpins).It’s Kaia Kater and Odetta Hartman uprooting folk music from the earth and letting it drift into the great beyond. It’s nêhiyawak addressing Indigenous cultural erasure through spoken-word poetry and scabrous shoegaze on “page.” It’s Tommy and the Commies making the passing of Pete Shelley a little easier to take with the Buzzcockerific “Devices.” It’s the traditionally sardonic Stephen Malkmus delivering a poignant state-of-the-union on “Middle America.” It’s the outsized swagger and ardor of nouveau gender-agnostic glam phenoms like Hubert Lenoir, Ezra Furman, Art D’Ecco, and Christine and the Queens. It’s Kurt Vile achieving peak Kurt Viledom on the nine eternally zen minutes of “Bassackwards.” It’s Japanese tricksters CHAI making manic roller-derby disco like an old issue of Grand Royal come to life. It’s surly survivors like Mudhoney and Jon Spencer proving there’s no expiration date on good ol’ punk-spewed haterade. And there’s something equally special to be savored in the other 70 tracks featured here.Sure, “indie” may no longer represent the ideological badge of honor it once was. But from a pure aesthetic-exploration standpoint, its defining value—independence—has never felt truer.

Kiwi jr.s Playlist

Kiwi jr.s Playlist

Toronto-based jangle-punk combo Kiwi jr.’s debut album, Football Money, received a U.S. release in January 2020, mere weeks before the world was forced into hibernation by the COVID-19 virus. But if they can’t hit the road this year, the least they can do is relive past gig glories through this playlist of “people we have played with and hung out with and admire.” Their selections double as a pocket history of Canadian indie rock, spanning defunct ’90s icons (Thrush Hermit), dogged veterans (The Sadies, Fucked Up), unsung local heroes (Jim Guthrie, Daniel Romano), like-minded contemporaries (Nap Eyes), and a certain big-deal alt-pop group with whom they share a member (Alvvays). But the playlist is also a testament to Kiwi jr.’s rising cachet in the Toronto scene and their ability to score prime opening slots for visiting buzz bands like Aussie wonders Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever, Detroit singer/songwriter Stef Chura, and Brooklyn art-punk dynamos BODEGA.

The Greatest One-Person-Band Albums
August 1, 2019

The Greatest One-Person-Band Albums

Sometimes music is a solitary endeavor. After recording technology advanced to the point of making it possible for one person to construct an entire album all by themselves, hermetic whiz kids started turning out solo albums in the truest sense of the word, in which they played and sang all or nearly all of the parts. Some of them may have been control freaks eschewing additional musicians out of monomania, but others were studio geniuses who crafted entire worlds all on their own, and thats what were looking into here.A few are former band members who ran with the chance to operate unencumbered, such as Paul McCartney and John Fogerty, who had some of their most memorable songs sans helpmates, like "Maybe Im Amazed," from the ex-Beatles 1970 solo debut, McCartney, and "Centerfield," from the CCR frontmans 1985 comeback album of the same name. Some became famous as youthful mavens of multitracking, as Prince did with his first hit, "I Wanna Be Your Lover," as well as Mike Oldfield with his first album, Tubular Bells, known forevermore as the spooky soundtrack music of The Exorcist.More and more artists are going it alone as digital technology has drastically increased the ease and options in creating one-person projects. Sometimes theyve obscured their solitary stances by adopting aliases that could be taken for band names, such as Glasser (Cameron Mesirow), Grimes (Claire Boucher), and Japanese Breakfast (Michelle Zauner). Whether they tip their hands or not, the next Todd Rundgren or Stevie Wonder could be out there right now, just waiting for the right time to pop up with a new, strictly solo masterpiece.

Matt Holubowskis Ode to Montreal Playlist

Matt Holubowskis Ode to Montreal Playlist

Its possible you havent heard of Matt Holubowski just yet, but this French-Canadian folk artist is making some pretty big waves alongside some artists you might recognize: like The Cures Robert Smith asking him to play Meltdown Fest and Ben Folds bringing him out on his last tour. This self-proclaimed "young man making old music" utilizes the classic guitar-and-voice combo that lends itself to singer-songwriter gold reached by his heroes Leonard Cohen, Elliott Smith and Andrew Bird, and will be releasing his debut LP Solitudes in the US at the end of August.As he prepares to make a splash in the US, though, Holubowski is first being celebrated in his hometown of Montreal at Osheaga, so we asked him to in turn celebrate his hometown with us by putting together a Montreal/ Quebec-centric playlists.Says Matt: "Montréal has got something unique about its musicality. It was partly born out of a deep divide that over time has become its greatest strength, language, one which has permeated the musical scene over the years, but also through its cultural cross between good ol’ Americana and European flavour.Some of these songs and artists have had a great impact on my own writing, and I’ve since had the pleasure and privilege to rub shoulders and collaborate with a couple of them.There’s a certain mysterious vibe and energy to all of these, and I don’t know if the commonality lies in their being Montrealers/Quebecers, or if they just happen to fall within my own palette, but in any case, these are all great for a dreamy voyage into our new old city."Listen above or go right here.

The Holy Knives: Field Guide

The Holy Knives: Field Guide

Hailing from New Orleans but residing in San Antonio, The Holy Knives ( comprised of brothers Kyle and Kody Valentine) mix rock aesthetics with desert psychedelics, resulting in their twangy and moody, Western and modern 2018 debut EP Ritual Bloom. To learn more about what influences their soundscape, Kyle and Kody made us a playlist exploring that very notion. Read about their selections below and go right here to listen.Says the band of their mix: "This collection of songs has been an undercurrent in both the writing of our EP Ritual Bloom and our forthcoming album. Each of these pieces holds a unique place in our ears’ hearts, and all of them in their own way had a place in shaping the emotions and soundscapes of the music we have been fortunate to create this year. Some of these songs accompanied us on the road, while others kept us inspired during our writing time. We hope that you can hear how these songs have played a part in making our music what it is, as well as discover something new to inspire you."

'90S THROWBACKS
Indie Rock Face-Off: Neo vs. ’90s

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Indie Rock Face-Off: Neo vs. ’90s

Headings, paragraphs, blockquotes, figures, images, and figure captions can all be styled after a class is added to the rich text element using the "When inside of" nested selector system.

Indie Rock Face-Off: Neo vs. ’90s

Headings, paragraphs, blockquotes, figures, images, and figure captions can all be styled after a class is added to the rich text element using the "When inside of" nested selector system.