Video Age : Away From The Castle

New Orleans’ Video Age began in 2016 with their debut Living Alone. The band’s core of Ray Micarelli and Ross Farbe locked into a certain soft rock aesthetic over their previous releases, which besides Living Alone includes 2018s Pop Therapy and 2020’s Pleasure Line. Their songs lock into sweet harmonies, 80s-tinged synths, and an endearingly […]

Futuropaco : Fortezza di Vetro

The world of Futuropaco, the Italio psych musical project of multi-instrumentalist Justin Pinkerton(Golden Void/The Roots Of Orchis/glass parallels) is like the wind in your hair as you race a Vespa through the cobblestone streets of Northern Italy. Tight jazz drumming, fuzz guitars, and ethereal keys carry you along on a psychedelic slipstream. It’s a sophisticated, […]

Sparklehorse : Bird Machine

When singer/songwriter Mark Linkous of Sparklehorse took his own life back in March of 2010 it was both an absolute shock and sadly not surprising. Linkous struggled with depression and addiction and you heard it in his music. Still, you hope someone as talented and heart-on-sleeve as Linkous would find their way out of the […]

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 […]

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 […]

Depeche Mode : Memento Mori

Depeche Mode, after 40 years as a band, have earned the title of Elder Statesmen of Synth Pop. The UK alternative rock band has built a musical dynasty, starting in 1981 with their debut album Speak & Spell. With each successive album the band honed their sound and their style to a fine doomed romantic […]

Yves Tumor : Praise a Lord Who Chews but Which Does Not Consume; (Or Simply, Hot Between Worlds)

Yves Tumor was one of those names I’d heard in passing over the last few years, but truth be told never made it to my ears. I thought maybe it was the name of a rapper, or some strange avante garde pop artist like Arca. Turns out I was wrong and sort of in the […]

Unknown Mortal Orchestra : V

Ruban Nielson arrived on the indie music scene back in 2010 with his Unknown Mortal Orchestra project in an air of mystery. This lo-fi project made songs that sounded as if they’d been locked in a storage locker for 40 years; musty, muffled tracks that were equally built for grooving and for dropping out. Garage […]