Blogs
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,...
Sisyphus-Sisyphus (Asthmatic Kitty)
This ain’t your dad’s Sufjan This might be the collaboration of Son Lux, rapper Serengeti, and perpetual cutie Sufjan Stevens, but the biggest mistake a potential listener could make going in is expecting this to fit neatly into the catalog of any of its...
Live in the Hive: Krill and Ava Luna
Before their show at The Dunes on 3/21, Krill and Ava Luna stopped by the WVAU studio for a tantalizing duo of energizing sets. Krill, or, WVAU Hears the Krill in-studio and Bursts Into Tears: Krill’s latest release is titled Steve Hears Pile in Malden and...
633 Ashland Ave.: The Black Keys, "Fever"
Last Friday the announcement of The Black Keys’ newest album Turn Blue was made on boxing legend Mike Tyson's twitter account. Then, three days later, two videos were released, one being a teaser for the Turn Blue and another featuring The Black Keys’...
WVAU Sits Down With: Forest Swords (Matthew Barnes)
Originally from Liverpool, England, Matthew Barnes produces intricate soundscapes under the name Forest Swords. The former visual artist turned electronic musician creates his music from a highly visual background. His debut LP Engravings was released in August 2013...
Leading Ladies: 3 Artists to Watch from the Toronto R&B Scene
Thanks to Drake and The Weeknd, this new contemporary/alternative R&B wave has hit Toronto hard. While many of the artists that have made a name for themselves are men, it’s important not to forget the women who are also making an impact on the scene in a...
The Tough Crowd: Venue Pet Peeves
Last Saturday, like most other Saturdays, I went to a show I won't name because it was mediocre, but I will mention the things I noticed there. A show that isn't holding your interest is the same as being in a class where the professor is droning on about nothing...
Live in the Hive: The So So Glos
Too pop for punk, too punk for pop, The So So Glos have made a name for themselves with their melodic DIY punk anthems over the past few years. With the release of 2013’s excellent Blowout, many yearned for their out of print earlier albums. Now comfortable with...
Sit Down with Shira: Chalk and Numbers
If we're going to talk about super cool female-fronted collectives, there's really no way we can't discuss the sudden — and well deserved — rise of girly pop duo Chalk and Numbers. Hailing from the bizarre land of Brooklyn, NY, Chalk and Numbers is...
Rainy Day Music #6: Is This It
Last week's rainy day selection came from my good friend from home and was an album you'd expect to fit in with a rainy day: a jazz album (Speak No Evil). This week's Rainy Day Album comes from another old friend, Michael Venit, but it's an album that you...
Minutia: Arcade Fire – "Some Other Place"
Composed for some movie about people loving their phones (actually though, the movie's f*cking great), Arcade Fire's “Some Other Place” lets the band escape from their persona and style that has been hammered into our skulls all of last year. When we get away from...
Under the Tide: The Radio Dept.
Sometimes you don't really care for a band or musician. It can be due to the fact that the first album or song you picked to start off with didn't sync well with you, the band members don't look attractive enough, the band name pisses you off (I actually did not...
Shaken Not Stirred: Nick Drake’s "Pink Moon"
I am always on the lookout for new folk music. I've listened to the complete works of Dylan and Cash, Mitchell and Baez, but somehow my craving for this eclectic, yet beautifully simple music is never quite satisfied. I was looking through a Spotify playlist the...
Heavy Rotation Highlights: The War On Drugs, Trust, Warm Soda & more!
It’s the first day of Spring! The weather’s getting warmer, and things are looking up, so treat yourself to our latest batch of rack additions. Not only does this edition feature The War on Drugs’ early Album of the Year candidate, but we’ve...
The War On Drugs- Lost In the Dream (Secretly Canadian)
You need this record now and you’ll need it for the rest of your life It is about 70 degrees and you’re on the road, eager to get to anywhere but where you are now. Fueled by nervous energy, just enough to keep you going but steady enough to keep you in...
Warm Soda ÛÒ Young Reckless Hearts (Castle Face)
Power-pop group believes in a thing called Love Warm Soda's debut LP, Someone For You, was one of the most underrated albums of 2013. Taking after their namesake, Warm Soda boasted a sound on that album in which the vocals were undeniably sweet, while the choruses on...
Kevin Drew- Darlings (Arts & Crafts)
Music for a mid life crisis? Some artists have this natural ability to sum up all the melancholy of this life into timeless tunes that flow effortlessly on their own and into each other. Broken Social Scene could be the epitome of those bands, and frontman Kevin Drew,...
Damaged Bug-Hubba Bubba (Castle Face)
Thee Oh Sees frontman makes a record that is decidedly not Thee Oh Sees This is John Dwyer of Thee Oh Sees, but if you're expecting a Thee Oh Sees record, you're going to walk away sorely disappointed. Odd, cheap electronics replace fuzzed guitars as Dwyers main...
traumahelikopter- I Don’t Understand Them At All (Burger Records)
Minimalist upbeat sad rock “If it's a joke/ how come no one is laughing?” I'm an experienced punk rocker, so self-depreciative pop anthems are my niche; but I've never heard anything close to the poetically beautiful contrast Dutch band traumahelikopter puts out....
Ice Cream Cathedral ÛÒ The Drowsy Kingdom (Riot Factory)
Introducing the genre of Space-Pop. Ice Cream Cathedral has put their own spin on the traditional dream pop genre to create an even more atmospheric sound. The band formed in Copenhagen where they released their debut album, The Drowsy Kingdom, almost a year ago. The...
Guided By Voices – Motivational Jumpsuit (GBV Inc)
A disjointed collection of song bursts with a wide range of guitar styles. Guided By Voices’ songwriter Robert Pollard must get bored pretty easily. Only one song on the reunited group’s new album breaks the three minute mark, with many fading out well...
The Orwells ÛÒ “The Righteous One” (Canvasback)
Keeping it simple, stupid Taking a bit of a departure from the overarching theme of their Who Needs You EP, The Orwells replace frenetic punk energy with more deliberate grunge pacing on their new single. Shuffling along like only they can shuffle, the verses of “The...