Indie Rock
Katy Kirby Curls Up in a “Cool Dry Place” on New Song: Stream
Up-and-coming indie rocker Katy Kirby is trying to decode the best way to go through life as a young adult. The most useful tool to do so is self-reflection, and she’s got plenty of it on her latest single, “Cool Dry Place”, which you can stream below. The song comes from Kirby’s upcoming debut album, Cool Dry Place, due out February 19th via Keeled Scales/Secretly. What starts off as a stripped-down, whisper-sung melody builds into a sweeping folk-rock ballad on “Cool Dark Place”. Kirby sings about her restlessness in a relationship with comforting vocal tones, but come the end, she inverts that subtle shiftiness with a gut-busting, deconstructed guitar solo that recalls Big Thief and early (Sandy) Alex G. In a statement, Kirby elaborated on the ways in which “Cool Dry Place” is a mu...
Sigur Rós Unveil New Orchestral Album Odin’s Raven Magic: Stream
Sigur Rós have unveiled their long-anticipated orchestral album Odin’s Raven Magic. Stream it below via Apple Music and Spotify. The eight-song composition has been a mythical piece of the Icelandic band’s catalog for almost two decades now, so it’s a pretty momentous occasion for it to finally see the light of day. It was originally commissioned by the Reykjavik Arts Festival in 2002 and has only been performed a handful of times since then. The version that you hear on the album was recorded during a concert in Paris in the early 2000s. Odin’s Raven Magic is an elaborate collaboration with the revered Icelandic musician Hilmar Örn Hilmarsson (and an ordained ‘chief goði’ of the pagan Norse religion Ásatrúarfélagið) and respected fisherman and chanter Steindór Andersen. However, desp...
Top 50 Songs of 2020
The 2020 edition of our Annual Report continues today with our Top 50 Songs of 2020. If you haven’t already, check out our Top 50 Albums of 2020, which came out earlier in the week. Also, be sure to tune in next week as we begin handing out our annual accolades and continue looking back on the strange year that was 2020. Upon being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame some years ago, Tom Waits said, “We love music, but what we really want is for music to love us back.” Believe it or not, it felt like music did that in 2020. For me, anyway. I know that it’s easy to see the world through pandemic goggles right now or strictly through the lens of racial injustice or political turmoil. Tragedy and frustration that keeps piling on can definitely cloud our vision or color our window on t...
The Hold Steady Announce New Album Open Door Policy, Share “Family Farm”: Stream
The Hold Steady have announced their eighth studio album, Open Door Policy. The follow-up to last year’s Thrashing Thru the Passion is due out on February 19th via the group’s own Positive Jams label and Thirty Tigers. The new full-length was almost entirely written and recorded prior to the pandemic. However, “the songs and stories explore power, wealth, mental health, technology, capitalism, consumerism, and survival – issues which have compounded in 2020,” according to frontman Craig Finn. Recording took place at The Clubhouse in Rhinebeck, New York with assistance from producer Josh Kaufman and engineer D. James Goodwin. The album is The Hold Steady’s second to feature their current six-piece lineup, which has been described by Finn as the band’s “best” iteration. Editors’ P...
Fleet Foxes Announce Virtual Concert “A Very Lonely Solstice Livestream”
Fleet Foxes have announced a special virtual holiday concert. Titled “A Very Lonely Solstice Livestream”, it will see frontman and principal songwriter Robin Pecknold perform a solo acoustic set live from St. Ann & the Holy Trinity Church in Brooklyn, New York. “A Very Lonely Solstice” comes in support of Fleet Foxes’ Shore, which Consequence of Sound just named as one of the Top 50 Albums of 2020. It’s set to take place on Noonchorus on the Winter Solstice, December 21st at 9 p.m. ET; it’s a rather poetic date considering Shore was surprise-released on the Autumnal Equinox, September 22nd at 9:30 a.m. ET. The upcoming livestream will no doubt feature standout offerings from the acclaimed Shore. Also promised is a guest appearance from the Resistance Revival Chorus, an ensemb...
Top 50 Albums of 2020
As we return from Thanksgiving and head into December, our Annual Report will spend the next few weeks looking back upon the strange year that was 2020 and the music, film, and television that came with it. We begin today with our Top 50 Albums of 2020. You’ve heard it from me dozens of times already: 2020 has not been a normal year. And by that, I mean absolutely nothing has been normal. The music world hasn’t been immune, of course. I’ve spent more time cancelling flights and accommodations and trying to get tickets refunded than I actually did watching live music this year. Instragram became a concert venue, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductions had no performances, and livestreams (which are pre-taped) seem to be the often-underwhelming future of live music at least for the forseea...
Beach Bunny Announce New EP Blame Game, Share “Good Girls (Don’t Get Used)”: Stream
Fresh off the success of their debut album Honeymoon, Beach Bunny are back to announce a new EP, Blame Game. It’s out January 15th on Mom+Pop Music, and the band is today offering a preview with lead single “Good Girls (Don’t Get Used)”. Our former Artist of the Month went from underground rockers to TikTok sensation on the strength of endlessly catchy hooks. Led by songwriter Lili Trifilio, the band returns with a four-track look at toxic masculinity and laborious relationships. The EP was recorded in Chicago in August, and produced by Joe Reinhart (Hop Along, Joyce Manor, Modern Baseball). As “Good Girls (Don’t Get Used)” can testify, Beach Bunny haven’t lost their gift for earworms. Trifilio warns a trifling partner that while, “I still think that you’re cute/ Good girls don’t get ...
Julien Baker on Her Big Libra Energy, Being Told Lies, and Dunking on Republicans
Kyle Meredith With… Julien Baker Listen via Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google Play | Stitcher | Radio Public | RSS Julien Baker hangs out with Kyle Meredith to talk about Little Oblivions and its themes of self examination and survival. Baker speaks about the illusions that we build for ourselves to make us feel comfortable, a life of being told lies, and how she took the news that the Easter Bunny wasn’t real. The Boygenius member also discusses her Big Libra Energy, adding drums into her songwriting, and covering Blink 182’s “Anthem Pt. 2”. Kyle Meredith With… is an interview series in which WFPK’s Kyle Meredith speaks to a wide breadth of musicians. Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, Meredith digs deep into the artist’s...
Kurt Vile Covers John Prine’s “Speed of the Sound of Loneliness” on Seth Meyers: Watch
Kurt Vile stopped by Late Night with Seth Meyers on Thanksgiving evening to perform his cover of “Speed of the Sound of Loneliness” by John Prine. Watch the full performance below. Instead of doing the traditional introduction to segue into Vile’s performance, Meyers actually told a brief, personal story before passing the microphone over to the musician. “My family loved John Prine and we booked this act because we thought it would be a perfect song to listen to together on that couch,” he said. “Now we can’t be together, and it was unplanned, but this is a perfect song for anyone who’s not with their loved ones this year.” Vile’s rendition of the song is a faithful, yet emotional, spin on Prine’s original version. Basked in the soft glow of an overhead light, Vile takes his time fingerpi...
The National to Reissue Early Releases to Mark 20th Anniversary
To celebrate the 20th anniversary of their self-titled debut, The National are reissuing that album along with two other early releases. Fresh pressings of 2001’s The National, 2003’s Sad Songs for Dirty Lovers, and 2004’s Cherry Tree EP are set for release on February 26th, 2021 via 4AD. The remastering for all three was handled at Abbey Road Studios. While it’s rare to hear any of these recordings performed live these days, they laid the groundwork for The National’s eventual sound. The self-titled debut was loaded with smoldering indie Americana, which the band pushed further towards their alternative style on Sad Songs. It was the Cherry Tree EP that became the clear gateway to their eventual breakthrough (2005’s Alligator), and it’s fondly looked at by fans as the effort that saw...
Arab Strap Announce New Album As Days Get Dark, Share “Compersion Pt. 1”: Stream
Mere months after dropping a new song out of nowhere, Arab Strap have returned with even bigger news. The Scottish indie rockers have just announced their first new album in 16 years. It’s called As Days Get Dark and it’s due out March 5th via Rock Action. As Days Get Dark follows Arab Strap’s great 2005 album The Last Romance, shortly after which they called it quits. This new full-length spans 11 tracks in total, including “The Turning of Our Bones”, which they dropped in September. The song was put out as a standalone number, but now we know it’s actually the album opener on As Days Get Dark, according to the tracklist. The joyful outfit, comprised of Aidan Moffat and Malcolm Middleton, released a statement to accompany the news, saying As Days Get Dark should feel like both a care...
Nicki Minaj Still Mad About 2012 Grammys Loss, Drags Bon Iver on Twitter
Bon Iver vs. Nicki Minaj Earlier Tuesday, the nominations for the 2021 Grammy Awards were revealed. But not quite everyone is ready to start thinking about next year’s big ceremony: mere hours after today’s announcement, Nicki Minaj reminded Twitter she’s still mad about being snubbed at the 2012 Grammys. Minaj specifically dragged Bon Iver, who beat her to win the Best New Artist accolade that year. “Never forget the Grammys didn’t give me my best new artist award when I had 7 songs simultaneously charting on billboard & bigger first week than any female rapper in the last decade- went on to inspire a generation,” a still-salty Minaj tweeted this afternoon. “They gave it to the white man Bon Iver.” On the strength of sophomore album Bon Iver, Bon Iver, the Justin Vernon-led indie...
