Fruit from the Poison Tree: The Ten Best Songs by Grouper
In his review of Grouper’s new album Shade, Chris Richards of the Washington Post claimed that the songs were “easy to feel but hard to remember.” He didn’t mean it as an insult–earlier in the review, he called the album “magnetic”–but there’s a whiff of damning by faint praise in the way he finishes the […]
“Sun Outside My Window” by Strawberry Guy: Lush, Impressionist Indie Pop
Of all the art movements we learned about in elementary school, I responded to impressionism the most. It was the one kind of art I could do decently, for one thing: it allowed for less precision, which was helpful back when I could barely even manage stick figures. But it went beyond just what I […]
“New Age” by Cherry Blaster: A Cheerfully Surreal Tech-Parable
I am twenty-four years old, and yet I sometimes worry that I’m running out of time. This is, of course, absurd, and whenever I tell an older person how I feel they tell me as much. I haven’t even left my parents’ house yet! There are so many experiences and trials and epiphanies that I […]
Animal Collective Returns with the Jammy, Psychedelic “Prester John”
When I first started listening to music, I wasn’t sure if I liked indie rock. I had a preconceived notion of indie rock as a staid, tasteful genre, full of functional guitar playing and thoughtful bearded men who looked like my middle school guidance counselor. This was, of course, quite stupid, and Animal Collective showed […]
Ava Elay on “Rain,” Creativity, and Writing Hooks with Windshield Wipers
Ava Elay is thirteen years old. I understand that harping on an artist’s young age is something of a cliche, but it bears repeating: Ava Elay is thirteen years old. A middle schooler! The fact that she’s making music at all is noteworthy, but make no mistake: this is not a dancing bear situation, and […]
Monica Guardado on “Virginia,” Platonic Friendships, and Crafting Her Sound
By now, autumn has been thoroughly hygge-fied: we’ve come to associate the season with cozy cardigans, pumpkin spice lattes, and blankets of red and orange. It’s easy to forget the lonely, overcast parts of autumn, the parts defined by a steady decline. In autumn, the sun sets earlier and earlier each day; the streets are […]
Sabine Colleen on “Electric Heart,” Vocal Inspirations, and The Power of the Banjo
The title of Sabine Colleen’s new song, “Electric Heart,” almost sounds ironic from the first listen. This is not electric music; it’s acoustic, for one thing, and for another thing it sounds like it was conceived before Edison invented the lightbulb. Over the earthy pluck of a banjo and a raspy, sawing fiddle, Colleen sings […]
“Running Away” by Cate Le Bon: Enigmatic Art Pop about Modern Malaise
This is one of those reviews that I’d normally start by talking about The State Of The World These Days, but I’m trying to wean myself off of that. For one thing, going on about the zeitgeist has become an obvious, predictable crutch in music criticism these days. It’s the equivalent of a high school […]
“SUNSHiiNE” by Oberhofer: Swooning, Pure-Hearted Psych Pop
The drum machine is the first thing you hear on “SUNSHiiNE,” the new single by the psych-pop artist Oberhofer. It’s a common instrument in dream pop and bedroom pop, but it’s used in an interesting way here. Rather than just keeping time in the background, it serves as a texture in its own right: a […]
Grimson on “Chimney Sweeper” and its Ambitious Animated Music Video
The music video for Grimson’s new song, “Chimney Sweeper,” is as ambitious as the song itself. Rows of cute kids-drawing people sway cheerfully from side to side before morphing into Russian nesting dolls; footprints track playfully across the screen in time with a bass solo; streaks of primary colors flash across the screen during the […]
