Blogs
Noble Kin- Cornish Litany (Paracadute)
Noble Kin:The So So Glos :: Melatonin:Caffeine This one man-Brooklyn band simultaneously exudes melodic poetry and brings The So So Glos to mind. With a large lyrical focus on the folk created in the NY scene, Cornish Litany adds a rock twist to the idea of one man...
633 Ashland Ave.: Jack White, "High Ball Stepper"
Just over a week after The Black Keys’ newest single, “Fever,” was released, Jack White released “High Ball StepperÛ. In addition to his latest track, White also announced the release date of his new album, Lazaretto. While this has not been our first...
Shaken Not Stirred: Fleet Foxes Cover the Classics
I am awfully surprised that I haven't discovered this playlist until now. In fact, I feel almost ashamed to be discovering it just now. Nevertheless, it is never too late to appreciate beautifully executed, strangely authentic music, especially when it involves...
WVAU Sits Down With: TOPS
About a week ago today, the delicate Canadian indie-pop group TOPS came to D.C. to shred the stage at DC9. Didn't get to see them? Rough. Never heard of them before? Well lucky for you, that's why I'm here. The night before the group trekked on down to the...
Leading Ladies: Samsaya’s Multicultural Pop Experience
Samsaya with her signature red heart painted over her left eye which serves as a reminder to approach life with an open mind. Courtesy of Audiofemme . Indian-Norwegian singer, Sampda Sharma – known by her stage name Samsaya – prepares for the release of...
The Looking Glass: Trust’s "Joyland"
The recent release of Joyland marks a certain revival of Robert Alfons's creative project Trust; in Joyland we are thrust into a movement forward, an unfolding from an establishing parameter ÛÒ one sketched out in his first album TRST ÛÒ to a joyful and affirming...
Cake: Tracy Chapman
March 30 2014 was all American singer-songwriter Tracy Chapman's 50th birthday. Tracy Chapman's bold voice is known to be one of the most gender-ambiguously beautiful voices the industry has ever encountered. Born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio, she learned to play...
The Tough Crowd: Girl Power
This weekly column of mine hasn't been very tough. I promise to increase my coverage of heavy music for the next few weeks starting now. I love anything angry and loud and borderline scary, especially if you can describe it as tough, hence the name. Growing up I was...
Rainy Day Music #7: High Violet
Last week, I featured an album (Is This It by the Strokes) that was a great antidote for rain, a listen so enjoyable that it could banish the blues from any gray day. This week's pick is the opposite, an album for wallowing in those puddles. Thanks to Music Director...
Shaken Not Stirred: Three Songs to Know by Sam Smith
As the popularity of British soul continues to rise the music charts, as seen by the success of artists like Adele, Amy Winehouse, and electro-soul singer James Blake, a new wave of artists with the same classic, yet individually unique style seems to be taking over...
Under the Tide: Spring Song Starter
Winter was recently officially and very belatedly declared over, so it probably is appropriate to shelve away all morose and depressing music to welcome the warm sun rays and exposed skin in dire need of some good ol' Vitamin D. To kickstart us off and bid farewell...
Future Islands – Singles (4AD)
LET’S DANCE Samuel T. Herring is a bit of strange dude. He's a pioneer of NORMCORE, dances like you do in your underwear with a blowdryer as a microphone, has the least “frontman” look in the world, and sounds like an overdramatic musical actor in his...
Perfect Pussy – Say Yes To Love (Captured Tracks)
The only thing louder than the buzz is the band. The aforementioned buzz around Perfect Pussy’s debut “Say Yes To Love” is well deserved given their rare and powerful energy. Their combination of hardcore and noise rock isn’t entirely new, but...
The Coathangers-Suck My Shirt (Suicide Squeeze)
A different tier of garage rock When they formed in 2006, The Coathangers could, as the story goes, barely play their instruments. Eight years later, though they may know how to play a bit better, they have lost none of their initial shoddy magnetism. These are garage...
Liars-Mess (Mute)
In their nearly decade and a half long career, the thing Liars have been most associated with is their willingness to wildly change musical style from one release to the next, while always and astonishingly sounding exactly like themselves. Their discography ranges...
S Carey – Range of Light (Jagjaguwar)
Justin Vernon taught him well. It is impossible to not think of Bon Iver when you hear the name S Carey. But in his first full length solo LP, Sean Carey steps out of Justin Vernon’s enormous shadow and creates an intricate, imaginative, and painfully beautiful...
Tokyo Police Club ÛÒ Forcefield (Mom & Pop)
Pop overload. If Tokyo Police Club incorporated elements with any rock influence prior to their most recent release, they have since been diminished. Forcefield is a pop album through and through. The group is excessively energetic, with simplistic guitar and...
Big Scary- Not Art (Barsuk)
Creative indie that weaves in some noise rock. With an album named “Not Art” and tracks like “Phil Collins” and ÛWhy Hip Hop Sucks In 13,” Big Scary's newest LP might seem cheeky on the surface, but at a closer look, “Not Art” is a creative work with...
David Novick ÛÒ Your Sister’s Hand (GOD?)
Softly psychedelic One distinctive feature of the second album from David Novick, Ty Segall's buddy and kinda label mate (GOD? is an imprint of Drag City, and Novick played drums on the Sleeper track “The KeepersÛ) is the number of instrumental tracks (three on a...
Porno Mags- Porno Mags (Self-Released)
Proto-punk-garage-rock-hyphen-sound Chicago based Porno Mags has an incredibly cohesive sound for a band formed less than a year ago, probably gained from their strict definition of the proto-punk genre. Porno Mags follows the recipe rather well- late 60s meets...
Ibibio Sound Machine – Ibibio Sound Machine (Soundway)
Afro-electro-disco-funk This London-based octet presents a danceable blend of electronic sounds, African polyrhthms and dashes of funk and disco. Frontwoman Eno Williams pulls it all together with soulful vocals in the Ibibio language of southern Nigeria. The sparse,...
Chimurenga Renaissance – riZe vadZimu riZe (Brick Lane)
Relevant rhymes over lavish world-inspired beats Chimurenga Rennaissance is technically a side project of Shabazz Palace's Baba Maraire as well as Hussein Kalon, but this offshoot definitely holds its own musical merit. Plain and simple: There is a lot going on in...
Lyla Foy – Mirrors The Sky (Sub Pop)
Daughter but way better. Sub Pop has redeemed itself with this UK beauty. Lyla Foy has the voice we expect and crave from the London indie scene, soft, strong, unique, sophisticated. But she doesn’t cop out and record a catchy heartbreak album with an accent....
The Strypes- Snapshot (Photofinish)
Contagious rock n' roll in its most traditional form. The Strypes, who hail from Ireland, bring on their full-length debut “Snapshot” the hope that classic rock n' roll is very much alive. The rootsy, bluesy, and down and dirty elements of 50s rock collides with...
Daniel Harnett – Under the Veil Unseen
Everything but the kitchen sink. Daniel Harnett has been around for awhile, just not as a recording artist. Theatre star gone rock artist, he has been successful performing live around NYC for a few decades. In this full length LP, he throws in soft meandering...
PINS ÛÒ Girls Like Us (Bella Union)
GIRL POWER! England has done it again: blessed us with an all girl band that is capable of creating an awesome noise pop album. Pins is a group of brooding females who has something to say and demand that it be heard. “It's On” is one of the slower-paced tracks on...
Cheetah Chrome ÛÒ Solo (Plowboy)
Rocket From the Tombs/Dead Boys guitarist embraces classic rock sounds It would be easy to assume that the first substantial studio recorded solo effort from former Dead Boys Cheetah Chrome, a 59 year old man who's ex-group's best known album was called Young Loud...
Alden Penner – Exegesis (Independent)
The Unicorns fans rejoice. Post Unicorns break up, fans either followed frontman Nick Thorburn or Alden Penner. The Thorburn fans had their cravings satisfied by his work on Islands albums. And while Islands albums were solid to say the least, but Alden Penner showed...
Creative Adult – Psychic Mess (Run For Cover)
Cellar dweller garagecore Post-hardcore is a lot more than angry noise, and Creative Adult successfully manage to bring a lot more emotive depth to their first LP, Psychic Mess. Think Joy Division's dark emotions from raging California music vets. Like any proper...
Total Slacker- Slip Away (Black Bell Records)
Rockin' psych-surf If this album were a beverage it'd be Rockstar Energy Drink- and probably do just as good of a job keeping you up all night. “Brooklyn based Total Slacker take scuzzy, in-your-face guitar tones and send them into space” on their latest album,...