Treadles - "And the Rocks and the Trees and the Empty Air Between" | Album Review
Pop melodies, grunge tones, folk fingerpicking, and post-punk song structures are patched beautifully and darkly into a cohesive record on Treadles’ And the Rocks…. Each track unpredictably runs the gamut of sound, tone, and emotion, never staying in the same place for long, making the album a unique and rewarding listen.
Long Beard - "Means To Me" | Album Review
Means to Me is a meditation on the notions of place and time. It was written after a series of upheavals in Bear’s life: uprooting to tour the country with Japanese Breakfast, then moving back to her hometown of New Brunswick, New Jersey to complete her degree, only to find all of her friends and past loves long gone.
Chastity Belt - "Chastity Belt" | Album Review
The album’s success hinges on its open embrace of experimentation, vulnerability, and the creation of art for art’s sake; those are the places where the work shines the brightest, in a perfect blend of form and function. From start to finish, Chastity Belt is both a reclamation of the artistic process and a damn good record.
Infinity Crush - "Virtual Heaven" | Album Review
Florist - "Emily Alone" | Album Review
Emily Alone is a Florist record through and through, despite being a solo effort. It’s also something more: it’s like a refined, evolved iteration of Sprague’s prior work, feeling more like a memoir than a diary entry. That sense of evolution comes through in the high production quality and a lyrical grounding in the present.
Julia Shapiro - "Perfect Version" | Album Review
Choral Reef - "Gotta Get To Work" | Album Review
Jangly guitars, sharp hi-hats, and the sonic equivalent of that “Oh god, I shouldn’t have had that third cup of coffee” feeling come together flawlessly on Choral Reef’s debut EP. Appropriately titled gotta get to work, the tape energetically confronts the painful reality of what it means to be an artist in a world where your worth is often defined by what you do to make money.
Lomelda - "M For Empathy" | Album Review
Over the course of just sixteen minutes, singer-songwriter Hannah Read strums her way through a series of vignettes that delve thoroughly and unflinchingly into the heart of what it means to feel for another. Each track is brief yet perfectly measured, quiet yet self-assured, delicate yet unyielding.
Emma Ruth Rundle - "On Dark Horses" | Album Review
2016’s Marked for Death was hard to follow, and Emma Ruth Rundle certainly rose to the challenge with her latest solo record, On Dark Horses. Out on Sargent House, the album is lyrically lighter and musically heavier than its predecessor, concerning itself with themes and symbols of racing, running, and the freedom of wide open spaces.
Jackie Mendoza - "LuvHz" | Album Review
Jackie Mendoza’s debut EP is a powerful refusal to exist in any one box. The cleverly titled LuvHz, out now on Luminelle Records, effortlessly blends lo-fi synth pop sensibilities with reggaeton club beats to form songs that would feel just as much at home on the dancefloor as they would underwater.