Indie
Andrew Bird Breaks Down New Album Inside Problems Track by Track: Exclusive
Our feature series Track by Track allows artists to run through every song on their newest release. Today, Andrew Bird breaks down his latest album, Inside Problems. Multi-instrumentalist and singer-songwriter Andrew Bird returns today (June 3rd) with his newest full-length LP, Inside Problems. Inspired by complex thoughts awoken by silence and the idea of thresholds, Bird looks to offer wisdom on the lush 11 tracks. Bird has always remained busy. Prolific in his artistic output, whatever form that may take, he seems to have an unquenchable thirst to create. Preceded by 2019’s My Finest Work Yet, 2020’s holiday-themed Hark!, and 2021’s collaborative These 13, Inside Problems marks Bird’s fourth album in as many years. In the same time period, he’s also taken up acting (check out his perfor...
Song of the Week: The Smile Embrace Dramatic Balladry on “Free In the Knowledge”
Song of the Week breaks down and talks about the song we just can’t get out of our head each week. Find these songs and more on our Spotify Top Songs playlist. For our favorite new songs from emerging artists, check out our Spotify New Sounds playlist. This week, The Smile unleash a devastating, melancholy rumination on living with the consequences of the world around us. It’s as if Thom Yorke decided about a decade ago to commit himself to releasing some of the most devastating music of his career — which is kind of like a Carolina Reaper deciding to be spicier, or the Mariana Trench deciding that it’s not quite deep enough. There’s “Dawn Chorus” from his 2019 solo record ANIMA, “Unmade” from the Suspiria soundtrack, and pretty much everything off of Radiohead’s ...
Song of the Week: Phoebe Bridgers Returns With “Sidelines”
Song of the Week breaks down and talks about the song we just can’t get out of our head each week. Find these songs and more on our Spotify Top Songs playlist. For our favorite new songs from emerging artists, check out our Spotify New Sounds playlist. This week, Phoebe Bridgers more than delivers on her first solo release of 2022. For an artist whose discography is packed with piercingly sad lyrics, there is perhaps no line as nihilistic in Phoebe Bridgers‘ catalogue as the closer to her latest, “Sidelines”: “I used to think you could hear the ocean in a seashell/ What a childish thing.” Written for the upcoming Hulu adaptation of Sally Rooney’s Conversations with Friends, “Sidelines” is another slow, sad yee-haw from the indie singer-songwriter, the type for whi...
xiv and biosphere Share Origins of New Song “BLASTOFF!” with koven wei: Exclusive
With Origins, artists get the chance to share insights on their latest release. Today, xiv and biosphere share the inspiration behind their collaboration with Toronto-based artist koven wei. xiv and biosphere are getting intergalactic. Their joint project, Calamity (available to stream today, March 1st) is a 10-track journey that feels less like a cross between a concept album and an atmospheric mixtape, complete with star-crossed lovers and plenty of longing. Vocalist xiv and producer biosphere released track “On You” in October of 2021 before recruiting fellow Canadian up-and-coming artist koven wei for this next single. It’s no surprise that xiv mentions South Korean artist collective Dream Perfect Regime (DPR) as an influence — the extremely successful group has set the stage for...
Song of the Week: All Hail Florence + The Machine’s “King,” a Complicated Coronation Anthem
Song of the Week breaks down and talks about the song we just can’t get out of our head each week. Find these songs and more on our Spotify Top Songs playlist. For our favorite new songs from emerging artists, check out our Spotify New Sounds playlist. This week, Florence + the Machine assume their rightful place on the throne. Florence Welch has assumed a wide range of identities over the past 15 years. Since she first formed Florence + The Machine in 2007, Welch has been a punchy indie rocker; an empowerment anthem siren; a beguiling chanteuse; a dancefloor diva; a witchy woman; a poet. Like David Bowie before her and contemporaries like St. Vincent, Welch isn’t only writing and recording music with Florence + The Machine — she’s developing personae complete with richly-imagined aestheti...
Panda Bear on the Inspirations Behind Animal Collective’s ‘Time Skiffs’
As a band that helped inspire and define the 21st century indie music boom, Animal Collective has certainly earned the right to rest on its laurels. But listening to their new studio album, Time Skiffs, it’s obvious the group’s drive to play around in that bottomless sandbox of 12 notes remains as strong as ever. A frisky, adventurous nine-song set, Time Skiffs is Animal Collective at its exuberant best. You can feel the joy of discovery as Panda Bear (Noah Lennox), Avey Tare (David Portner), Geologist (Brian Weitz) and Deakin (Josh Dibb) explore ideas across bright, quirky soundscapes that are a delight to dip your toes into. Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news Speaking to Billboard from his newly built home studio in Lisbon, Portugal, Lennox says...
Top 12 Live Shows of 2021
Our 2021 Annual Report continues with our Top Live Shows list. As the year winds down, stay tuned for more awards, lists, and articles about the best music, film, and TV of 2021. You can find it all in one place here. Not to be dramatic, but the absence of live music for the majority of 2020 was miserable. In the face of some serious global trauma, many of us were looking for a communal experience to lift us up. Yet, with each scary news headline came an even scarier thought: Would live music ever return? And when it did, would it be the same? Lucky for us concertgoers, the first major wave of COVID-19 vaccinations in early 2021 allowed for us to visualize a world in which concerts could return safely, and as summer rolled around, we emerged from the fray and experienced live music again. ...
Song of the Week: Bon Iver and Nicholas Britell’s Cinematic “Second Nature”
We’re taking a break from our Annual Report to highlight the Song of the Week. In this feature, we talk about the song we just can’t get out of our head each week. Find these songs and more on our Spotify Top Songs playlist. For our favorite new songs from emerging artists, check out our Spotify New Sounds playlist. This week, Bon Iver shares a standout track from the soundtrack of Netflix’s Don’t Look Up. Despite the relatively mixed reviews pouring in, film lovers are definitely discussing Netflix’s incredibly star-studded Don’t Look Up. If the promise of Jennifer Lawrence’s return to the screen, Leonardo DiCaprio, Meryl Streep, Ariana Grande, and Timothee Chalamet (among many, many others) wasn’t enough, the music for the movie is worth taking a look at as well. The score for the film w...
Outside Lands 2021 Day 2 Live Gallery: Vampire Weekend, Lizzo, Rico Nasty, Angel Olsen and More
Day 2 of Outside Lands brought double the energy and double the costumes: with plenty of Ted Lassos, Squid Game tracksuits, Super Mario and Where’s Waldo outfits, San Francisco showed up on Halloween Eve (October 30th) in style. Even more eclectic were Saturday’s epic performances, capped off brilliantly by a one-of-a-kind headlining set from Lizzo. Elsewhere in Golden Gate Park on Saturday was a rock-forward set from Vampire Weekend, a pair of great rap shows from Rico Nasty and Aminè (who replaced Young Thug at the last minute), and an impressive, face-melting performance from Post Animal. Advertisement Related Video The Strokes’ Albert Hammond Jr. even showed up to make cream puffs with chef Elizabeth Falkner at the fest’s new Gastromagic stage — proving that Outside Lands is a festival...
Confidence Man Signs With I OH YOU, Books a ‘Holiday’
The new deal comes ahead of “Holiday,” the first track lifted from Confidence Man’s forthcoming sophomore album. Expect this “Holiday” to blow your hair back. “We’ve been wanting to try a ‘hands in the air’ banger forever. Everybody does. It’s quite difficult,” Bones explains. “But for some reason, this song has dropped out of the heavens.” Self-produced, and mixed by Ewan Pearson, “Holiday” was “pretty much perfect from the get-go,” he notes. Speaking over the phone from Sydney, singer Janet Planet describes the new cut as “Underworld meets M.I.A.” True, that’s an unusual vibe, she admits, “but for some reason it works.” “Holiday” is due out Nov. 11. Confidence Man “embody everything an I OH YOU artist should,” comments label founder Johann Ponniah, “they make...
Warren Costello Steps Down From Australia’s Mushroom Group
He returned to the fold in March 2000, when he joined forces with Gudinski to launch Mushroom Group’s Liberation label, and later, as managing director of the indie powerhouse’s label activities. In 2017, Costello and Gudinski co-founded the Bloodlines label, offering creative services to its stable of heritage acts. Just two months ago, Bloodlines had a No. 1 on the ARIA Albums Chart with Jimmy Barnes’ Flesh And Blood, the title track for which Barnes dedicated to Gudinski at the late industry legend’s state memorial in March. Throughout his career, Costello showed a knack for spotting an opportunity. In August of this year, he launched Mushroom Group’s new film distribution and production company, Long Play Music Films, with Phil Lynott: Songs For While I’m Away, Emer Reynolds’ award-win...
In Lieu of ‘Roo: A Recap of Phoebe Bridgers, Brittany Howard, and Sylvan Esso in Nashville
Following the cancellation of Bonnaroo 2021, in which Hurricane Ida rendered the campgrounds and festival site unusable just days before kickoff, artists are seeking ways to still connect with fans. Among the acts already in middle Tennessee announcing last-minute shows are Leon Bridges, The Band Camino, and Zach Bryan. Saturday, September 4th featured one of the more stacked impromptu lineups of the weekend when Ascend Amphitheater in Nashville welcomed Sylvan Esso, Brittany Howard, and Phoebe Bridgers (with a negative COVID test or proof of vaccination required for entry). Stretching over four hours, the show allowed ample time onstage for all the artists. As Phoebe Bridgers put it, glancing at the nearly 7,000 people gathered in downtown Nashville, “Bonnaroo would’ve been tight…but this...
