Indie
Paris Jackson’s The Soundflowers Release Debut EP: Stream
The Soundflowers, the new musical project of Michael Jackson’s daughter Paris Jackson and her partner Gabriel Glenn, have today released their self-titled debut EP. Stream the five-track effort below via Apple Music and Spotify. Jackson and Glenn first connected on the Sunset Strip after the former caught a performance of the latter’s band, TrashDögs. The pair began sharing music and writing together, finding themselves a natural artistic fit. With Jackson encouraged to share her own music for the first time, they entered the studio with producer Mike Malchicoff (King Princess) and GRAMMY-winning mixer Rob Kinelski (Billie Eilish). The results are something far away from Jackson’s pop lineage, with The Soundflowers focusing instead on acoustic and indie folk sounds with hints of “bluegrass...
Bright Eyes Play “Mariana Trench” on Colbert: Watch
On Monday night, Bright Eyes delivered their first performance together in nearly a decade. The Conor Oberst-led group appeared on the Late Show with Stephen Colbert to perform their new song “Mariana Trench”. The beloved indie outfit went on hiatus after 2011’s The People’s Key, with Oberst embarking on a solo career and eventually launching Better Oblivion Community Center with Phoebe Bridgers. Now, Bright Eyes are back, and it’s great to see Oberst, Mike Mogis, and Nate Walcott all in one place — even with the corona-conscious social distancing. For their performance of “Mariana Trench”, Bright Eyes eschewed split-screen and other quarantine camera tricks, keeping the presentation simple. The band members were dressed down, joined by backup singers Lucius in their bright ...
Hinds Give a Track by Track Breakdown of New Album The Prettiest Curse: Stream
With Track by Track, we give artists the chance to take their fans through their latest album one song at a time. Today, Hinds reveal how they cast The Prettiest Curse. After a delay precipitated by the ongoing pandemic, Hinds have today released their new album, The Prettiest Curse. Stream it below via Apple Music and Spotify. While the band’s sophomore album, I Don’t Run, and its predecessor, 2016’s Leave Me Alone, were steeped in lo-fi indie, the Madrid quartet take a turn towards a cleaner garage pop sound with their third full-length. Producer Jennifer Decilveo (The Wombats, Bat for Lashes, Joseph) helped Hinds find balance between their raw live energy and crisp melodies for the tightest LP from the band yet. In a note posted to Twitter on Thursday (June 4th), Hinds ac...
Ben Gibbard Shares New Single “Proxima B”, Covers Minor Threats” Filler”: Stream
Ben Gibbard may be having one of the busiest lockdowns in music. In addition to covering everyone from Radiohead to Phoebe Bridgers to The Beatles during his weekly livestreams, the Death Cab for Cutie frontman has released the charity single “Life in Quarantine”, performed the song on Colbert, and taken part in a number of charity concerts. Today, he’s back with another new track, “Proxima B”. The mid-tempo strummer was originally debuted live when Gibbard performed at the Smithsonian’s National Air & Space Museum’s virtual concert Space Songs: Through the Distance. He later played it during his from-home livestream. While both those renditions were acoustic, the studio version of “Proxima B” features complete instrumentation, contemplative synth sounds blowing gently beneath opt...
Yo La Tengo Unearth High Quality Version of Their “Tom Courtenay” Video: Watch
This year marks the 25th anniversary of Electr-O-Pura, the seminal seventh album from indie favorites Yo La Tengo. To honor the occasion, the band will reissue the record on double-LP for the first time this September, offering “the highest quality of audio the album has had on vinyl to date.” They’ve also unearthed a high quality version of their “Tom Courtenay” music video. Released in 1995, it’s believed the clip aired sparingly, “at least once on MTV’s 120 Minutes,” per a statement. It’s since been ripped and shared many times over online, though existing only as a low resolution visual. That is… until now: The video has been “exhumed” from label Matador’s “sub-basement storage facilities”, and for the very first time, is making its high quality premiere on YouTube. This means YLT...
Grace Sings Sludge Shares New Song “Friend to All”: Stream
Grace Sings Sludge, the solo project from Grace Cooper of The Sandwitches, has shared the new song “Friend to All”. It’s the latest single off her forthcoming album Christ Mocked and the End of a Relationship, which just received the new release date of July 17th. Christ Mocked… is her fifth album under the Grace Sings Sludge banner, but the first recorded at a proper studio. If “Friend to All” is any indication, she’s definitely benefiting from crisper production. The new single is a lovely journey into gothic folk. Over gentle, minor-key guitars, Cooper spins an anxious tale of a downtrodden woman who’s “been friends to all,” in her own way. Cooper’s singing is expansive and expressive; she loves to whittle down a vowel until it’s little more than a hum, and then flip her voice upwa...
Waxahatchee to Play Entire Catalog During Weekly Livestreams
Live music may not return until next year, but for the safety and longevity of music it’s probably for the best. On the bright side, it’s also the reason why everyone will get the chance to see Waxahatchee play her entire five-album discography next month. Today, Katie Crutchfield has announced a new livestream series where she will perform a different record in full each Monday in June. Crutchfield, the singer-songwriter behind the Waxahatchee moniker, plans to dig through her catalog in chronological order over the course of the next month. Starting on June 1st, she will play her debut solo album, American Weekend. Following that on June 8th, she will revisit her breakthrough sophomore record Cerulean Salt from 2013. June 15th will see her play 2015’s critically lauded Ivy Tripp, with a ...
The Lemon Twigs Share the Origins of New Song “Moon”: Stream
In our new music feature Origins, artists are given the chance to offer listeners insight into what brought about their latest track. Today, The Lemon Twigs map out how they got to the “Moon”. Despite being on lockdown like the rest of us, The Lemon Twigs are making 2020 a busy year. Last month, they released their surprise benefit album LIVE, and after a slight delay, they’ll drop their new proper full-length, Songs for the General Public, on August 21st via 4AD. They teased the LP with the kaleidoscopic lead single “The One” in March, and today they’re delivering a second shot with “Moon”. The Lemon Twigs’ Michael D’Addario may describe the tune as a perfecting of the band’s “dumpster sound” (more on the later), but trust he means that with all positivity. Ringing from the back...
Whitney Team with Waxahatchee to Cover John Denver’s “Take Me Home, Country Roads”: Stream
Chicago band Whitney has released a new cover of John Denver’s “Take Me Home, Country Roads” featuring the searing guest vocals of Waxahatchee. As if that weren’t enough, Whitney has also served up a version of the R&B classic “Rain” by SWV. While these two covers come from very different sonic backgrounds, together they help demonstrate the range of Whitney’s rock and country-soul sound. Drummer/vocalist Julien Ehrlich brings “Take Me Home, Country Roads” up an octave, allowing his relaxed tenor to float above those iconic southern riffs. For Waxahatchee, aka Katie Crutchfield, this kind of melody is her bread and butter. Her voice obliterates his when they join together for the chorus. But this happens when one half of the duet has a bigger natural instrument than the other, and the ...
Deb Never Surprise Releases New Benefit EP Intermission: Stream
It’s the era of the quarantine album, and Deb Never has added her voice to the chorus. The Spokane native has shared a surprise new benefit EP, Intermission, recorded entirely during isolation. The eight-track effort features sparse instrumentations — largely just Never herself on guitar — though production assistance from Michael Percy, Shlohmo, Nedarb, Hoskins, D33J, and Clayjay give the songs a rich bedroom feel. Lyrically, the collection captures much of the milieu of these strange times, touching on “solitude, post-apocalyptic metaphors, and an overall longing for simplicity.” Available for purchase via Bandcamp, proceeds from Intermission will go to Direct Relief, an organization providing PPE and other essential supplies to workers on the frontlines of the pandemic. The choice of ch...
Elliott Smith’s Self-Titled Sophomore Album Gets 25th Anniversary Reissue
This July marks the 25th anniversary of Elliott Smith’s sophomore self-titled album. To celebrate the occasion, Kill Rock Stars has announced a deluxe reissue of the LP, set for release on August 28th. Official Smith family archivist Larry Crane pulled the closest possible recordings to the original Elliott Smith mix downs from scores of reels, cassettes, files, and DAT tapes to give the album a fresh remaster. The special edition comes housed in a 52-page coffee table book featuring handwritten lyrics, stories from Smith’s friends and collaborators about the era, and two dozen previously unreleased images from photographer JJ Gonson. One of those new photographs is the original image that became the album’s cover art. What’s more, the collection includes the previously unreleased Liv...
Local Natives Team with Sylvan Esso for New Version of “Dark Days”: Stream
Local Natives (photo by Jonathan Chu) and Sylvan Esso’s Amelia Meath (photo by Shervin Lainez) Way back in March — when bands were still able to perform for live audiences — Local Natives debuted a new version of their song “Dark Days” featuring Sylvan Esso’s Amealia Meath on Kimmel. Today, they’ve shared the studio version of the indie collaboration. The update of the track from 2016’s Sunlit Youth finds Meath adding a brand new verse that, as Local Natives puts it, “taps into the nostalgia and the longing we all feel for a different time.” The new take was mixed by Spike Stent, known for his work with Madonna and Björk. “It was a joy to dip into summertime with Local Natives,” Meath said of working with the band. “‘Dark Days’ is a beautiful illustration of being youn...
