Foo Fighters : But Here We Are

Dave Grohl is one of those people you wish you were friends with. Someone you’d love to hang out with and talk about music, movies, favorite drummers, or whatever. He’s just got something about him that says ‘I’m genuine”. There’s also the fact he was in Nirvana, then tragedy hit and Nirvana was no more. […]

Ben Folds : What Matters Most

Ben Folds Five were one of those bands that you either loved or loathed. There really wasn’t an “ehh, they’re not bad” category. They hit at just the right time for me. Their cabaret-meets-punk rock-meets-power pop mash up made the 90s bearable, eliciting something close to earnestness in a sea of indifference.That is, in-between songs […]

Beach Fossils : Bunny

Beach Fossils came out of the early 2010s Captured Track scene, along with bands like Wild Nothing, Craft Spells and DIIV. Beach Fossils debut was more lo fi and bedroom pop, with band founder/songwriter Dustin Payseur’s vocals sounding as if they were emanating from a haunted conk shell residing on some melancholy shore line. The […]

Future Museums : Dorsal Fin

Dorsal Fin is a sonic dive into deep blue space, though not the uncharted reaches of the cosmos but the vastness of the ocean. Future Museums, aka Neil Lord, has built a discography founded in light and life; songs owing a debt to classic Komische and Berlin School, while accentuating the genre with his own […]

Mandy, Indiana : I’ve Seen A Way

The UK experimental post-punk/dance/noise band Mandy, Indiana is the sound of sexy androids building more sexy androids in a cave that doubles as a rave. Robotic rhythms seem to emerge from grinding machines and screeching gears, while the vocals are less a voice singing than another rhythm instrument. It’s grinding, industrial noise for the dance […]

Dave Lombardo : Rites Of Percussion

Dave Lombardo is arguably one of the great living rock drummers. As a founding member of thrash legends Slayer, Lombardo took heavy metal drumming and combined it with hardcore punk speed to create a style that was jaw-dropping fast but could also lock into grooves when needed. Lombardo’s drumming was the key ingredient in making […]

The Lemon Twigs : Everything Harmony

Brothers Brian and Michael D’Addario, aka The Lemon Twigs, hail from New York and since their first album in 2016 have made a name for themselves as the preeminent purveyors of 60s/70s power pop. Combining elements of garage, psych, power pop, and 70s AM these brothers have built a discography that looks and sounds as […]

zakè, Marc Ertel, James Bernard, From Overseas : Live At The Gothic chapel

The last place you’d think would be the home base of one of the most prolific and forward-thinking ambient/new age music record labels is Indianapolis, Indiana. But then again, why not? Past Inside The Present has proven to be a most prolific home to the world’s finest purveyors of ambient/new age, putting out music by […]

Rob Mazurek/Exploding Star Orchestra : Lightning Dreamers

Rob Mazurek makes music that tows the line between chaotic musical abstractions and groove-oriented excursions. Composer, cornetist, and visual artist that came up in the Chicago underground music scene, Mazurek made his name in bands like Chicago Underground, Isotope 217, Black Cube Marriage, as well as his project Exploding Star Orchestra. He locked into the […]

Temples : Exotico

Temples dropped their debut Sun Structures in 2014, perking ears with their retro look and sound, locking into the psych pop/rock resurgence brought to the mainstream by Kevin Parker and Tame Impala just a few years earlier. Their 70s haircuts and Partridge Family-adjacent outfits matched perfectly with their slightly woozy but pop-centric sound. Temples has […]