Beck covered a Neil Young classic. That’s nice, right? One weary singer-songwriter icon saluting another? Beck comes from an alt-rock generation where everyone idolized Neil Young, and Beck himself is no exception. A few years ago, he and Jenny Lewis covered Young’s “Harvest Moon” at Red Rocks. Today, Beck has shared his own stripped-back acoustic […]
The War On Drugs – “Oceans Of Darkness” & “Slow Ghost”
Last month the War On Drugs announced a deluxe edition of last year’s I Don’t Live Here Anymore. It includes two unreleased songs, “Oceans Of Darkness” and “Slow Ghost.” The band debuted an early version of the former on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon back in 2020, and they’ve has been playing both of […]
The No Ones – “All The Stupid Days”
The No Ones — a self-described bi-continental team of collaborators comprising members of I Was A King, the Minus 5, and R.E.M. — released their debut album via Yep Roc in 2020; it was called The Great Lost No Ones Album. The collaborators (Peter Buck, Scott McCaughey, Arne Kjelsrud Mathisen, and Frode Stromstad) have now […]
Fred Again.. – “Bleu (Better With Time)”
Next month, UK production wizard Fred again… will release the third installment of his Actual Life album series. Out October 28, Actual Life 3 (January 1 – September 9 2022) expands on Fred’s predilection for building tracks out of voice notes from friends, audio from Instagram, and bits taken from songs sounds he hears in […]
Leggy – “Lipstick On The Mic”
The Cincinnati indie band Leggy’s 2019 full-length Let Me Know Your Moon inspired my colleague James Rettig to declare, “This album fucking rocks!” Today they’re back with their first new song since then, a woozy mid-fi rocker called “Lipstick On The Mic” that might have you swinging your hips and/or bobbing your head. The opening […]
Armani Caesar – “Paula Deen” (Feat. Westside Gunn)
Two years after she released her rock-solid Griselda Records album The Liz, the Buffalo rapper Armani Caesar is getting ready to follow it with The Liz 2. The new project was supposed to be out by now, but it got pushed back until next month. Still, The Liz 2 is shaping up nicely. We’ve already […]
Homeboy Sandman – “Satellite”
The Queens underground rap veteran Homeboy Sandman has been busy lately. Earlier this year, he released There In Spirit, an EP that he recorded with producer Illingsworth. Then, Sandman revived Lice, his collaborative project with Aesop Rock; their three EPs are now on streaming services. And today, Sandman has announced a new album called Still […]
YG – “Maniac”
All year, the Compton rap great YG has been releasing one-off singles like “Toxic” and the J. Cole/Moneybagg Yo collab “Scared Money.” It’s all been leading up to next week, when YG will release his new album I Got Issues. A couple of days ago, YG shared the new album’s tracklist, which includes appearances from […]
SpiritWorld – “Deathwestern”
In the prime pandemic time of 2020, Las Vegas musician Stu Folsom put together a metallic hardcore band called SpiritWorld and released the hellacious debut album Pagan Rhythms. That album alone was enough to get attention; SpiritWorld’s whole sound is a theatrical riff-rumble attack, and the LP is a concept album about Satan coming to […]
R.A.P. Ferreira – “Mythsysizer Instinct” (Feat. Hemlock Ernst)
R.A.P. Ferreira, the indie-rap veteran who used to use the name Milo, has his own ideas of how he wants to conduct his career, and he’s been doing it in ways that have refreshingly little to do with anyone’s expectations. After moving in a kind of beat-poetry direction on his 2021 album bob’s son: R.A.P. […]