“Hold Your Course” by S J Williams: A Classically-Influenced Balm
It’s been one year since the COVID lockdowns began. I’d do another long intro about the effects of the pandemic–the loneliness, the frustration, the boredom–or maybe I’d trace it from the early days of Tiger King and Animal Crossing to the present. But let’s not kid ourselves: do you really want to hear about all […]
Josh Fudge on “FEEL LIKE,” Inspiration, and His Future Ambitions
When we last checked in on Josh Fudge, a bright young bedroom pop singer-songwriter from Oklahoma City, it was when he released the tender folk ballad “Meet Me In Seattle.” But in the year since, he’s released some more upbeat, poppy material, and become a rising star in the process: his debut album has racked […]
“Sea Glass” by ChellaJay: Sparkling, Iridescent Art Pop
“Art pop” is a nebulous genre, but it’s my favorite genre all the same. True, it’s very vague: within its borders, it contains tuneful-yet-avant-garde artists like Holly Herndon, generally left-of-center pop like Florence + the Machine, and straightforward pop artists like Lorde who the indie snobs consider OK To Like. But no matter what it […]
Michael Droske on “V’Ger’s Dream,” the Beach Boys, and Kirk vs. Picard
“V’Ger’s Dream,” a lovely song by the psych-pop artist Michael Droske, doesn’t sound like it’s about Star Trek. The “V’Ger” of the title is the tragic antagonist of Star Trek: The Motion Picture, a sentient life form that evolved from a space probe that had been lost to the depths of the cosmos. (“V’Ger,” after […]
Katie Haverly on “Get Ready” and Optimism in the Time of Corona
On March 8th, 2020, I was still clinging to a nervous sort of optimism. News of the virus had started to spread, and there were a number of grave warnings that had phrases like “not a matter of if but when” and “it will get worse before it gets better,” but I was still trying […]
Virginia Fudge on “Dragonfly,” Production, and Being a Teacher
There’s something to be said for a well-paced song. The popularity of TikTok has resulted in a lot of songs that play their hand in the first twenty seconds, content to coast for the rest of the runtime in hopes that they’ll strike gold and catch the ear of an influencer. (Can you tell me […]
“Cowboy in Montmartre” by Western Threads: Impossible to Predict in the Best Way
When you’re an American abroad, you take care to mind your manners and avoid looking like the Ugly American. You follow any directions you may have been given, you studiously avoid the restaurants and attractions that might be considered touristy, and if you were abroad at any point within the past four years you avoided […]
Is Tropical on “Hummingbird,” Off-Kilter Pop, and Performing in Mongolia
“Alternative pop” has always been difficult to define, mostly because pop itself is difficult to define. Pop, after all, is characterized by what music is popular at a given moment, which means it’s more fluid than most other genres: if a Lingua Ignota song topped the Hot 100, the definition of pop would at least […]
Fiona Brice’s “Last Light”: An Elegant Meditation on Change and Loss
Piano ballads have been a staple of modern pop music for almost as long as there’s been pop music, which makes it easy to forget how hard they are to pull off. Since most piano ballads are stripped down and minimal, they leave no room for error: if the vocals are a bit strained, or […]
Cathal Coughlan on “Song of Co-Aklan,” His Illustrious Career, and the Pitfalls of Technology
Over the course of Cathal Coughlan’s forty-year career, he’s made brooding sophisti-pop alongside future High Llama Sean O’Hagan in Microdisney; he’s made spiky, seething post-punk with Fatima Mansions; he’s released gorgeous, shatteringly sad material under his own name (listen to The Sky’s Awful Blue if you need a good punch to the gut.) But whether […]