Omni Bring Old-School Post-Punk to the Modern World with 'Networker'

With a move to a Sub Pop Records, Atlanta post-punkers Omni go for a more understated, stripped down affair on their third album, Networker.

                                      
Music
    
        Marika Hackman Cranks Up the Volume and the Honesty with 'Any Human Friend'
    
Chris Ingalls

        08 Aug 2019
    
Music
    
        With Experience Comes Artistic Maturity: Kyle Craft Gets Darker with 'Showboat Honey'
    
Chris Ingalls

        10 Jul 2019
    
Music
    
        Calexico and Iron & Wine Find New Ground on 'Years to Burn'
    
Justin Cober-Lake

        19 Jun 2019

Recent

Music

Tacocat Blesses This Mess

Seattle's Tacocat returns with This Mess Is a Place, a stellar new album in which the band confronts existential crisis and embraces widescreen guitar-based pop.

Music

20 Questions: Porter Ray

Quiet and thoughtful, yet nimble in his poetic applications, hip-hop artist Porter Ray has much to say in our 20 Questions feature.

Music

Weyes Blood Gets Cinematic on 'Titanic Rising'

Weyes Blood (a.k.a. Natalie Mering) conjures up a beautiful, cinematic world through with her insightful songwriting on Titanic Rising.

Music

Perfect Son Blows Warmly Reflective Electronic Breezes on Debut LP 'Cast'

Cast is a deeply moving and harmonious introduction to electropop mastermind Tobiasz Biliński's latest persona, Perfect Son.

Music

Two New Re-Issues Show How Green River Could Have Become the First Superstars of Grunge

From the misty time before Seattle became Sub Pop Rock City, that rarest of things: two genuinely overlooked rock gems.

Music

J Mascis Returns with Another Subtle Work in 'Elastic Days'

Dinosaur Jr. guitarist/vocalist J Mascis carries on with his trademark solo sound on Elastic Days, producing another intricate work that mixes folk and rock.

Music

Kyle Craft Goes Widescreen with the Set in the '70s 'Full Circle Nightmare'

On his sophomore effort, Kyle Craft creates an album from another era that still manages to sound fresh, unique and inspired.

Music

Kyle Craft - "The Rager" (track review)

In the official video for Kyle Craft's "The Rager", the singer/songwriter brings a sense of poetic tragedy to an intoxicating folk ballad.

Music

Metz: Strange Peace

On the band's third album, there is a constant search for a frequency that is thrilling and a commitment to it.

Music

Iron & Wine: Beast Epic

Sam Beam returns to his roots with a warm acoustic record which is often understated but packed with emotional power and arguably his strongest vocal performance to date

Music

The Afghan Whigs: In Spades

On their second reunion album, the Afghan Whigs craft a layered exploration of the fluid nature of memory and how experiences shape us as individuals.

Music

Porter Ray: Watercolor

Porter Ray's rapping on Watercolor is relaxed but quick, a style that emphasizes the intellectual bent to many of his rhymes, but intentionally fails to prepare you for the weight of his message.

Music

Morgan Delt: Phase Zero

Delt sounds like a vinyl LP left out in the LA sun, with the melted wax frozen into a popsicle that melts perfectly while you eat it.

Music

Wolf Parade: Apologies to the Queen Mary (Deluxe Edition)

Recreating the magic of something like Apologies to the Queen Mary is no easy feat, yet it shines as a stunning example for those who might want to make music matter again.

Music

Kyle Craft: Dolls of Highland

Kyle Craft has no right to make a debut album this damn good.

Music

Low: Ones and Sixes

Low's Ones and Sixes is surprising for sounding very much of the moment.

Music

The Afghan Whigs - "Lost in the Woods" (video)

The Afghan Whigs release creepily compelling video for "Lost in the Woods" just in time for Halloween.

Music

Timeless Resonance: An Interview with Luluc

Australian songwriter Zoë Randall of Luluc has been listening to her favorite albums, over and over, for decades. Her own new one Passerby is so effortlessly lovely that you can likewise imagine yourself putting it on again this year and next year and the one after that.

Jennifer Kelly

Music

Mudhoney: On Top: KEXP Presents Mudhoney Live on Top of the Space Needle

Seminal Seattle band Mudhoney celebrate their 25-year existence by playing at the top of the city's iconic Space Needle. I guess that makes sense.

Interviews

The Head and the Heart: Let's Be Still

Bassist and songwriter Chris Zasche of the wildly popular group the Head & the Heart speaks on the new record.

Music

Dum Dum Girls - "Lost Boys and Girls Club" (video)

Dum Dum Girls release details of new album, unveil first single's video.

Music

Poor Moon: Illusion EP

Illusion’s five songs occupy a dreamy netherworld elicited by the hushed, acoustic instrumentation and subdued production.

Cole Waterman

Music

Dum Dum Girls: Only in Dreams

Maybe it’s time to call a moratorium on cribbing beats from nearly-half-century-old Ronettes singles.

Music

Obits: Moody, Standard and Poor

For those that fear Sub Pop has strayed too far from its sweaty grunge rock roots, the presence of New York’s rough-and-ready garage rock revivalist Obits offer plenty of reassurance to the contrary.

Music

Dum Dum Girls: He Gets Me High EP

While it's no secret that the retro-leaning indie popsters aren't exactly forward-thinking originators, all it takes is one well-chosen cover song to leave the Girls’ creative limitations exposed.

Music

Male Bonding: Nothing Hurts

On the hot-and-bothered Nothing Hurts, Male Bonding represents for a new generation of orgasm addicts and slack motherfu**ers.

Music

The Ruby Suns: Fight Softly

Hopefully next time out, Ryan McPhun will cast his intentions out of the bedroom and into the wild with some friends.

Music

Nirvana: Bleach

Starting with Nevermind, Kurt Cobain intentionally simplified his compositions in order to emphasize their pop components. Less song-focused than later Nirvana works, Bleach acts as an interesting showcase of the band’s musical chops.

Music

Grand Archives: Keep in Mind Frankenstein

Grand Archives' sophomore effort really is worth the listen.

Books

Grunge by Michael Lavine and Thurston Moore

Sub Pop's first lens on the grunge scene offers an early look at the signs of flannel to come, and the distinctive regional imprints on the sounds that followed punk.

Reviews

Collapse Expand Reviews

BROWSE ALL ALBUM REVIEWS

Features

The 50 Best Albums of 2020 So Far

Animated 'Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse' Is a Pop-Art Masterpiece

Collapse Expand Features

PM Picks

Collapse Expand Pm Picks

With a move to a Sub Pop Records, Atlanta post-punkers Omni go for a more understated, stripped down affair on their third album, Networker.

Seattle's Tacocat returns with This Mess Is a Place, a stellar new album in which the band confronts existential crisis and embraces widescreen guitar-based pop.

Quiet and thoughtful, yet nimble in his poetic applications, hip-hop artist Porter Ray has much to say in our 20 Questions feature.

Weyes Blood (a.k.a. Natalie Mering) conjures up a beautiful, cinematic world through with her insightful songwriting on Titanic Rising.

Cast is a deeply moving and harmonious introduction to electropop mastermind Tobiasz Biliński's latest persona, Perfect Son.

From the misty time before Seattle became Sub Pop Rock City, that rarest of things: two genuinely overlooked rock gems.

Dinosaur Jr. guitarist/vocalist J Mascis carries on with his trademark solo sound on Elastic Days, producing another intricate work that mixes folk and rock.

On his sophomore effort, Kyle Craft creates an album from another era that still manages to sound fresh, unique and inspired.

In the official video for Kyle Craft's "The Rager", the singer/songwriter brings a sense of poetic tragedy to an intoxicating folk ballad.

On the band's third album, there is a constant search for a frequency that is thrilling and a commitment to it.

Sam Beam returns to his roots with a warm acoustic record which is often understated but packed with emotional power and arguably his strongest vocal performance to date

On their second reunion album, the Afghan Whigs craft a layered exploration of the fluid nature of memory and how experiences shape us as individuals.

Porter Ray's rapping on Watercolor is relaxed but quick, a style that emphasizes the intellectual bent to many of his rhymes, but intentionally fails to prepare you for the weight of his message.

Delt sounds like a vinyl LP left out in the LA sun, with the melted wax frozen into a popsicle that melts perfectly while you eat it.

Recreating the magic of something like Apologies to the Queen Mary is no easy feat, yet it shines as a stunning example for those who might want to make music matter again.

Kyle Craft has no right to make a debut album this damn good.

Low's Ones and Sixes is surprising for sounding very much of the moment.

The Afghan Whigs release creepily compelling video for "Lost in the Woods" just in time for Halloween.

Australian songwriter Zoë Randall of Luluc has been listening to her favorite albums, over and over, for decades. Her own new one Passerby is so effortlessly lovely that you can likewise imagine yourself putting it on again this year and next year and the one after that.

Seminal Seattle band Mudhoney celebrate their 25-year existence by playing at the top of the city's iconic Space Needle. I guess that makes sense.

Bassist and songwriter Chris Zasche of the wildly popular group the Head & the Heart speaks on the new record.

Dum Dum Girls release details of new album, unveil first single's video.

Illusion’s five songs occupy a dreamy netherworld elicited by the hushed, acoustic instrumentation and subdued production.

Maybe it’s time to call a moratorium on cribbing beats from nearly-half-century-old Ronettes singles.

For those that fear Sub Pop has strayed too far from its sweaty grunge rock roots, the presence of New York’s rough-and-ready garage rock revivalist Obits offer plenty of reassurance to the contrary.

While it's no secret that the retro-leaning indie popsters aren't exactly forward-thinking originators, all it takes is one well-chosen cover song to leave the Girls’ creative limitations exposed.

Do you feel inspired?

On the hot-and-bothered Nothing Hurts, Male Bonding represents for a new generation of orgasm addicts and slack motherfu**ers.

Hopefully next time out, Ryan McPhun will cast his intentions out of the bedroom and into the wild with some friends.

Starting with Nevermind, Kurt Cobain intentionally simplified his compositions in order to emphasize their pop components. Less song-focused than later Nirvana works, Bleach acts as an interesting showcase of the band’s musical chops.

Grand Archives' sophomore effort really is worth the listen.

Sub Pop's first lens on the grunge scene offers an early look at the signs of flannel to come, and the distinctive regional imprints on the sounds that followed punk.