‘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.
post-punk
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.
Public Image Ltd Skirt Between Success and Failure on ‘End of World’
Public Image Ltd’s End of World, their first in eight years, marks some of John Lydon’s best work in decades and a half that should have never left band practice.
The 13 Best Songs of the Smiths
The Smiths changed the face of rock music and inspired a cult of fandom nearly unmatched since Beatlemania. These are their 13 best songs.
Violent Femmes’ 40-Year-Old Debut Is a Work of Singular Vision
Violent Femmes’ heart, sound, and aesthetics belong to an earlier, acoustic, analog, atomized rather than the Internet-connected world. It’s like a musical Catcher in the Rye.
Protomartyr Showcase Subtle Expansion of Their Shadowy Sound
In Formal Growth in the Desert, Protomartyr have subtly evolved their sound into something not as claustrophobically volatile as previous efforts.
Retrofuturism: How the Alt-Right Learned to Love Depeche Mode
For Richard Spencer and today’s alt-right, ‘80s British synthpop bands like Depeche Mode satisfy their retrofuturist cultural fantasies.
The Cure’s ‘Wild Mood Swings’ Indulges the Glories of Genre-Jumping
The Cure’s ebulliently eclectic masterpiece ‘Wild Mood Swings’ is misguidedly maligned. What is more tantalizing than music that exalts eclecticism to such stupefying heights?
Slow Burn: Bob Marley’s ‘Catch a Fire’ 50 Years Later
Bob Marley’s Catch a Fire is when the Wailers transformed into the vehicle of his ascent to superstardom and reggae’s assimilation into the global pop music melting pot.
King Krule Grapples with the In-Between on the Introspective ‘Space Heavy’
King Krule’s Space Heavy is a wild listening experience, more muted and introspective than past outings and seemingly reflecting our pandemic moment.
Squid’s ‘O Monolith’ Is a Paranoid Post-Genre Maelstrom
Squid follow up 2020’s Bright Green Field with a tighter, leaner, more refined version of their signature melding of sonic chaos and compositional ambition.
Robocop Kraus ‘Smile’ and Tap Into 1983 on First LP in 15 Years
On Smile, Robocop Kraus still sound like their mandate is to take the cheap disposable postpunk of the early 1980s and make better versions of it.