Before he was a paradigm-shifting synth pioneer, Mort Garson was a composer. Born in Canada to Russian Jewish refugees, Garson took up the piano at 11 and practiced obsessively during his teen years. He went […]
Various Artists: Barbie the Album
Barbie, the fluorescent new blockbuster helmed by Greta Gerwig, is a sometimes-arch summertime romp about the perfect doll and its not-so-perfect reputation. But the film doesn’t need an introduction: You’ve already seen the brand activations, […]
Jim O’Rourke: Hands That Bind (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
In Kyle Armstrong’s Hands That Bind, horror is hiding in plain sight. The film, which premiered in 2021 and is due for theatrical release this fall, is set amid desolate Alberta farmlands—a space whose relentless […]
Blur: The Ballad of Darren
Soon after booking the biggest concerts of their lives at Wembley Stadium, Damon Albarn played his Blur bandmates the demos for a prospective reunion LP. It was an easy sell: The Ballad of Darren would […]
Lindstrøm: Everyone Else Is a Stranger
In the late 1970s and early ’80s, the original Star Wars trilogy’s grip on popular culture extended well into the discotheque. There were the overt cash-ins, like Meco’s tawny Italo version of John Williams’ famous […]
Snõõper: Super Snõõper
Before Jack White signed them to Third Man, Snõõper staked their claim in Tennessee’s DIY scene as the sound of egg punk in the 2020s: fast riffs, fun antics, and no-fucks-given misfit pride. While Indiana […]
Black Milk: Everybody Good?
Detroit rapper-producer Black Milk floats into his eighth studio album, Everybody Good?, on a bed of the lushest synthetic funk this side of Thundercat. Intro “God Willing” sets a frenetic bassline against strata of electronic […]
DDG: Maybe It’s Me…
In just about every DDG interview, the Pontiac, Michigan rapper whines about an issue that we should all be sympathetic to: YouTubers aren’t being taken seriously as rappers. I feel his pain in my chest […]
Disclosure: Alchemy
“The mix should represent where we’re at now,” Disclosure said of their DJ-Kicks mix in 2021. “And where we’re at now is clubby.” Two years since Guy and Howard Lawrence turned in that seamlessly blended […]
Cory Hanson: Western Cum
Classic rock, as it has come down to us from decades of radio play, is less a defined genre than a no-worries vibe, an invitation to blissfully relive past glories real or imagined. Wand frontman […]
Palehound: Eye on the Bat
Eye on the Bat is a defiant ode to being humbled. Life will do that, particularly during a breakup, and El Kempner’s incisive, diaristic lyrics are like coming up from a dive without your swim […]
glaive: i care so much that i dont care at all
In glaive’s overwhelming pop songs, every setback feels like the end of the world. The narrators of the 18-year-old singer-songwriter’s music are desperate and distressed, living life at the end of their rope while detailing […]