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Floodlights' 'From a View' Is Classicist Antipodal Indie Guitar Pop

Aussie indie rockers, Floodlights' debut From a View is a very cleanly, crisply-produced and mixed collection of shambolic, do-it-yourself indie guitar music.
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Music

'Waiting Out the Storm' with Jeremy Ivey

On Waiting Out the Storm, Jeremy Ivey apologizes for present society's destruction of the environment and wonders if racism still exists in the future and whether people still get high and have mental health issues.

Music

Matt Berninger Takes the Mic Solo on 'Serpentine Prison'

Serpentine Prison gives the National's baritone crooner Matt Berninger a chance to shine in the spotlight, even if it doesn't push him into totally new territory.

Music

Low Cut Connie Share Their 'Private Lives'

Low Cut Connie's Private Lives captures the spirit of the times. Adam Weiner is the James Dean of our time. We are the Sal Mineos and Natalie Woods in his orbit.

Music

'Alaska' Was Where Between the Buried and Me Clicked

After a couple of albums figuring out what they wanted to do musically and a few years shuffling members, Alaska is really where things started to click into place for Between the Buried and Me.

Music

RUI HO Creates Ecstatic Electropop on 'Lov3 & L1ght'

Heavenly sonic colors flow freely in RUI HO's artistic sanctuary, and the view from the audience is one of sheer euphoria.

Music

The Doors Check Into the 'Morrison Hotel'

Fifty years after its original release, the Doors' Morrison Hotel is reissued as a two-CD /one-vinyl set that includes 19 bonus cuts.

Music

Future Islands Continue to Soar on 'As Long As You Are'

Future Islands' sixth album, As Long As You Are, is more of the same -- deeply confessional synthpop -- and that's a beautiful thing.

Music

Cut Worms Keeps Mining the Past on 'Nobody Lives Here Anymore'

Despite its ambitious concept, Cut Worms' Nobody Lives Here Anymore is as much a product of nostalgic consumer culture as the society it criticizes.

Music

Sly5thAve's 'What It Is' Is Sleek, Soulful, and a Good Time

What It Is, the new album from multi-instrumentalist, producer, and Quantic collaborator Sly5thAve, represents a triumph of musicianship over genre conventions.

Music

Tallah Revive Those Familiar Nu-Metal Blues with 'Matriphagy'

Though marvelous at executing their musical ideas on Matriphagy, nu-metal's Tallah sacrifice creativity for fidelity.

Music

Budokan Boys Ruminate on Loss with 'So Broken Up About You Dying'

The third album by the impossible-to-categorize no-wave duo Budokan Boys is a meditation on death filled with songs that are both strange and strangely moving.

Music

Touché Amoré's 'Lament' Subtly Reinvents the Past

Touché Amoré's Lament doesn't push the band's sound in new directions. Instead, it builds on what the Los Angeles post-hardcore band do so well already.

Music

Bob Mould Goes Back to the 1980s for the Sound of 'Blue Hearts'

This year looks a lot like 1984 to Bob Mould and he is most definitely, not happy. Not happy at all. His guitar sounds like it's on fire.

Music

The Replacements' 'Pleased to Meet Me' Gets a Deluxe Edition

One of the best rock bands of the 1980s, the Replacements show what alternative rock was all about on Pleased to Meet Me.

Music

Marie Davidson and L'Œil Nu Boldly Explore on 'Renegade Breakdown'

Marie Davidson and L'Œil Nu's Renegade Breakdown is a brave album that's not afraid to transcend genre in its exploration of style and technique.

Music

The Budos Band Prove They Are Not 'Long in the Tooth'

The Budos Band are more ferociously funky than ever with their 15th-anniversary album, Long in the Tooth.

Music

Mastodon's 'Medium Rarities' Could've Used More Substance

Medium Rarities is the kind of album that will appeal mostly to longtime Mastodon fans.

Music

Peals Create Soundscapes Both Ambient and Edgy on 'Honey'

Peals' Honey, originally released in 2016, has found a new home on a different label, and an opportunity for reexamination.

Music

Public Enemy Ask 'What You Gonna Do When the Grid Goes Down?'

Unlikely purveyors of comfort music, Public Enemy offer a balm for an ominous future on What You Gonna Do When the Grid Goes Down?.

Music

Brent Cobb Says to 'Keep 'Em on They Toes'

Brent Cobb's Keep 'Em on They Toes brings people together by reminding us of our unique individuality, and the things that bind us together are all part of the same gestalt.

Music

Tolouse Low Trax's 'Jumping Dead Leafs' Is Coated in Dank Grooves

Detlef Weinrich's latest release as Tolouse Low Trax, Jumping Dead Leafs, is covered in such infectious, dank, thudding grooves that force the body to deal with them.

Music

Jónsi Amps Up Experimentation on First Solo LP in 10 Years

Shiver is Jónsi but not as we know him. The Sigur Rós frontman teams with avant-garde electronic producer A. G. Cook to create a new sound and direction in the veteran experimentalist's career.

Music

Sotto Voce's 'Your Husband, the Governor' Is Beautifully Twisted DIY Indie Folk-rock

Singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Ryan Gabos releases another odd, gorgeous home studio recording under the moniker Sotto Voce.

Music

Numün's 'voyage au soleil' Is a Trippy, Ambient Ride and Ambitious Debut

Eclectic instrumental trio numün combine a wealth of influences to create a vibe that's both spacey and earthy on voyage au soleil.

Music

L7's 'Smell the Magic' Is 30 and Packs a Feminist Punch

Abortion is under threat again, and there's a sex offender in the Oval Office. A fitting time, in short, to crank up the righteously angry vocals of feminist hard rock heavy hitters like L7.

Music

Ed Harcourt Paints From 'Monochrome to Colour'

British musician Ed Harcourt's instrumental music is full of turbulent swells and swirls that somehow maintain a dignified beauty on Monochrome to Colour.

Music

Orchestra Baobab Celebrate 50 Years with Vinyl of '​Specialist in All Styles'

As Orchestra Baobab turn 50, their comeback album Specialist in All Styles gets a vinyl reissue.

Music

Hot Chip Stay Up for 'Late Night Tales'

Hot Chip's contribution to the perennial compilation project Late Night Tales is a mixed bag, but its high points are consistent with the band's excellence.

Music

Fleet Foxes Take a Trip to the 'Shore'

On Shore, Fleet Foxes consist mostly of founding member Robin Pecknold. Recording with a band in the age of COVID-19 can be difficult. It was just time to make this record this way.

Music

Deftones Pull a Late-Career Rabbit Out of a Hat with 'Ohms'

Twenty years removed from Deftones' debut album, the iconic alt-metal outfit gel more than ever and discover their poise on Ohms.

Music

Arcade Fire's Will Butler Personalizes History on 'Generations'

Arcade Fire's Will Butler creates bouncy, infectious rhythms and covers them with socially responsible, cerebral lyrics about American life past and present on Generations.

Music

Thelonious Monk's Recently Unearthed 'Palo Alto' Is a Stellar Posthumous Live Set

With a backstory as exhilarating as the music itself, a Thelonious Monk concert recorded at a California high school in 1968 is a rare treat for jazz fans.

Music

Jonnine's 'Blue Hills' Is an Intimate Collection of Half-Awake Pop Songs

What sets experimental pop's Jonnine apart on Blue Hills is her attention to detail, her poetic lyricism, and the indelibly personal touch her sound bears.

Music

A Certain Ratio Return with a Message of Hope on 'ACR Loco'

Inspired by 2019's career-spanning box set, legendary Manchester post-punkers A Certain Ratio return with their first new album in 12 years, ACR Loco.

Music

Bright Eyes' 'Down in the Weeds' Is a Return to Form and a Statement of Hope

Bright Eyes may not technically be emo, but they are transcendently expressive, beatifically melancholic. Down in the Weeds is just the statement of grounding that we need as a respite from the churning chaos around us.

Music

The Flaming Lips Reimagine Tom Petty's Life in Oklahoma on 'American Head'

The Flaming Lips' American Head is a trip, a journey to the past that one doesn't want to return to but never wants to forget.


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