Bruce Springsteen, the very guy who wrote “Glory Days” about folk who spend their adult years looking back to the time when they were in their prime and their star shone brightest, should probably have seen this time in his life and career coming. Maybe it’s a little bit easier to spot nostalgia in a…
Since their formation in 2016, Sydney’s psych-rock band Kimono Drag Queens have released a string of singles, and have been slowly leading up to finally releasing their debut, Songs of Worship. It’s taken the seven-piece two years to record but I believe it was worth the wait as Songs of Worship is full of surprising…
Kathleen Edwards, Canadian singer/songwriter, returns after 8 years of relative silence with another fine album of exemplary folk/pop songcraft. Edwards had built a solid following with four solid albums, including 2012’s Voyager, which was produced by Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon. Edwards left music after touring that album with Vernon, with whom she had a romantic…
The Mountain Goats’ singer/songwriter John Darnielle may be thought of by some as the poet laureate of all things nerdy due to entire albums drawn from the world of wrestling (Beat the Champ), Dungeons & Dragons (In League With Dragons), 80’s post-punk art rock (Goths), and obscure Bible verses (The Life of the World to…
By now, fans of Sufjan Stevens have learned to approach each new project with an open mind. On his most successful effort to date, 2005’s Illinois, Stevens revealed the breadth of his musical interests, from indie folk to pop/rock all the way to showtunes with full orchestrations, and electronica. The Age of Adz (2010) turned…
In the nearly four years since Lydia Loveless’ last album, Real, the country-rock singer/songwriter has divorced her bass player husband, left her record company, and moved house, before writing and recording her new record, which has been released on her own label. If on Real she refined her edgier cow-punk leanings with a more accessible…
These cousins from Melbourne, Kllo (rhymes with “flow”) return with a follow-up to their 2017 electro-pop debut, Breakthrough. As described in their bio, the two abandoned recording together late in 2018, following tours that took them around the world twice, unsure about their musical direction and focus. Drawn back together following a period of collaborations…
Described as a reflection on singer Wayne Coyne’s youthful upbringing in Oklahoma City, The Flaming Lips’ 16th album, American Head steps away from the bombastic sci-fi rock opera visions of 2002’s Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots and last year’s King’s Mouth to make a record of more reflective, often tender ballads akin to 1999’s The…
Sometimes simplicity is the key to great music and what you actually don’t hear can sometimes be the highlight. That is exactly what post-punk unit Sweeping Promises delivers on their debut album Hunger For A Way Out. The group’s swagger, controlled intensity and focused detail on the little things has the cup runneth over with…
The fact that we’re talking about the 17th album by Moby says a lot. Few artists have the distinction of taking a music form often limited to the club scene – dance, electronica, ambient – and giving it mainstream relevance, earning pop radio airplay in the bargain. Early artistic triumphs like Everything Is Wrong (1995),…
