As the leader of indie-pop band The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, Kip Berman & Co. leaned into noisy pop of My Bloody Valentine and the 80’s melodic hooks favored by bands like the Psychedelic Furs and Echo & the Bunnymen. When that band broke up in 2017, Berman traded in city club-life for…
Singer/songwriter Joyann Parker brings her big, soulful voice to a set of originals that lean toward the traditional pop side of Americana’s spectrum of musical influences, from rootsy R&B to blues, country and rock & roll. Parker co-writes with her band’s guitarist Mark Lamoine, with whom she regularly performs a tribute show celebrating the life…
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…
Our selection of the best new music across a range of genres from the week ending 2 October 2020. Platinum-selling singer, songwriter, producer, and activist Aloe Blacc has released his newest album, All Love Everything via BMG. Inspired by his family, the new album is shaped around Aloe not only as a husband, but his…
It’s almost hard to say what’s more surprising here, that Taylor Swift dropped a surprise new album last Thursday that was entirely recorded in the months of this coronavirus pandemic quarantine, or that you’re reading about it here, where I primarily focus on independent rockers. However, when the 30 year old pop star turns to…
Somehow, even when Rufus Wainwright was getting a lot of buzz for the sophisticated sound on his self-titled debut (’98) and his sophomore outing, Poses, he felt like an old soul, someone who’s idea of pop music came from Cole Porter’s prestigious catalog in the 1930’s, and prone to quoting lines from the plays of…
Our selection of the best new music across a range of genres from the week ending 3 July 2020. Folk darlings Mandolin Orange didn’t think they would ever release a live album. It didn’t make sense for a band that loved to tour and play. While it might sound silly now, they couldn’t figure out…
Migration Stories is the 10th solo album from M. Ward. So it’s unlikely anyone who’s encountered his music over the recent decades is expecting any surprises. In the brief label bio, Ward describes this collection of Migration Stories as “characters in a dream,” which is also a way of describing the hazy contours and soft…
Jeff Tweedy’s Warm arrived at the end of last year, offering a more intimate collection of songs from the Wilco and Uncle Tupelo singer/songwriter, echoing some of the country roots that dominated his earlier works, and reflecting lyrically on life as he’s now experiencing it. He added a vinyl release of similar material recorded at…
Since “Hold Your Nerve” was released in the last couple of weeks I’ve been hearing it all over the radio. It’s great that a band like Boy & Bear is still able to pump out songs that get the radio listening public excited. And “Hold Your Nerve” deserves the success its been getting – the…
