It’s not easy to like Vampire Weekend. I carry enough vaporous remainders of my bygone college radio posturing against bands that didn’t conform to my peer group’s preference for vagabond scruff, all battered sneakers, faulty gear, and romanticized disenfranchisement. From … Continue reading The New Releases Shelf — Father of the Bride
“Recite the songs that kept me whole/ On the day I hand over command control/ Try to let them all flow into this one,” sings John Darnielle on “Done Bleeding,” the track that opens In League with Dragons. The new … Continue reading The New Releases Shelf — In League with Dragons
There was a time when I was dead certain that the further someone was past their teenaged years, the less business they had flinging pop songs into the world. The vernacular of modern pop is still drawing its emotional language … Continue reading The New Releases Shelf — When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?
On the Line, the new album from Jenny Lewis, exists in a glorious time warp. The artistic sensibility that she’s developed across the two decades since Rilo Kiley’s debut is firmly in place, but is as if there’s a spinning … Continue reading The New Releases Shelf — On the Line
The baby sister in the intimidatingly talented Knowles clan, Solange faced a monumental task in following up 2016’s A Seat at the Table, which was widely and justly celebrated as an elegant reinvention of classic soul music. Blazingly smart and … Continue reading The New Releases Shelf — When I Get Home
I’ve been repeatedly certain I’d finally encounter the sunny side of Bob Mould for at least twenty-five years. Upon the release of File Under: Easy Listening, the sophomore album from Mould’s band Sugar, I hummingbirded around my college radio station, … Continue reading The New Releases Shelf — Sunshine Rock
Sharon Van Etten has an intimacy issue, of a sort. Her previous studio efforts (and there’s a big batch of them, including self-released material and stray demos) are filled with stark and beautiful songs. Many of them are also so … Continue reading The New Releases Shelf — Remind Me Tomorrow
“I break bricks with my heart/ Only a fool would call it art,” Jeff Tweedy sings on “Some Birds,” a track from his new album, Warm. In the most accurate determination, the album is Tweedy’s proper solo debut, though it’s … Continue reading The New Releases Shelf — Warm
I will admit upfront that I don’t quite know what to make of the 1975. Now three full-length albums into their career (with another promised within the next six months or so), not much music from the Manchester band has … Continue reading The New Releases Shelf — A Brief Inquiry into Online Relationships
At around the time several of her songs took off in unexpected ways that forecast the crazy land of viral popularity, it seemed Robyn was poised to become as big of a pop star as she wanted to be. Certainly, … Continue reading The New Releases Shelf — Honey
Coffee for Two 