Indie Rock
Wet Leg Release New Song “Angelica”: Stream
Wet Leg are back with another new single ahead of their forthcoming self-titled debut album. Listen to the zany track “Angelica” below. An ode to lead vocalist Rhian Teasdale’s oldest friend, “Angelica” zips around with the irreverent energy we’ve come to expect from Britain’s buzziest band. A disjointed, Wire-like guitar riff zig-zags in the verses, while Teasdale sings of her friend’s thoroughly unimpressed reaction to a party. In the chorus, a wall of distortion blurs out the song’s initial angular melody. “It’s laced with disenchantment,” Teasdale said of the song in a statement. “Even though the chorus is ‘good times, all the time.’ That’s just impossible, isn’t it?” Advertisement Related Video In the accompanying music video, directed by the duo themselves, Teasdale and guitari...
Kanye West Is in the Studio with… Beach House?
Kanye West has worked with a number of surprising collaborators over the years: From Bon Iver to Arca to that contentious Aphex Twin sample, nobody’s off the table as long as they remain on Ye’s good side. But after his public shitshow on social media earlier this month, the rapper is evidently ready to chill out a bit, which explains why he’s been in the studio with the masters of chill themselves, Beach House. Ye shared a series of photos on his Instagram Saturday, February 26th, that appear to show him working alongside Beach House’s Victoria Legrand and Alex Scally. The photos were captioned with an ocean wave emoji, and tagged with the dreampop duo’s account. While this team-up might come as a shock, Ye isn’t the only rapper to take a liking to Beach House’s hazy indie pop. Jay-Z and ...
Clairo Brings the Intimacy of Sling to Radio City Music Hall: Review, Setlist + Photos
Clairo’s 2021 sophomore album Sling is an album of closeness, immediacy, and contemplation; it is turned inward, but the moments that burst out do so like snowfall, and even the warmest, brightest choices are dripped in a haze, like you just woke up and the sun is shining through the corner of your window. So, hearing it performed live in the 6,000-capacity Radio City Music Hall on Thursday night (February 24th) is a little strange. The whimsy and intimacy of Sling almost suggests it should be performed in a cozy cabin somewhere in the woods, but Clairo’s remarkable rise to stardom has proven that the upgrade in venue size is deserved. Considering that Clairo’s debut album Immunity came out only six months before the pandemic began, as well as the fact that her biggest single to date, “Sof...
Gang of Youths Unveil New Album angel in realtime.: Stream
Gang of Youths are back with their first new album in five years. The Australian rockers’ third full-length, angel in realtime., is out now via Warner Records. Take a listen below. angel in realtime. was heavily influenced by the passing of frontman Dave Le’aupepe’s father. In a statement, Le’aupepe revealed that he didn’t know much about his father’s life until he died; songs like “tend the garden” see the artist pay his respects with newfound clarity while still maintaining the band’s trademark lighthearted, shimmering sound. “My dad was a gifted and passionate gardener,” he said in a statement. “Despite our humble surroundings, we were always surrounded by beauty. The journey he made from Samoa to NZ to Australia was a difficult and inspiring one, but also fraught with mistakes, re...
Deb Never Drops New Song “Crutches”: Stream
Deb Never has shared the new song “Crutches,” a rocking ode to leaping before you look. “‘Don’t get ahead of yourself,’” the Pacific Northwest songwriter quotes to begin the song. “‘You’re running too fast/ Before you learn how to walk/ And now you’re on crutches,’” a person says. But Never ignores them: “Nobody cares about the things that you want/ You’ve got to go and get ’em,” she sings, before launching into a barnstorming chorus: “I’m tearing down the walls/ I’m storming in like thunder/ ‘Cause I’m tired of waiting for/ Better days.” Check it out below. “Crutches” is Deb Never’s first song since releasing her 2021 EP Where Have All the Flowers Gone. Next month she’s touring the UK with slowthai, and in April she’s hitting the road with Omar Apollo. Tickets a...
Porridge Radio Announce New Album, Share “Back to the Radio”: Stream
Porridge Radio have a new album on the way called Waterslide, Diving Board, Ladder to the Sky, which is set for release on May 20th via Secretly Canadian. As a preview, they’ve shared “Back to the Radio” as the lead single. Co-produced by Tom Carmichael, Porridge Radio singer Dana Margolin, and drummer Sam Yardley, Waterslide, Diving Board, Ladder to the Sky follows 2020’s Every Bad. In a statement, Margolin said she wanted the band’s third album to be stadium-epic’—like Coldplay.” First single “Back to the Radio” previews this cinematic quality with a slow-building ballad about fighting for a one-sided relationship in decline. Choppy, droning downstrokes buzz in the single’s feedback intro before Margolin begins chanting. “We cannot get better if we can’t talk about it,” she sin...
Fontaines D.C. Unveil New Song “I Love You”: Stream
Fontaines D.C. are back with a brooding new single. Listen to “I Love You” below. Like the curt “Life ain’t always empty” refrain of 2020’s “A Hero’s Death,” “I Love You” pounds its positive message into your skull with music so menacing, you question its intent. “I love you, I love you, I told you I do,” Grian Chatten insists, as swirling, Cure-style guitar fades in over slow-thumping bass. “It’s all I’ve ever felt, I’ve never felt so well,” he speak-sings. Once more with feeling, perhaps? “Ostensibly a love song,” as a press release puts it, Dublin’s favorite post punks fit some local commentary into the song of devotion as well, prompting Chatten to name the single “the first overtly political song we’ve written.” “It’s standing in the center of our beloved home country as a multitude o...
Jenn Wasner’s Flock of Dimes Shares New Songs “Pure Love” and “Time”: Stream
Wye Oak singer Jenn Wasner has shared “Pure Love” and “Time,” two new songs from her solo project Flock of Dimes. “Pure Love” and “Time” arrive as part of the singles series from Sylvan Esso’s Psychic Hotline label. Co-produced by Wasner and Sylvan Esso’s Nick Sanborn and recorded at Betty’s in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, the singles offer a welcome respite from pandemic-induced darkness. “After spending so much time over the past two years sitting with my grief — both personally and creatively — I’m thrilled to offer up two songs that center joy, hopefulness, and pleasure,” Wasner said in a statement. “What can I say about ‘Pure Love’? It’s a fun pop song about how wanting more is the cause of so much suffering! To me, overall, it’s a song about reaching for a more pure way of being...
Tomberlin Announces New Album i don’t know who needs to hear this…, Shares Single “happy accident”: Stream
Singer-songwriter Sarah Beth Tomberlin is preparing to release a new album: The folk artist’s sophomore record i don’t know who needs to hear this… is due out April 29th via Saddle Creek. Along with its announcement today, Tomberlin has shared the new single “happy accident,” as well as North American and European tour dates for Spring 2022. Tomberlin wrote i don’t know who needs to hear this… with the intention of giving listeners an opportunity to hold the space to feel the depths of their emotions. Here, she blends the homey folk of Joni Mitchell with the moody pop of Frank Ocean and the chilling ambient of Grouper. Now that Tomberlin has settled into her new home base of Brooklyn among a fleet of musical collaborators, much of i don’t know who needs to hear this… was rec...
Spoon’s Britt Daniel on Lucifer on the Sofa and the Importance of the Radio
Listen via Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google Podcasts | Stitcher | Pocket Casts | Radio Public | RSS Spoon’s Britt Daniel catches up with Kyle Meredith to talk about the band’s tenth studio album, Lucifer on the Sofa. Related Video The lead singer took us into the band’s decision to make an all-out rock record, the use of Mr. Jones as a character in music history, and the importance of radio to him as a child. Daniel goes on to talk about Lucifer representing a version of himself, their plans to release more songs from these sessions, and his appreciation for the band’s 1997 Soft Effects EP. Advertisement Listen to Britt Daniel of Spoon discuss Lucifer on the Sofa, Soft Effects, and more above or watch the full interview...
Shamir Unveils New Album Heterosexuality: Stream
Shamir has released his new album Heterosexuality via AntiFragile Music. Stream it via Apple Musc or Spotify below. The studio effort is a follow-up to the indie star’s self-titled 2020 album, and contains the singles “Gay Agenda,” “Cisgender,” and “Reproductive.” Throughout this era, Shamir has bucked categorization, transforming himself into a horned and hooved creature on both the album’s striking cover and in music videos for each pre-release track. “I think it’s about the refusal of still being pushed into this box, even though I’m like, ‘I’m not a box,’” the Philadelphia-based singer told them. in an interview ahead of the album release. “I think it’s really my gripe with this new age of what queerness means on a bigger spectrum in the age of corporate pride and rainbow capital...
The Beths Drop New Song “A Real Thing”: Stream
The Beths are back and pining for lasting change with the new song “A Real Thing.” The New Zealand rockers toggle between dreamy pop-infused guitars and a jarring, fretful chorus. Lead singer Liz Stokes opens with an image of regular people attempting to battle climate change. “Picking up the tires from the side of the road/ Gonna push back the coming tide,” she sings. But the chorus undercuts the sentiment: “Getting rhyme over reason,” she wails, implying that while such actions sound good in theory, they’re not helping in the long run. She continues, “It’s a sinister silly season/ Maybe we can end up meaning a real thing.” “‘A Real Thing’ is a kind of anxiety dream. It’s a bit muddled, a bit frantic, a bit sinister,” Stokes said in a statement. “‘A Real Thing’ is what came out ...
