Noise
Don’t Panic
Despite seemingly being designed by a corporation to be mostly inoffensive, sometimes to the point of banality or worse, Coldplay launched into the world consciousness hot, with “Don’t Panic,” the song in the pole position on their debut album Parachutes. Though I feel more generosity towards Chris Martin and
Heart Still Beats
I’ve been on a post-punk x new wave kind of kick the last several days, after I learned Black Marble (who I blogged about last year) are going to be playing nearby in September. The algorithmn overlords recommended Castlebeat to me after the end of a listening sesh of
Memory Tape
Niko Stratis writes about the comfort of physical media and older technology. Let us suffer no worries or troubles, we have salvation in our walkmen and their analogue batteries. Never mind the truth of these eras, the 90s and the days before and after are years often cast in imperfect
The Perfect Indie Pop Song
Airplane Rider / Stop Sign by Air Miami A few weeks ago, I saw Mark Robinson from Unrest/Air Miami/Flin Flon open for the Wedding Present at the Motorco Music Hall in Durham. Although the bill clearly stated that Robinson would be playing Unrest songs, imagining him doing those songs
You Could Do Anything
Shelly Ridenour penned an article for Qobuz on the stellar alternative albums from 1991. One observation that I found particularly poignant from having grown up during this period was around the change that Nirvana’s Nevermind brought to mainstream music with regard to gender dynamics. Within a couple of months,
Portland Town
One of my greatest joys in 2026 has been the release of new material by British riot twee band Heavenly. I’ll admit I approached the release of this year’s brilliantly named Highway to Heavenly LP with a certain amount of skepticism. After decades of radio silence, it’s
Hurts Like Hell
Charlotte Cornfield is the latest musician to put out something via Durham, NC’s Merge Records. Hurts Like Hell is also the first long player by the Canadian singer/songwriter since becoming a mother. The title track, “Hurts Like Hell,” wallows in a remembered sentimentality with the advantage of looking
If You Change
Widowspeak has a new record coming this June and produced a video for the lead single, “If You Change.” I first heard the band when they covered Dire Straits’ “Romeo and Juliet,” a song that never landed with me previously. Widowspeak won me over with the wistful tenderness they gave
A Side Hustle As The Doors
We all know by now that it’s getting tougher to make a living as a musician. While tools for producing music have gotten cheaper and more accessible, the ways to make decent money as a professional in the music industry have been drying up. Alex Marshall and Joanna Yee
Clandestine Noise Operations
Bill Corgan (Smashing Pumpkins, Zwan) recently pondered the decline in popularity of rock music on his podcast The Magnificent Others. “Rock was the greatest single social-changing force of the 20th century,” he said. “And here we are 25 years into the 21st century and rock couldn’t be any less