Sleater-Kinney is an important band for a lot of people. Coming from influential riot-grrl acts Heavens to Betsy & Excuse 17, Corin Tucker & Carrie Brownstein began playing together in 1994, adding Janet Weiss a few years later, crafting a legacy and becoming one of the most celebrated indie rock bands of the last 20 […]
Melancholy in the Age of Shovels: The Bright Sadness of Shovel Knight
In between stages, Shovel Knight, star of Yacht Club Games’ Shovel Knight, sleeps at a lonely camp fire. Sometimes, he dreams. In Shovel Knight’s dreams, his former partner, Shield Knight, is falling from a great height. You, as Shield Knight, are waiting on the ground, standing against stark white surroundings, a blank mindspace. As the […]
Just To Get On Top: Lie’s Consent is a Fearless Work of Feminist Post-Punk
This isn’t too surprising of a theory, but it’s basically a law of nature that when the world is going to shit, music is at its best. Think back to the turbulent ’60s, or the impact the Thatcher Regime had on punk’s first big wave, or the latest assault on women’s rights that has caused […]
An Audio Autumn Sweater: The Seshen Offer Up Dance Music for the Fall with Unravel
As much as I love good old fashioned noisy sonic assaults, the transition from the brutal Austin summer to its beautiful fall tends to make me skew towards breezy pop, records you can put on and be comforted by. Coming from the Bay Area, The Seshen surely know a thing or two about that autumnal […]
The Lack of Point Might Be the Point: Sisters’ Diamonds of Gold is a Restless Audio Delight
As is the case with a lot of people in my generation, I’ve never really aligned with any one music scene. My listening habits are, frankly, fucking bizarre and so the most exciting music discoveries I make are of artists who make music that indicate they’ve got similarly odd listening habits. Stumbling across Sisters recently, […]
Premier: Check Out “Rides,” the Debut Single from Denise
Today we’ve got a special treat in the form of “Rides,” the debut single by Loser City co-founder Morgan Davis’ group Denise. Recorded at Eastern Sun Audio by Matt Simon (Voxtrot, Tele Novella), “Rides” is a rambunctious bit of indie pop perfectly timed for the tail end of summer, with a sweet-and-sour vocal performance by Kate […]
No Rest for the Weary: Heavy Steps’ Trash Object EP is Sleep Deprived Pop
After a certain point, sleep deprivation tends to make me feel like I’m submerged in something, like dream physics have bled into the real world. A lot of times, when I hear music that would be considered “dreamy,” it feels closer to that effect than what I would consider anything dream oriented– dreams are places […]
Video of the Week: PS I Love You “Friends Forever”
Honestly, bodybuilders have always made me kind of uncomfortable. Every time I see hulking muscly dudes, I’m just worried their muscles are going to burst right through their skin like fully gestated parasites. They look like they’re in so much pain all the time, with the grimaces and awkward movements and bulging veins. So why […]
Girl, You Need More: Mozart’s Sister Offers Up a Diverse Pop Platter on Being
Over here in Austin, there’s an overabundance of shitty bro bands trying to market themselves as “real” music, which usually means lots of power chords, solos, facial hair and maybe an acoustic guitar or two. It’s nothing new for guitar fascists to argue that electronics aren’t true “instruments,” authenticity warfare has been waged since culture […]
A Minefield You Marvel At: Half Waif Offers Beautiful Global Pop on Kotekan
One of the first things you see when you visit Half Waif’s Bandcamp page is a bio that lists off Nandi Rose Plunkett’s heritage. Other musicians mention past projects or genre tags or other sonic identifiers, but Plunkett seems to want to clarify that her project Half Waif is as much a cultural mish mash […]