Category: Alternative

Alternative Jangle Pop Modern Rock New Music Roots
January 30, 2023

An Odd Little EP from Johnossi

While looking through some new music suggestions on Spotify, up popped the Swedish band Johnossi. Their music has a kind of late 80s/90s retro sound with elements of 80s roots and 90s alternative and a splash of indie rock. I was immediately reminded of some 90s Toronto bands like Lowest of the Low, Blue Rodeo (though less twangy), and Barenaked Ladies. But also, 80s jangle […]

90s Alternative Dream Pop Indie Jangle Pop New Music Shoegazer
October 10, 2022

Revved Up with Alvvays

Back in the 1980s, two musical genres emerged at about the same time called dream pop and shoegazer. Both were built on a foundation of the pop song – tuneful and with harmonies – but drenched in jangly waves of guitar noise. They were similar enough that it was easy to confuse bands from one genre as belonging to the other. The main difference between […]

Alternative Indie New Music
July 6, 2022

Soccer Mommy Throws a Muse

Sophie Allison, a.k.a. Soccer Mommy has become one of the darlings of the indie music scene. That’s well deserved because of the quality of her music. It’s also strange because she’s not all that “indie”. While the themes of her music often revolve around mental health issues and addiction, so did Lynyrd Skynrd (“That Smell” for example) who was anything but indie. A much better […]

Alternative Dance Music Indie New Music Pop Punk
April 7, 2022

It’s Been Awhile

I know it’s been awhile since I last posted. Part of the reason was that I was traveling in warmer climes where time on the beach was more important than writing my blog (sorry but it’s true). The bigger inhibitor has been a lack of decent music to get excited about. Just this week I listened to the new ROSALIA album and The Regrettes EP. […]

80s-music 90s Alternative Dream Pop Goth
October 26, 2021

Kaelan Mikla Under the Cold Icelandic Northern Lights

How does one describe Kaelan Mikla? 80s inspired synth pop? Yep, there’s that. Atmospheric dance music? Certainly. Goth? Very much so. Proving once again that weird but great music comes out of Iceland (remember The Sugarcubes?), Kaelan Mikla, produces an amazing mix of dark, strange, and mysterious music that can best be likened to the most goth elements of Siouxsie and Banshees, Bauhaus, and Nine […]

80s-music 90s Alternative
September 29, 2021

Remembering Kirsty MacColl

I first heard Kirsty MacColl in the mid-1980s. She had recorded a very synthpop version of Billy Bragg’s “New England” and it was making the rounds of metro New York City clubs as well as the local new music station WLIR. Kirsty’s version was different enough that it was hard to tell if it was the same song. She had a voice that was as, […]

Alternative Country Dance Music Indie New Music Roots Southern Rock
July 13, 2021

New Songs (for Me At Least) The Week of July 11, 2021

We are back into a cycle of singles again. Throughout May and into June we saw one great (or not so great) album after another bounding out onto the new music scene. These albums cut across genres, sometimes multiple genres, and included new and old artists. Whew. Since then, new album releases have slowed down to a less frenetic pace. Singles releases, on the other […]

Alternative grunge Modern Rock New Music Punk
June 14, 2021

Sleater-Kinney Path to Wellness is Boring for Us

So, after a month of constant new music and reviews, I took a week off from new posts. It’s summer and there is much partying to do. As such, my batteries were completely recharged when the new Sleater-Kinney album, Path to Wellness, dropped this week. Unfortunately, their path to wellness is our road to dullsville. The album lacks any of the energy we come to […]

90s Alternative New Music Power pop
May 12, 2021

PONY up to TV Baby

I don’t consider myself a music critic. Instead, I’m more of a aficionado who loves rock and pop so much that he wants to share what he hears with friends. As such, unless there is an extraordinary reason to keep people away from an album or song (such as the last Yes album) I try to keep it positive. I would rather tell my audience […]