Indie Rock
Madeline Kenney Reveals New Summer Quarter EP: Stream
Madeline Kenney has unveiled the Summer Quarter EP via Carpark Records. Stream it below using Apple Music or Spotify. The follow-up to 2020’s Sucker’s Lunch, Summer Quarter was recorded in the isolation of quarantine, at a time when Kenney had hoped to be touring. The indie songwriter used the extra hours to develop new skills — namely behind the boards. While her first three records were produced by Toro y Moi and members of Wye Oak, this time Kenney took on all the producing duties herself. As she explained on Twitter, “i recorded it in my basement and it’s my first release produced solely by me. it’s weird and different but i like it.” Editors’ Picks The four-track effort is headlined by “Wasted Time” which comes with a music video directed by Kenney. With the aid o...
Song of the Week: A Pixilated Rico Nasty Earns High Score in “LiLBiTcH” Video Game
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. Take a deep breath … we have a sane president, a history-making veep, and “Individual-1” banned from Twitter … exhale. That’s not to say that life is all good or that all the problems we face as a nation are suddenly solved. No, it takes a lot of work to undo a four-year con job. That said, it won’t hurt if we take a measly two minutes and sixteen seconds out of our stressful, cooped-up lives to relax and, in the parlance of my time, take a chill pill with, well, chillpill. For those unfamiliar, chillpill is the name of the 15-year collabora...
The Decemberists’ The King Is Dead and the End of the Americana Craze
Editor’s Notes: Consequence has finally been around long enough that so many of the new albums that originally turned us on to music are now celebrating their first milestone anniversaries. As we begin to reflect on these records, you can catch our updated assessments here. The first time I heard Mumford & Sons was at the 37th Telluride Bluegrass Festival. I was 14, had just finished middle school, and was in a band that played shitty covers of Audioslave and Death Cab for Cutie in our drummer’s basement. I wasn’t exactly a music doyen, but I remember everyone around me, even my parents — Telluride had become something of a family pastime — were impressed by the set. There was something undeniably endearing about Marcus Mumford’s gravelly baritone, his black vest (soon to become a stap...
The War on Drugs Perform “Arms Like Boulders” on Colbert: Watch
Live shows may temporarily be on pause, but they’ve hardly been forgotten. In fact, The War on Drugs recently released a live album titled LIVE DRUGS comprised of concert recordings from throughout their career. (The 10-track effort was reportedly “culled from over 40 hard drives,” so you can be sure the concert nostalgia was intense.) On Friday, The War on Drugs supported their new effort by playing “Arms Like Boulders” on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. The remote performance saw Adam Granduciel, David Hartley, Robbie Bennett, Charlie Hall, Anthony LaMarca all play along on guitar, while Jon Natchez handled a mandolin. Replay the performance down below. Editors’ Picks “Arms Like Boulders” originally appeared on The War on Drugs’ debut album, Wagonwheel Blues, as well as th...
Hiss Golden Messenger Share New Song “Sanctuary”: Stream
Hiss Golden Messenger are back with their first new song since 2019, “Sanctuary”. Written and produced by bandleader M.C. Taylor, “Sanctuary” isn’t exactly a political track, though it does engage with the national mood. “Feeling bad, feeling blue,” Taylor begins, “Can’t get out of my own mind/ but I know how to sing about it.” There’s a tension in the song between uplifting music and lyrical pessimism. At the chorus, backup singers join Taylor, and you might mistake the song for a sunny anthem if you didn’t listen to the words: “You want good news/ You want sanctuary/ But when you try to get real/ They break you on the wheel.” In a statement, Taylor explained how the song came together and paid homage to John Prine, writing, “Over the past year, I’ve been thinking a lot about how we ...
CARM and Sufjan Stevens Collaborate on “Song of Trouble”: Stream
Contemporary classical ensemble yMusic has been dabbling with the indie rock world for over a decade now, working with everyone from Justin Vernon to The Tallest Man on Earth over the course of their career. CJ Camerieri, the group’s co-founder and horn player, is bringing that experience with him into CARM, his debut self-titled album under that solo moniker, due out January 22nd. Case and point: he got Sufjan Stevens to sing on his brand new single “Song of Trouble”. Co-written by both artists, “Song of Trouble” is a beautiful orchestral number that sees CARM wielding his horn in a way that’s typically reserved for guitars. There’s a sense of sadness that guides it as well as a subtle hopefulness. That feeling is drawn out all the more thanks to the lyrics Stevens wrote. “I called to eac...
Toledo Share New Song “Dog Has Its Day”: Stream
Although they share a name with the Ohio city, Toledo are a band from Brooklyn. The duo of Daniel Alvarez and Jordan Dunn-Pilz are in the midst of rolling out an EP called Jockeys of Love, and today they’re giving fans a preview with a song called “Dog Has Its Day”. The track follows October’s “Challenger” and December’s “It’s Alive!”, which serve as a solid representation of the sounds that Toledo’s music straddles: brisk, slightly surfy dream-pop and crisp, tranquil indie-folk. “Dog Has Its Day” retains the prettiness of the former, but musically it leans closer to the latter sensibility. Over a mellow yet steady groove, Alvarez and Dunn-Pilz stack a whispery falsetto over a mesmerizing acoustic guitar lick and let that ride for a while. Eventually, some beautifully congealed harmonies e...
IAN SWEET Announces New Album Show Me How You Disappear, Shares “Drink the Lake”: Stream
IAN SWEET, the CoSigned indie project headed up by Jilian Medford, has announced a new album. Show Me How You Disappear arrives in March and is being teased today with a single called “Drink the Lake”. The upcoming effort is IAN SWEET’s third overall and follow-up to 2018’s Crush Crusher, which Medford broke down for us track by track. According to a statement, a bulk of the songs on Show Me How came to fruition after Medford completed a two-month intensive outpatient program in early 2020. The rigorous treatment involved six-hour days of therapy and saw Medford looking inward more than ever before — so much so that she even took a break from music in order to focus on her self-care. Show Me How is a direct result of those reflections and the emotional catharsis that came with them. “...
Indie Supergroup Speed Stick Unveil New Song “Protect Your Magic”: Stream
Speed Stick, the indie rock supergroup comprised of Polvo’s Ash Bowie, Bat Fangs’ Laura King, The Love Language’s Thomas Simpson, and The Paul Swest’s Charles Chace, have dropped the new song “Protect Your Magic”. It’s the opening track of their debut album, Volume One, which arrives later this month via Don Giovanni Records. The new single is an instrumental scorcher. “Protect Your Magic” marries Bowie’s sticky guitar riffs with Chace’s free jazz playfulness. Meanwhile the violent, thunderous drum breaks showcase the kind of bonkers percussion that’s only possible with two drummers of King’s and Simpson’s quality caliber. “Protect Your Magic” comes with a cracked music video directed by King. Using a color palette stocked with pinks and greens, she shows odd landscapes, a c...
Beach Slang’s James Alex Accused of Abuse, Now Receiving Treatment Following Suicide Attempt
Last week, Beach Slang frontman James Alex was accused of years of abuse by former manager Charlie Lowe. Now, in a lengthy statement, Alex’s family has revealed that Alex has since been admitted into “an inpatient facility after attempting to take his life.” The note also says that Beach Slang have officially broken up. On Tuesday, January 5th, Lowe tweeted, “I endured constant emotional, psychological & narcissistic abuse from James Alex for years.” She added, “I have learned he sells his too-kind-to-be-true persona to hide that he is truly the most selfish horrible person I will ever meet.” As a result of the alleged abuse, Lowe claimed she was diagnosed with C-PTSD (complex posttraumatic stress disorder).” The statement from Alex’s family, shared this afternoon via Beach Slang’s soc...
The Mountain Goats Perform “Get Famous” On Colbert: Watch
The Mountain Goats made a Friday night appearance on the Late Show with Stephen Colbert to perform their song “Get Famous”. The track was included on the second of two albums they released in 2020, Getting Into Knives. Like all late night performances these days, the set was recorded remotely in a studio and submitted to the program. In addition to frontman John Darnielle and his three core bandmates — Peter Hughes, Jon Wurster, and Matt Douglas — the group was joined by two additional saxophone players to fill out the blaring woodwinds in this upbeat anthem. Back when the band released “Get Famous” as a single in September, Darnielle opened up about how fulfilling it was to create: “If I told you all how much fun we had making this one you wouldn’t even believe me, but we hope it comes th...
The Hold Steady Reveal New Single “Heavy Covenant”: Stream
Next month marks the arrival of a new album from veteran indie rockers The Hold Steady. Their eighth overall, Open Door Policy is being previewed today with a song called “Heavy Covenant”. The follow-up to lead single “Family Farm”, this new cut carefully folds in layers of bright synths, rich horns, and driving percussion in such a way that holds your anticipation. And then there’s frontman Craig Finn’s fascinating tale of travel — one that’s simultaneously dark and funny. In a statement, Finn said the track is about “travel, technology, and human connection. The song came out of two different music pieces that THS piano/keyboardist Franz Nicolay brought in, and with the help of producer Josh Kaufman, we combined them.” “It came together quickly, and when our friends Stuart and Jorda...
