Pretoria’s Cape Town is the Indie Summer Starter We Need
It’s not really a secret: we’re big into indie music. Yeah, indie’s a broad term, but at it’s core I think it’s about music that bucks labels and is better for it – whether that means smart, artful lyrics, off-kilter pop melodies that still get stuck in your head, or instrumentation that’s crafted for hand-clapping. […]
Ari’s Radikoj Does More – and Does It Well
I’ve always been a fan of artists and albums that try to do more. Yeah, I know that that’s a really broad statement. Here’s what I mean: I like when artists push up against the boundaries of convention in genre or song structure. I like when there’s intentionality behind work, when artists build on ideas […]
Donovan Woods – The Story of “Another Way”
I don’t know how else to put this; Donovan Woods is the archetype Two Story Melody artist. Let me explain. When I first heard his music, I had just left my hometown at the end of the summer, driving back to Nashville for my sophomore year of college. I was feeling sentimental and sad, so […]
Top 10 Alternative Albums of 2018
Another year is over and the jury is in. It’s a jury of one, but, you get the picture. Readers have been clamouring to know; What were the best alternative albums of the year? How do I decide which albums are worth my time? What does ‘alternative’ even mean in this day and age? Well, fear […]
Ocean Music’s “Take Me Out In The Street” Is Bittersweet Poetry
Richard Aufrichtig, Rebecca Kushner, and Alex Thrailkill make up the heady, poetic, musically-aquatic group accurately named Ocean Music. Currently based in Brooklyn, New York, these California transplants have made it their mission to spread their soulful take on folk to anyone who will listen. Releasing song after beautiful song, all culminating in their most recent […]
Paul Smith’s “Silver Rabbit” Will Punch Its Way Into Your Soul
Prepare yourself for two minutes of lightning-fast guitar riffs blazing the trail of “Silver Rabbit” by Paul Smith. The Maximo Park frontman is using the song to hype up the release his fourth solo album, Diagrams. The LP is scheduled to fall on October 26 from Billingham Records. According to Paul Smith, “[It’s] a punchy song where […]
The Daunting, Desperate Poetry of Phil Simmond’s “St. Arc, Pt. 1: In the Oak”
Phil Simmond’s St. Arc, Pt. 1: In the Oak is a daunting track. I found it daunting at first because of its length. The song – really, a compilation of songs – stretches out to just over twenty minutes. Upon listening to it, I found that its daunting-ness could be more easily attributed to it […]
Deaf Poets Challenge Social Constructs and Have a Good Time on Change and Bloom
My initial reaction upon seeing (and hearing) the Miami-born, Brooklyn-based Deaf Poets? How can they possibly make this much noise? But for singer-guitarist Sean Wouters and drummer Nico Espinosa, making noise comes almost too naturally. A tantalizing amalgamation of 70s psychedelia, 80s belligerence, and 90s grunge-chic, the most appealing aspect of Deaf Poets’ sound is […]
The Magic of The Howling Tongues Boo Hiss
Is rock and roll dead? Not according to The Howling Tongues. When I first heard “Vivian,” the Atlanta quintet’s ear-blistering anthemic jam, I’d just moved to Atlanta. I grew up in a town so small it barely warrants mentioning. It’s a bump in the road in the southeastern corner of Georgia where The Beatles’ records […]
Lord Huron Gets Darker with Vide Noir
Lord Huron is an American indie band based in Los Angeles. The band takes its name after Lake Huron, where Michigan-born front man Ben Schneider would spend evenings playing music around the campfire. Vide Noir was released on April 20, 2018. It arrives from Whispering Pines/Republic Records (a new arrangement for the band, whose previous […]
