Album Review

There is something refreshingly subversive about creating an album that resists all conventions of contemporary music. Not the obnoxious, leather-jacket kind of rebellious, nor the “rock is coming back!” marketing pitch every label apparently has to trot out every six months. Home, the debut record by motko is rebellious because it trusts that you will […]

Every “Is Rock Dead?” article since 2004 has been wrong about people still making plenty of rock music, and Tides Will Turn‘s debut album is a wonderful example of this fact. But what is truly surprisingly rare, even now, is an album from an actual band that seems genuinely invested in the prospect of making

Let’s be real: there’s something inherently funny about comeback narratives in indie music because they almost always get framed like the artist spent years meditating alone on a mountain before descending with ancient wisdom carved into stone tablets. In reality, most of the time it’s just someone going through a catastrophic emotional spiral while staring

Nowadays, it’s rare to find an album that feels sonically complete from the sound, the lyrics, and the overall atmosphere. But The Tacet Mode arrives with Not How You Color, fully realized and strikingly cohesive from start to finish— and for a debut? That says a lot. The Tacet Mode is the brainchild of Morristown-based

Most concept albums about nuclear annihilation fail for the exact same reason most apocalypse films fail: they secretly think the apocalypse is cool. Not morally cool, obviously. Nobody making these things is sitting there twirling their moustache whispering “yes… nuclear winter… excellent.” But aesthetically? Absolutely. There’s usually this underlying excitement to it all. Giant explosions,

Let’s talk about albums that aren’t made for blasting, big speakers. Sometimes, all you need is to sit in your room, plug your earphones, and listen to something like Connie Lansberg’s newest album, Aeroplane. Not for fun, not for vibes, but definitely for meaning. Melbourne-based jazz vocalist and songwriter Connie Lansberg is back with a

It definitely takes some guts to trust the listener to stay a little longer, especially when everyone’s jumping on trends and chasing instant attention—yet, C’batch steps on the stage, meets your gaze with confidence, then simply asks for your presence with his latest album, C’batch The Vault 2 – Soul/R&B/Pop/ Rock/Reggae. Stephen H. Cumberbatch, aka

The word Liminal is the kind of word that immediately suggests atmosphere, thresholds, in-betweens, emotional states that don’t quite resolve. It also quietly sets expectations: if you’re going to call something Liminal, it probably shouldn’t sound like it was assembled entirely in a straight line. Fortunately, Every Waking Moment seems aware of this and their

Kurt Bray has been working on this album since 2021 which means it’s been in the works for half of the decade and instead of sounding overcooked, it ends up feeling like a scrapbook of where he’s been musically: rock, grunge, indie, alternative. If that sounds like a suspiciously vague cluster of genres, don’t worry

There’s a particular kind of album that doesn’t so much start as it sort of arrives. Not with a bang, not with a neat little intro easing you into things, but like you’ve walked into a room where something has already been happening for a while and everyone else seems to understand it except you.