I have a theory for why people don’t listen to albums all the way through. Anthony Fantano recently addressed the ongoing “death of the album” discussion—he argues that albums have in fact saturated the market, but people rarely listen to them cover to cover because they rely too much on the strength of their singles or repeat monotonous formulas song by song. Nevertheless, artists still need more than singles to support tours, and labels ultimately can’t decide which song ends up a hit—so the album persists.
Despite some wonderful hedonic highlight tracks, Super Slimey runs into the same issue many projects by prolific trap rappers suffer from: a lack of time and effort. It’s still enjoyable.
On October 18th, Turnover, the hallmark of Indie-Emo bands, played Exit/In, celebrating the release of their most recent album, Good Nature. Iconic for their sophomore album, Peripheral Vision, they drastically altered their sound in Good Nature, shifting away from emo-esque influences and focusing solely on optimistic dream rock indie vibes. Since this is their first tour with the new album, the anticipation to see how they would sound was insurmountably high.
Primitive Man is a band that’s always specialized in creating dense, incredibly harsh textures. 2013’s Scorn, the band’s debut full length, is about as sonically oppressive and ugly of an album as you’re likely to find in modern metal, and it introduced the heavy music world to Primitive Man’s unique blend of noise, sludge, death metal, and blackened doom. But believe it or not, Primitive Man just came through with an even uglier and more oppressive release with Caustic.
I guess I missed the day in class when we learned that “Going Grey” was synonymous with “Selling Out,” but thankfully The Front Bottoms (TFB) caught me up on that lesson with their album release earlier this month. Gone is the TFB known for their trademark gritty sound, lyrical depth, and endearing awkwardness. The new era of TFB is under strict dictatorship by their label, Fueled by Ramen, and it definitely shows in their catchy, over-produced pop-punk album, Going Grey.
LCD Soundsystem’s show at Nashville Municipal Auditorium on October 20th for their american dream tour was one for the books. They’ve played the festival circuit last year and several shows in Webster Hall and Brooklyn Steel in New York, but haven’t had a formal tour to themselves since their 2016 reunion. The band announced their breakup in 2011 and proceeded to play a legendary string of shows in Madison Square Garden documented by the film “Shut Up and Play the Hits”. Their triumphant return last year was fully brought to full realization with the release of the album american dream on September 1st, put out by DFA Records, the label of LCD’s frontman James Murphy.
Festival season is coming to a close, a sentiment expressed by both Jay Z and Damon Albarn (Gorillaz frontman) during their headlining sets. Bye to wristbands, flower crowns, and drugged-up…
On October 14th, Cigarettes After Sex, a self-described “ambient pop collective,” played their second of two Chicago shows at Lincoln Hall. I brought my mom along for the show, hoping she…
Rock music is wonderful, but do you ever get bored after listening to it all the time?
First and foremost, it would be downright irresponsible of me to make any substantive claim, analytical, theoretical, or otherwise, about Eminem’s BET freestyle without first addressing the obvious. Like the pristine river that guides an untamed eye across the canvas, through dark mountain valleys and up into the great blue unknown—that archetype of the transcendental, that ineffable sublime—Eminem’s beard is nothing. And yet it is everything.
At only 20-years-old, Jorja Smith has gone from a high school student and part-time Starbucks barista to releasing tracks on Spotify that garner millions of listens in only a couple of days. Smith hails from Walsall, West Midlands, UK where she met her manager at the age of 15. Despite her youth, she has already worked with some of the most prominent names in the R&B/Hip-Hop such as producer Black Coffee. She was even featured on two tracks (“Get it Together” and “Jorja Interlude”) off Drake’s recent mixtape, More Life. Let’s take a look at her past and present.
Chicago-based Whitney kicked off their fall tour with a show in Nashville on September 29. The band, built upon the core singer/drummer and guitarist duo, Julien Ehrlich and Max Kakacek, blew up in the independent rock world after their 2016 freshman album, Light Upon the Lake. Combining mellow indie pop with modern jazz undertones for a unique, chill, and groovy blend, Whitney has become a favorite in the indie rock scene.
BROCKHAMPTON returned with a bang on their third release, Saturation II, off their own label Question Everything, Inc this past August 25th . The group has a sound as unorthodox as their origin story, the majority of the members having met on a popular Kanye West forum before ever meeting in real life. Coalescing under leader Kevin Abstract and taking up the all-caps moniker BROCKHAMPTON, the group of 15 moved to South Central Los Angeles in 2015 to be the next great American boyband. Following their two previous releases, Saturation II creeps, crawls, and roars its way into your sonic sphere with the youthful energy of a group of 19-23 year old men that have something(s) to say.
The World Is a Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid to Die (TWIABP) has been a powerful presence in the ’emo’ community since the release of their debut full-length album Whenever, If Ever (2013). Last week, the band released their third album, Always Foreign, a phenomenally composed album overflowing with cynicism, chaos, and an unadulterated sense of vulnerability.
“She’s just trying to reach you,” Protomartyr singer/lyricist Joe Casey chants at the climax of “A Private Understanding,” the opening track on the Detroit post-punkers’ fourth album Relatives in Descent.
Through the pages of history runs a river of interesting and often tragic narratives concerning rock’s forbearers and transportation mishaps. Duane Allman, Buddy Holly, and Otis Redding, among others, met…
In the midst of chaos, Knox Fortune offers us a refuge in Paradise with his debut album. The Chicago singer/songwriter/producer is perhaps best well known for his hook on Chance the Rapper’s “All Night,” but on Paradise, he shows he can stand alone in authentic style, production and lyrics.
There’s no denying that Soundcloud has become the birthing ground for new hiphop artists. Some of the biggest names today, Chance the Rapper and Lil Uzi Vert to name two, began their record-breaking careers on the platform. Soundcloud’s accessibility has made it easier than ever to enter the game, but just as easy to be buried under a million other users (talented or not). How do you set yourself apart? Lil Pump’s Answer:
‘ESSKEETIT’
Canadian five-piece Alvvays finally released their second album, Antisocialites on September 8th, under Polyvinyl. Alvvays’ eponymous debut album explored
On Tuesday, September 25th, independent singer-songwriter and ironic demigod Joshua Tilman descended upon Nashville in the form of Father John Misty to give two amazing performances in one day: a solo acoustic show at Third Man Records and a full show at the Ryman.
Freudian, Daniel Caesar’s debut album, released August 25, 2017 on Golden Child Recordings sparked discussion among music fans across all genres. It’s variety of production, a seamless fluctuation of emotion between subtle elegance and bold passion, is reflective of the intricate message the love-ridden Caesar is trying to convey. Throughout the 10 song album, Daniel Caesar spills his heart out about the complexities of love, ranging from despair to pure ecstasy.