80s-music Dream Pop New Wave Prog rock
October 13, 2022

Broken Bells Bring Me Back To My Roots

Broken Bells are an unlikely group. It consists of James Mercer, former lead singer of The Shins, and underground DJ, producer, and Hip Hop artist, Danger Mouse. Given their backgrounds and musical range, Broken Bells albums don’t follow a defined modern style. Previous albums have explored 80s sounds, especially late-stage new wave. The latest album, Into the Blue, is completely different. Listening to Into the […]

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 […]

Euro French Indie New Music
September 15, 2022

Pomme Consoles Me

To begin with, an apology. It is not always easy to write a mix of English and other languages in the same document. I will try and get it right but if I miss a diacritical mark or two, please forgive me. Trying to mix French and American components in writing is, itself, a metaphor for Pomme’s latest album consolation. In consolation, Pomme bridges the […]

New Music Site Happenings
September 13, 2022

Some End of Summer Updates

Ok, I know I’ve been slow getting new reviews up. I attribute that to two issues. First, there has been a dearth of new releases that I think are worthwhile writing about. Second, and most obvious, it’s been summer. With the waning of the pandemic, festivals of all sorts have been fired up and running again. In one week alone I saw The Punch Brothers, […]

New Music Power pop
August 19, 2022

Ryan Adams’ FM is Pure Power Pop

I haven’t had time to listen to the whole album and write a review but the new Ryan Adams album, FM, is an amazing homage to late 60s power pop. “FM” has been the name of a number of albums, songs, and movies throughout the years. Most notably is the Steely Dan song and 1978 movie. With a title like that you might expect a […]

Indie
August 15, 2022

Sorry King Princess You’re Just Whining

Known best for her queer love anthem “1950”, King Princess writes intense songs about love, and pain. She is akin to the singer songwriters of the 1990s such as Shawn Colvin, Suzanne Vega, and Tori Amos mixed with girl-power folk of Ani DiFanco. King Princess fits this crowd well, with confessional songs about relationships – both partner and friendship relationships – and the difficulties we […]

80s-music Dance Music Modern Rock New Music New Wave
July 19, 2022

Does The New Metric Album Measure Up?

It’s almost embarrassing how long it took me to discover Metric. First off, they’re from Toronto, which is practically in my backyard. They also create 80s inspired dance pop and techno, two of my favorite genres. I suspect that they aren’t better known just because they seem so retro. It wasn’t until 2012 that that I ran into them through their near perfect techno song, […]

Dance Music Electronic New Music
July 12, 2022

Listen to Lachi

While I work on my next full review, I wanted to introduce you to an artist who is new to me and goes by the mononym Lachi. While watching an episode of cultural history channel PBS Origins on YouTube, a channel I highly recommend, I encountered Lachi as a guest speaker. The episode was on the blind, black musician trope and it’s cultural origins. Lachi […]

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 […]

New Music surf
May 23, 2022

Rollin with the Surfragettes

Surf music, as a genre, has had an unusual trajectory. It started in the early 1960s with Dick Dale and Link Wray. Each played staccato instrumental music that replicated the thrill of surfing that exemplifies the genre. Dale, especially, set the template of surf music with his Middle Eastern and rock influences. But, as the saying goes, that was then, and this is now. By […]