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Music

The Mountain Goats Find New Sonic Inspiration on 'Getting Into Knives'

John Darnielle explores new sounds on his 19th studio album as the Mountain Goats—and creates his best record in years with Getting Into Knives.
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Music

H.C. McEntire Delivers Her Masterpiece with 'Eno Axis'

Born in isolation not so much by outside mandate as by natural inspiration, H.C. McEntire's Eno Axis is a masterwork of deep, spiritual escapism.

Music

Lou Barlow's 'EMOH' Is Another Quiet Triumph in a Long History of Humble Genius

Re-released on vinyl to celebrate its 15th anniversary, Lou Barlow's EMOH offers a wide array of indie rock charms.

Music

Wye Oak Look Out at 'No Horizon'

Wye Oak's songs are haunted by the familiar as bits of old melodies, percussive beats, stray conversations, street sounds, and the natural world seem to float in and out of their compositions.

Music

'Switched-On Seeker' Is an Imaginative Electronic Reimagining of Mikal Cronin's Latest LP

Listeners who prefer dense rock/pop timbres will no doubt prefer Mikal Cronin's 'Seeker'. However, 'Switched-On Seeker' will surely delight fans of smaller-scale electronic filters.

Music

Jade Hairpins' Eclectic Indie Pop/Rock Delivers a Stellar Debut with 'Harmony Avenue'

Jade Hairpins' Harmony Avenue exudes the free-spirited exuberance of a side project, jam-packed with ideas and vivid tone colors, and aimed for both the melodic and harmonic sweet tooth.

Music

Hiss Golden Messenger's 'Forward, Children' Offers "Beauty in the Broken American Moment"

Hiss Golden Messenger offer up a welcome serving of musical communion, and in the service of others, during a time when we all need consolation and reassurance. Forward, Children is a PopMatters Pick and aids a worthy cause: education.

Music

Waxahatchee Takes a Turn for the Country on ​'Saint Cloud'

Katie Crutchfield's latest as Waxahatchee is a high point in an already impressive career. Saint Cloud finds an artist operating at the top of her game to produce a thrilling and inspirational work.

Music

Waxahatchee - "Lilacs" (Singles Going Steady)

Waxahatchee's "Lilacs" is the song we didn't know we needed. It's a beautiful teaser for Saint Cloud, out 27 March.

Music

Electropop's Caribou Offers Joy Through Unpredictability on 'Suddenly'

Suddenly is Caribou's most willfully experimental album to date, his soft, distinctive vocals flow through every track, binding the whole thing together.

Music

Destroyer's 'Have We Met' Is Dan Bejar's Best Album Since 2011's 'Kaputt'

Dan Bejar seems omnipresent on Destroyer's first album of the 2020s, moving through the arrangements at his own whim.

Music

TORRES' 'Silver Tongue' Offers a Subtle Geography of Desire

TORRES' Silver Tongue is her most mature release to date. Its nine songs, all evocative and transporting, strive toward a new vocabulary for connection, confidence, and queer love.

Music

Little Scream Combines Easygoing Pop with Serious Lamentations About Politics and Culture on 'Speed Queen'

Montreal's Little Scream offers up reflections on class and poverty disguised as sweet low-key pop songs on her real grower of an album, Speed Queen.

Music

Mikal Cronin Finds the Groundwork for a Classic with 'Seeker'

After some adventurous wilderness time, Mikal Cronin builds on his indie rock style to draft a compelling new direction with Seeker.

Music

Doing What They Do Best: An Interview With Imperial Teen

Imperial Teen's latest album may be about the state of the world and how hopeless it is. It may also be about how there actually is hope. Roddy Bottum and Lynn Truell reflect on the group's past and present. "When we're at our best, we represent a movement," says Bottum.

Jedd Beaudoin
Music

Imperial Teen Are Masters of Catchy Hooks

Imperial Teen's Now We Are Timeless shows what a veteran band can do when they are locked in together. Highly recommended for fans of the kind of pop-rock that doesn't make the mainstream charts anymore.

Music

Sacred Paws Make Fun and Upbeat Rock Music on 'Run Around the Sun'

Glasgow-based indie poppers Sacred Paws offer up a second album full of brisk, bright songs that draw from several styles, notably Afrobeat and post-punk.

Music

Fruit Bats' 'Gold Past Life' Is an Exhilarating Trip Down Multiple Memory Lanes

Deftly avoiding the pitfalls of nostalgia, Fruit Bats' Gold Past Life takes stock of life from the vantage point of middle age and charts a path forward with hope and no little circumspection, without once feeling sorry for itself.

Music

Titus Andronicus Excel With a Stripped-Down Approach on 'An Obelisk'

On their sixth studio album, New Jersey punk rockers Titus Andronicus, normally associated with big, ambitious gestures, get back to basics.

Music

Apex Manor Returns with "Asked & Answered" (premiere)

Apex Manor (Ross Flournoy) returns after a long break with his first album since 2011, Heartbreak City, and a cracking new single that deals with life's break-ups in "Asked & Answered".

Music

Reigning Sound's 'Abdication... For Your Love' Gets a Welcome Reissue

Reigning Sound's 2011 album, Abdication... For Your Love, reissued on Merge, is a tour de force of grassroots rock and soul.

Music

The Mountain Goats Get Fantastic(al) for 'In League with Dragons'

The Mountain Goats create a complex and vibrant album that moves between worlds with In League with Dragons.

Justin Cober-Lake
Music

​On 'It's Real', Ex Hex Take a More Nuanced Approach to Songwriting

It's Real proves that Ex Hex can draw influences from different eras of rock music and spin them into something that sounds like only them.

Music

Britain's Ibibio Sound Machine Bring Depth to the Dancefloor on 'Doko Mien'

Doko Mien highlights Ibibio Sound Machine's versatility as the group continues to bring Lagos and London together in new ways.

Music

Lambchop Surveys the Senses on 'This (is what I wanted to tell you)'

Lambchop's new album is the musical equivalent of that final "walk" monologue from Synecdoche, New York. It's a heavy listen, but potentially a rapturous one as well, for anyone who has ever experienced a reverie of aging and all it entails.

Music

Martin Frawley's 'Undone at 31' Is an Eclectic and Mostly Joyous Adventure

Martin Frawley's (Twerps) first solo album has a lot of range but not so much anxiety, as he continues to try on musical styles and forms.

Music

Bob Mould Hits the Reset Button with 'Sunshine Rock'

With a new hometown and a fresh perspective, Bob Mould releases a rich, dense, and instantly lovable new album, Sunshine Rock.

Music

William Tyler 'Goes West'

Think of William Tyler's fingers as the wind rattling the leaves on the trees. There is no storm coming, but the gusts have their own power and cannot be ignored. They make a statement.

Music

Fucked Up Holds on to a Never Let Die Attitude on 'Dose Your Dreams'

Fucked Up's Dose Your Dreams compensates for its conceptual emptiness with a sound that blasts on all fronts.

Reviews

The Love Language Outwardly Rejects Uniformity Throughout 'Baby Grand'

Baby Grand is a study of contrasts, as the Love Language's saccharine pop-sensibilities underscore affective lyrics while diverging with razor-sharp instrumentation.

Music

Spider Bags Climb to New Heights of Unbridled Fury on 'Someday Everything Will Be Fine'

Someday Everything Will Be Fine is the best album yet from Spider Bags. It's an effort that pays loving homage to Dinosaur Jr. and other assorted acts that influenced their lurching brand of guitar-fueled madness.

Music

"I Am the Electric Man, After All:" An Interview with Patrick Stickles of Titus Andronicus

"I don't like being told what to do," Stickles says. "I don't like to delegate too many of the duties related to this rock business of mine."

Juan Edgardo Rodríguez
Interviews

"A Bit of Organization and a Lot of Patience": An Interview with M. Ward

When not being the Him in She & Him or producing for the likes of Mavis Staples, M. Ward just keeps puttin' out solo albums, collaborating with friends, and remaining cryptic as ever.

Music

Trailers for Films That Don't Exist: An Interview with Destroyer

Dan Bejar is a man of many talents, but after the burnout of promoting his breakthrough Kaputt, the man behind Destroyer made a record on his own terms.

Dan Derks
Music

Superchunk: Come Pick Me Up (Reissue)

In 1999 Superchunk released their prettiest album to date thanks to Jim O'Rourke's delicate touch. Now Merge Records releases the album with a handful of gorgeous demos.

Music

Mac McCaughan: Non-Believers

Ultimately, Non-Believers is the kind of album that needs no backstory to endear it or Mac McCaughan to the masses.


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