“I knew a girl who wrote ‘Silent All These Years’,” spits Tori Amos with startling venom, as ‘Shush’, the stentorian opener to her 18th album grinds to a close. “Where is she?” It’s a good question, since the Tori Amos who wrote ‘Silent All These Years’ all those years ago is in her sixties now and there are those who still favour its parent album, 1992’s magical Little Earthquakes.
So, yes, a good question, but not an entirely fair one and Amos is clearly irked by it. She’s moved on of course, but by the closing ’23 Peaks’, she’s admitting, “I need your help to change me back/Back into the woman I want to be”.
She remains a woman with a distinctive voice and an even more distinctive way with a Bösendorfer, but as she’s matured,…
Category: pop
Michael: Songs from the Motion Picture is the official companion album to the brand-new biopic, Michael. This album highlights 13 songs showcased in the film, spanning from The Jackson 5 to The Jacksons to Michael’s chart-topping solo success with “Off the Wall” and “Thriller.”
…Filling the superstar’s shoes is his nephew (and son of brother Jermaine) Jaafar Jackson, who reportedly will do some of his own singing in the film. Despite that, the soundtrack features only Michael’s original vocals. The movie’s screenplay has been penned by Academy Award nominee and Tony winner John Logan (Gladiator, The Aviator on film; Red, Moulin Rouge! on stage) and also stars Colman Domingo as Joe Jackson, Nia Long as Katherine Jackson, Kendrick Sampson…
Until recently, Riya Mahesh’s biography nailed nearly every beat of all-American academic achievement, following a familiar arc from early piano lessons to being crowned prom queen, like Olivia Rodrigo’s well-adjusted Wario. But after hitting a snag and failing to get into Juilliard (happens…), the musician regrouped during the pandemic with a SoundCloud account, a trial run of Logic, and nothing to lose.
As Quiet Light, the Texas-born, Boston-based producer has gone on to release multiple albums of increasingly accomplished art pop, along the way nabbing opening spots for Nilüfer Yanya, Chanel Beads, Ana Roxanne, and Hovvdy. Naturally, she’s managed all this while also powering through medical school.
Kahan surprise dropped The Great Divide: The Last of the Bugs – an extended version of the new album, featuring four new tracks and bringing the track list to a massive 21 songs.
Instead of tacking the new songs at the end of the album, Kahan decided to sprinkle them throughout. “Lighthouse” is the first of the new songs, landing at No. 5 on the tracklist, sandwiched in between the already released “Downfall” and “Paid Time Off.” The next track added is “Staying Still,” which comes after “Paid Time Off” and before the album’s titular track. The final two new songs, “A Few of Our Own” and “Orbiter” land much further down the album at No. 19 and No. 20, respectively.
The Great Divide serves as the follow-up to Kahan’s breakthrough hit album…
Doug Gillard’s formidable body of recordings is as impressive as it is voluminous, encompassing his work as a key member of such notable combos as Guided by Voices, Nada Surf, Death of Samantha, Cobra Verde, and Gem, as well as an array of noted collaborations with the likes of Richard Buckner, Neko Case, Bill Fox, and The Hold Steady. Parallel Stride is the Ohio-bred, New York-based singer/songwriter/multi- instrumentalist’s fourth official solo album.
Although he’s well established as a luminary of the American indie-rock community, Gillard’s musical sensibility is firmly rooted in the time-honored old-school virtues of catchy melodic craft, emotionally resonant lyrics and emotion-charged performances. Parallel Stride standouts…
With every successive album she makes, Carla dal Forno‘s songwriting becomes clearer, more upfront, and more emotionally direct. She actually intended her fourth solo effort to be more abstract, perhaps closer to the mystery-shrouded experimental work of her earlier group F ingers, but as she was writing the songs, she found that they only made sense when she wrote about her emotional experiences in plain language. Her recording environment also helped shape the directness of the songs. Instead of living in a busy city, she had relocated to a small country town which offered stillness and solitude, making it easier to reflect on her life situations and focus on the truth. That said, even though Confession lays deeply guarded feelings bare,…
…With his highly influential band Shoes, Gary Klebe’s been a veteran of the power pop scene since the 1970s. But now, in his 60s, he’s putting out his debut solo record. And it is truly solo: Klebe performs all the vocals, plays most of the instruments, and produced and mixed the album, largely in his basement.
The result is a refreshingly mature take on the genre. Klebe’s hooks and melodies are as bright as ever, but that contrast between music and lyrics is more pronounced and complicated. Gone is idealism; in its place, lived experience. Klebe’s distinct tenor remains robust, but now there’s also a soulful weariness to it on songs like “Invading My Space,” akin to how Brian Wilson sounded on his later solo work. It adds a gravitas to…
Electronic dance music and the church might seem like unlikely bedfellows, when in fact they are not. Both share a sense of reaching the divine, of collective worship, of mantra and sacred rites. DJs, like the clergy, aren’t the focal point but the messengers, bringing the congregations The Word from on high. You’ll hear “take me higher” on Saturday night and Sunday morning. Diamond Cutter, the new album from Eve Maret, doesn’t interrogate faith in an overt way, but the trappings of faith offer a framework for understanding why it is electronic music of the highest order.
Maret, an electronic musician based out of Nashville, was raised as Christian, went to Mass three times a week, and has spoken of the “feeling of transcendence” she got from…
Fans of the darker side of modern musical forms, particularly Swans, have Jarboe somewhere in their minds and surely in their music collections. As a solo artist, Jarboe has made a series of career-defining recordings, 15 in all, before Sightings, her latest. Yet, it took her some eight years between The Cut of the Warrior (2018) and her latest offering, so what is there to expect?
Well, the musical direction is the one Jarboe followed from the beginning of her career, and in that respect, there’s nothing new to report. Yet, what did change is that the quality of her songwriting and performance has grown for the better as time passes. There is a sort of assurance that comes along with experience that exudes here, with practically no lapses in…
Los Angeles power-pop specialists The Pretty Flowers are back with a grand return, and there is a reinforced edge to the melodic pop sound that marks Never Felt Bitter as the group’s transition into exceptional new territory.
The opening salvo of “Thief of Time” and “To Be So Cool” set the picture out for what this group are all about, both tracks are a complete bolt from the blue, endless ringing guitar and the drumming from Sean Johnson is absolute perfection, who keeps the entire album searing forward in a relentless pace. Never Felt Bitter marks the group’s debut on Forge Again Records and was written in the aftermath of guitarist and vocalist Noah Green’s change of surroundings, making the switch from the bright lights of Los Angeles to…
As David Lowery, the director, was writing the fictional pop star Mother Mary for his new film of the same name, he spent a lot of time studying the last 25 years in music. He listened to Taylor Swift (whose Reputation concert film inspired the performances in the film), Lorde and FKA twigs, who appears on screen as a medium named Imogene. But as the film’s haunted love story between Mary (played by Anne Hathaway) and her former best friend and designer Sam Anselm (Michaela Coel) emerged, his listening habits shifted.
“The pop music fell away and other music started to enter that sphere,” he says in A24’s New York offices. He’s sitting beside twigs and Hathaway the day after the trio attended…
The many-time Brit Award nominee Jessie Ware has cemented her status as a modern-day disco queen — from the turning point that was her fourth studio album, 2020’s What’s Your Pleasure?, to her sixth, Superbloom.
On Superbloom, Ware leans further into playfulness, not-so-subtly transporting listeners to a time of big hair and light-up dance floors. Her songs, once defined by ethereal, upbeat love ballads, have transformed into sexy, soulful singles about lust. Her steamy, innuendo-laden “Sauna” evokes Olivia Newton-John’s 1981 hit, “Physical.” “If you wanna / Last longer / I don’t need faster / I need stronger / Take it to the sauna,” she commands over funky synths and heavy breaths.
In her previous discography, Ware has…
The very first release on Frontier Records in March 1980 was an EP by Pasadena’s Flyboys – a power pop/punk band that began in 1977 with singer/songwriter John Curry and Jim “Trash” Decker from The Crowd (and tangentially, Jay from The Simpletones, who would later sign to Posh Boy). Flyboys gigged all over the Southland, paying their dues opening for every national and local punk band from Huntington Beach to Hollywood. They were anything but typical punks with their day-glo clothes, Cuban heels, and maddeningly catchy songs. Infectious hooks and John Curry’s bleached-blonde pompadour were the band’s trademarks.
Lisa Fancher interviewed Flyboys when she was a rock scribe at the Los Angeles Herald Examiner. The band’s lack of traction…
When deary, the dreampop three-piece composed of Ben Easton (guitar), Dottie Cockram (vocals, guitar) and Harry Catchpole (drums), named their debut album Birding, it wasn’t just as an homage to our feathered friends, they were referencing the sense of expansion, wonder, and abandon their music evokes. They chose the title to draw attention to the direct impact humans have on the world around us, whether that be nature, or ourselves.
“I got really into reading about birds and all these historical stories and poetry about them,” says singer/guitarist Dottie. “You find these beautiful images of birds that represent hope, but they’re also animals. Some of them, like vultures and crows, are a sign of death to some people. They represent all these different…
There’s often a fine line between homage and pastiche, between influence and theft. And all too often, bands fall on the wrong side of that line. Not, however Middleman. The London-based four-piece, who formed just a few years ago, certainly don’t hide who and what their influences are, but rather than crafting a watered-down version of them, they use those influences as a foundation and stepping stone to bring them into now with youthful exuberance and energy.
Caught between power-pop and punk rock, Following the Ghost is the band’s debut LP, and comes off the back of two acclaimed EPs, December 2022’s ‘Cut Out the Middleman’, and 2024’s ‘John Dillinger Died for You’. Raucously unhinged yet simultaneously full of catchy hooks,…
Stevie Nicks had much to prove when she stepped out on her own for the first time and crafted Bella Donna. Despite attaining superstar success with Fleetwood Mac, the singer often took a back seat to the band’s other members — and, due to the group’s approach, faced limitations in getting her songs on an album. Along with Nicks’ status as a significant artistic force in her own right, that all changed with the timeless Bella Donna.
Sourced from the original analog master tapes, Mobile Fidelity’s numbered-edition hybrid SACD of the 1981 benchmark plays with superb transparency, dynamics, and detail. Benefitting from extraordinary clarity, openness, and separation, it captures what went down in the studio with tremendous realism…
On their first two albums Uni Boys shoehorned together New York Dolls-y swagger, punky attitude, glam rock glitter, and power pop hooks. The fit was close to being right on, but it felt like maybe the band hadn’t quite figured out what they wanted to be and the group’s two songwriters, Reza Matin and guitarist Noah Nash, maybe had different ideas where they wanted to go.
On their third album, usefully self-titled like many an album where the band undertakes a revamp, Matin and Nash are on the same page, the band have landed on a unified approach, and sound better than ever. This time around they’ve jettisoned almost all of the punk and Dolls-y hard rock in favor of a sprightly brand of power pop that’s reminiscent of the tight…
…19-track deluxe album, with four new songs.
The emergence of Laufey, the Icelandic-Chinese singer-songwriter who has become one Gen Z’s chief flag-waver for throwback pop, is largely attributable to her abundant talent. She has a sculptural alto that easily curves into her heart-on-sleeve lyrics, a knack for marrying 21st-century problems with fishhook melodies that recall standards from previous centuries, and a keen sense for framing those vocal lines in arrangements that highlight the tensions lurking underneath.
She’s also a product of her time, when critical masses in pop can develop away from the expected places. TikTok has the lipsync-showcase app Musical.ly in its DNA, and cuts from old Broadway hits, honky-tonk jukeboxes, and…
“I find the Scritti Politti syndrome absolutely hysterical,” said Duran Duran’s fedora-topped bassist John Taylor, reviewing the singles for Melody Maker in September 1982. “All these… radical Rough Trade bands suddenly deciding they want to be pop stars. They seem to have everything right but the songs. They have no perfect pop writers.” Taylor could speak with commercial authority at least, but the tell was he’d heard about Scritti Politti and their scheme to invade and master pop. Green Gartside’s new doctrine had spread in mere months.
Only in May, Green had laid out his starry ambitions to Lynden Barber, again in Melody Maker. “I think [Songs to Remember] is… a bit of a milestone in British pop,” he claimed.
Listeners could be forgiven for thinking Cold Beat was essentially Hannah Lew‘s solo project. The band’s lineup may have been a revolving door, but her softly compelling voice and fondness for icy electronics were always there. Nevertheless, Lew distinguishes herself as a solo artist on her self-titled debut album. The two albums Cold Beat released before going on hiatus, 2020’s Mother and the following year’s War Garden, were dense, ambitious statements; in comparison, Hannah Lew’s reflections on the opportunity for change that upheaval provides are strikingly direct. Lew describes it as a “wartime album,” and there’s a feeling of liberation from the start.
She begins the album with “one foot out the door/another in the other world” on…