Indie Rock
Ben Gibbard Performs All-Beatles Covers Livestream: Watch
Ben Gibbard continued his weekly livestream series on Thursday with an all-Beatles cover special edition. Like we’ve been doing all week, the Death Cab for Cutie frontman was celebrating the 50th anniversary of The Beatle’s final album, Let It Be. Even so, he didn’t actually play any Let It Be tracks, instead opening with “I’m so Tired” off The White Album and “For No One” from Revolver. He later played “Here, There & Everywhere” and “I’m Only Sleeping” off the latter LP, and delivered the former’s “I Will” on piano. He also played the Rubber Soul cut “You Won’t See Me” on the keys before returning to acoustic guitar for that record’s “I’m Looking Through You” and “In My Life”. A Hard Day’s Night also made an appearance with “I’m Happy to Dance with You”. In the middle of the set,...
Hayley Williams’ Petals for Armor Discovers the Strength in Vulnerability: Review
The Lowdown: Hayley Williams once said on the writing of Paramore’s Brand New Eyes album, “Some of it hurt, some of it was like, ‘Am I being too honest even with myself?’’’ Honesty has long been a trend with Williams’ approach to music-making; she’s been the principal songwriter for Paramore since 2005, and her scathing, dynamic vocals have granted her ever-evolving lyrics the perfect expression of painful, angry, at times heartbroken truth. On Petals for Armor, she dives inward at a new level, using dark pop melodies to not only vocalize her innermost thoughts, but also battle them, untangle them, and reckon with them in a way that feels personal to her own experience. She sings on the blistering “Watch Me While I Bloom”, “You only got one side of me/ Here’s something new/ I’m alive in sp...
Kandle Drops Two New Songs “How Can You Hurt Me” and “Little Bad Things”: Stream
British Columbia-born singer-songwriter Kandle Osborne has the voice, creativity, and lyrical insight to lift your mood, no matter how low you’re feeling. She’s been getting well-deserved hype under her moniker Kandle, and today you can see why with two brand new songs — “How Can You Hurt Me” and “Little Bad Things” — that she just shared. Kandle has spent her quarantined days during the coronavirus pandemic recording songs for Untitled, her fourth album. Both of these new tracks come from the upcoming full-length and, considering the situation in which she produced them, sound pretty dang impressive. In a press release, Kandle explained that “How Can You Hurt Me” came about as a way to reckon with how a breakup impacts her, particularly in regards to keeping track of who she is. “The prem...
Jacknife Lee Starts a Riot With Beth Ditto and Earl St. Clair on “I’m Getting Tired”: Stream
Between lockdown, the pandemic death toll, and The White House’s endless foibles, it’s hard not to feel completely burnt out on reality. That’s the kind of energy producer Jacknife Lee is channeling on his latest single, “I’m Getting Tired”, featuring Beth Ditto and Earl St. Clair. With the help of his two collaborators, Lee turns all of his inner frustrations outward in the form of soulful chaos mixed with noise-rock and fiery jazz fusion and funk. The collision of genres may seem a little busy on paper, but Lee is a master of balancing everything out — after all, his production credits do include an array of artists, such as R.E.M., Taylor Swift, and The Killers, and Regina Spektor. And at the end of the day, it’s that clashing of feelings and sounds that ultimately provides the catharsi...
Phoebe Bridgers, Rina Sawayama, Clairo Cover The 1975 Songs: Watch
No amount of album delays can stop The 1975 from hyping up Notes on a Conditional Form, their upcoming LP and fourth studio album overall. To celebrate its eternally impending release, frontperson Matty Healy asked an all-star group of musicians, ranging from Phoebe Bridgers to Rina Sawayama, to cover different songs from the band’s catalog on Instagram Live. Healy knew what he was doing when he curated today’s livestream extravaganza in partnership with UK magazine The Face. Every hour starting at 11:00 a.m. ET today, a new musician would take the Instagram Live reigns at The Face and put their own spin on an original by The 1975. All said and done, things went pretty smoothly. Pale Waves’ Heather Baron Gracie kicked things off with a cover of “Sex” and indie popper Cavetown followed...
Soccer Mommy Goes on Tour in New 8-Bit Video for “crawling in my skin”: Watch
If you’re not aggressively baking bread in quarantine, chances are most of your time is spent online. That’s been the case for Soccer Mommy, who has adapted to the lockdown era by getting super creative about her digital presence. Not only did she throw a massive online concert on video game platform Club Penguin Rewritten (featuring more than 10,000 “attendees”), but she also recently released a set of her own Zoom background images. For her latest endeavor, the indie songwriter also known as Sophie Allison has found a way to go “on tour” without ever leaving her home. Enter her 8-bit music video series concept for “crawling in my skin”. Directed by Bella Clark, each clip follows Soccer Mommy as she “performs” in different North American cities alongside her fellow 8-bit band members. Alt...
Gum Country Serve Up New Song “Tennis (I Feel Ok)”: Stream
Next month brings the release of Somewhere, the debut album from new band Gum Country. Comprised of The Courtneys guitarist Courtney Garvin and multi-instrumentalist Connor Mayer, the indie rock duo is previewing the record today with a single called “Tennis (I Feel Ok)”. Contrary to that little parenthetical, Gum Country get rather thrilled when it comes to hitting the tennis courts. “Kinda goofy, but in all honesty my relationship with tennis is so meaningful to me on a spiritual level,” Garvin explained in a statement. “It’s my meditation practice. The game makes you present, you’re repeating movements, and finding a rhythm.” Garvin’s ode to the sport aptly has a rhythmic chillness to it, its chunky lo-fi chords chugging about steadily à la early Yuck. Though the band’s self-descri...
Fiona Apple’s When the Pawn… to Receive First-Ever Vinyl Release
Fiona Apple’s excellent sophomore album, When the Pawn…, will be released on vinyl for the first time ever. VinylMePlease has partnered with the legendary artist to create an exclusive pressing, a 180-gram LP on black vinyl with a new cover picked by Apple herself. “While Tidal introduced us to Apple, the awkward and sullen girl, When the Pawn… had her shooting back with a fiery vengeance at a time when Tori Amos and Alanis Morissette were making anger feminine and more mainstream than their punk predecessors,” the VinylMePlease description reads. “On the record, Apple sings with a gnarly gruffness. She begins most songs with a deceptive sweetness, building to an angsty climax, wielding her voice as a weapon against ex-boyfriends and bullies.” When the Pawn… was arguably Apple’s best album...
Ezra Koenig Performs Vampire Weekend Medley on Fallon from Quarantine: Watch
This past weekend marked the one-year anniversary of Father of the Bride, the stellar fourth album from Vampire Weekend. In celebration, frontman Ezra Koenig delivered a quarantine-style medley of the album’s songs on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on Tuesday. Shot from his own spacious home studio, Koenig performed solo piano renditions of standout tracks “Flower Moon”, “Stranger”, and “Big Blue”. The album versions of these three songs benefited from robust instrumentation, but Koenig proved they sound just as lovely and clever when stripped bare. Watch video of the Fallon medley below. Editors’ Picks Prior to lockdown, Vampire Weekend shared three FOTB bonus tracks, as well as campaigned hard for former presidential candidate Bernie Sanders. Earlie...
Dirty Projectors Announce EP Series, Share New Song “Lose Your Love”: Stream
Felicia Douglass and Dave Longstreth of Dirty Projectors, photo by Jason Frank Rothenberg Dirty Projectors have announced a new EP called Flight Tower that’s due out June 26th via Domino. As it turns out, it’s the second installment in a five-EP series that the band will roll out over the course of 2020. To celebrate the reveal, they’ve released a new single called “Lose Your Love” and an accompanying music video. For the series, each EP will feature a different band member on lead vocals. Windows Open, which came out in March, saw Maia Friedman leading the way. The upcoming Flight Tower follows keyboardist-percussionist Felicia Douglass through four new songs. The next two installments will see Kristin Slipp and frontman Dave Longstreth each taking the reigns individually, with the fifth ...
July Talk Share the Origins of New Song “Identical Love”: Stream
In our new music feature Origins, musicians give fans an inside look at the some of the inspirations behind their latest song. Today, July Talk tell us how they found their “Identical Love”. “I want to be changed/ I want to be rearranged,” go the first lines on July Talk’s new album, Pray for It. The words set the tone for the whole effort, as the Toronto rock outfit set out to find renewal in rebirth — both for themselves personally and their band’s sound. Both types of restoration are denoted in the LP’s latest single and opening track, “Identical Love”. Though known for their snarling indie rock, “Identical Love” shows July Talk operating with a gentler touch. Synths beat like a pulse in the chest of someone slowly reaching out to their lover in a profound moment of truth. A glorious sa...
Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever Share New Song “Falling Thunder” and Video: Stream
Next month, Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever are set to drop their sophomore album, Sideways to New Italy. In the video for the album’s latest single, “Falling Thunder”, the Melbourne outfit return to old Italy, the place of singer/guitarist Tom Russo and bassist Joe Russo’s ancestral heritage. Th intention of the video was to juxtapose shots of Italy with an Italian-founded venue in Melbourne. However, as Tom Russo explained in a press release, things didn’t exactly go as planned: “Our friend Jamieson Moore shot the footage of Sicily, Sardinia, and the Aeolian Islands on her phone while on vacation last year. The Aeolian Islands is also where my and Joe Russo’s ancestors are from. We were also planning to shoot the band playing in Eolian Hall in Melbourne (it’s a community hall founde...
