Presidential hopeful Beto O'Rourke loves to remind us that he loves music. Throughout his campaign against Ted Cruz for a Senate seat last fall (he lost), he brought out Willie Nelson and Margo Price and Spoon and Travis Scott at his rallies. And in interviews, he often mentions how much he idolizes legendary punk Ian MacKaye. O'Rourke biggest claim to fame, music-wise, is that he was once in a band...
It's been over four years since we first started hearing about the follow-up to Sky Ferreira's fantastic 2013 debut Night Time, My Time. It was going to be called Masochism, and its lead single, "Guardian," was going to come out in the summer of 2015. That didn't happen. We don't know exactly what did happen, and Sky Ferreira quickly got sick of being asked about it. Last year, she said that her label...
Many songs on Juice WRLD's Death Race For Love, the reigning #1 album in America, made me laugh out loud. A track called "HeMotions," for instance, is already hilarious coming from an emo-informed SoundCloud sing-rapper who made his name on misogynistic self-pity, even before you even factor in lyrics like these: "Going through motions, muddy emotions/ Back on my bullshit, devil emoji." Most of the...
In one of the first interviews promoting Vampire Weekend's new album Father Of The Bride, Ezra Koenig mentioned experiencing a brief moment of panic upon realizing that Post Malone and Swae Lee had released a hit song called "Sunflower." Koenig remembers thinking, "We have a song on this record called ‘Sunflower.' God, we have to get this out!" Vampire Weekend do indeed have a "Sunflower" of their...
In The Number Ones, I'm reviewing every single #1 single in the history of the Billboard Hot 100, starting with the chart's beginning, in 1958, and working my way up into the present. *** Elton John - "Crocodile Rock" HIT #1: February 3, 1973 STAYED AT #1: 3 weeks "I think it’s about time all this Chuck Berry idolizing came to a halt." That was Elton John, talking to Rolling Stone in 1973. He was...
It's always fascinating to watch a punk band play a late-night show. Even if you've never been to see the band in question, the whole genre triggers a certain sense-memory, and part of your brain starts to imagine that there's a big dude with a neckbeard currently charging across the pit, about to jump at you ass-first. You could be sitting and watch the video on your laptop in your office at eight...
Spring is upon us and the air is losing its oppressive chill. Festival season rears its head every year when our bodies are mid-thaw, vulnerable and lonely enough to submit ourselves to days of collective debauchery and dehydration. Our raw intentions are laid bare under the unfamiliar sun as we revert to a high school-style ecosystem. The jocks are shotgunning beers, the stoners haven’t moved from...
The first rap music I ever loved was British. In 1988, when I was about to turn nine, my family moved to London for a year. (My dad, a history professor, was on sabbatical, trying to write a book that he never ended up finishing.) The UK had Top Of The Pops, which turned pop music into something linear and statistical -- easy to follow, like baseball. And this was right in the midst of the UK's Second...
“Jailbreak The Tesla” is an evocative title, one that can work as a mantra for the Phoenix hip-hop trio that created it. “That was kind of the idea of Injury Reserve,” says Nathaniel Ritchie, the rapper also known as Ritchie With A T — “taking this thing that’s supposed to be this futuristic modern car,…
Throughout SXSW last week, there was one question everyone invested in this year’s crop of emerging indie names seemed to be asking: “Have you seen Black Midi yet?”
Tracking Down is a Stereogum franchise in which we talk to artists who have been out of the spotlight for a minute.
The last time Dido booked a tour, it was 2003 and the soft-pop singer was riding high on the success of mid-’00s radio megahits “Thank You,” “Here With Me,” “White Flag,”
Plenty of bands have long histories, forged from bonds of friendship formed in a distant childhood past. Shared upbringings, shared surroundings — these can provide good raw material for a couple artists to come together and define their identity within and against the rest of the world. In the case of Isaac deBroux-Slone and Raina…
Ever since the Malian “desert blues” band Tinariwen began to build an international audience at the dawn of the millennium, a steady stream of Saharan guitar music has been making its way around the world. The list of renowned Tuareg rock acts has grown to include the likes of Algeria’s Imarhan, Niger’s Kel Assouf, and…
Three years ago, Johanne Swanson released her first album as Yohuna, Patientness. Its title was a mantra — a reminder to stay calm during a period of upheaval that took Swanson from her native Wisconsin to New Mexico and Berlin, before landing in New York City, where she’s been ever since.
The title…
We’ve Got A File On You is a new reboot of an old-school Stereogum franchise. Once called Annotated Media Guide, these are interviews in which artists share the stories behind the extracurricular activities that dot their careers: acting gigs, guest appearances, random internet ephemera, etc.
When an artist gets 40 years in, chances…
Mercury Rev had a pretty good 2018, mostly because they had a great 1998. Though the band hadn’t released any music in a couple of years, in 2018 they became the beneficiaries of a free promotional campaign, thanks to the 20-year nostalgia cycle that inevitably spawns think pieces and retrospective listicles. And no…
When Noah Lennox began writing his new solo album, Buoys, he started with just a guitar. Though previous Panda Bear albums have emerged this way, they’ve resulted in increasingly widescreen visions such as 2011’s Tomboy and the euphoric glow of 2015’s Panda Bear Meets The Grim Reaper. But Buoys feels different because its skeletal framework…
Playing minimal metal at maximum volume, sound wave masseurs Sunn O))) are now entering their 21st year as the ne plus ultra of suffocating drone. Still searching for the most accurate representation of their famed, body-vibrating live performances, their upcoming eighth album — Life Metal, due in April — was recorded to tape with famed…
Jon Simmons admits he’s trying to be more direct in 2019, but it doesn’t come naturally. The Balance And Composure frontman carefully admits to the one criticism he’s taken to heart over the years — that his lyrics can run a bit vague compared to the stylish, slegdehammer alt-rock of his band.
Decidedly, Cherry Glazerr’s Clementine Creevy and I are not tea connoisseurs. But on a peculiarly warm day in January, we’re learning a lot about the aromatic beverage.
Kim Gordon has long been one of our most intimidating rock stars. From her work with the legendary Sonic Youth to her side gig Free Kitten and current project Body/Head, she’s always been able to wield harsh noise, anti-patriarchal vitriol, and rock star cool with ease. But even though she can summon the feedback to…
There’s been something happening in Dublin. Across 2014 and 2015, a group called Girl Band started to generate international buzz thanks to their idiosyncratic blend of noise-rock, post-punk, and techno-inspired rhythms. Here was a new sound, one nobody associated with a specific generation or scene in Ireland. Girl Band then went silent for several years,…
We’ve Got A File On You is a new reboot of an old-school Stereogum franchise. Once called Annotated Media Guide, these are interviews in which artists share the stories behind the extracurricular activities that dot their careers: acting gigs, guest appearances, random internet ephemera, etc.
Almost 10 years ago, Sharon Van Etten released…
