When Tom Ogden began writing what would become Blossoms‘ fourth studio album, he was communicating through a character — one he dubbed “the writer.” The lead singer and guitarist was driven by a narrative that wasn’t necessarily centered around him — or so he thought. But it wasn’t long until Ogden had a realization: the […]
Ever since she broke on to the scene nearly 20 years ago, life for Avril Lavigne has been, well, complicated. Lavigne went from teenage pop-punk sensation to bonafide pop star to shifting away from the bright lights of Hollywood to focus on herself. She appeared in movies, launched a clothing line, formed a charity and […]
The “triple lindy” is a physics-defying dive composed of multiple flips completed between several diving boards. Rodney Dangerfield, comically unfit and forever disrespected, “completes” it (with stunt-double assistance and cutaways) in the 1986 comedy Back to School. Unlike Dangerfield, Sndtrak has garnered seemingly ubiquitous respect for his neck-breaking, jaw-dropping flips of familiar samples. Madlib, 9th […]
Every member of Korn tells me, individually, that they wanted to “think outside the box” for the rollout of their 14th album Requiem – in those exact words. To their credit, they know that a band nearly 30 years into their career merely saying “we wanted to think about the box” sounds like they’re checking […]
In February 2020, Sasami Ashworth packed her acoustic guitar and headed to a songwriter’s retreat in Washington state. The classically-trained musician thought she would return with Joni Mitchell-esque material. The night before the retreat, however, Ashworth found herself in a Los Angeles dive bar where sludge metal band Barishi was performing. As the cymbals and […]
Carson McHone’s dad was a local beer distributor in Austin and knew every bartender on the circuit. In turn, that networking helped her land gigs at honky tonks and dives across the city, until she, with only a handful of biographical songs and no record deal. McHone wound up opening for Shakey Graves in 2015, […]
In the months leading up to the pandemic, the typically carefree dudes in Twin Cities-based indie-rock outfit Hippo Campus hit their breaking point. They’d been touring for more than six years straight, with no more than two-month breaks between shows at any given time. “We were straight-up burnt out,” guitarist Nathan Stocker admits, noting how […]
“People always ask me why I chose country music,” Lavender Country’s Patrick Haggerty says. “The truth is, there wasn’t any genre in 1973 that was ready to embrace a queer Marxist!” Lavender Country, his self-titled debut, was the first-ever country record by a gay artist. Selling only 1,000 records at the time, a copy now […]
“I hope I can actually sing and tears aren’t just streaming down my face,” Beach House‘s Victoria Legrand says with a giggle. Over Zoom from their headquarters in Baltimore, Legrand and bandmate Alex Scally appear relaxed and eager for things to return to normal. They haven’t played in front of a live audience in nearly three […]
It’s popular for artists to say these days that they don’t care about genre, but Frank Turner really doesn’t care about genre. We’re not talking about going from indie to alternative or something here, but a punk rocker (who’s often bridged the gap between folk, punk, and other forms of Englishman-with-an-acoustic-guitar) releasing an electro-pop album […]