Indie Rock
Jason Isbell, Jim James, and Doug Martsch on Scorsese, Live LPs, and New Music
Listen via Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google Podcasts | Amazon Podcasts | Stitcher | Pocket Casts | Radio Public | RSS In this special three-part episode, Kyle Meredith features a trio of recent interviews that were taped in front of a live audience during WFPK Members Only performances. Advertisement Related Video The first interview is with Jason Isbell, who talks about putting on his own festival, what authenticity means for him, and being featured in Martin Scorsese’s upcoming Killers of the Flower Moon. Then, My Morning Jacket’s Jim James tells us why he loves Halloween more than the other holidays, how public radio has helped out the band throughout their career, and how they go about choosing the releases for...
The Smile Prove They Aren’t Just a Radiohead Side Project at New York City Show: Recap + Setlist
Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood are many things, but flashy certainly isn’t one of them. Along with drummer Tom Skinner of Sons of Kemet, the two Radiohead members quietly re-emerged together earlier this year as The Smile. The trio released their debut album, May’s A Light for Attracting Attention, with relatively little press or social media promotion surrounding it; as with most good things involving Radiohead, the music speaks for itself. With the exception of Greenwood’s prolific output of consistently beautiful film scores, even the most ardent fans would have to admit that many Radiohead members’ side projects (solo endeavors, the Flea-featuring supergroup Atoms for Peace) have up to this point typically paled in comparison to their main band’s discography. But when Yorke, Greenwood,...
Pavement Announce Jukebox Musical Slanted! Enchanted!
Ice, baby, I saw your girlfriend and she’s… going to Slanted! Enchanted! A Pavement Musical. Yep — just months after their long-awaited reunion, Pavement’s discography is being turned into a jukebox musical, cribbing its name from the band’s stone-cold classic 1992 debut Slanted and Enchanted. As of right now, Slanted! Enchanted! is only scheduled for two workshop performances at New York City’s Sheen Center on Thursday, December 1st and Friday, December 2nd; no word yet on whether more shows will be added. Slanted! Enchanted! will be directed by Alex Ross Perry — the filmmaker who also recently helmed the new music video for Pavement’s runaway TikTok hit “Harness Your Hopes” — and stars Michael Esper, Zoe Lister-Jones, and Kathryn Gallagher. We have no idea what the plot will be...
Black Belt Eagle Scout Announces New Album The Land, The Water, The Sky with First Single: Stream
Katherine Paul, a.k.a Black Belt Eagle Scout, has revealed her new album, The Land, The Water, The Sky, will arrive on February 10th via Saddle Creek. The news dropped along with the LP’s first offering, “My Blood Runs Through This Land.” The Land, The Water, The Sky largely focuses on Paul’s experience of moving back to the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community in Washington from Portland, Oregon in 2020. In a statement, Paul shared that the album was created “to record and reflect upon my journey back to my homelands and the challenges and the happiness it brought.” She recorded the project in the ancestral Coast Salish territory with co-producer Takiaya Reed, and wrote and composed the set entirely on her own. The album’s simultaneous expression of grief and celebration is successfully intr...
LCD Soundsystem Perform “New Body Rhumba” on Colbert: Watch
The Late Show With Stephen Colbert had a particularly exciting episode on Tuesday night: Friend of the program Jon Stewart stopped by for an always-welcome appearance, then LCD Soundsystem played the show out with a rousing rendition of their new single, “New Body Rhumba.” “New Body Rhumba,” which appears in Noah Baumbach’s film White Noise, marks LCD Soundsytem’s first song since their 2017 album American Dream. James Murphy’s band recently appeared in Meet Me in the Bathroom, the documentary adaptation of Lizzy Goodman’s oral history of the early 2000s New York City rock scene. The group will return to Brooklyn Steel for another 20-night residency later this week; tickets are on sale here. As for Stewart, he and Colbert touched on a variety of topics, from their two-d...
Shame Announce New Album Food for Worms, Share “Fingers of Steel”: Stream
Shame are back at it again: The UK rockers are set to share their next album Food for Worms on February 24th via Dead Oceans, and they’re celebrating the announcement today with its lead single “Fingers of Steel.” Additionally, the group have mapped out their largest headlining tour to date for 2023, trekking across Europe and North America. In a press release, frontman Charlie Steen describes Food for Worms as “the Lamborghini of Shame records.” We can neither confirm nor deny that analogy, but it’s true that the record marks a big step up in maturity for the London post-punks, who usher in a more polished sound here without compensating their edge. They cite influence from Lou Reed, as well as the ’90s indie rock group Blumfeld (Germany’s answer to Pavement or Pixies) during th...
The Walkmen to Reunite for First Shows Since 2013
The Walkmen have announced they are reuniting for their first proper shows in a decade. The pair of hometown concerts will take place at New York City’s Webster Hall on April 26th and 27th. “Back in 2013, an unnamed Walkmen band member (Peter Bauer) announced to the Washington Post that we were going on an ‘extreme hiatus,’” said frontman Hamilton Leithauser in a statement. “I assumed that meant there would be a lot of monster energy drinks and maybe that red-headed snowboarder guy would be hanging around a lot… but none of that actually happened. Instead, in the ensuing years we’ve all worked on a ton of different projects in a ton of different places. Recently, someone sent us a clip of us playing at Irving Plaza from 2003, and it just looked very exciting. So, we’ve decided w...
The Van Pelt Announce Vinyl Reissues of First Two Albums
New York City’s The Van Pelt are an influential, but too often overlooked indie rock band whose first two albums — 1996’s Stealing From Our Favorite Thieves and 1997’s Sultans of Sentiment — are cult favorites for many an emo-inclined crate digger. Today, they’ve announced that they’re reissuing remastered editions of those two albums, marking the first time they’ve been pressed to vinyl in over two decades. In addition to the reissues of Stealing and Sultan, The Van Pelt are also releasing two very limited cassette pressings chock-full of demos from the era, both featuring previously unreleased tracks. Release is scheduled for December 30th via Ernest Jenning Record Co., and pre-orders are ongoing. “In commemoration of the 25th anniversary of Sultans of Sentiment ...
Animal Collective Share New Song “Crucible” From The Inspection Soundtrack: Stream
Animal Collective provide the score for A24’s upcoming film The Inspection, and today, the Baltimore band have shared “Crucible,” the first look at the movie’s soundtrack. Listen to the song below. Elegance Bratton wrote and directed The Inspection about the life of Ellis French, a gay Black man who joined the Marines to support himself after being ostracized from his family. In “Crucible,” Animal Collective match this harrowing tale with a hypnotic, even empowering, mix of organs and group vocals. “This road is for us all, so let’s begin,” the group sing. “I wanted us to conjure the feeling of being strong but also showing vulnerability,” Animal Collective’s Avey Tare said of “Crucible.” “The desire to ask a community or a loved one to have your back and support you an...
Jeff Rosenstock and Laura Stevenson Unveil Neil Young Covers EP Younger Still: Stream
Jeff Rosenstock and Laura Stevenson have shared their latest Neil Young covers EP, Younger Still. Stream it below via Bandcamp. Back in 2019, the collaborators and friends started working on a new EP at Rosenstock’s Brooklyn apartment before he moved to Los Angeles. Then, the pandemic came, and work on the project was put on hold as the artists focused on their own endeavors. This summer, Stevenson made the trip to LA, and they recorded a completely different EP that became Younger Still. The four-track collection arrives ahead of Rosenstock and Stevenson’s joint tour kicking off later this month featuring stops in Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, and more. Anika Pyle and Gladie will rotate as openers; tickets are available now via Ticketmaster. Advertisement Related Video Besides the joint...
Bon Iver, Maggie Rogers, and Zach Bryan to Headline Hinterland Music Festival 2023
Hinterland Music Festival is cropping back up in St. Charles, Iowa from August 4th-6th, 2023, with a lineup led by Bon Iver, Maggie Rogers, and Zach Bryan. The eighth iteration of the rural festival outside Des Moines will be hosted once again at Avenue of the Saints Amphitheater and returns to a three-day event after this year’s fourth day expansion. The indie rock-heavy roster also includes artists like Angel Olsen, Houndmouth, Sylvan Esso, Orville Peck, Wallows, and The Regrettes. The lineup is rounded out by the likes of Noah Kahan, Faye Webster, Joy Oladokun, Skegss, Tomberlin, The Teskey Brothers, Wilderado, and more. Maggie Rogers’ upcoming 2023 tourmates Del Water Gap will also share the bill that Sunday, and a special “Hinterkids” stage boasts a performance by Koo Koo Kanga Roo. M...
Yves Tumor Questions a Higher Power on New Single “God Is a Circle”: Stream
Yves Tumor returns today with the hypnotic single “God Is a Circle,” their first new music of 2022. Along with its release comes the eerie music video directed by Jordan Hemingway. Though you can still hear traces of their usual experimental rock side, “God Is a Circle” sees Yves Tumor lean more into a heavier, punkier sound. Lyrically, the song seems to meditate on the woes of existing in a corporeal form: Is there something greater out there, and if so, how does it interact with us mere mortals? “Sometimes/ It feels like/ There’s places in my mind that I can’t go/ There’s people in my life I still don’t know, yeah/ Wander ’round I just feel like a ghost in a well,” Yves Tumor sings in the opening lines, his voice low and brooding over propulsive drums and sound effects that mimic the uns...
