Yo La Tengo : This Stupid World

New Jersey’s Yo La Tengo are an indie rock institution. The three piece which consists of Ira Kaplan, Georgie Hubley, and James McNew formed in 1984 with Kaplan and Hubley. They released their first album Ride The Tiger in 1986, and McNew joined the band in 1992 for the album May I Sing With Me. […]

Spoon : Lucifer On The Sofa

I think it’s fair to say that Spoon have been one of the most reliable American rock bands in the last 20 years. While they released two great post-punk albums in the late 90s, their career in my mind truly began in 2001 with Girls Can Tell. From that point the Texas rock band started […]

Darkside : Spiral

The last we heard of Darkside, the collaboration between Nicolas Jaar and Dave Harrington, the two had put their space-y music project on hiatus. Their sonically rich debut Psychic came out in 2013, but by 2014 it seemed as if Darkside had dissipated into the ether. But then last year the duo returned with the […]

Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks : Sparkle Hard

I think it’s safe to say that Stephen Malkmus the solo artist has outlived the legend of Stephen Malkmus the dude in Pavement. His output with Pavement, which lasted between 1992 and 1999, was five Pavement records, several singles, and two Silver Jews albums(I’m sure there were one-offs here and there.) From 1999 on Malkmus […]

Yo La Tengo : There’s a Riot Going On

I got into Yo La Tengo pretty late. Like my first record experience with them was 2009s Popular Songs. I don’t know what took me so long to jump into the Ira Kaplan, Georgia Hubley, and James McNew world, but as soon as the the nearly 16-minute album closer “And the Glitter Is Gone” ended […]

Courtney Barnett & Kurt Vile : Lotta Sea Lice

Maybe you were like me(or maybe you weren’t) that when you heard Courtney Barnett and Kurt Vile were making a collaborative album together it just seemed like the perfect match. There’s a care-free quality about both of them that a coming together of these two seemed like the right thing. The essential thing, even. I’ve […]

Queens of the Stone Age : Villains

I’m not the biggest QOTSA fan in the room. There are others that their love and admiration for Josh Homme and crew far outweigh my own. I really didn’t come around to them till Lullabies To Paralyze. Even the massive Songs for the Deaf wasn’t enough to peak my interest in the desert rock monoliths. […]

Hot Thoughts In My Mind

So Spoon is dropping a new album called Hot Thoughts in March. Whenever there’s a new Spoon album I always get a little geared up, know what I mean? There’s just something about this Austin band that exudes cool and slickness. Now normally that would keep me away from a band, cause who needs all […]

Body/Head : No Waves

I remember being pretty floored by Coming Apart, the first record by the Kim Gordon/Bill Nace avante noise band Body/Head. In fact, I can remember thinking how on the edge that album was. Piercing, jagged guitar squalls mixed with Kim Gordon’s improvised vocal belting made for a compelling listen back in 2013. The record felt […]

Car Seat Headrest : Teens Of Style

I recently read a rather poignant article over at Pitchfork about Sparklehorse’s Mark Linkous. In it they talked about when he’d write a song that was deemed to “poppy” by his inner critic he’d add sonic grime over top to dirty it up. He’d also use $20 junk yard mics to record his vocals with […]