Indie Rock
Sufjan Stevens on His 2018 Oscars Performance: “One of the Most Traumatizing Experiences of My Entire Life”
In 2018, Sufjan Stevens delivered arguably the biggest performance of his career at the 90th Academy Awards. However, despite his poignant poise while playing Call Me By Your Name song “Mystery of Love” — in a luxe Gucci outfit and accompanied by St. Vincent, no less — Stevens actually considers that evening one of the most “traumatizing” in all his 45 years on this Earth. The indie songwriter recalled that fateful Oscars night in a new interview with The Guardian (via The A.V. Club). “Honestly, one of the most traumatizing experiences of my entire life,” he bemoaned. According to Stevens, his bleak assessment has more to do with the Oscars and what it represents than with the actual performance itself. “I didn’t want to have anything to do with that world and that culture,” he e...
Ranking: Every Sufjan Stevens Album from Worst to Best
Sufjan Stevens has come to be one of the quintessential voices in contemporary indie rock, but it’s not a title he earned overnight. The songwriter is known for being prolific, having written eight solo studio albums, several collaborative albums, original material for Luca Guadagnino’s 2017 film Call Me by Your Name, and even multiple Christmas albums. He writes, performs, and records most of the music himself, sometimes playing more than 10 instruments on a single record. He even once vowed to make an album for each of the 50 US states (though, we all know how that turned out). Throughout each of his records, he’s explored banjo-led folk, electro-pop, grandiose indie rock, glitchy experimentalism, and instrumental new-age music. Stevens is the epitome of a musical polymath. What’s impres...
Bon Iver Performs “22 (OVER S∞∞N)” on Colbert: Watch
Even with Bernie Sanders out of the presidential race, longtime supporter Justin Vernon is still very closely following the 2020 Election. In fact, earlier this week, the Bon Iver leader helped launch For Wisconsin, a “get-out-the-vote” initiative in his home state. “Free speech and freedom begin and end with voting,” read a statement. “If you don’t mark your ballot someone else will define your Wisconsin and your future.” In support of this new campaign, Vernon delivered a #PlayAtHome performance for the Late Show with Stephen Colbert this afternoon. With his equipment set up in front of a large window, the indie rocker unfurled “22 (OVER S∞∞N)”, from his 2016 Bon Iver album 22, A Million. Throughout the appearance, Vernon’s face was covered by a message imploring Wisconsin nati...
Sufjan Stevens Premieres New Album The Ascension: Stream
Sufjan Stevens has unveiled The Ascension, one of the most anticipated albums of the season. Listen in below via Apple Music or Spotify. Out through his own Asthmatic Kitty Records, the album marks Stevens’ eighth full-length to date and first since 2015’s Carrie & Lowell. In the lead-up to today’s release, the indie songwriter shared three promising previews, including epic lead single “America”. Clocking in at a very generous 12 minutes, the track is a soaring “protest song against the sickness of American culture in particular,” Stevens described in a statement. The single was originally written prior to the 2016 Election, during the Carrie & Lowell sessions, but was shelved because its “vaguely mean-spirited” tone didn’t fit in with the rest of that record. Stevens later uneart...
Sad13 Gives a Track by Track Breakdown of New Album Haunted Painting: Stream
In our Track by Track feature, musicians guide listeners through each track on their latest record. Today, Sad13’s Sadie Dupuis draws us into her Haunted Painting. Speedy Ortiz’s Sadie Dupuis has today released her latest solo album under her Sad13 moniker, Haunted Painting. Stream the whole thing below via Bandcamp. The new record comes four years after Sad13’s last full-length, Slugger, and features a bevvy of indie guests. Contributors to the 11-song collection include Roberto Lange of Helado Negro, Deerhoof member Satomi Matsuzaki, tUnE-yArDs mastermind Merrill Garbus, and Rick Maguire of Pile. Studio sessions, which exclusively featured only women engineers, occurred throughout the US, including California’s New Monkey Studio, famously cons...
Cartalk Announces Debut Album Pass Like Pollen, Shares “Las Manos”: Stream
Cartalk is the indie rock project of Los Angeles musician Chuck Moore (they/them), and today they’ve announced their debut album, Pass Like Pollen. You may not know who Cartalk is just yet, but chances are many of your favorite indie artists probably do. The forthcoming record was produced by Sarah Tudzin, a.k.a. Illuminati Hotties, and it features numerous contributions from musicians that have also worked with Lucy Dacus, Vagabon, Runnner, and more. Collin Pastore (boygenius, Julien Baker) mixed the record, and it was mastered by Jett Galindo (Neil Young, Nile Rodgers) at the LA institution The Bakery. Those are some pretty tall endorsements for a debut album, but Moore’s songwriting exceeds the hype. Four of the album’s nine songs, including today’s “Las Manos”, have tri...
IDLES’ Ultra Mono Offers Rallying Cries for a Burning World: Review
The Lowdown: In a year that’s seen the world burn physically, politically, and epidemiologically, getting into a debate about whether or not a rock band is phony feels as nostalgic as it does futile. However, this is an IDLES review, so that’s exactly what we’re going to do (at least for a minute). After the twin triumphs of 2017’s Brutalism and 2018’s Joy as an Act of Resistance vaulted the Bristol five-piece into the upper echelon of the British music world, the backlash arrived with bite that seemed to go beyond the music. Pick any IDLES profile from this album cycle, and you’ll inevitably see references to the recent charges and epithets leveled by fellow artists like Sleaford Mods (“their take on [political music] is cliched, patronising, insulting and mediocre”) and Fat White Family ...
Declan McKenna on Activism: “I’m a Pretty Hard-Lined Environmentalist”
Kyle Meredith With… Declan McKenna Listen via Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google Play | Stitcher | Radio Public | RSS Declan McKenna speaks with Kyle Meredith about his sophomore album, Zeros. The album uses a wide concept of space as a way of looking at our own problems and behaviors here on Earth through an astronaut character named Daniel. McKenna explains how he arrived at the concept, wanting to write a song for the ways the world could end, and how we’ve become trapped by the very world we created. The London singer-songwriter goes on to discuss the importance of questioning societal norms, environmentalism, the accompanying visuals that go along with the record, and hopes for theatrics in the eventual live show. Kyle Meredi...
Dawes Share the Origins of New Single “Didn’t Fix Me”: Stream
Our new music feature Origins gives artists the challenge of digging into the various influences behind their latest tracks. Today, Dawes reveal the things that “Didn’t Fix Me”. Now more than ever, we’re all on our own journeys to try and feel just a little bit better. Of course, the double-edged sword of it all is no matter how good a place we find ourselves in, this year has made it ever more clear that such harmony is frail. But as anyone with any experience giving or receiving mental health advice will tell you, that’s normal. Feeling 100% all the time is an unfeasible expectation — and that’s okay. If you ever need a reminder of that, Dawes have delivered what could be the perfect musical hug with their new song “Didn’t Fix Me”. Taken from the band’s forthcoming Good Luck with Whateve...
Sunflower Bean Share New Single “Moment in the Sun”: Stream
Sunflower Bean are back with their first new music in 2020. The former Artists of the Month have shared a new track called “Moment in the Sun”, along with a wondrous accompanying music video. Sonically, “Moment in the Sun” is quite a departure from the glammy ’70s rock of their Twentytwo in Blue sophomore record or last year’s King of the Dudes EP. It’s firmly in the indie pop sphere, modern synth intersplicing jangly ’80s pop guitar lines on the chorus. “All that other noise is just a waste of time/ You’re the only music on my mind,” sings Julia Cumming on the hook. “I don’t need money, I don’t need to be cool/ I’d trade it for a moment in the sun with you.” It’s that focus on spending time with loved ones that makes 202 the perfect time for Sunflower Bea to share “Moment in the Sun”...
Angel Olsen and Composer Emile Mosseri Share Cover of “Mr. Lonely”: Stream
Back in July, Focus Features shared the trailer for writer/director Miranda July’s new film, Kajillionaire. The preview promised some quirky cons — and a new cover of the Bobby Vinton classic “Mr. Lonely” from Angel Olsen and composer Emile Mosseri. Today, a standalone stream of the pair’s rendition has been revealed. It’s a soft and haunting version, sounding like it could have come from Olsen’s Whole New Mess sessions. Add in the distant organ, and there are definitely some David Lynch vibes. In a press statement, Olsen recalled receiving the first text message from July asking her to work on the song with Mosseri. “So I met with them both, and we talked about cadence and we talked about life and we talked about the film,” Olsen said. “And Miranda directed me to sing the cover in the way...
Faye Webster Shares New Song “Better Distractions”: Stream
Faye Webster has returned with a new song called “Better Distractions”. Additionally, our former Artist of the Month has announced her first full-band livestream performance of 2020. “Better Distractions” follows the excellent one-off single “In A Good Way” from April, and marks the second offering since her 2019 LP Atlanta Millionaires Club. As with its predecessor, today’s track continues to push Webster’s sound in a gorgeously singular direction. It finds harmony between smooth R&B and minimalist indie rock, with the added bonus of a weepy slide guitar lead and a meandering jam in the vein of Kurt Vile or Courtney Barnett. In a statement, Webster revealed that the song flowed out of her with very little intention or purpose. “It’s a kind of free association, just thoughts running st...
