The title of the new Sleater-Kinney album is nestled in the lyrics to the song “Small Finds,” which metaphorically evoke the needs felt by a desperate canine: “Is it food or garbage?/ It smells good enough/ Can you gimme a … Continue reading The New Releases Shelf — Little Rope

These past few years, it’s seemed like Mitski could disappear at any time. Given that her breakthrough album, Puberty 2, established her creative voice as enthralling but elusive, almost otherworldly in its abstract intensity, the vague danger that she might … Continue reading The New Releases Shelf — The Land Is Inhospitable and So Are We

Olivia Rodrigo gave no indication that she was going to have difficulty following up her sensational debut album, Sour. Surely, it would have been understandable had she been taken a little aback by the surge of commercial and critical success … Continue reading The New Releases Shelf — Guts

The background information on The Window, the fifth and latest album by Chicago band Ratboys, suggests they knew they had material that would benefit from an added level of commitment. The quartet broke from the usual practice of recording in … Continue reading The New Releases Shelf — The Window

I totally get that the name of the band comprised of Julien Baker, Phoebe Bridgers, and Lucy Dacus is a spectacularly snide joke, a jab at the effusive superlative of brilliance often bestowed upon young males with even the slightest … Continue reading The New Releases Shelf — The Record

Renaissance, the new album from Beyoncé, had me cackling with glee from it’s first moments. The opening track “I’m That Girl” springs to life with an electronically manipulated intonation of “Please, motherfuckers ain’t stop–, please, motherfuckers” and variations on the … Continue reading The New Releases Shelf — Renaissance

What if getting dropped by a major label is the best thing that could possibly happen? Maybe Muna could have found their way to the current version of their collective creative self under the corporate yoke of RCA Records, but … Continue reading The New Releases Shelf — Muna

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

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

Presumably, the consensus starting point in conceding dazzlement before the art of Snail Mail remains the songwriting precociousness of Lindsey Jordan. She’s not a kid anymore, as she most certainly was when her first recordings were released. Jordan’s debut effort … Continue reading The New Releases Shelf — Valentine