Some have said that rock n’ roll is dead. If you’ve ever voiced that particular complaint, you should know that you’re wrong. On their new album Don’t Go Out Tonight, Atlanta trio Bad Spell gives you all the proof you need. You hear it right from the opening notes of “Gotta Put You Down,” a…
We never know truly what others deal with on a daily basis; undetectable pain behind a smile, buried shame in a spirit, a heart burdened by unbearable sadness. And, when wounds are hidden, they fester. It’s only when we overcome our fears and talk about our experiences and struggles that the hurt can begin…
Some might say that we live in dark and troubled times, and, maybe those people are right. While a good funk-soul album may not cure all the world’s ills, it certainly can boost the mood for even the gloomiest of the doomy types–especially if it’s a live album like the latest from eight-piece British funk…
Remember when you were in school and you had a crush on someone? You found yourself exhilarated whenever you were in the presence of that person. Well, crushes don’t have to be of the romantic variety. Musical crushes are a real thing, and with her new album The Gumption, Toronto-based R&B artist Tanika Charles just…
“I think anytime you get to connect with other people, it’s pretty cool,” says Roy English of recently performing in Portland, his first live show as alt-pop band Jagwar Twin. “Connecting with all the band members, but also everyone in the audience, giving and taking and circulating energy around the room. It was awesome. So…
What medicine can’t cure, music can. EELS frontman Mark Oliver Everett, a.k.a. E knows that from extensive personal experience–simply put, he’s been through some things. Following the success of his band’s debut album Beautiful Freak in 1996, E lost his sister to suicide and his mother was diagnosed with cancer. These events, along with…
Peoria, Illinois-based collective The Way Down Wanderers recently released their latest album, illusions, and are tearing up the highways to bring their unique sound to eager audiences across the land. Foundationally, the band is bluegrass, sonically, they’re a little bit of everything. Consisting of five guys with a variety of musical backgrounds (Austin Krause-Thompson, Collin…
Nashville may be famous for country, but it’s really a melting pot for artists from every corner of the world who make music of all configurations. You can’t eat at one of our renowned restaurants, drink crafted caffeine at one of our beautiful coffee shops, or really, even cross the street without encountering someone…
It’s been said that trends come and go, but that style is eternal. Los Angeles-based chanteuse Haley Reinhart has style in spades, which is beautifully showcased on her forthcoming release Lo-Fi Soul. With the album’s shimmering introductory notes, a veil is lifted and the listener is drawn into the experience like Homerian sailors unable to…
“I’ll do it forever, do nothing but fail, a student of error who can only prevail. ’Cause learning is trying and trying is hard, when it feels like falling is gonna tear you apart. But now, I’m ready to win,” Tokyo Police Club declares in a Violent Femmes-esque track from their latest album TPC, appropriately…
In October 2018, singer/songwriter Kurt Vile released his critically-acclaimed seventh album Bottle It In via Matador Records. Bottle It In heads off in new directions, pushing at the edges of the map into unexplored territory–these songs show an artist who is still evolving and growing, expressing himself through monster jams, a songwriter who, like his hero…
Beloved readers, I’m sure you’re familiar with the age-old adage of “love at first sight”–I’m here to tell you that “love at first listen” is definitely a thing. And when I say “love at first listen,” I mean “love at first listen of the very first seconds of a song.” The creator of this fuzzy…
It’s been almost two years since we heard from Brooklyn-based Winstons, one of our most favorite garage-rock duos and all-around purveyors of electrified badassery. Way too long, y’all! Today, Lou Nutting and Ben Brock Wilkes are back with a crunchy new video, “Hard Times,” a track from their self-titled debut full-length LP, out March 1st (“Hard Times”…
Oh, Valentine’s Day–such a polarizing thing; while it’s awesome to remind loved ones that, well, you love them, in its hokey and aggrandized Hallmark form, it can create unrealistic expectations and can send folks who are unattached down a shame spiral. That’s why we can’t get enough of Nashville singer-songwriter Anna Moon‘s supreme kiss-off to that whole…
There are some principles that we know to be true. Space is curved. Every action in nature has an equal and opposite reaction. We get to eat pie each year on March 14th. However, one of the great unsolved mysteries is how rock duos manage to consistently outplay and outperform prototypical, stage sprawling bands. Seeking…
