As a defining concept in popular music, teen angst has manifested in many different ways, from the mid-2000s emo pop-punk bands such as My Chemical Romance and Fall Out Boy, to the emergence of the sad-girl acoustic indie genre, currently spearheaded by Phoebe Bridgers. Emo music has never truly died[Read More…]
Album Reviews
Embracing the new without abandoning the old in ‘Imploding the Mirage’
Imploding the Mirage sounds distinctly like a Killers album: The upbeat, new wave-meets-modern rock style is recognizable to longtime fans of the Las Vegas band. However, it’s impossible to ignore the album references to other artists, styles, and eras. The busy instrumentalism, coarse-sounding vocals, and reinvented ‘80s synth-pop sound is remarkably[Read More…]
The painfully beautiful storytelling of ‘folklore’
Taylor Swift surprised her fans on July 24 when she released her eighth studio album, folklore, which she wrote and recorded in isolation. Folklore is filled with tragically honest storytelling that blends confessional subject matter with fictional tales. While the song production of folklore is simpler than Swift’s past albums,[Read More…]
Pop as healing in Lady Gaga’s ‘Chromatica’
Lady Gaga has always been beset by her public image. Whether it’s the bombastic music videos and otherworldly costumes of her debut, or the earnest, style-shifted music of Joanne and A Star is Born, critics have always questioned the authenticity of Gaga’s persona. The long awaited Chromatica, released May 29, with[Read More…]
The unconvincing hedonism of The Weeknd’s “After Hours”
In his latest album, After Hours, The Weeknd appears as a 1970s synth-pop star overcome by his own dark side. He casts himself as the victim of his own fame—ashamed of his wickedness, but too far gone to change—and the ensuing identity crisis reverberates throughout the album. No matter how[Read More…]
‘Collector’ is just fine
“Plugged in, something’s wrong,” sings Disq frontman Isaac DeBroux-Slone on “D19,” the fourth track off of the alt-indie band’s debut album Collector. Against the backdrop of a trebly acoustic rhythm guitar, DeBroux-Slone’s aching vocals sound wistful as he sings of a brief but torrid affair with a faulty D19 microphone.[Read More…]
Tame Impala time travels in ‘The Slow Rush’
If Tame Impala’s third album, Currents, is the outset of an interstellar psychedelic sugar-pop trip, then their fourth full-length release, The Slow Rush, released on Feb. 14, is that trip’s arrival. In his most recent offering, Kevin Parker, the singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist behind the band’s music, has delivered another[Read More…]
Highly Suspect misses the mark in experimenting with new sounds
In a world where most rock heroes are either aging or have already passed away, it is hard not to get excited when a promising young rock band like Highly Suspect appears. After the success of their first album, Mister Asylum, which landed the band two Grammy Nominations (Best Rock[Read More…]
Doja Cat’s ‘Hot Pink’ will keep you warm all winter
Only a year after her debut album Amala and viral Twitter sensation “MOOO!”, Doja Cat proves to audiences that she is no one hit-wonder with the release of Hot Pink, a sophomore album proving her audacity as an artist. While Amala signaled an effortless and playful entrance to the rap world, Hot[Read More…]
‘Pang’ is for crying in the ocean
Caroline Polachek is no novice: The singer-songwriter has produced prolifically over the past two decades as part of indie synthpop duo Chairlift, released an album under the name Ramona Lisa, and even boasts a writing credit on Beyonce’s critically lauded 2013 self-titled release. Pang, her solo debut, is a near-perfect breakup[Read More…]
