Indie Rock
Cat Power Releases New Album Covers: Stream
Cat Power released her new album Covers at the stroke of midnight on Friday. Stream it below via Apple Music and Spotify. As its rather succinct title makes clear, the LP finds the indie rock stalwart covering the songbooks of other musicians, from Frank Ocean (lead single “Bad Religion”) and the Pogues (“A Pair of Brown Eyes”) to Kitty Wells (“It Wasn’t God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels”), Lana Del Rey (“White Mustang”), and even Billie Holiday (tender album closer “I’ll Be Seeing You,” which serves as a tribute to the late French producer Philippe Zdar). “Performing covers is a very enjoyable way to do something that feels natural to me when it comes to making music,” Powers explained in a statement back in October when she first released her take on Ocean’s Channel Orange-era 2012 track. A...
Aldous Harding Announces New Album Warm Chris, Shares “Lawn”: Stream
Aldous Harding has a new album on the way. The New Zealand musician’s fourth studio album, Warm Chris, is out March 25th on 4AD, and lead single “Lawn” is available to stream now. Warm Chris follows Harding’s 2019 album Designer, and, like its predecessor, was produced by English musician John Parish. Harding discussed the making of the record in a statement. “It was recorded in my favorite place on earth — Rockfield Studios with John Parish, H. Hawkline, Steve Rockford, and engineer Joe Jones,” she said. “Listening back, it sounds to me like there’s something completely new happening with my voice. The vocals are tiny. I won’t try to speak about sound too much, because it’s here, and I don’t want to ruin or create a surprise. It reminds me personally/musically of ...
Lord Huron Announce 2022 North American Tour
Lord Huron are hitting the road this summer. The Michigan indie folk band have announced a headlining North American tour in support of their latest album, Long Lost. The trek kicks off in Las Vegas on May 17th and sees them hitting Portland, Cleveland, Atlanta, Toronto, and New York, among other cities. Notably, in June, the rockers are set to play two nights at Morrison, Colorado’s famous Red Rocks Amphitheatre. The tour wraps up August 21st at Columbia, Maryland’s Merriweather Post Pavilion. Folk duo First Aid Kit lend support on the band’s final few dates, including at stops in Chicago, Toronto, and New York. Lord Huron have plenty of festival dates sprinkled in with their headlining shows. Before the tour properly kicks off, they’ll perform at the One Big Holiday Festival in Riviera C...
Courtney Barnett: “When You Decide That There’re Rules, That’s When it Becomes Hard”
Listen via Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google Podcasts | Stitcher | Pocket Casts | Radio Public | RSS Courtney Barnett catches up with Kyle Meredith to talk about her latest LP, Things Take Time, Take Time (one of the best albums of 2021). Related Video The Australian singer-songwriter discusses how the pandemic limited her musical resources, noticing the way people communicated during the lockdown, and doing a bulk of her writing from bed (her favorite place). Barnett also gets into some of the guitar moments on the record, having a theme of writing letters to other people, and covering The Velvet Underground’s “I’ll Be Your Mirror.” Advertisement Listen to Courtney Barnett unpack her new album and more by listening to the ep...
Kevin Morby and Hamilton Leithauser on Characters in Their Songs, Demoitis, and Fear-Based Exercise
Listen via Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google Podcasts | Stitcher | Pocket Casts | Radio Public | RSS Kevin Morby and Hamilton Leithauser stopped by the WFPK studios during their tour together and spoke with Kyle Meredith about the history of their friendship and writing the song “Virginia Beach” together. The pair also perform the song, as well as Morby’s “Campfire” and Leithauser’s “The Stars of Tomorrow.” Related Video Morby then spoke about releasing the demos to Sundowner and both artist’s experience with demoitis (a phenomenon by which you listen to one version of something so frequently that the proper recording becomes difficult to accept.) Advertisement Meanwhile, Leithauser talks about living in Washington, DC during...
Father John Misty Details New Album Chloë and the Next 20th Century, Shares “Funny Girl”: Stream
Father John Misty tipped us off to his next record last month, but now he’s finally announced all of the details. Today, the artist otherwise known as Josh Tillman shared the artwork and tracklist for Chloë and the Next 20th Century, and shared “Funny Girl,” the album’s first single. Tillman recorded Chloë and the Next 20th Century in 2020 with longtime collaborator Jonathan Wilson. The album features strings, brass, and woodwinds performed by the likes of Dan Higgins and Wayne Bergeron, with arrangements by Drew Erickson. Not surprisingly, then, first single “Funny Girl” hints at the album’s cinematic feel, with lush strings building to a warm piano ballad. With slow bass grooves and Tillman’s delicate croon, the song sounds straight out of an oldies record, but the artist’s classic ...
Widowspeak Announce New Album The Jacket, Share “Everything Is Simple”: Stream
New York indie rockers Widowspeak have announced their sixth studio album, The Jacket. The record is out March 11th via Captured Tracks, but first single “Everything Is Simple” is available to stream now, along with a music video directed by OTIUM. Check it out below. Widowspeak recorded The Jacket with producer Homer Steinweiss. The record, initially a concept album centered around the formation and disintegration of a fictional band, is rife with self-referential, full-circle moments. Now a duo, band members Molly Hamilton and Robert Earl Thomas reunited with founding drummer Michael Stasiak for the recording, which also features J.D. Sumner on bass, and piano and keyboard contributions from Michael Hess. “Everything Is Simple” previews The Jacket with a minimalist, country groove. ...
Sufjan Stevens Shares His Favorite and Least Favorite “Albums” of 2021
Long after most music publications shared their Best of 2021 lists (cough cough), Sufjan Stevens has arrived fashionably late to the opinion-dumping party. The musician caused a bit of a stir today by sharing not only his favorite, but also his least favorite albums of the year on his Tumblr blog; Sure, most of his favorite albums didn’t come out in 2021, and most of his least favorite albums aren’t even albums at all, but who’s going to stop him? He’s Sufjan Stevens! Some of the notable highlights from Stevens’ favorites list include Alain Goraguer’s soundtrack to La Planète Sauvage, a.k.a. Fantastic Planet, the wildly trippy 1973 animated sci-fi film. He also took a liking to new age icon Beverly Glenn-Copeland’s 1986 masterpiece, Keyboard Fantasies. As far as more re...
Mac DeMarco Covers “I’ll Be Home for Christmas”: Stream
Mac DeMarco is back with a new addition to his Christmas covers cannon. This year, he’s taken on the 1943 classic “I’ll Be Home for Christmas.” Written by Kim Gannon and Walter Kent, “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” was originally recorded by Bing Crosby, centering around Crosby’s slow crooning and a swell of lush strings. In DeMarco’s chilled-out version, the singer’s go-to piano adds a jazzy touch to the standard, and a bent-note guitar solo makes the song sound like a DeMarco original. In the accompanying music video, an anthropomorphic inflatable tree traverses the streets before setting up shop in a Christmas tree farm. Check out the video below. Advertisement Related Video DeMarco has been covering Christmas songs for some time now, and they somehow always manage to stand out among the j...
Father John Misty Announces New Album Chloe and the Next 20th Century
Father John Misty has announced his fifth album, Chloe and the Next 20th Century, out April 8th, 2022 via Sub Pop and Bella Union. Always one for a bit, the artist otherwise known as Josh Tillman announced the record by mailing a mysterious vinyl to fans through the label Bella Union. A video of the record posted to Reddit reveals a spoken-word message announcing the album: “Available April 8th, 2022 on Sub Pop and Bella Union. Father John Misty’s new album: Chloe and the Next 20th Century. Get it on vinyl, CD, the other one, uh, cassette. And in beautiful deluxe hardback edition with expanded artwork and much more. Is this real? It is. This is the album. You’re listening to it right now. That’s nice. Eleven new tracks produced by Jonathan Wilson and Josh Tillman. Chloe And The Next 20th C...
Song of the Week: Best Coast and The Linda Lindas Collaborate on the Vibrant “Leading”
We’re taking a break from our Annual Report to highlight the Song of the Week. In this feature, we talk about the song we just can’t get out of our head each week. Find these songs and more on our Spotify Top Songs playlist. For our favorite new songs from emerging artists, check out our Spotify New Sounds playlist. This week, Best Coast is back with a little help from rising stars The Linda Lindas. Pop culture right now seems dominated by a certain amount of sentimentality. Rebooting and revamping have become the norm, and people are starting to push back on the oversaturation. Best Coast probably weren’t intending to jump into that exact discourse with their latest, “Leading,” but the opening line is a relatable statement nonetheless: “Nostalgia’s overrated, or maybe it’s just complicate...
Waxahatchee Announces El Deafo Soundtrack, Shares New Single “Tomorrow”: Stream
Waxahatchee (aka Katie Crutchfield) has announced she is handling the soundtrack for El Deafo, an upcoming Apple TV+ adaptation of Cece Bell’s graphic novel of the same name. The EP is out January 7th via Merge Records and features the lead single “Tomorrow.” The five-track project also includes “Up in the Sky,” the main title theme for the animated children’s series, as well as tracks like “Trampoline Love Song” and “Mighty Bolt.” “I’m so happy to finally announce an amazing project I had the honor of being a part of,” Crutchfield said in a statement. “Last year I wrote some original music for a new show on Apple TV+ called El Deafo, based on the book of the same name by a true hero, Cece Bell. Myself along with Rob Barbato spent a few months arranging and recording these tunes and it was...
