Remember live music? Us, too. There’s reason to be extra grateful for recorded music right now (and for all the artists streaming sets into our living rooms), but it’s not the same as packing into a whatever-sized room with a bunch of other people to hear some tunes played just for you. Sweating, swaying, swooning, […]
Wayne Coyne is sitting in a hotel lobby in Indianapolis, polishing off three espresso shots from the adjacent Starbucks kiosk. “I always say, energy is happiness,” he muses after taking a sip. Doling out fortune cookie philosophies about something as mundane as caffeine intake is what you hope for from The Flaming Lips frontman, who […]
Greg Weaver has been playing video games since…well, since he can remember. Growing up, his family had an Atari system and his cousin had a classic Nintendo NES. One particularly exciting Christmas, the family got a Super Nintendo system. The Weaver siblings spent hours playing on the consoles, immersed in the worlds contained therein, but […]
Haunting vocals paired with gentle guitar strumming define Sam Marandola’s solo project Oldest Sea. There’s no need for heavy rhythms on her self-released LP Sage Burner—it showcases just how effective pure instrumentation paired with melancholy vocals can be. With Winterweeds, Brandon [...]
Lucy Dacus is as humble as they come. For starters, she recently secured an address in her hometown of Richmond. A move to a major arts hub like L.A. or NYC? Not on the radar. She exclusively speaks about her self-titled act using the plural pronoun “we,” naturally tugging her bandmates into [...]
The keyboard skills of Cory Henry came to be widely known through his work in the instrumental jazz orchestra Snarky Puppy, but Henry’s been blowing minds for more than two decades. Art of Love, the new album from Cory Henry & The Funk Apostles, is a flashback to the 1970s that’s filled [...]
Though the path of bluegrass and folk-rock is well-worn, it gained new life in 2004 when Trampled by Turtles made slow but steady progress to the inner circle of indie rock. Since then, the Duluth, Minnesota, band turned out one fast-pickin’ chart climber after another, and played in all 50 [...]
The Jellyman’s Daughter has gone from busking in the streets of Edinburgh eight years ago to making an album in 2018 that BBC Radio’s Ricky Ross calls “One of my favourite records of the year.” Known for soulful harmonies accompanied by cello, guitar, and mandolin, the duo’s music transcends [...]
Experimental group Algiers might be this generation’s quintessential protest band. Hailing from Atlanta, the four-man act creates music with lyrics as radical and furious as its sound, with influences ranging from post-punk to Southern gospel. The band’s name refers to a famous anti-colonial [...]
Pittsburgh’s dark-pop quartet Dinosoul takes experimental-indie to the next level, mixing synth, reverb and delay-heavy guitar riffs with emotional vocals and health and wellness. Yes, that’s right. Band founder Donny Donovan is also a health, wellness and fitness coach, and Dinosoul offers a [...]
The psychedelic folk-rock band Liz Cooper and the Stampede formed at the unlikeliest of places—a golf course. Two things in life came easily to Cooper: golf and music. So, when she moved to Nashville, she found work at a country club, and eventually recorded her first EP with some co-workers. [...]
Serious but not pretentious, Anderson East’s modern soul draws from the Alabamian’s raw vocals and charismatic live performances in which he rocks out a sinuous blend of rhythm and blues, gospel and country. East’s latest release, Encore, is the second record guided by hot-handed producer Dave [...]
Known for her impact on pop music as well as her incredible live shows, P!nk is taking her countless hits around the globe on her Beautiful Trauma world tour. Despite using aerial stunts, Vegas-style production and lots of backup dancers, P!nk wins from the first note with her vocal talents. [...]
Since its inception more than a decade ago, Dr. Dog has been paying it forward musically with nods of respect to ’60s-era sound, as defined by bands such as The Beach Boys and The Beatles. On its new album, Critical Equation (out on April 27), the Philly-based band promises a rekindled [...]
Of the many roads that could be taken, The Alt—an Irish folk band comprised of John Doyle (guitar, bouzouki, vocals), Eamon O’Leary (guitar, bouzouki, vocals) and Nuala Kennedy (flutes, whistles, vocals)—chooses the beaten path on its music journey. The band’s self-titled debut is not, however, [...]
Canadian chamber-folk group Beyond the Pale formed in 2001, employing expert musicianship and dynamic song-crafting to create a sound that takes from jazz, reggae and classical music, while being heavily accented by Balkan and Romanian tradition. The group crosses musical borderlines on [...]
From the ambient, simplistic beats of her track “high,” to the steady, head-bobbing chord progression of her latest cut “nightmare weekend,” local talent Maria DeHart’s music is as varied and unique as the town she plays in. DeHart takes the stage to celebrate the release of her new EP, Fade, [...]
Luis Soler bought his first guitar for $30. It was a pawn shop find, “the worst possible guitar,” he says while nursing a pint of beer at Champion Brewing Company on Halloween eve. “Metallica,” “Slayer” and other metal band names were scratched into the guitar’s paint, says Soler, prompting [...]
It might come as a surprise to learn that alt-J members conceive of themselves as a folk band. After all, the U.K. trio’s synths, patterns and rhythms don’t conjure the same aesthetic as an acoustic guitar-wielding troubadour. The experimental art-rock does, however, evoke its own brand of [...]
On Seth Glier’s new album, Birds, he processes grief through songcraft, touching on themes such as a broken criminal justice system, capitalism through fracking and the fragility of life. The Grammy-nominated artist, who’s been compared to Bruce Springsteen and Billy Joel, made the record in a [...]
There’s no disputing that digital music and online platforms have radically changed how we listen to and discover music. The DIY scene has aced this technological inroad, benefiting from the access and control it gives to up-and-coming artists. Today’s unsigned musicians release their own [...]
Beats and brotherhood Made up of brothers Tahir, Stephen and Courtney Panton Jr., along with their father, Courtney Panton Sr., New Kingston infuses urban style into its Jamaican heritage, bringing fresh innovation to its soulful, rhythmic reggae. Starting musical careers at an early age in New [...]
Eli Cook picked up the guitar one fortuitous summer when his older brother went to baseball camp. Cook’s brother had been taking lessons and left an electric guitar—which actually belonged to their older sister—behind in Nelson County. “It seemed cool,” says Cook of the idea of playing guitar. [...]