Indie Rock
Don Lifted Shares New Single “Lost in Orion”: Stream
Memphis artist Don Lifted has signed to Fat Possum Records and shared a new single called “Lost in Orion”. It’s his first new music since 2019, and it’s a fascinating blend of genres that feels both fresh and familiar. As Don Lifted, songwriter born Lawrence Matthews has been putting out music since 2013. According to his Bandcamp, he dropped three volumes of The December LP series within a one-year-period, and then he followed those with two other albums that are currently on streaming services, 2016’s Alero and 2018’s Contour. Although the former of those two albums predated Frank Ocean’s 2016 opus by a month, Matthews is planted firmly within the Blond(e) school of music. Contour and the handful of singles he released that same year meld together ...
Wolf Parade’s Spencer Krug Announces New Album Fading Graffiti, Shares Title Track: Stream
Spencer Krug of Wolf Parade has announced his new album, Fading Graffiti. Due out on April 16th as the first release on his own Pronounced Kroog label, the LP marks Krug’s first album under his own name. He previously released several solo projects as Moonface and Sunset Rubdown. Spanning 10 songs, Fading Graffiti reimagines piano ballads originally posted on Krug’s Patreon page, which was used to help fund the creation of the album. Aided by a full band, the tracks were recontextualized as indie rock songs. “It’s kind of neat the way these songs transformed,” Krug told Stereogum in a new interview. “The piano versions were more fussy and intricate, because that’s how I end up writing on piano. I had an urge to simplify them a little bit, because I could hear some mellow soft-rock numbers ...
Wavves Return with New Song “Sinking Feeling”: Stream
Pop punk band Wavves have returned with “Sinking Feeling”, their first new song since 2017. Check it out via the accompanying music video below. “Sinking Feeling” marks the return of Wavves to Fat Possum Records and came together with the help of TV on the Radio’s Dave Sitek after the band initially workshopped the song in a series of now-abandoned studio sessions. Although the single’s surf rock guitars evoke summertime, the lyrics address the all-encompassing darkness of depression. “It’s there on your face/ It sits in your mind,” sings frontman Nathan Williams. “It’s like this all the time.” In a statement, Williams elaborated on the meaning of the track. “‘Sinking Feeling’ is a song about a wave of depression that keeps coming back,” he said. “It’s that sinking feeling that drags ...
R.I.P. Tavish Maloney, Oso Oso Guitarist Dead at 24
Oso Oso guitarist Tavish Maloney died on March 24th at the age of 24. The cause of his passing is currently undisclosed. Several days after Maloney’s death, Oso Oso lead singer Jade Lilitri shared a lengthy tribute to his longtime friend, in which he described the guitarist as “a rock star in every sense of the word.” Lilitri added, “he treated the stage like church and the audience like God.” Lilitri said Maloney was “healthy happy and ready to thrive” when they last saw each other. They were filming a movie together and had plans to work on an album this summer. The full tribute includes stories about growing up together in Long Beach, New York. Read the whole thing below. Musicians like The Hotelier’s Christian Holden, Prince Daddy & the Hyena, Kississippi, Mom Jeans, Retirement Par...
Waxahatchee Releases Anniversary Reissue of Saint Cloud: Stream
One year ago, Waxahatchee exceeded expectations when she released her album Saint Cloud. It wound up being one of our favorite LPs of the year thanks to some truly unforgettable tracks. Now, Katie Crutchfield is celebrating that milestone by releasing a special first anniversary edition of the album with three previously unreleased cover songs. Stream it below via Apple Music and Spotify. In addition to the original 11 tracks that make up Saint Cloud, this new reissue includes three exclusive covers: a slow-burning country take on “Fruits of My Labor” by Lucinda Williams, a sunny cover of Dolly Parton’s “Light of a Clear Blue Morning”, and a gentle rendition of “Streets of Philadelphia” by the one and only Bruce Springsteen. Listening to them back to back, it’s easy to understand...
Song of the Week: BROCKHAMPTON and Danny Brown Call Out the Haters on Return Single “BUZZCUT”
Song of the Week breaks down and talks 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, BROCKHAMPTON make their epic return with the help of Danny Brown. “BUZZCUT” marks the first official release from BROCKHAMPTON, the sprawling 13-member hip-hop group, since 2019. After dropping a series of limited-time songs throughout 2020, the band have now made an official return with the assertive single, along with some help from Danny Brown. The undercurrent of the track is one of frustration, focusing on false dreams, haters and detractors, and dysfunctional family dynamics. Member Kevin Abstract leads the first verse and c...
Bloc Party’s Kele Announces New Album The Waves Pt. 1, Shares “Smalltown Boy”: Stream
Bloc Party founder Kele Okereke has announced a new solo album. It’s called The Waves Pt. 1 and it’s due out May 28th via his own label KOLA Records/!K7. To celebrate the announcement, he’s shared a single from the record dubbed “Smalltown Boy”. Stream it below. This is his fifth album under the name Kele, following his 2019 full-length 2042 and his musical soundtrack Leave to Remain from that same year. According to a press release, he created the record entirely on his own while holed up during quarantine. Most of the tracks draw their influence from film scores and classical music, while the lyrics seeks to transform the traditional topics of pop music into meditative passages. “We were due to start working on my second musical with the Lyric Theatre but when the lockdown...
Julien Baker Brings Us Close to Little Oblivions at Nashville’s Analog: Review
Got Enough Gas: There’s music that makes you think and music that makes you want to move, and there’s Julien Baker. The songwriter has an uncanny talent for considering the underlying motivations for her own feelings and actions, and the result is often visceral music that hypnotizes the attention of the listener and prompts self-reflection, sometimes feeling deeply difficult and deeply healing at once — which is maybe part of the point. Baker released Little Oblivions last month and received instant praise for its bold and self-conscious digs into complex questions of addiction, survival, mental illness, and second chances. The album marked an evolution for Baker’s music into a fuller band sound, after she probed the depths of acoustic alt-folk in her first two albums and united her talen...
The Decemberists Announce Three Livestream Concerts to Celebrate 20th Anniversary
Grab your earbuds and climb aboard because The Decemberists are setting sail on the world wide web. Today, the beloved indie folk group have announced a series of livestream concerts to celebrate their 20th anniversary as a band, after their previously announced anniversary tour was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. “It was with truly heavy hearts that we announced the cancellation of this summer’s tour,” wrote frontman Colin Meloy in a letter to fans. “We really had hoped that we’d be able to play in front of you sweaty, singing thousands when we postponed the dates initially — and while there is every reason to believe that this pandemic may soon be a strange and bitter memory (yay vaccines! yay science!), it just isn’t wise to gather together in our sweaty, singing multitudes *qui...
UV-TV Get Lost in a “Distant Lullaby” on New Song: Stream
Now that spring is underway, there’s no better time to listen to UV-TV, a jangly indie rock band living in the heart of Queens, New York. Their music sounds like you’re driving to a party with your best friends, the windows are down, and that perfectly warm-yet-cool summer breeze is blowing all around. It’s hard to capture such a nostalgic feeling in music, but UV-TV manage to pull it off, and their latest track “Distant Lullaby”, out today, is no exception. Stream it below. From its opening drum crash onwards, “Distant Lullaby” is a radiant burst of power-pop joy. There’s some loose riffs, shoegaze guitar tones, comforting vocal harmonies, and a cowbell nestled into the background. It’s the “ba ba ba” vocal coos that steal the show in “Distant Lullaby”, though, but maybe that’s just becau...
beabadoobee Teams with The 1975 for Our Extended Play EP, Shares “Last Day on Earth”: Stream
Our new music feature Origins provides artists the opportunity to give fans unique insight into their latest track. Today, beabadoobee envisions the “Last Day on Earth”. Before the pandemic hit, beabadoobee was set to tour with Phoebe Bridgers and Dirty Hit labelmates The 1975. While that trek obviously never got on the road, the UK-based songwriter still managed to link up with 1975’s Matty Healy and George Daniel to collaborate on the follow-up to her excellent debut album, Fake It Flowers. beabadoobee is now previewing that effort, cleverly titled Our Extended Play EP, with the new single “Last Day on Earth”. Fans have long known of the mutual appreciation between bea and Healy, and the pair have been teasing their collaboration for some time. Our 2020 Rookie of the Year and T...
Manchester Orchestra on Life, Death, and the Afterlife
Kyle Meredith With… Manchester Orchestra Listen via Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google Play | Stitcher | Radio Public | RSS Manchester Orchestra masterminds Andy Hull and Robert McDowell sit down with Kyle Meredith to unpack their new album, The Million Masks of God. Together, they discuss how its themes of life, death and the afterlife were inspired by the passing of McDowell’s father and why the record plays like a seamless, rock opera. They also digress on their process of giving into jams, and detail what the plan is for the live version when the time comes to return to the stage. Kyle Meredith With… is an interview series in which WFPK’s Kyle Meredith speaks to a wide breadth of musicians. Every Monday, Wednesday, and Fr...
