Jul 11, 2018 By Charles Steinberg Rafiq Bhatia

When visualizing a lone guitarist, our cultural normalization might bring to mind someone strumming or picking fancifully, searching for footing on a melody or chord and humming along. Now erase that imagery.

Jul 06, 2018 By Lee Adcock Web Exclusive

Our private lives are what make us human. Uncanny patterns of rationale weave through our daily habits; mental checklists track our progress to tiny goals that would surely shrink further in the light of everyone else’s big ambitions.

Jun 26, 2018 By Laura Stanley Issue #63 - Courtney Barnett

On the final track of Clean, the debut full-length album from Nashville’s Soccer Mommy (aka Sophie Allison), the ground opens up. Under the weight of the uncertainty and pain that Allison describes on the proceeding tracks, she imagines the ground buckling: “I dreamt the sidewalk broke in two.

Jun 25, 2018 By Matt Fink Issue #63 - Courtney Barnett

“Absurd”—that’s the word Phil Elverum uses to describe the last year. In early 2017, he released A Crow Looked at Me, his universally-praised examination of the devastation brought on by the death of his wife, artist and songwriter Geneviève Castrée.

Jun 22, 2018 By Matt Conner Issue #63 - Courtney Barnett

Alex Kapranos begins with a blank slate-an honest to goodness real blank slate. No preconceived ideas. No thematic direction. No cares or concerns for where Franz Ferdinand has gone in the past or where they’re expected to head in the future. The band, he says, has to be selfish that way.

Jun 21, 2018 By Ben Jardine Web Exclusive

For fans of Tame Impala and its many side projects, few might be familiar with the solo work of one of both group’s common denominators: Jay Watson, aka GUM. Watson—a multi-instrumentalist—is known for playing drums, bass, keyboards, and synths in both Tame Impala and POND.

Jun 20, 2018 By Conrad Duncan Superorganism

On record, Orono Noguchi sounds so nonchalant that she almost seems bored of being in a band. In person, she’s nothing like that. We’re speaking in the middle of Superorganism‘s first European tour and a packed day for Orono, the band’s lead singer, which has included a morning recording session, but she’s still animated and engaging.

Jun 19, 2018 By Kyle Mullin Wye Oak

You pour your heart into it. You dedicate hours, long nights, lingering years to it. You strive until your muscles and mind and emotions sear from the strain. And finally, when it’s in your grasp, and yet you still have to wrestle with it… well, then what?

Jun 18, 2018 By Matt Fink Issue #63 - Courtney Barnett

When Merrill Garbus began work on Tune-Yards’ I Can Feel You Creep Into My Personal Life in January 2016, she had a difficult decision to make. How should an artist—especially one who tries to use her life and work to contribute to dialogs surrounding difficult topics in her native Oakland, California—react to the era of Black Lives Matter and President Donald Trump?