Obscurity is great for business. How anybody carves out any level of musical notoriety anymore without glomming onto a Kardashian is beyond me, but once you get there, there's two ways you can play it. You can opt to never go away, through some combination of constant creative output (Drake, Future, Ty Segall, Mark Kozelek) and tabloid antics (Kanye West, Noel Gallagher, also Mark Kozelek). Taylor...
Kenny Chesney concerts are basically Mad Max. In one 2013 concert at Pittsburgh's Heinz Field alone, 73 people were arrested for disorderly conduct, public intoxication, and aggravated assault, 10 large fights broke out, 150 people were treated for medical needs, and 45 more had to be transported to medical facilities. Oh yeah, and the throngs of tailgaters left a veritable ocean of trash in their...
Hey, remember Frank Ocean? Remember when his new album Boys Don't Cry was going to come out last July? And then remember when that totally didn't happen but we were all really convinced that it was finally going to arrive in August anyway? Well, obviously none of that happened. But hey, here's some more (possibly false) hope! Early this morning, as MissInfo points out, Ocean updated his Boys Don't...
The comedic legacy of Ghostbusters is pretty firmly set in stone -- deep enough that even the idea of a reboot was enough to freak out Gen X manchildren and send them running to the hills crying about their damaged childhoods. (How said childhoods were left intact after the dopey Ghostbusters II, I don't know.) But with the soundtrack for the reboot causing even further consternation one track at a...
Sadly, despite what you may have heard from a very official-looking Facebook event page, Metallica are not playing at the grand re-opening of Joe's Crab Shack in Tucson, Arizona in August. And no, VIP "golden tickets" to the event are not being hidden inside carne asada burritos at all Los Betos Restaurant locations. Ever since that "Limp Bizkit are playing a free show at a gas station in Ohio" hoax...
Hey you! Out there in the cold, getting lonely, getting old: Everything you grew up on is classic rock now. It's something every generation has to grapple with, but like college, marriage, raising children, and watching your loved ones die off one by one, this phenomenon feels new and uncharted when it happens to you. And for those of us who came of age in the 1990s, it's been happening in a big way...
Jamie xx already had one video for "Gosh," the track that opened his 2015 album In Colour, and it was a good one. But this morning, he's shared a new one, and it's great, an immediate video of the year contender. The M.I.A./Justice collaborator Romain Gavras directed the new "Gosh" video, and the sheer amount of money and planning that must've gone into it is mind-boggling to even consider. In the...
At the very beginning of this month, Stereogum ran a Band To Watch feature on the progressive metal band Astronoid. Black Market contributor/editor emeritus Michael Nelson wrote the piece, and did a far better job describing their approach than I ever could: Astronoid's debut LP, Air, is rooted in climactic major-key post/black metal -- think Deafheaven or Woods Of Desolation -- filled with blast beats...
Over this past Memorial Day weekend, four of the original members of the Anniversary — the much-beloved band from Lawrence, Kansas — reconvened to rehearse a few of their old songs. This would be the first time that the four of them — Josh Berwanger, James David, Adrianne DeLanda, and Chris Jankowski — had been…
There’s an intangibility to Katie Dey’s music that’s difficult to articulate. It’s best to point to specific moments: the hopeful opening pings of “you gotta get up to get up,” “all on you“‘s submerged longing, “unkillable“‘s squealing rush. Those three tracks — all from the Melbourne-based musician’s first release, asdfasdf — exhibit a sonic complexity…
Sun Club is a Baltimore quartet that plays a hard-to-define brand of art-rock that’s bright and furious at the same time. There’s sort of an aggression in all the weird angles and intensity of their music, but it’s a weird joyous aggression. The band’s made up of brothers Shane and Devin McCord, Mikey Powers, and…
Tegan And Sara changed my life, or at least that’s what I dramatically wrote when I did a deep dive into the group’s discography two years ago. While the Canadian duo scored their first mainstream hit only three years ago with “Closer,” they’ve been a formative influence throughout my entire life, shaping my identity and…
Halfway through Mitski’s Puberty 2, there’s a short, scratchy blast of noise called “My Body’s Made Of Crushed Little Stars.” If you’ve seen Mitski Miyawaki live at any point over the last few years, there’s a good chance you’ve heard her power through this one like an anxious ball of energy: “I wanna see the…
Prodding punk quartet Speedy Ortiz with a variety of odd and unrelated questions might be a budding tradition at Stereogum. Last August at Outside Lands, we discussed Donald Trump, musician beefs, and the band’s comradeship with comedian Hannibal Buress, and at Sasquatch!, after Speedy’s set at our Toyota Music Den, I talked with lead singer/guitarist/songwriter…
Tamaryn is a nomadic singer-songwriter whose music lives somewhere between dream-pop and shoegaze. She was born in New Zealand — though her ancestors have no direct ties there — and has since lived all over the U.S., now residing in LA. Tamaryn’s most recent release, last year’s Cranekiss, pushed her production and vocal capabilities to…
Friendship is often overlooked in music. Many artists sing about love and heartbreak, lust and sex, and even the love of family, but what about the family you choose? And The Kids extract the same meaning and emotion through friendship where most artists and outfits seem to be inspired by the ecstasy of love’s highs…
In light of the fullness and sonic diversity of songs like “Bad” and Jeff” you may not expect Shakai Mondai to be the musical project of just one person, let alone a person who began experimenting with electronic music less than two years ago. Still, it doesn’t take a whole lot of listens to understand…
Tomorrow, My Morning Jacket are releasing a deluxe reissue of their sprawling, beloved 2003 album, It Still Moves. The package includes frontman Jim James’ original acoustic demos for the songs that made the album, as well as three outtakes. But for James, the main impetus for the project was to go back and remix the…
“We met in line outside the show, and he had a Coke bottle full of vodka or whiskey or something. I could smell the alcohol on his breath, and I remember thinking that it felt like a My So-Called Life episode. Like, it’s all starting…” That’s Eva Grace Hendricks, recounting the first time she met…
Christian Holden will go to epic, often unreasonable lengths to get a good album cover. But they draw the line at getting arrested. …
It’s Weird ’90s Week on Stereogum. All week long we’re looking at the strangest musical moments and trends of the decade. Check out more here. …
When English shoegaze legends Slowdive reunited in 2014, it marked Rachel Goswell’s first live performances since a viral ear infection called labyrinthitis sidelined her from Slowdive offshoot Mojave 3 in 2006. Her return to the stage was exhilarating, and now Goswell is on to her next milestone: releasing her first recordings since her unplanned retirement…
Austin, Texas is populated by a malicious blackbird called the great-tailed grackle. The birds make themselves known to visitors in two ways: Their very particular sing-song caw is inescapable, and they swoop down from the sky to scavenge whenever possible. There are food trucks and roadside restaurants all over East Austin, which to a grackle…
Chris Cohen is not a household name, but he’s been around. Back in 2000, he formed the Curtains with Trevor Shimizu, and amidst releasing several albums under that moniker, he also put in stints playing with Deerhoof, Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti, and Cass McCombs. He’s one of those characters in the indie world who’s had…
Alessia Cara calls me back just as soon as she wraps up with Michelle Obama. The 19-year-old Def Jam singer — born Alessia Caracciolo to Italian parents in the Ontario suburb of Brampton — is in New York to perform at the First Lady’s College Signing Day event at Harlem Armory alongside a slew of…
Simon Lam has a unique style that brings warmth and a subtle soulfulness to each of the three separate musical projects he’s involved in. The Australian is becoming a sought-after producer, in part because the music he creates as Kllo, Ill’s/Couture, and now Nearly Oratorio demonstrates an incredible range, from terse and energetic pop to…
Weaves are fucking wild. The Toronto quartet kicks out buzzing, spasmodic rock songs like tightly wound balls of tension constantly unspooling. There’s a breathless improvisatory quality to their live show that reminds me of Deerhoof — that sense that any and every player might go off the rails at any moment, yet their combined creative…
It’s fitting that Kweku Collins (pronounced kway-koo) is from just outside of Chicago. The 19-year-old rapper and Evanston, Illinois native lives just beyond the fray of the city dubbed Chiraq and the distinctive music scene that has risen as result. He is close enough to witness some of the more disturbing elements of crime, poverty,…
There’s a box of Easter candy waiting for Carly Rae Jepsen when we step onto her tour bus.
It’s a gift from the wife of her stage manager, and it’s piled high with the traditional pastel blues, yellows, and pinks meant to signify the impending holiday. There are Peeps (“those are gross,” she says,…
Of all the shoegaze reunions that we’ve been blessed with over the past few years, perhaps none is more satisfying than the return of Lush. Unlike many of their ’90s peers, most of whom either fizzled out due to lack of interest or were forced to close up shop for financial reasons, Lush ended their…
Few artists can boast a career as varied and oddly sprawling as that of Ben Watt. After releasing an acclaimed solo record in 1983, Watt would subsequently spend the next 16 years as one half of Everything But The Girl (with his now-wife Tracey Thorn), who eventually recorded nine albums before quietly going into what…
Though Explosions In The Sky had already released three excellent albums between 2000 – 2003, it was their scoring of 2004’s Friday Night Lights that exposed the Austin band to millions of listeners unfamiliar with their signature quiet build into orchestral bombast. Twelve years later, the group make their most distinct shift yet with The…
Gordi is Sophie Payten, a 22-year-old singer-songwriter from rural Australia, and holy shit is she good at making music. Clever Disguise, the EP she’ll release on Jagjaguwar this spring, is a work of absolute splendor that will almost certainly make her a star. Its five tracks don’t do anything new, per se — they’re just…
The final day of SXSW can be the sort of thing where you’re too burnt-out, sunburnt, or both to care about seeing anyone. Sometimes there’s someone playing that’s so exciting — that’s so much of a “moment” — that you can get a second wind. But on a more earnest level than chasing the “event,”
Just about two years ago, Wye Oak released their stunning fourth album, Shriek. It was one of our favorite albums of 2014, and a crucial moment for the band. The relentless touring behind their breakthrough Civilian left them burnt out, and they had to find a way to reinvigorate and reimagine the band. …
In late January, Kristin Welchez — who has been known as Dee Dee from the Dum Dum Girls — announced that she’d be adopting a new name for a new project. She has become Kristin Kontrol, with the promise that her new music was unlike anything we’ve heard from her before. The Dum Dum Girls’
The writing was on the wall for Phil Collins fans long before he officially announced his retirement in 2011. 2002’s Testify was the pop star’s last album of original tunes, and he sang his hits on tour for the last time a few years later. As omnipresent in the ’80s as Madonna and Prince, the…
On the opening track of the Range’s new album, Potential, project mastermind James Hinton samples the voice of YouTube rapper SdotStar (current view count: 1,450): “Right now, I don’t have a backup plan for if I don’t make it… But even if… I’ll just decide to move on… to something bigger and better…” He clips…
