Last year, avant-pop outfit Ava Luna made our list of Most Anticipated Albums of 2018. With their back catalog of diverse tracks across multiple LPs, the Brooklyn-based quintet were poised to create something great and boundary pushing. Their latest record, Moon 2, exceeds expectations, and it is one of the year’s most unique and captivating records. Moon 2 starts out with […]

When Kalmia Traver (vocals/saxophone) and Alex Toth (vocals/trumpet) founded Rubblebucket eleven years ago, they completely re-wrote the music playbook. They did everything from mixing funk, jazz, and pop to putting the marching band on the concert stage. During their time together, they forged life-long relationships with band mates Adam Dotson (trombone/backing vocals/flute/keyboards) and Ian Hersey (guitar/backing vocals) and between themselves. […]

Whether it is sitting behind the piano, ratcheting a distorted electric guitar, or scratching a synthesizer, Mitski Miyawaki – or simply Mitski – has repeatedly demonstrated the ability to make personal vulnerability sound bold and, thus, something to not fear. Instead, as she showed on Puberty 2, she wore it like a badge of honor, revealing to the world she […]

Endless Scroll by BODEGA If Seth MacFarlane collaborated with Trey Parker and Matt Stone to create a lo-fi, post-punk rock album, what would it sound like? If we had to make a guess, it would resemble Endless Scroll, which is BODEGA‘s incredibly witty, intelligent, and amusing debut album. Packed with 14 songs with only two exceeding the three-minute mark, the […]

It wasn’t long ago when A Place To Bury Strangers were considered the next great shoegaze, noise-pop band. They were trusted to take the music of My Bloody Valentine, Cocteau Twins, and Slowdive to harsher and louder heights. They were, after all, dubbed the “loudest band of New York” for a reason. In the 11 years since their self-titled debut […]

It seems like Frankie Cosmos’ Greta Kline has written hundreds of songs from her 52 releases on her Bandcamp, plus her work with other bands including Lexie. On their new Frankie Cosmos record, Vessel, Kline (vocals/guitar), David Maine (bass/vocals), Lauren Martin (keys/vocals), and Luke Pyenson (drummer) package 18 tracks into a half hour. Yes, 18 songs in 30 minutes. Some […]

Freedom by Amen Dunes Freedom is more than just an ideal. It is also more than a right for us to exercise, for us to specifically to act, speak, and think without fear of repression. In it truest form, however, freedom is a journey with no idea that goes beyond the actions and words. For Damon McMahon, the mastermind behind […]

In 1967, three teenagers came together to form one of the great rock bands in history. Fleetwood Mac started with drummer Mick Fleetwood before settling in as a five piece with John and Christine McVie, Lindsey Buckingham, and Stevie Nicks. Thirty-one years ago, Kurt Cobain and Krist Novoselic pieced together Nirvana in Aberdeen, Washington. We all know their histories and […]

For nearly a decade, Titus Andronicus made a career of blasting their violent, unrelenting punk music in dive and underground bars across North America. They were limited to these venues not because of lack of interest but their music and frenetic live shows needed to be contained. The  were and still are a detonating stockpile of dynamite. Maybe over the […]

The last time I saw Grizzly Bear was June 2013 in Montreal when they co-headlined a tour with The xx. The outdoor venue was a make-shift one in an industrial part of the city, where parking was limited and the closest Metro stop was a kilometre away. Fortunately, the two performances were stellar. Five years later, Grizzly Bear find themselves […]

 The name Quicksilver Daydream evokes images of horse-drawn caravans crossing the vast deserts of the southwest USA in search for riches and a new life. These are the days when the horizon stretched for miles and uninterrupted by the resident cacti, rattlers, coyotes, and hares. The arid lands, however, have a mystique to them. They are filled with mystery […]

Jesse Marchant is a rare breed today in that his music is timeless. The Montreal-born, New York-based singer-songwriter could easily be mistaken for Nick Drake’s twin, Mark Kozelek’s equal when it comes to vivid storytelling, and Jim James’ peer with respect to vocals that leave a lasting imprint. His 2014 self-titled album reflected all these element, as Marchant delivered one […]

Even punk bands can be “politically correct”. Well, to a certain extent that is. Take for example Brooklyn-based quartet, QWAM and the title of their debut EP, Feed Me, which easily could be called Fuck You since this mini-record’s five songs are are eight middle fingers raised against conformity and the establishment. The band’s attitude and focus shouldn’t be a […]

Dreams, so we’ve been told, only occur while we sleep in our bedrooms. For No Vacation, the bedroom is where everything started, and now they’re living their dreams. The guitar-pop quintet have in a short period achieved a cult status within the indie community, leading them to move from their hometown of San Francisco to the music mecca of Brooklyn. […]

When a band gets Jeff Goldblum to do a cameo on one of their songs, they must have two qualities: a) creative minds, and b) a great sense of humor. Reni Lane and Anna Noreen of Fever High have both in spades. The Brooklyn-based duo are retro-fying synth-pop and New Wave to their early days while infusing some surprising elements. The result […]

There are as many bands in New York City’s five boroughs as there are delicatessens and pizzerias. With so much selection, how does one rise above the pack and become among the Big Apple’s elite? There’s the easy way out – imitation. Then there’s the less road traveled – create something new and different, which is full of depth and […]

The National are arguably one of the best studio bands making music these days. The Brooklyn-based indie band with a global appeal have been crafting their non-traditional rock sound for nearly 20 years, delivering genre-defining albums like Boxer (2007) and High Violet (2010). Now with their seventh studio LP, Sleep Well Beast, we examine where this “thinking person’s rock” band stands. Does this album […]

Sometimes with an album review it’s difficult to properly convey the range of emotions that are expressed throughout a record. Not so with the newest, post-breakup album by seminal New York band LCD Soundsystem. Six years ago the band disappeared, and with that their sonically danceable music seemed to belong to the history books. They have since reunited for their […]

The sitcoms of the ’70s and ’80s had great theme songs. Some of them are even considered among the best songs in television history. Who can forget the jingles to Different Strokes, Facts of Life, Perfect Strangers, and Love Boat? Then there are the classics like Family Ties, Silver Spoons, and la crème de la crème, Cheers. Right from the opening notes, you knew […]

Last year, Brooklyn’s Big Thief released their first LP, Masterpiece, an album which solidified the Brooklyn-based quartet as one of the best new bands. Almost immediately after Masterpiece appeared on countless year-end lists, Big Thief announced their second record, Capacity. It seemed a fairly short amount of time between records, as many people, including myself, were still immensely enjoying their […]