Indie Rock
Portugal. The Man and “Weird Al” Honor Indigenous Peoples with New Song “Who’s Gonna Stop Me”: Stream
Portugal. The Man and “Weird Al” Yankovic, photos by Ben Kaye Portugal. The Man and “Weird Al” Yankovic have joined forces once again, but this time it’s not to turn beloved indie songs into polka jams. Instead, they’ve collaborated on a new track, “Who’s Gonna Stop Me”, in honor of Indigenous Peoples Day. Produced by the Grammy-winning Jeff Bhasker (Kanye West, Rihanna) and co-written by the legendary Paul Williams (David Bowie, The Love Boat theme), the song also features contributions from The Last Artful, Dodgr. A peacefully powerful call for freedom, the opening verses are meditative before a rattling drum beat turns it towards invigorating. “Sneaking out, jumping over backyard fences/ We’re all just looking for freedom,” sings “Weird Al” on the second verse. “I’ve got an ...
Angel Olsen Debuts New 11-Minute Song “Time Bandits” on Instagram: Watch
Angel Olsen has been on an absolute tear since releasing Whole New Mess in late August. Not only has she covered both George Harrison and Bobby Vinton — the latter for Miranda July’s latest film Kajillionaire — the folk songwriter also delivered an acoustic Tiny Desk (Home) Concert for NPR. Olsen is back today bearing another gift: a new 11-minute song called “Time Bandits”. Olsen performed the track in full on Instagram on Sunday; she was seated at her piano in her Asheville home, with the camera positioned right in front of her mic. According to the video’s caption, “Time Bandits” was written just a few weeks ago after Olsen returned from St. Louis. “Against better judgement I’ve decided to put new songs up,” she added. “It’s a business but it’s my business.” (We can’t say we’r...
Mannequin Pussy Cover Rilo Kiley’s “The Execution of All Things”: Stream
Mannequin Pussy (photo by Marcus Maddox) and Rilo Kiley (photo courtesy of the band) A handful of indie and punk artists have come together to cover Rilo Kiley’s 2002 album, The Execution of All Things, in its entirety. The new project — officially dubbed No Bad Words for the Coast Today: The Execution of All Things — is due out next month, but is being previewed now with Mannequin Pussy’s take on the title track. Like Rilo Kiley, Mannequin Pussy are a band with a diverse stylistic palette. Just as The Execution of All Things shifts between peppy, fuzzy indie rock and twee, piano-driven indie pop, Mannequin Pussy’s 2019 album Patience swung between shoegaze, power-pop, hardcore punk, and more. For their cover today, Mannequin Pussy continue to channel that ve...
Future Islands’ As Long as You Are Is Familiar yet Captivating: Review
The Lowdown: Future Islands first truly caught the world’s attention with the Letterman performance of “Seasons (Waiting on You)” that brought lead vocalist Samuel T. Herring’s confident and expressive singing style into the viral limelight. This coincided with the release of Singles, their most polished album thus far and an encapsulation of all their post-wave aspirations. Now, two albums and six years later, they’re back again with As Long as You Are, a twinkling and pulsating slow burn that finds them employing many approaches that by now feel familiar to their sound, but still cohesive and captivating. [embedded content] The Good: It opens with seagulls and it ends with the coast. This is an album that deals with expanse and immensity that feels difficult to conceive of, let alone to ...
Tame Impala Covers John Lennon’s “Jealous Guy” : Watch
Today, October 9th, would have been John Lennon’s 80th birthday. As a tribute to the late Beatles legend, Tame Impala mastermind Kevin Parker has shared a bedroom cover of the iconic Imagine song “Jealous Guy”. When we say bedroom cover we mean it quite literally. In a video posted to the Tame Impala Instagram account, Parker is seen singing and strumming along to the 1971 tune while lounging in his big comfy bed. In the original version of the song, Lennon’s vocals are bolstered by a full band’s worth of instruments, but Parker manages to translate the track’s timeless beauty with just his voice and an acoustic guitar. Props to him for having a bedroom with surprisingly great natural reverb, because even though this was probably shot on an iPhone the sound quality is pretty great. Watch d...
Clairo Covers The Strokes’ “I’ll Try Anything Once”: Stream
Clairo has shared a cover of The Strokes’ 2006 B-side “I’ll Try Anything Once”. For her lo-fi rendition, the bedroom pop artist is joined by Jake Passmore of the London-based indie band SCORS. “I’ll Try Anything Once” is technically a demo version of “You Only Live Once”, a Strokes standout from their 2005 album First Impressions of Earth. Both songs are fan-favorites for different reasons: “You Only Live Once” is an upbeat anthem and a long-time live staple, whereas its acoustic predecessor is beloved for being a Strokes song that’s actually vulnerable and pretty. Clairo and Passmore both fully lean into the melancholy characteristics of “I’ll Try Anything Once”, while also giving it their own unique touch. The production quality is extremely muddy and raw, but their voices — Clairo’s hig...
Future Islands Share Track by Track Breakdown of New Album As Long as You Are: Stream
Musicians take their fans through the story of their latest album with our Track by Track feature. Today, Future Islands discuss their sixth full-length, As Long as You Are. Future Islands return today with their new studio album, As Long as You Are. Stream it below via Spotify and Apple Music. The sixth album from the Baltimore synthpop band, As Long as You Are follows 2017’s The Far Field. It marks their first effort since upgrading drummer Mike Lowry from touring member to full-fledged bandmate and songwriter. Newly strengthened together, Future Islands co-produced the record themselves alongside engineer Steve Wright at Baltimore’s Wrightway Studios. Due to the ongoing pandemic, Future Islands won’t get the chance to tour behind the LP, marking the first year since 2008 they haven...
HAIM Work the Deli Counter in Paul Thomas Anderson-Directed “Man From the Magazine” Video: Watch
HAIM made the classic deli a recurring motif in the marketing for their latest album, Women in Music Pt. III. They even performed in number of delis across the country before the pandemic hit. Now, it’s all come full circle as HAIM work the counter in the video for “Man from the Magazine”. Directed by frequent collaborator Paul Thomas Anderson, the clip was shot on the same day as the WIMPIII album cover photo. It finds Danielle Haim passively serving customers at Los Angeles’ famous Canter’s Deli while she sings along to an acoustic version of “Man From the Magazine”. The mic was set up live on location, capturing all the crinkles of the deli paper and the chatter of customers in the background. “Paul came up with the idea after hearing the whole record and we both felt strongly that this...
HAERTS Reach “For the Sky” on New Song with Ed Droste: Stream
HAERTS, photo by B. Asch Synthpop duo HAERTS have released a new single called “For the Sky” featuring Grizzly Bear singer Ed Droste. It’s their first new music since releasing their sophomore album, New Compassion, in 2018. Nini Fabi and Benny Gebert, the musicians behind the moniker, are partners outside of the band. Apparently the inspiration for the song hit them after Fabi, who had recently found out she was pregnant at the time, woke up from a surreal dream. “When we finished the demo for the song, I kept hearing Ed’s voice and just thought he would sound amazing on it. We didn’t know him at the time, but were such fans,” she said in a statement. “When we reached out we honestly thought we’d never hear from him. But we did and we went into the studio in LA, and ended up recording it ...
Palberta Announce New Album Palberta5000, Share “Before I Got Here”: Stream
Indie trio Palberta will kick off the new year with a new full-length album. Titled Palberta5000, it marks the group’s fifth overall and follow-up to Roach Going Down from 2018. Over the course of their last few records, the New York natives have earned a reputation for idiosyncratic, hard-to-categorize rock — the kind that mashes together experimental, surf rock, post-punk, punk, and more. For their forthcoming effort, however, Ani Ivry-Block, Lily Konigsberg, and Nina Ryser are pumping in more pop melodies. Palberta elaborated in a statement, “While punk music was our first love, pop music has become our fixation. Throughout the making of Palberta5000, we were focused on making music that people could not only sing along to but get stuck in their heads… that and attempting to make s...
Danger Mouse and Nigel Godrich Create New Radio App Station Rotation
Danger Mouse’s Brian Burton and Radiohead producer Nigel Godrich have created a new app called Station Rotation. According to the duo, it’s a free program for artists, producers, directors, and other friends to program individually curated radio stations — not playlists, they emphasize — that can be streamed in real time within the program. Technically, the duo announced the project over social media last week, but they didn’t clearly explain what Station Rotation was at the time. Now, a press release has offered up some more specific details: Station Rotation allows Burton and Godrich’s famous friends to spin music online, and it allows fans to tune in and enjoy the music with friends who are also listening simultaneously, too. “Station creators choose their favorite songs, which (unlike ...
The Antlers Release First New Song in Six Years “Wheels Roll Home”: Stream
The Antlers have returned with their first new song in over six years. It’s called “Wheels Roll Home” and, according to lead singer and songwriter Peter Silberman, it’s about the special joy of meeting up with someone you haven’t seen a while — not unlike the strange social distancing times we’re currently living through, and what fans of The Antlers likely feel about the band’s unexpected homecoming. “‘Wheels Roll Home’ is a simple song about the hopeful promise of reunion after a long time gone,” said Silberman in a statement. “It’s that feeling of finding home in someone, eager and impatient to build a life together. It’s the experience of waiting out tumultuous times, longing for stability someday.” “Wheels Roll Home” was written by Silberman and drummer Michael Lerner, with Silberman ...
