Album of the Day: Fire-Toolz, “Field Whispers (Into The Crystal Palace)”
Angel Marcloid’s Fire-Toolz project has always been a melting pot, an unholy combination of extreme metal, experimental noise, pop, and vaporwave. It’s the product of a brand of unfettered curiosity,...
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Mia & Judd Apatow’s Grandfather Was a Giant of Soul and Jazz
Bob Shad at Record Plant Studio in 1972 The story of Bob Shad is the story of a remarkable music magnate and marketeer. Shad’s name deserves to be spoken in the same breath as Clive Davis, Ahmet...
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Mike Patton’s Collaboration With Jean-Claude Vannier Evokes Serge...
“Making great music is sometimes like being in a torture chamber. You have to accept the pain. Ultimately, it’s not about you. It’s about how the music can be best served,” says Mike Patton, regarding...
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For Fans Of: Bon Iver’s “i,i”
This August, Justin Vernon released the fourth Bon Iver full-length, i,i, three weeks ahead of schedule. But rather than marking another phase in the project’s remarkable evolution, the album instead...
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This Week’s Essential Releases: Trance, Post-Hardcore, Ghanaian Highlife and...
Welcome to Essential Releases, our weekly roundup of the best music on Bandcamp. Each week, we’ll recommend crucial new albums that were released between last Friday and this Friday, plus pick an...
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The Paranoyds Want You To Consume Less
Photos by Gina CanavanThe members of the California punk group The Paranoyds grew up going to shows in the fertile Los Angeles DIY scene—even if getting to some of those shows from their homes in...
View ArticleAlbum of the Day: Various Artists, “Alefa Madagascar”
Alefa Madagascar plays like a highlight reel of Malagasy sounds from the ‘70s and ‘80s—a combination of salegy, soukous, and soul. Album-opener “Jean Kely Et Basth” by Andosy Mora begins with the kind...
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Lifetime Achievement: Ras G, Fallen Icon of the L.A. Beat Scene
When experimental producer Ras G passed away on July 29, 2019, hip-hop’s avant-garde lost one of its boldest torchbearers. Along with artists like Flying Lotus, TOKiMONSTA, and Teebs, Ras G was a...
View ArticleAlbum of the Day: Trupa Trupa, “Of the Sun”
The reputation of the Gdansk, Poland-based band Trupa Trupa has been growing steadily over the last few years. The group, led by gregarious singer and guitarist Grzegorz Kwiatkowski, has gone from...
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“The Time For Peace is Now” Illuminates the ’70s Gospel-Soul Underground
The Floyd Family Singers “We were coming up in such a hard time,” says singer Annie Caldwell. “Nobody really loved each other like they should.” She’s talking about the late ‘70s in America—the period...
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How (Sandy) Alex G Found Fulfillment Through Fragmented Storytelling
Photos by Tonje Thilesen “I’m just trying to not think about anything most of the time,” Alex Giannascoli—better known as (Sandy) Alex G—says over the phone, en route from an early afternoon grocery...
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Enter Stella Emmett’s Fantasy World on “Admirer”
“I thought for a long time that the role that I relaxed into in life was being an observer—and it got to the point where I sort of resented that about myself,” says singer Stella Kortchmar. That...
View ArticleAlbum of the Day: Jenny Hval, “The Practice of Love”
Jenny Hval’s seventh album The Practice of Love is the Norwegian writer-musician’s most accessible work yet, but it doesn’t sacrifice the cerebral complexity she brings to all her projects. In...
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On “Sonocardiogram,” Daymé Arocena Goes Home
Photos by Pablo Dewin Reyes MaulinFor Cuban jazz singer Daymé Arocena, the live setting is more than just an opportunity to sing some songs—it’s a chance for the audience to get an authentic glimpse of...
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The Transcendent Soundscapes of ’80s Noise Artist Minóy
“For the uninitiated, this is the guy who lives under your bed and creates soundtracks for your worst nightmares.” That’s how writer Mick Mather described Minóy in 1987, a year into the artist’s brief...
View ArticleAlbum of the Day: The Garifuna Collective, “Aban”
The Garifuna Collective has been bringing the culture of the Garifuna people to the world stage for over a decade, and Aban, the celebrated Belizean music group’s latest album, is a rapturous addition...
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Gourmet Deluxxx Brings the New Generation of Boom-Bap to CD
The recent resurgence of the underground boom-bap sound in hip-hop has happened in conjunction with the rise of three European indie labels: Tuff Kong Records in Rome, and two London-based labels,...
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How Mariusz Lewandowski’s Epic, Emotive Paintings Made Him Metal’s Most...
“Capturing emotions in a painting is similar to showing depth and light. If it is not there, if it is missing, the art is simply flat and it does not look good,” explains Mariusz Lewandowski, a Polish...
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Ten Divine, Diabolical Feminine Artists Challenging Heavy Metal Machismo
Heavy metal has been challenging the status quo for its past five decades (and counting!) of existence on this doomed planet. But in some respects, rock ’n’ roll’s loudest, wildest bastard child has...
View ArticleAlbum of the Day: The Utopia Strong, “The Utopia Strong”
Steve Davis has enjoyed the most interested career rebirth since Mickey Rourke decided he wanted to punch flesh and bone for a living. Anyone familiar with the sport of snooker will know it’s not...
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