VARIOUS ARTISTS Dig Me In: A Dig Me Out Covers Album (self-released) — Starting with the surprise inclusion of 7-inch with two new tunes in the complete-discography box set Start Together as means of teasing their comeback, the second coming … Continue reading Medium Rotation — Dig Me In: A Dig Me Out Covers Album; CAZIMI

CARLY RAE JEPSEN The Loneliest Time (604 / Schoolboy / Interscope) — It’s well established by now that the Carly Rae Jepsen pop music factory is about as dependable as they come, every new widget of hooks and beats heaved … Continue reading Medium Rotation — The Loneliest Time; Love Me Forever

PLAINS I Walked With You a Ways (Anti-) — I Walked With You a Ways is the sound of kinship. Katie Crutchfield, the heart, soul, and everything else of Waxahatchee, and Jess Williamson bonded over the soulful country music that … Continue reading Medium Rotation — I Walked With You a Ways; Shufflemania!

ALVVAYS Blue Rev (Polyvinyl/ Transgressive) — Rev is a reasonable potent alcopop that’s been a staple of questionable choices for Canadian youth since the turn of the millennium. The beverage is offered in a range of colors, including blue, presumably … Continue reading Medium Rotation — Blue Rev; Desperately Imagining Someplace Quiet

THE BETHS Expert in a Dying Field (Carpark) — Elizabeth Stokes, frontwoman for the Beths, describes her band’s output as ““sweetly sung melodies and super-depressing lyrics.” That’s not only a very suitable description of the Beths’ material, particularly on the … Continue reading Medium Rotation — Expert in a Dying Field; Cool It Down

THE MOUNTAIN GOATS Bleed Out (Merge) — Presumably, John Darnielle has somehow eradicated the need for sleep. A Nobel is surely forthcoming. How else to explain the amazing output in recent years from the previously prolific and now practically omnipresent … Continue reading Medium Rotation — Bleed Out; 2007; Natural Brown Prom Queen

SYLVAN ESSO No Rules Sandy (Loma Vista) — On their prior albums, it was sometimes difficult to discern whether Sylvan Esso wanted to master or deconstruct pop. They decisively elide that question on their fourth studio full-length, No Rules Sandy, … Continue reading Medium Rotation — No Rules Sandy; In My Car

AMANDA SHIRES Take It Like a Man (ATO Records) — There’s a lot of backstory that can be weighed when listening to Take It Like a Man, the eighth solo album from Amanda Shires. By her own accounting, Shires was … Continue reading Medium Rotation — Take It Like a Man; Surrender

SOCCER MOMMY Sometimes, Forever (Loma Vista) — For her third full-length album as Soccer Mommy, Nashville-based singer-songwriter Sophie Allison enlisted fairly unlikely help from Oneohtrix Point Never’s Daniel Lopatin as producer. Her earthy, moody material seems somewhat at odds with … Continue reading Medium Rotation — Sometimes, Forever; Beatopia