Blogs
Oil Boom, "Red Metal" (Self-Released)
Rock n' Roll at its finest.Sultry, strung out and with infectious rhythm, Red Metal is a really good back to basics rock album. All of the tracks are filled with lo-fi vocals, good vibes and wobbly and screechy guitar parts that rendezvous with each other while the...
Rancid, "…Honor is All We Know" (Hellcat/Epitaph)
90's mainstream punk for a modern era.Rancid is one of those bands who needs no introduction to a certain group of people. One of the founding bands of the mainstream punk revival in the 90's, Rancid has been in the game for well over a decade now, and they're...
Ryan Hemsworth, "Alone for the First Time" (Last Gang Records/Secret Songs)
Niche that stars are made of. Ryan Hemsworth stands, deliberately, as a counterpoint to popular club oriented style of electronic music, choosing to go intimate where others may go big, discreet where others go massive, and charming where others go intimidating. While...
Leading Ladies: Dance and Feel Good!
British singer Moko shows us how to get down. (Courtesy of DJ Semtex.) Finals are nearing, deadlines are looming and your life force is steadily dwindling to zero. You want to go to the gym but that's too much effort and going outside now would leave you as a...
The Tough Crowd: Beagle Edition
Courtesy of Bunk Blog. If you have spent any amount of time aimlessly wandering around campus for something to do, you've probably come across a copy of The Beagle. In case you haven't had the pleasure of finding this gem, its American's premier (and unofficial)...
Another Kind of Currency: The Wordplay in "Dog Problems"
Courtesy of It's a Fabulous Life. One of the many things I owe my older brother for would be introducing of me to some of the music that has become my personal favorite to this day. Most of it happened when he was in high school and I, being five years his junior, in...
Feedback | The Anaconda in the Room: How Nicki Minaj Fuses Style & Substance
Oh man have I learned to love Nicki Minaj. Pop never sunk its hooks deep into my musical sensibilities, but I cannot resist a lightning rod like Nicki Minaj. Convinced by boredom and an odd itch, I tried to quantify the raw rage over Nicki Minaj. I did so by...
Submit to "The Stream"!
Haven't you always dreamed of SUBMITTING WORK TO THE WVAU ZINE? Well now you CAN! Read the details below and submit! Submissions are open to ALL AU students. Submission guidelines: SUBMISSIONS ARE TO BE EMAILED TO WVAUART@GMAIL.COM BY 11:59 ON NOVEMBER 23 Due to...
The Looking Glass: Les Sins, "Michael"
Courtesy of Last.fm.What is at stake in the latest album put forth by Chaz Bundick ÛÒ under the alias Les Sins å_ÛÒ is no doubt the collective future of the entire genre of chillwave; musician, and album alike. The aesthetic scene we are confronted with in...
Pop Exodus: An Open Letter to Roger Daltrey
Courtesy of We Know Memes. Hey Roger, how's life? Congrats on the release of your new album (even though it's just a glorified Greatest Hits Record). Now, don't get me wrong, I love you and the rest of The Who as much as the next college student but I have...
The Current: Laughing with Tyler, the Creator and Remembering Elliott Smith
The form of documentaries about musicians is changing. The days of just performance footage are long past, due to the ability of viewers to access clips of concerts on their own all over the internet. Now, it is crucial for these documentaries to show a side of the...
Coo Coo Cachoo: The Music of "Nowhere Boy"
Courtesy of IMDB. Not very many people know the story behind the Beatles, the famous British group that changed the course of rock & roll forever. I didn't either until I saw the film Nowhere Boy, the story of young John Lennon and the formation of his...
Plain Speak, "Foundations" (Self-Released)
Soft indie rock sad jamz. The first thing of note about this album is that it's certainly an album to “chill” to. Most of the tracks never get much louder than quiet jamming, and the slow acoustic plucking on tracks like “Vision At All” provide a good backdrop for...
Gruff Rhys, "American Interior" (Turnstile)
Shit just got weird.Weird in the best way possible, of course. Known for his old role in Welsh rock band Super Furry Animals, Gruff Rhys already has some fame to his name. Comparing songs across his solo albums is an interesting thing; whereas “Whale Trail,” a single...
Hollands, "Restless Youth" (Self-Released)
If you like distorted guitars with unexpected violin breaks, give this a try.New York based duo, Hollands, is made up of multi-instrumentalist John-Paul Norpoth and violinist Jannina Norpoth. In 2009 they released 2 EP's entitled Faces and Mother, both of which...
John Wesley Coleman III, "The Love That You Own" (Burger)
A blast of scorching, sun-spoiled distortion.“I Wish The Night To Be A Lot Longer” transports the listener into what sounds like a southern version of Mac Demarco's “Salad Days” or somewhat of an electrified Townes Van Zandt. Born and bred in the Lone Star State,...
18 , "Trust" (Houndstooth)
What is this?18+ are what I imagine would happen if Portishead had a younger sibling who spent too much time on the darker corners of the internet during their formative years. Either that or if Die Antwoord did mescaline in the streets of New Orleans. The duo of Boy...
Wild Smiles, "Always Tomorrow" (Sunday Best)
Hailing from England,the influence from the late 70s classic punk bands that came out of their nation can be heard clearly on Wild Smiles' debut album Always Tomorrow. Fast, simple riffs and Buzzcocks-style vocals open the album and set the precedent for...
Lisa LeBlanc, "Highways, Heartaches and Time Well Wasted" (Bonsound)
Mountain mama tells it like it is.Lisa LeBlanc brings the brash, raw realness on Highways, Heartaches And Times Well Wasted. “The smell of your old cigarette has stayed on my coat/ And even though I find it kind of gross/ It somehow comforts me” opens up an album...
Sama Dams, "Comfort in Doubt" (Self-Released)
Hot Yoga by Candlelight. Maybe I just have a different perception of yoga from others, but Comfort in Doubt seems to me to be a much better set list than a string of nature sounds. It's relaxing in a different way, a sensual way. Clearly, there's something sexy...
Criminal Hygiene, "Radio Free Antartica" (Self-Released)
West coast garage punk. Criminal Hygiene apparently enjoys getting drunk before recording music, and it shows on this album. But not in a bad way. The album has sort of a haphazard messiness to it, but rather turn the listener off it provides its own unique...
Keep Ya Head Up: Kendrick is Back at It
Fans didn't exactly get what they were expecting when Kendrick Lamar dropped his first single in nearly two years late this September. The track, simply entitled "i", is an upbeat anthem; sampling the Isley Brother's classic "Who's That Lady," and using a...
Under The Tide: The Antlers & "Sad" Music
Courtesy of The Guardian. The Antlers have been labeled as a “sad band.” It comes without surprise as one of their earlier albums, a concept album titled Hospice tells the story of a hospice worker caring for a patient suffering from terminal bone cancer. The overall...
Leading Ladies: "Broke With Expensive Taste" should be on everyone’s top albums list
Courtesy of @AZEALIABANKS. “212” featuring Lazy Jay dropped in 2011 as a free download on Azealia Banks's website. Three years later, Broke With Expensive Taste was stealthily released on Nov. 6. For me, one of the most important things I look for in a musician...
Another Kind of Currency: The Quotations Used on Titus Andronicus’ "The Monitor"
Courtesy of Stereogum. Well. Here it is. The column I've had ever since I thought about writing about music. Titus Andronicus is a punk band from New Jersey that just so happened to release an absolutely perfect album in 2010 entitled The Monitor. I've always...
The Tough Crowd: Scenes From A D.C. Basement Show
Courtesy of Impose. We're more than midway through the semester so it's time to switch it up. Next week The Tough Crowd will return to it's usual informational shenanigans, but this week it gets more personal. Being a senior in college means life gets busy. Too...
Live in the Hive: Alex G
Courtesy of Nicole Brunet Photography. A few weeks ago we were lucky enough to catch Alex G during his month-long fall tour with Gardens & Villa. It seems like the precocious Philadelphian has been touring nonstop ever since his most recent album DSU (a...
Capitol Punishment Preview: BADBADNOTGOOD w/ Ace Cosgrove
Courtesy of Eli Fosl. The juxtaposition of jazz and hip hop is not something new. A Tribe Called Quest and even Kendrick Lamar have played around with this interesting intersection. BadBadNotGood exemplifies the combination of these two seemingly opposite...
Pop Exodus: Arbitrary Rankings from This Week in Pop
Courtesy of Slack-Time. From the petulant pop-punk of Ace Wilder to the totally unnecessary sledgehammer similes of Fifth Harmony, I decided to make you a handy-dandy list of all the Most Important Tracks from the Week:Ace Wilder, "Riot" I've been...
Coo Coo Ca-Choo: Getting Nostalgic with the Vaccines
Courtesy of The Vaccines' Russian website. Rewind to Outside Lands 2011. I was 16, just barely a young adult. My best friend and I braved the festival wholeheartedly, taking in every moment of our music-filled surroundings. That and some second-hand...