I didn’t think too hard about dedicating the second-ever edition of this column to Ragne Wahlquist. The late Heavy Load frontman left an indelible mark on heavy metal, in his native Sweden and beyond, so writing about him after learning he’d died unexpectedly at the age of 69 just made sense. I stand behind that […]
Primal Scream Break Out Live Rarities At XTRMNTR 25th Anniversary Show In London
Primal Scream released their aggro electronic rock masterpiece XTRMNTR in 2000, which means it turned 25 this year. The band celebrated that quarter-century anniversary tonight with a full-album performance at the Roundhouse in London. For the main set, Bobby Gillespie and his band — which, sadly, did not feature the dearly departed Mani or XTRMNTR […]
Sleep Token Unleash Debut Coloring Book
Last year, the masked, anonymous, post-Ghost British quasi-metal duo Sleep Token merited a great deal of discussion in Eli Enis’ great Stereogum piece about the new class of stadium-metal acts. Since then, Sleep Token have had a banner year. They scored their first-ever #1 album with Even In Arcadia. They landed three songs on the […]
La Cucaracha
The 10 Best Jazz Albums Of 2025
So… what kind of a year was 2025 for jazz? Well, it marked the centennial of saxophonist Gene Ammons, drummer Roy Haynes, critic Nat Hentoff, pianist Jutta Hipp, saxophonist Art Pepper, pianist Oscar Peterson, drummer Dom Um Romão, and all-around performer Sammy Davis, Jr. Haynes almost lived to see it; he died last year at […]
Golden Globes 2026: Nominees Include Nick Cave, Jonny Greenwood, HUNTR/X
The cinematic awards race kicked off in earnest this morning, when Marlon Wayans and Skye P. Marshall announced the nominees for next year’s Golden Globe Awards. As usual, the nominations included a bunch of big musical names, and not just in the Best Original Song and Best Original Score categories. Because I’m writing this blog […]
Bladee – “Ingen hör” & “Förstelnad”
Swedish quasi-rapper Bladee released his opus Cold Visions last year, and he stayed busy in 2025 — dropping his EP Ste The Beautiful Martyr 1st Attempt, collaborating with Oklou and Mechatok and PinkPantheress, teaming up with his old friend Yung Lean on the singles “Inferno,” “Evil World,” and “Advent.” Today, Bladee shares a new two-song […]
Violet Grohl Shares Debut Original Song “THUM”
Violet Grohl, daughter of Dave, is 19 years old, but she’s been performing alongside her father for quite a while now. She’s contributed impressive guest vocals at various Foo Fighters shows and Nirvana reunions dating all the way back to pre-pandemic 2020, when she was just 13. The following year, she and Dave teamed up […]
Alison Wonderland – “Heaven” (Feat. Ninajirachi)
The Australian electronic producer Ninajirachi had a breakout year thanks to I Love My Computer, a set of tracks that bring brain-fried hyperactivity to the sounds of 2010s EDM. It placed highly on our list of the year’s best albums, and highlight “Fuck My Computer” landed on our songs list. She’s capping off her big […]
Garbage’s Shirley Manson Got Really, Really Pissed About The Beach Balls At Good Things Melbourne
Garbage frontwoman Shirley Manson has always been an outspoken figure, and she’s holding nothing back these days. Garbage recently finished what they say will be their final North American tour. Onstage, Manson regularly spoke out about the economic system of the present-day music industry. Now, Garbage are in Australia, and Manson is getting even madder […]