It’s a usual story. A bunch of young dudes grow up in New York City, form a rock band. They’re influenced by a lot of cool bands, and they want to have a cool name that they can make a cool logo out of. NYC is full of bands like that, and since the city
Some hot rock that went down Thursday night at Union Pool. It was quite the lineup with Shilpa Ray (sans her Happy Hookers), WALTZ, The Veda Rays, and Haybaby. Union Pool becomes a mecca for 20 something weirdo kids in the summertime, because alcohol, tacos, and live music is always an on-point combination, and throw in a big
After a short hiatus, we’re back with a new mix, summing up our best new coverage, plus the new tunes that really struck me during the week of May 19-25. Kristen hung out at Hangout Festival in Alabama, citing The Kingston Springs as the band that topped the Saturday lineup. She also noted that “Their
When some of the best sounds of the early ’90s are crossed with the psychedelic rock sounds of the ’60s, that’s a pretty strong start in building a cult following of fans of both. Secret Colours have been compared with other forerunners of the current psych rock scene, like Black Angels and Ringo Deathstarr, but
In Brooklyn where it’s no surprise to overhear a guy on the street telling his friend, “Yeeeaahhh, this is like, TOTALLY known as the hipster capital now!” It’s nice to have another layer of existence that’s still unpredictable enough to hold you back from bursting out laughing and then tripping said guy. Bar/music venue Grand
Our newest L.A.-based contributor Josh Calixto took on the new Charli XCX record, True Romance, which he described as “the perfect setting for good pop, and True Romance is a prime example of what the genre can still offer to a generation jaded by top 40 radio stations and terrified of internet backlash.” In interviews,
More new bands discovered at Austin Psych Fest. Brigit came out digging The Holy Drug Couple, who was one of “those new bands that maybe you didn’t come into the festival knowing but came out of loving.” Kristen was there too, and raved about the effulgent future ahead for Canadian rockers Elephant Stone. To me
I’ve always kind of imagined the members of Fol Chen writing songs the way scientists would conduct experiments in a laboratory, with beakers and Petri dishes and controlled explosions and all that. After speaking with guitarist Samuel Bing and Vocalist Sinosa Loa for 20 minutes while waiting for a round of hot toddies, I learned
The new Wild Nothing EP, Empty Estate, takes a minute of getting used to. It’s seven songs recorded in ten days, and it translates that feeling of being swept up rather quickly before regaining some footing in the familiar. Here we have Jack Tatum experimenting with some new sounds while remarking on how he felt in
This week we’re revisiting our coverage of the Austin Psych Fest. The first day of the festival Kristen immediately took to some awesome bands between hitting up $1 Lonestars and salt lick BBQ, including the brilliant ladies of Warpaint. Kristen also reviewed Pyyramids’ (the duo of Tim Nordwind of OK Go and Drea Smith of