In a world where most rock heroes are either aging or have already passed away, it is hard not to get excited when a promising young rock band like Highly Suspect appears. After the success of their first album, Mister Asylum, which landed the band two Grammy Nominations (Best Rock […]
Album Reviews
Doja Cat’s ‘Hot Pink’ will keep you warm all winter
Only a year after her debut album Amala and viral Twitter sensation “MOOO!”, Doja Cat proves to audiences that she is no one hit-wonder with the release of Hot Pink, a sophomore album proving her audacity as an artist. While Amala signaled an effortless and playful entrance to the rap world, Hot […]
‘Pang’ is for crying in the ocean
Caroline Polachek is no novice: The singer-songwriter has produced prolifically over the past two decades as part of indie synthpop duo Chairlift, released an album under the name Ramona Lisa, and even boasts a writing credit on Beyonce’s critically lauded 2013 self-titled release. Pang, her solo debut, is a near-perfect breakup […]
‘Chastity Belt’ is a plaintive meditation on growing up
Since their 2013 debut album, No Regerts, Chastity Belt have been celebrating girlhood in all its irreverence. Borrowing heavily from rrriot-girl predecessors like Sleater-Kinney, the band have toed the line between bold and brazen for most of their career, each of their songs flecked with mischief and bursting with righteous, […]
March music madness
The month of March saw no shortage of music releases. Both Hozier and Weezer made their comebacks—one triumphant, the other less so—and Solange’s When I Get Home awed Country and R&B fans alike. The final two weeks of this tepid, rainy month have provided us with two more treasures: One from […]
Chai’s ‘PUNK’ is the much-needed antidote to the drudgery of our daily lives
There is a tragically narrow vision of what contemporary East Asian music should sound like. Often lumped into vague, generalized categories such as ‘J-Pop’ or ‘K-Pop,’ Western critics have a tendency to consider the ethnic groupings of Asian musical production first and foremost, often obscuring the lyrical and technical aspects […]
Solange’s ‘When I Get Home’ is an avant-garde celebration of black excellence
Three years after the striking A Seat at the Table (2016), Solange released her fourth album, When I Get Home, on March 1. Accompanied by a short eponymous film, the album is an homage to the artist’s Houston roots, her birthplace, and the city’s black pioneers. A notable departure from her last studio […]
Weezer stumbles into pop music with ‘Weezer (The Black Album)’
Before even pressing ‘play,’ Weezer’s Weezer (The Black Album) tempts listeners to write the album off immediately. With The Black Album, released on March 3, the band tried to emulate meme culture, adding a spork into the packaging of pre-ordered copies, and even making a cameo in the game Fortnite. These gimmicks […]
‘Tip of the Sphere’ is a little bit magical
Singer-songwriter Cass McCombs has always been a compelling storyteller and Tip of the Sphere, his latest work, might just be his magnum opus. The album, released on Feb. 8, is a whirlwind of fantastical world-building, deft lyricism, and cathartic melodies. The songs are a subtle departure from the spare, folksy […]
The hollow girl bossery of ‘thank u, next’
My interest in Ariana Grande was piqued by 2018’s Sweetener, a critically-acclaimed jazz-infused love letter to then-beau, comedian Pete Davidson. thank u, next is the antidote to Sweetener, a cryptic dissection of the infamous broken engagement that has been met with similar praise. And yet, it is at this juncture that I […]