May 03, 2018
By Charles Steinberg
Web Exclusive
The response to figures in art is strongest either when they are mysterious or when they are relatable; when their opacity fascinates or their transparency disarms. It is rare, and something that might only come along when you’ve followed an artist for many years, when the same figure encompasses that polarity. More
May 01, 2018
By Matt Conner
Spoon
Britt Daniel shrugs at the word “reliable,” although it’s the one that comes up from time to time. More
Apr 28, 2018
By Charles Steinberg
Editors
Remember when you closed the door to your adolescent room, head spinning from that uniquely youthful, unbound energy that needed to be channeled somewhere? Picture a summer night in your past, hormones raging and you throw on The Smashing Pumpkins’ Siamese Dream. Suddenly, another part of your being that you’ve only just become acquainted with is jolted awake. You break into air guitar, or break out a real one, feeling yourself grow two feet taller. More
Apr 27, 2018
By Kyle Mullin
Unknown Mortal Orchestra
Not every punk ascribes to the “disco sucks” movement. In fact, Unknown Mortal Orchestra frontman Ruban Nielson dives right into such highly danceable grooves on the new album Sex & Food, despite New Zealand-born Nielson’s neo-punk roots in prior bands like The Mint Chicks. More
Apr 26, 2018
By Ellen Peirson-Hagger
Charlotte Gainsbourg
“I’m not naive: I knew what I had done,” says Charlotte Gainsbourg of Rest, her fifth album, her first in six years, and first as a lyricist. Rest is an album fuelled by grief even in its most beautiful moments, something Gainsbourg has had to repeatedly explain. More
Apr 20, 2018
By Charles Steinberg
Son Lux
The ethos of Son Lux has always been of allowance-absorption. Anything discovered or stumbled upon that perks the ear can be engaged if it enriches the dynamism of the work. Accordingly, flourishes of the myriad genre have flowed in and out of Ryan Lott’s compositions since he began officially making music as Son Lux in 2008. More
Apr 18, 2018
By Lee Adcock
Gwenno
Near the end of our conversation, Gwenno Saunders (who releases music simply under her first name) asks me what channels of media exist in the U.S. for other languages beyond English. Raised on the neglected tongues of Welsh and Cornish, the polyglot singer/songwriter has grown into a fervent crusader for representation. More
Apr 11, 2018
By Max Freedman
Issue #63 - Courtney Barnett
“I’m roastin’ in this van, so I gotta get out of here,” Meg Remy, better known to the public as the avant-pop auteur U.S. Girls, says after we’ve talked for over half an hour. She’s calling in early on a Friday morning, alone in a van parked in front of a San Diego Airbnb, getting ready to head to the next city on her tour behind her addicting, incredibly distinct sixth album, the 4AD-released In a Poem Unlimited. More
Apr 06, 2018
By Chris Davidson
EELS
Since the mid-1990s, Mark Oliver Everett (aka E) has crafted wildly inventive and stylized orchestral indie rock that blends the philosophical and the heartbreak without ever sounding overly calculating or sentimental. More