Four years ago, Cuban-born musician Hector Tellez Jr. was living in Havana: playing local clubs several nights a week, delivering passionate performances of well-oiled melodic blues rock. His style, merging the grit of Muddy Waters wailing on electric guitars with the tender-hearted yet mysterious air of Jeff Buckley, was not always welcomed by the locals, […]
In the summer of 2020, while stuck at his parent’s house in Minneapolis, Bobby Kabeya was recording his neighbor’s wind chimes with his phone in the middle of the night. He thought that those early morning chimes, birds, and tree breezes would complement the acoustic textures that now open his latest EP, gaps, which was […]
Enumclaw call themselves the best band since Oasis. That’s what they have listed in their social media bios, but they don’t sound much like them. There is scarcely anything about Enumclaw’s sound that resembles Britpop because they are neither British nor pop. Still, their list of influences is notably eclectic, which includes Drake, New Edition, […]
Music isn’t just a plug-and-play affair to Brooklyn indie duo Toledo — it’s a bond deeper than songwriting. That brotherhood defines the duo’s debut LP, How It Ends (out today on Grand Jury Music), which blends modern indie rock stylings with ‘90s adult contemporary flourishes and the gloomy musings of Elliott Smith. Toledo sprang from […]
The onset of the pandemic separated most of us from our routines and normal sources of support. It hurt, but it wasn’t always bad. The members of Chicago indie-pop band Divino Niño are among those who found freedom in the isolation. They exited 2020 with an album that’s fun, thoughtful, and possibly even healing, by […]
Dear Boy are on their own timeline. They’re not beholden to any current musical trends. Their work feels evergreen. It’s bittersweet and unabashedly nostalgic. It recalls ‘80s/’90s U.K. post-punk, new wave, and goth rock, especially the Cure, New Order, the House of Love, Pulp, Roxy Music, and the Jesus and Mary Chain, but manages to […]
Kids today … with their memes, vapes and disdain for all things old. Don’t they know what they’re missing, like the satisfaction that comes with learning how to play and eventually master an actual instrument that isn’t a laptop? You’d be forgiven for ascribing such a sentiment to a local boomer or aging music critic, […]
The prom queen, characterized by unkempt makeup and a tattered dress while emanating a histrionic vibe, is a pop culture symbol with extensive lineage. Courtney Love used the aesthetic for the cover of Hole’s 1994 alternative classic album Live Through This. In 2021, pop behemoth Olivia Rodrigo deployed it for Sour Prom, her concert film. […]
Given the Zoom fatigue of the past two years, you can’t blame Doechii for having her camera off during our conversation. Still, despite the possible interview burnout she’s experiencing, her energy is palpable: Our faceless face-to-face chat flows freely from new music to her zodiac sign to who would win in a fight, Junie B. […]
For any musical artist, visuals are often a key component of their work. But for Rare Americans, it’s what sets them apart from their peers. At the heart of the band’s work is its penchant for storytelling. Their fascination with the way people interact in the world echoes throughout their music. But their entire unique […]