That Nothing’s new album would be called The Great Dismal is probably the least surprising thing that has happened all year. The title seems almost inevitable. Even before the worldwide pandemic, lockdowns, quarantines, social unrest, and violence, Nothing frontman Domenic… Read More
Solemnity rings through the breathtakingly wordless introduction to “The Call”, the new a cappella single taken from Moira Smiley and VOCO’s upcoming album In Our Voices. Composed by Gregory Fletcher, “The Call” comes with a video poignant in its simplicity… Read More
The two first met at a Roots show and in no time did they begin exchanging beats and rhymes. MC Mattic and producer Johnny Madwreck have since been quietly orchestrating works of deft beauty these last 20 years or so.… Read More
While it’s easy to get caught up in debates about aesthetic purity when it comes to punk music, it’s important to remember that, in the ’70s, embracing the punk lifestyle often came with a very real threat to life and… Read More
John Darnielle is a man of many interests. As the creative force behind indie mainstay the Mountain Goats, Darnielle has used his music to explore a ridiculously wide range of topics: Dungeons and Dragons (In League with Dragons), rural America… Read More
Just what was the secret sauce that made the string of ABBA albums, from Arrival (1976) through to The Visitors (1981), so uniquely satisfying? Even the less consistent earlier albums, particularly 1975’s Abba, bore signs of brilliance. I can only… Read More
In 1982, Paul Weller committed what many fans considered an unforgivable sin. The Jam, the influential mod pop-punk trio he’d led as singer, guitarist, and primary songwriter for five years, were disbanded at the height of their popularity – and… Read More
Seventeen years have passed since Ane Brun delivered her critically acclaimed debut album Spending Time with Morgan. On her latest outing, After the Great Storm, the Stockholm-based Norwegian artist still displays a singular knack for painting words that leap off… Read More
Excerpt of Chapter Five from Black Diamond Queens: African American Women and Rock and Roll by Maureen Mahon reprinted with permission by Duke University Press (footnotes omitted). © 2020 Duke University Press. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt… Read More
This year has been a dark time for rock ‘n’ roll, with the coronavirus pandemic sidelining the live music industry. But rock music has long been about responding to troubled times with cathartic songs to provide fans with an emotional… Read More