Indie Rock
Japanese Breakfast’s Michelle Zauner Details New Memoir Crying in H Mart
Michelle Zauner, best known for her indie rock project Japanese Breakfast, has shared details about her new memoir Crying in H Mart. The book arrives April 20th, 2021 through Knopf Publishing. Based on a 2018 New Yorker article of the same name, Crying in H Mart details how the death of Zauner’s mother forced her to wrestle with her Korean-American identity. In one particularly wrenching moment, which inspired the piece’s title, she recounts coming apart in the Asian supermarket chain H Mart. She writes about, “Sobbing near the dry goods, asking myself, ‘Am I even Korean anymore if there’s no one left in my life to call and ask which brand of seaweed we used to buy?’” Ultimately, Zauner leaned on writing as a way to process her grief, which manifested in two stellar stu...
HAIM Perform “Gasoline” Outside of LA’s The Forum on Kimmel: Watch
As our understanding of how to handle the pandemic gets better, so too do musical guests’ late night TV spots. On Tuesday night, HAIM made a virtual pitstop at Jimmy Kimmel Live!, but instead of Zooming in from home, they filmed their performance of “Gasoline” from an actual music venue. Well, from outside of an actual music venue. The trio of Este Haim, Danielle Haim, and Alana Haim (along with a pianist) set up in the empty parking lot of Los Angeles’ The Forum. Sure, it wasn’t like they filmed in a hot air balloon, but it was nice to see them out in the world for the rendition of the Women in Music Pt. III track. As the single-shot camera work panned around the sisters and the sun set behind them, HAIM put the matured sound of their latest album on full display in what was a surprisingl...
Matt Berninger Finds Stripped-Down Solace on Debut LP Serpentine Prison: Review
The Lowdown: As the founding singer of Ohio alt rock troupe The National, Matt Berninger has already proven himself to be a captivating vocalist and — alongside wife Carin Besser — an insightful lyricist. For instance, we praised last year’s I Am Easy to Find for its “conversational” approach regarding “the intricacies of modern romance.” Thus, his monotone yet elegantly arid voice and observational storybook songwriting rarely fail to charm and connect with us, especially when they’re placed on top of such vibrantly picturesque and subtly exploratory arrangements. For the most part, that holds true on his first solo record, Serpentine Prison. Produced by Booker T. Jones — a revered artist in his own right who’s also collaborated with Otis Redding, Willie Nelson, Sheryl Crow, Elton John, a...
Tame Impala Reschedule North American Tour Dates for 2021
Earlier this year, Tame Impala were forced to postpone their North American summer tour due to the coronavirus pandemic. Now, those concerts have been rescheduled for 2021. The new itinerary officially kicks off in late July and extends through mid-October. Kevin Parker & co. are slated to bring The Slow Rush to cities such as Mexico City, Phoenix, Denver, Portland, Vancouver, and Austin, as well as Toronto, Chicago, Washington, DC, Atlanta, and Miami. Tame Impala are also confirmed to play two festivals: Outside Lands in San Francisco and Sin City’s Life is Beautiful. Find the full schedule below. According to a statement, “all tickets for the original shows will be honored at the rescheduled dates. If you are unable to attend, you can begin the refund process at your point of pu...
Bright Eyes Perform Cross-Continental Tiny Desk (Home) Concert: Watch
Artists have been taking some understandable liberties with the conceit of NPR’s Tiny Desk (Home) concert series. Recent performances saw Billie Eilish in front of a cut-out cardboard set of the NPR offices, Phoebe Bridgers behind a miniature Resolute Desk, and BTS inside a Seoul record shop. Bright Eyes might have them all beat, however, as their Tiny Desk (Home) show featured probably the biggest desk of all: a Neve 8068 recording console. The band’s Conor Oberst and Mike Mogis were at the latter’s ARC Studios in Omaha, Nebraska, where the massive mixing station resides. Their bandmate, Nate Walcott joined virtually from Lucy’s Meat Market in Los Angeles along with backup singer Becky “Lavender Diamond” Stark and their daughter. Despite being far apart and even farther from Bob Boi...
Deerhoof Release New Surprise Covers Album Love-Lore: Stream
Deerhoof have surprise-released a massive new covers album called Love-Lore. Stream it below. Today’s release finds the indie outfit tackling 43 (!) different songs from a wide variety of artists, including The Beach Boys, Parliament, The Velvet Underground, Kraftwerk, Ennio Morricone, The B-52s, and Sun Ra. Across its 35-minute running time, Love-Lore also boasts unique spins on John Williams, Laurie Anderson, Silver Apples, The Police, and Dionne Warwick. The entire collection was captured in a live-studio setting, and was produced and mixed by the band members themselves. If you’re looking to add Love-Lore to your own personal digital collection, free downloads are available on their Bandcamp page, as well as deerhoof.net and the Joyful Noise Recordings website. As of now, the...
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...
