Indie Rock
Lala Lala Drops “Color of the Pool,” Announces North American Tour: Stream
Summer may be dwindling, but Lillie West still has her mind on some poolside reflecting with Lala Lala’s latest single “Color of the Pool.” In the accompanying music video, West — the brains behind the indie rock project — finds herself contemplating the possibilities of merging with the tangibly inhuman, all while pretending to ride on the back of a motorcycle through the streets of Chicago. “What is sick/ What is part of it/ I want to be the color of the pool/ I want to hold/ The fire part of fuel,” she sings over minimalistic production before ceding the floor to Adam Schatz’s frenetic saxophone outro. The song follows the Nnamdi Ogbonnaya-assisted “DIVER” as the most recent single off Lala Lala’s forthcoming third album I Want the Door to Open. It’s set to be released October 8th ...
Whitney Announce 2021 US Tour Dates
Whitney’s last North American tour wrapped up not long before the pandemic began, and they aren’t wasting any time to (safely) get back on the road. The Chicago indie duo have announced a run of tour dates in the US for fall 2021, which will see them play a number of smaller venues and visit some often-overlooked cities that took the hardest hits in 2020. Though Whitney haven’t shared any original new music since their 2019 sophomore record, Forever Turned Around, this tour promises to be a special experience: “This fall we will be touring some of our favorite rooms in the US,” the band wrote on social media. “These intimate shows will mark the beginning of a new chapter in our project. New songs and new sounds will be presented with a focus on being in the moment. We’ll be bringing a new ...
Big Thief Share Two New Singles “Little Things” and “Sparrow”: Stream
You’d think that after releasing two stellar albums in 2019, Big Thief would be keen on taking a much longer break before they began churning out more new music. Thankfully for us, that’s not the case; Today, the Brooklyn indie-folk band returns with two new singles, “Little Things” and “Sparrow.” Both songs were recorded in 2020 and produced by Big Thief drummer James Krivchenia. The slow-burning, hymn-like “Sparrow” sees vocalist Adrianne Lenker recount a Bible-inspired tale that reads like an epic poem of sorts. The track was recorded all in one take, lending to an intimate, natural feel. On the other hand, “Little Things” is an unexpected sound for Big Thief, in which they swap their more typical somber feel with a propulsive rhythm section and noisy guitar riffs. Here, Lenker seems to...
Aimee Mann Announces New Album Queens of the Summer Hotel, Shares Song: Stream
Indie folk-and-piano icon Aimee Mann has just announced a new album. It’s called Queens of the Summer Hotel and it’s due out November 5th via Mann’s own label SuperEgo. Apparently it came about after Mann started developing music for a stage adaptation of Girl, Interrupted in 2018. To preview the record, she’s sharing the album’s lead single, “Suicide Is Murder,” along with a music video below. According to a press release, Queens of the Summer consists of “a song cycle constructed from music that Mann wrote for the show.” It’s sung by Mann and orchestrated with her longtime collaborator Paul Bryan. As a nod to the project’s theatrical origins, the album features strings and woodwinds in addition to Mann’s usual style of piano playing. It spans 15 songs in total and serves as the follow-up...
Foxing Share New Album Draw Down the Moon: Stream
Foxing, the St. Louis trio whose music spans emo to prog rock and beyond, have just released their excellent new album Draw Down the Moon. Stream it below via Apple Music and Spotify. Draw Down the Moon is Foxing’s fourth album overall and their first since releasing the epic Nearer My God in 2018. Although it only spans 10 tracks, this new record is enormous in scope and sound. It sees Foxing drawing inspiration from everything imaginable—Dungeons and Dragons, Kate Bush, Joe Pera, overwhelming grief, deep gratitude, and more—and fitting it into sprawling, visionary songs that magically work well together. “It’s about the idea of your cosmic significance,” said frontman Conor Murphy in an earlier statement. “The way you feel like a tiny speck in the grand scheme of the universe, that’...
Into It. Over It. Shares Origins of Fugazi Cover “Instrument”: Exclusive
Our ongoing new music series Origins asks artists about the inspirations behind their latest tracks. Now, Into It. Over It. has revealed how his bruising cover of Fugazi’s “Instrument” came together. It’s not often that a classic punk song hits harder after acoustic guitars replace electric, but that’s just what Into It. Over It. has accomplished with the new cover of Fugazi’s “Instrument.” The project from Evan Thomas Weiss contributed the track to Silence Is a Dangerous Sound: A Tribute to Fugazi, which comes via Ripcord Records. All proceeds benefit the Tribe Animal Sanctuary in Scotland. The double-CD release will be available October 1st, and includes 43 Fugazi tracks by admiring artists, including La Dispute, Authority Zero, and even Pet Symmetry, W...
Bright Eyes’ Conor Oberst and Waxahatchee’s Katie Crutchfield Trade “Songwriting Slump” Tips and Discuss Returning to the Stage
Katie Crutchfield was destined to be a Bright Eyes fan. The singer-songwriter, who performs poignant folk-rock as Waxahatchee, recalls the music of Conor Oberst as a crucial turning point in her upbringing as a self-proclaimed outcast in suburban Alabama: “I feel like Bright Eyes had one of the biggest impacts of any band at the time,” Crutchfield tells Consequence by phone from her Kansas City home. It’s serendipitous that nearly twenty years after she first became enamored with albums like Letting Off the Happiness, Fevers and Mirrors, and Lifted or The Story Is in the Soil, Keep Your Ear to the Ground, Waxahatchee would be pegged to open for the Bright Eyes show, along with Lucy Dacus, at New York’s Forest Hills Stadium on July 31st. (The emo-folk titans played their first show tog...
Sharon Van Etten, Jack Antonoff, Fred Armisen Join Beck Onstage at Newport Folk Festival: Watch
For being such a low-key event, Newport Folk Festival sure loves to jam as many star-studded cameos and surprises as possible into their schedule. The latest example of such went down on Tuesday when Beck was joined onstage by Sharon Van Etten, Jack Antonoff, and Fred Armisen for different songs. Because, you know, why not? Normally Newport Folk Festival takes place over the course of one weekend, but the 2021 edition of the event is operating a little differently. They divided their schedule up over two back-to-back three-day chunks, each with a completely unique lineup. To help mitigate COVID-19 risks, Newport organizers also limited the capacity to just 5,000 daily attendees. All of this helps set the scene for the magical reality of a cameo-filled set like the one Beck just p...
Liz Phair Pulls Out of Tour With Alanis Morissette and Garbage, Replaced by Cat Power
Bad news for those who were planning to catch Liz Phair on tour with Alanis Morissette and Garbage this year: Phair announced this week that she had pulled out of the tour. In her place, fellow ’90s icon Cat Power will join the lineup on the Jagged Little Pill 25th anniversary tour. “Sadly, due to unforeseen circumstances, I won’t be able to join Alanis & Garbage on tour this summer,” the singer-songwriter wrote on Twitter. “I’m incredibly disappointed as I was looking forward to seeing all of your beautiful faces. Shoutout to Alanis, Garbage, and Cat Power, who I know will put on an incredible show. Hope to see you all soon!” The “Why Can’t I?” singer has yet to give any indication to what prompted her dropping out of the tour, which kicks off in Austin this August after being delayed...
Lucy Dacus and Julien Baker Sing in Simlish for The Sims 4 Cottage Living: Stream
After lots of hype, The Sims 4 expansion pack Cottage Living finally hit stores yesterday. The release includes songs by Julien Baker and Lucy Dacus sung in in Simlish, the game’s in-universe gibberish language. For Cottage Living, Baker decided to tackle her Little Oblivions track “Faith Healer,” which sounds surprisingly natural despite the fact that she’s singing made-up words. Baker even adds in the trills and falsetto climbs that occur in the original version of the song! It’s creative and fun, and yes, packs plenty of emotion despite incoherent lyrics. As for Dacus, she chose to perform her Home Video song “Hot & Heavy” for the game. Like Baker, she seems to navigate the familiar-yet-not complexities of Simlish surprisingly well. It almost sounds like Dacus has sung “Hot &a...
Hopscotch Announces 2021 Lineup with Animal Collective, Flying Lotus, Dr. Dog and More
In the spirit of the game for which it was named, Hopscotch Music Festival has leapt over the square marked 2020 and landed on 2021. The event returns to Raleigh, North Carolina from September 9th through 11th with appearances by Animal Collective, Flying Lotus, and Dr. Dog on their farewell tour. Hopscotch built its brand around an experimental and underground vibe, though those adjectives haven’t described this year’s headliners for quite a while. But few will complain about seeing more recognizable names on the roster. In addition to the bold-faced acts, the fest boasts performances by Caroline Polachek, Parquet Courts, and Shannon & The Clams, as well as Archers of Loaf, Body Meat, Bowerbirds, Colin Stetson, Dougie Poole, Garcia Peoples, Hannah Jadagu, Helado Negro, Hippo Camp...
The Joy Formidable Announce US Tour, Share New Single “Interval”: Stream
There’s less than a month to go until The Joy Formidable release their new album Into the Blue on August 20th. To tide fans over until then, the Welsh alt-rockers have just dropped “Interval,” a gripping new single from the record, and they’ve also announced 2021 US tour dates. Whereas their last album, 2018’s AAARTH, dipped into electronic elements at times, The Joy Formidable return to their heady rock roots on this new single. “Interval” quickly grabs the reigns with a thick bassline before singer Rhiannon “Ritzy” Bryan’s vocals enter the frame. Although it sounds relatively controlled and tempered in the first half, it’s clear that “Interval” is building tension early on — and, as such, it eventually explodes in track’s final fuzz-filled minutes. Stream it below. This is the final sing...
