The Black Watch Might Be Signaling the Beginning of Their End
With Weird Rooms, John Andrew Fredrick and the Black Watch are at the late height of their powers and perhaps the end of their life as a group.
Adam Sobsey
Adam Sobsey is coauthor of Bull City Summer: A Season at the Ballpark, a book about minor league baseball, and has written about music and culture for the Paris Review and other publications. His biography of the Pretenders' Chrissie Hynde is available from University of Texas Press.
New Album Takes the Lemon Twigs Into Pop’s Golden Years
The Lemon Twigs’ A Dream Is All We Know displays scholarly mastery of the complex techniques their forbears invented. The sheer musicality is prodigious.
Ty Segall’s ‘Three Bells’ Deepens His Groove
If you like Ty Segall, you’ll get plenty more of what you like about him on Three Bells along with drums used as a compositional tool and a rhythmic one.
Peter Jesperson’s ‘Euphoric Recall’ Remembers His Wild Years with the Replacements
In Euphoric Recall, the Replacements’ manager Peter Jesperson is often as drunk as the band is, little more in control of their careening path than they are.
‘Cat Power Sings Dylan’ Revives a Legendary Bob Dylan Concert
Cat Power’s version of Bob Dylan’s 1966 concert with the Band in Manchester is reverential but not literal and honors the legend more than the facts.
Caleb Nichols Turns Traumatic Pain Into Infectious Pop on ‘Let’s Look Back’
Indie pop could use more queer icons, and Caleb Nichols has what it takes to become one of them as he shows on Let’s Look Back.
Tele Novella Travel to Art-Country on ‘Poet’s Tooth’
Tele Novella are more Brian Wilson than Hank Williams on Poet’s Tooth, a pop band with compositional sophistication waiting to get out of their Austin city limits.
Daniel Guebel’s ‘The Jewish Son’ Invokes Kafka’s ‘Dearest Father’
In The Jewish Son, Daniel Guebel invokes Kafka’s “Dearest Father” to tell the story of a complicated father-son relationship.
‘Where Were You?’ Compiles Leeds Music From 1978-1989
On Where Were You? the Leeds of 1978-1989 sounds like the times, but not a particular place. In that sense, it’s true indie music.
The Pretenders Are Still in Fighting Shape on ‘Relentless’
The title Relentless encourages expectations of a youthful, hard-rock Pretenders album, but it’s dominated by lost-love ballads and slow-burn confessionals.
Icona Pop Return After Ten Years with ‘Club Romantech’
There’s nothing on Icona Pop’s Club Romantech of the caliber of their 2013 hit “I Love It”, but the slyly NSFW dance track “Spa” redeems the whole album.
The Monochrome Set’s ‘Radio Sessions’ Is a Superb Live Survey
The Monochrome Set are a cult band par excellence, but if you don’t know them, Radio Sessions is a great album to get an introduction.