Starya’s new EP Find the Key is a symphony of syncopation. With its pulsing arps, sidewinding basslines and pop house vocals, the singer-songwriter-producer-DJ-multi-instrumentalist brings something truly fresh to the electronic scene. Hailing from LA, Starya […]
BigXthaPlug Is Booming in Texas
Blue Chips is a monthly rap column that highlights exceptional rising rappers. To read previous columns, click here. BigXthaPlug speaks as he raps. On the phone and on record, the Dallas, Tx native sounds like […]
Blast Rites: Memoriam’s Karl Willetts Returns to the Battlefield, and More of February’s Best New Metal
It’s shaping up to be a huge year for live metal. The amount of stacked festivals and unmissable tours is growing by the week. Baltimore’s venerable Maryland Deathfest may be taking a year off — […]
WHO IS ONA TZAR
Ona Tzar is 33 and lives between London and Berlin, a pretty cool pair of places to be young and creative. She describes herself as a polyglot of artistic vessels — performer, producer, singer, “visual […]
LP Giobbi Aligns the Voices in Her Head on Light Places
Leah Chisholm is so excited to go grocery shopping, she’s literally screaming. “I’m so fucking good, it’s scary,” the Oregon-raised, Austin-based 27-year-old better known as LP Giobbi says over the phone. “I get to be […]
Paramore Sifts Through Broken Pieces on Searing This is Why
After five years of radio silence, Paramore returns more popular than ever before — and they’ve forged an album to match their now-supersized status, refurbishing fear and fury for arena stages. This Is Why, the […]
Living in Liv.e’s Drug-Inspired Soundscape
Liv.e raises an implicating eyebrow and violently whirls her phone camera, blurring the white walls of her Los Angeles apartment into an eye-fucking mescaline smear. Some degree of po-mo motion sickness is almost unavoidable when […]
The Tallest Man on Earth Gets a Lift From Sylvan Esso, Bon Iver Pals on Henry Street
The Tallest Man on Earth‘s Kristian Matsson gets an assist from friends in Sylvan Esso and Bon Iver on Henry St., his first album in four years and first to be recorded with a band. […]
SPIN SETS Presents: Venessa Michaels
Electronic artist and producer Venessa Michaels describes her style and genre as “2090” – a fitting reference for her otherwordly fusion of club music, hip hop and pop. Her new album, Sent from Saturn, soars […]
JW Francis Is Writing Other People’s Love Stories
If JW Francis’s third album, Dream House, sounds like it could be about your life, that’s because it really could be. Every Valentine’s Day, the up-and-coming indie-popper invites his fans to share stories about their […]
Vic Mensa Teams With Thundercat on ‘Strawberry Louis Vuitton’
Chicago rapper Vic Mensa gets an assist from Thundercat on his new single, “Strawberry Louis Vuitton,” which he says was inspired by late fashion icon Virgil Abloh. R&B artist Maeta is also featured on the […]
The Southside Cinema of MARCO PLUS
Blue Chips is a monthly rap column that highlights exceptional rising rappers. To read previous columns, click here. Artistic excellence isn’t quantifiable like rushing yards or three-point shooting percentages. Taste is subjective and variable. But […]