In The Number Ones, I’m reviewing every single #1 single in the history of the Billboard Hot 100, starting with the chart’s beginning, in 1958, and working my way up into the present. What hath “Hollaback Girl” wrought? In the first half of the ’00s, when rap and R&B utterly dominated the pop charts, it […]
Zulu – “We’re More Than This”
Tonight, the Show Me The Body/Jesus Piece/Scowl/Zulu tour touches down in Richmond. Reports from last night’s Philly opener have been tremendous, and I will tell you what, I am ready for this shit. I need it. A bunch of the bands on that tour have new music coming out, and LA hardcore avengers Zulu have […]
Jon Wurster Leaves Superchunk
Drummer Jon Wurster has been a member of North Carolina institution Superchunk for a very, very long time. Wurster is one of the best drummers and busiest men in indie rock. He also plays with the Mountain Goats and Bob Mould’s band, and he’s a big part of the long-running series The Best Show, but […]
Sam Hunt – “Walmart”
It’s been three years since reluctant country superstar Sam Hunt released his sophomore album Southside, and that album came out six years after his debut Montevallo. Hunt seemed like the most exciting, up-to-date thing in Nashville when he first arrived, and he never quite decided if he wanted to be a country-industry insider or a […]
The Number Ones: Nelly Furtado’s “Promiscuous” (Feat. Timbaland)
In The Number Ones, I’m reviewing every single #1 single in the history of the Billboard Hot 100, starting with the chart’s beginning, in 1958, and working my way up into the present. Selling out is an art. It’s not an easy thing to do. When you come from somewhere even slightly left of center, […]
Lisel – “Stalactite”
Patterns For Auto-Tuned Voices And Delay is shaping up fascinatingly. Lisel’s latest has already given us “One At A Time” and “Immature,” and today she’s shared a mesmerizing new one called “Stalactite.” The song builds fractured beauty out of chopped up vocal samples and synth oscillations, forgoing words altogether but still saying a lot. The […]
OK Cool – “normal c”
Bridget Stiebris and Haley Blomquist are OK Cool, a Chicago-based indie band with a new EP on the way. It’s called fawn, and it blows through eight songs in 17 minutes. Lead single “normal c,” out today with a video by Justin Sheehan and Brian Garbrecht of Roadhouse Productions, is full of snaking riffs and […]
Watch Margo Price & Sharon Van Etten Play “Radio” On The TV
Strays, the splendid new Margo Price album, features Sharon Van Etten on a song called “Radio.” (Hook: “Only thing I have on is the radio.”) Last night, Price and Van Etten played that one on James Corden’s Late Late Show, backed by a pulsing synth and a rollicking rock band. Check out their performance below.
Depeche Mode – “Ghosts Again”
Depeche Mode will return next month with Memento Mori, their first album since 2017’s Spirit and the first since keyboardist Andy Fletcher’s death last year. The band, now officially just Dave Gahan and Martin Gore, has shared the new album’s lead single today. It’s called “Ghosts Again, and it’s… fantastic? Like better than I expected […]
Civic – “Fly Song”
Last year, the Melbourne rockers Civic came out of nowhere with their stomp-ass debut album Future Forecast. They didn’t waste any time building on that momentum. Civic signed with ATO, and tomorrow — less than a year after the release of Future Forecast — they’ll release their sophomore LP Taken By Force. We’ve already posted […]