Rhian Teasdale and Hester Chambers make a nifty racket together. Hailing from the Isle of Wight, the longtime friends decided to form the band Wet Leg just a couple years ago and quickly got down to the business of crafting … Continue reading The New Releases Shelf — Wet Leg
ROKIA KONÉ AND JACKNIFE LEE, Bamanan (Real World) — You don’t have to understand the language Rokia Koné sings in on Bamanan to feel the power of her words. A gifted performer from Mali, Koné expresses herself with resonant intensity, the … Continue reading Medium Rotation — Bamanan; Angel in Real Time; Squeeze
SPOON Lucifer on the Sofa (Matador) — Ten albums deep, there’s only so much boat rocking Spoon is likely to do at this point. They can change recording locales and approaches, layer on different sonic techniques, and try to tap … Continue reading Medium Rotation — Lucifer on the Sofa; Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You; Life on Earth
BLACK COUNTRY, NEW ROAD Ants from Up There (Ninja Tune) — If Ants from Up There must be the valedictory statement from this particular lineup of Black Country, New Road, at least it’s a bold, bristling farewell. Just days before … Continue reading Medium Rotation — Ants From Up There; Pompeii; Lighten Up
Although a sharp, evocative songwriter who regularly delivers new albums stuffed full of beautifully tarnished gems, Chan Marshall gets a lot of mileage out of repurposing other performers’ material. Titled with admirable clarity and directness, Covers is the third instance … Continue reading Medium Rotation — Covers; The Boy Named If; Anaïs Mitchell
For Mitski, everything’s different now. Or rather, everything clearly started to feel different for her at some point during the long post-release promotional and support cycle for her fifth full-length album, the exceptional Be the Cowboy. Somewhere in there, this … Continue reading The New Releases Shelf — Laurel Hell
Coffee for Two 