Indie Rock
They Might Be Giants on New Album BOOK and Heading Back on Tour: “Rest Assured, There Will Be Accordion”
Few indie rock bands can claim the sheer breadth, longevity, and sustained creative inspiration as They Might Be Giants, whose body of work spans nearly four decades, twenty-plus albums, and many hundreds of songs. John Flansburgh and John Linnell’s storied discography includes alt-rock hits (“Birdhouse in Your Soul”), college-rock classics (“Put Your Hand Inside the Puppet Head”), and the occasional TV theme (“Boss of Me”). Their new album BOOK (out Friday, November 12th) goes in another new direction: Its 15 tracks are available on their own, or accompanied by a large hardcover lyric book, featuring original art connected to the new batch of songs, as well as selected pieces from their last few releases. As always, the songs stand alone; this group is less ornate than some of the band’s ...
Camp Cope Return with New Song “Blue”: Stream
Camp Cope have returned with their first new song in three years, “Blue.” The Aussie rockers’ last studio effort was 2018’s How to Socialize and Make Friends, and the intervening years have included a solo album from vocalist Georgia Maq, Pleaser, as well as loosies such as the pop tune “Someone Stranger.” Camp Cope reunited in the studio during the pandemic, and their latest release flexes some of the freedom that Maq found in pop. The guitars on “Blue” are sunny and bright, even as the lyrics scan clouds on the horizon. “Phone in my hand, still checking if you called,” Maq sings. “I’m double texting. No, I’ve never been cool/ And I’ll burn that bridge when I get to it. Yeah, I’m on fire.” Speaking of fire, Maq’s voice still sizzles like no one else in DIY. Advertiseme...
Snail Mail Makes You Her “Valentine” on Colbert: Watch
On Friday, Lindsey Jordan released Valentine, her highly-anticipated sophomore album as Snail Mail. To celebrate the occasion, the indie rocker made her late-night TV debut on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, performing the album’s fiery title track. Donning her own take on 19th century menswear, Jordan brought her ’90s alt-rock flair to Colbert’s live studio. In line with the album’s theme, the stage was adorned with bouquets of heart-shaped balloons, countless roses, and one final balloon drop at the end of the song for good measure — in short, enough decorations to make you forget that February 14th is still three months away. Still, Snail Mail’s performance of “Valentine” is good enough to make you swoon any time of year. Check it out below. Valentine follows Snail Mail’s ...
Snail Mail Hits the Emotional Sweet Spot on Valentine
Love hasn’t gotten any easier for Lindsey Jordan, but her heart is better equipped to sustain it on Valentine, her second studio album as Snail Mail (out November 5th via Matador Records). The 22-year old indie rock upstart reemerges after grappling with a tumultuous rise to stardom from her 2018 breakout debut Lush, which recounted a series of relationships that left her burned. However, she returns not hardened by her experiences, but enlightened, accountable, and against all odds, open to falling in deep once again. Now in sequence as the opening track, the album’s debut single “Valentine” serves as an even greater introduction to Snail Mail’s next phase; the initial enveloping synths and warbling flourishes tucked deep into the verses hint at both the vast expansion of sound and subtle...
Artist of the Month: Meet Geese, the New Brooklyn Post-Punk Vanguard
Artist of the Month is an accolade given to an up-and-coming artist or group who is poised for the big time. In November 2021, we give the nod to Brooklyn post-rockers Geese as they drop their highly buzzed debut album, Projector. Everyone’s been robbed of in-person experiences on way or another in this unprecedented pandemic era. Many already-plugged-in teenage musicians have seen some of their most formative years shunted online. For every breakout success spurred by TikTok, there’s a dozen more who haven’t been so lucky. How does an aspiring 16-year-old artist, for example, expand their horizons when live music is shuttered? How can they possibly hone their stage presence without stages on which to perform? “I remember for a minute in quarantine, we would just get together and watch liv...
Of Monsters and Men Reflect on the “Beautiful, Dark Forest” of My Head Is an Animal at 10
It’s been a decade since Of Monsters and Men released their debut album My Head Is an Animal in their home country of Iceland in September 2011. The success of the LP and its rollicking lead single “Little Talks” led to a deal with Republic Records, over a million records sold, a permanent spot on the festival circuit both in Europe and Stateside, and an enduring, fervent fanbase. “It’s a super special album,” Ragnar (“Raggi”) Þórhallsson, the group’s co-lead vocalist/guitarist, tells Consequence over Zoom. “I’ve always cared for it — the simplicity of it is that it’s hard to create something simple and beautiful, and I think that album is that.” Released internationally in April 2012, My Head Is an Animal grabbed listeners not just for its catchy melodies, but for the group’s sense of adv...
alt-J Share New Single “Get Better”: Stream
alt-J are back with “Get Better,” the second single from their forthcoming album The Dream. The plaintive song is essentially a two-hander, with dummer Thom Sonny Green sitting this one out. Instead, Joe Newman strums out gentle acoustic notes while Gus Unger-Hamilton joins in with harmonies and subtle piano. As Newman describes it, the track “is the union of two songs.” One was a little improvisation he sang to his partner, Darcy Wallace, back in 2018: “Get better, my Darcy/ I know you can.” The second was a chord progression written during lockdown while Newman thought of the thousands of bereaved around the world. “I felt nervous heat when writing ‘Get Better,” Newman said in a press statement. “The context of the Coronavirus pandemic lent my words a chilling weight and gave me a new se...
Ought Break Up, Tim Darcy and Ben Stidworthy Form New Band Cola
Ought, the Montreal post-punk quartet that formed nine years ago, have announced their breakup. They leave behind a nine-year legacy that includes three Eps and three studio albums, the most recent of which was 2018’s Room Inside the World. The band — Tim Darcy, Matt May, Ben Stidworthy, and Tim Keen — issued a joint statement confirming the split: “We are no longer active as a band. When we started Ought in 2012 we had no greater aspirations than to play and write music together, and the fact that we were able to tour the world to such an extent and share so many rooms with so many of you has meant the world to us. We send lots of gratitude and love to all those we met and worked with along the way.” Fans ought not be totally devastated, however, as two of the band’s members have simultan...
Cat Power Announces US Tour, Drops Cover of Dead Man’s Bones’ “Pa Pa Power”: Stream
Cat Power announced today that she’s heading out on tour early next year. Additionally, she’s shared her new rendition of “Pa Pa Power” by Dead Man’s Bones from her upcoming album, Covers. The singer-songwriter reimagines the 2009 track by Ryan Gosling and Zach Shields into a haunting, melancholy dirge, replacing the children’s choir and plinking synths of the original with her own backing vocals and dreamy electric guitar. “Burn the streets, burn the cars/ Power/ Broken glass, but what about/ Our broken hearts/ Please make me better/ Please make me powerful,” she sings into dual mics in the accompanying music video, tweaking the song’s lyrics ever so slightly in the process. Advertisement Related Video The track serves as the second taste for the musician’s upcoming album Covers, which wi...
Dinosaur Jr. Share Live Album Emptiness at The Sinclair: Stream
Though they’ve become known as one of the most influential indie rock acts of the 1990s, Dinosaur Jr. have shown little interest in slowing down anytime soon. Today, the Massachusetts trio have released Emptiness at The Sinclair, a new live album that only further illustrates Dinosaur Jr.’s infallible legacy. Additionally, the band have announced their rescheduled North American tour dates for 2022. Recorded at Boston’s Sinclair, Emptiness at The Sinclair includes live renditions of Dinosaur Jr. tracks that span their entire career. It includes fan-favorite cuts from the band’s early days like “Just Like Heaven” and “Freak Scene,” as well as a handful of highlights from their new album, Sweep It into Space. “It was odd going back to Harvard Square for the Sinclair show, lots of ...
The War on Drugs Tighten and Lighten Up on I Don’t Live Here Anymore
The War on Drugs makes big songs, meant for arena-scale rock reveries. In 2022, they’ll embark on a headlining tour at the biggest venues they’ve ever played (including Madison Square Garden), stepping onto stages that match the scope of their music. Yet the latest album from the six-piece led by Adam Granduciel, I Don’t Live Here Anymore, marks a turn towards directness and concision. Don’t worry! If you like The War on Drugs’ previous work, chances are you’ll like I Don’t Live Here Anymore, out Friday, October 29th. The band’s fifth LP and their first since 2017’s Grammy-winning A Deeper Understanding still showcases the group’s texture-rich, somehow-original revisions of the most-winning aspects of mid-’80s commercial rock. Each of the 10 tracks runs over four minutes, most hovering in ...
Japanese Breakfast Covers Weezer on Surprise Live at Electric Lady EP: Stream
Japanese Breakfast has released a surprise EP, Live at Electric Lady. Stream it below. Recorded as part of Spotify’s ongoing series at New York City’s famed Electric Lady Studios, the eight-track project includes live versions of singles “Be Sweet” and “Savage Good Boy” off Michelle Zauner’s latest LP, Jubilee, with accompaniment by the Quartet 121 string section. “Recording at Electric Lady was truly the perfect experience,” Zauner said in a statement about crafting the EP. “The longer I’ve worked as a recording artist, the more I’ve realized it’s the simple, stripped down songs that are the hardest to get right. Having the opportunity to revisit the core catalog of my songwriting in a room with so much history, surrounded by engineers and gear of the highest caliber, it was just a dream ...
