“I wanna be the best thing that you have”. So goes the refrain from multinational alt rock quartet Yuck’s latest offering, ‘Hold Me Closer’. It’s joyous, it’s europhic, it’s pretty much awesome. Channeling Today-era Smashing Pumpkins, the group return with confidence, earnestness, and  a whole load of melody. A couple of years ago it looked like Yuck were shit out of luck. After the release of their pretty dame sweet self titled debut in 2011, singer and songwriter Daniel Blumberg left the band for newer pastures. All seemed lost. Many bands never recover from such a loss. Yuck were ..read more

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Molly Lewis’ debut EP The Forgotten Edge is out now via Jagjaguwar. If you liked Tele Novella’s winter child Merlynn Belle, there’s a good chance you’ll enjoy Molly Lewis‘ 18-minute July gem. Though it’s more akin to Morricone’s compositions for Leone’s spaghetti westerns, it shares a certain seasonal oddity with the Tele Novella’s album. It’s not your usual summer record, but that makes it all the more interesting. The EP The Forgotten Edge is another spawn of our beloved pandemic, named after a small L.A. neighborhood where the artist in question was trapped last year. It features six songs ..read more

New single ‘Laughing Wall’ is out now via PNKSLM Recordings. Self-described “Wunder-Fuzz” group Mister Strange have premiered their latest track, the distortion-heavy ‘Laughing Wall,’ alongside announcing their upcoming debut EP I, due for release on September 10th. Both I and ‘Laughing Wall’ are being released by the Swedish label PNKSLM Recordings.   The Oh Sees and Ty Segall are fitting sonic analogues for the Manchester trio. Mister Strange exhale fuzz atop riffs as sturdy as a Harley Davidson. It’s greasy garage rock, but the group toy with the formula, employing a midtrack breakdown ..read more

Tkay Maidza’s new EP Last Year Was Weird, Vol. 3 is out now via 4AD. The third entry in the lineage of short and sweet EPs that constitute the Last Year Was Weird saga represents yet another victory for Tkay Maidza’s neat blend of trap beats and mellow pop. For enjoyers of her previous work, Last Year Was Weird, Vol. 3 is more of the same, which may sound bad, but actually isn’t. Considering that the second volume had already struck gold in terms of dynamic song writing and organic flows, there was not much needing to be reworked for LYYWV3. That being said, this new instalment can feel s ..read more

1991 was a seminal year in music history. Here are 25 underrated gems from perhaps the best musical year in modern memory. Tad – 8 Way Santa (Jamie) Tad was really the quintessential grunge band. The band was an outfit anyone could Identify with. I mean Cornell was a golden god, Nirvana was so damn cool, Pearl Jam was stadium sized, Alice in Chains was metal tastic, Mudhoney was all sarcastic and Melvins was (and are) weird as fuck. Tad was a band of four bozos playing down tuned, sludgy but melodic tunes. Nothing too fancy. The everyman grunge band. 8 Way Santa is the group’s second album and ..read more

Every month this recap becomes more intimidating. Granted, it’s a pleasure to reflect upon how fruitful 2021 has been for music. Alternatively, it’s a nightmare to reflect upon exactly how fruitful 2021 has been for music because every month I balk at everything I’ve missed. I’ll show my ass here and admit I still haven’t listened to the new black midi. I have listened to these four albums, however. And you should too. There’s even a little thematic coherency between them, though you’d have to spend your waking hours as engulfed by music as I am to come to the same conclusion. ________________ ..read more

Dinosaur Jr.’s new album Sweep It Into Space is out now via Jagjaguwar. Sweep It Into Space is the twelfth studio album by the Amherst’s iconic alternative rock trio Dinosaur Jr. The band was formed in 1984, nearly 40 years ago, and to this day their music is a gift that keeps on giving. A slightly bizarre thing happened two years ago on the Internet when one of their old songs suddenly topped the charts in Japan. It was ‘Over Your Shoulder’, the closing track from their 1994 album Without a Sound. Apparently an old, but extremely popular TV show originally aired during the early 2000s once us ..read more

The Birthday Poems is out now. Today brings the release of ‘The Birthday Poems’, a collaborative album from alternative music legend Chris Connelly and unmistakable vocalist Monica Queen, who sings the part of Stella Cartwright. Who is that?, you may ask. Known as the Muse of Rose Street, Stella had relationships with many of the poets who would haunt the bars of Edinburgh’s Rose Street during the ’50s and ‘early ’60s. While her love of literature, art and culture was insatiable, inspiring many of them in their work, she was never given credit or encouraged in her own art and expression. She w ..read more

Dublin’s Keeley previews ‘Never Here Always There’ ahead of debut Brave Warrior EP Not long after announcing Keeley as the latest addition to its roster, London label Dimple Discs presents the new single from this Dublin-based psychedelic dreampop outfit. The Peckham indie label has deep Irish music connections, founded in 2018 by Damian O’Neill of The Undertones and Brian O’Neill. Initially as a vehicle for Damian’s solo projects, it has grown to encompass such artists as The Undertones, Cathal Coughlan, Kev Hopper,&nb ..read more