Unknown Mortal Orchestra’s sound is something of a mystery. While it’s bathed in a lo-fi aesthetic, it has managed to evolve and grow through genres such a psychedelic, punk and even disco through the band’s decade-plus making music. UMO is back now with its latest album, V, bathing this time in the pools of Palm Springs and oceans of Hawaii …
The Personal Apocalypse of Weyes Blood’s ‘And In The Darkness, Hearts Aglow’
We use the word “apocalypse” to mean catastrophe, though the Greek word it’s derived from signifies a revelation. Natalie Mering opens her fifth album, And In The Darkness, Hearts Aglow, with a small one of her own. She’s at a party, surrounded by people, and yet she feels unseen — no, it’s more complicated than that. Maybe these partygoers see …
On ‘Blue Rev,’ Alvvays finds euphoria in noise
It takes just six seconds into the first song on its latest album for Alvvays to pull a new trick out of its sleeve. For a moment, “Pharmacist” feels like what it is: a long-awaited reunion with these Canadian noise pop purveyors on their small-town home turf, a few muted synth notes and a preset drum machine tick-tocking while Molly …
In the haze of ‘Midnights,’ Taylor Swift softens into an expanded sound
Can Taylor Swift soften up? Like many high-achieving workaholics, I imagine she’s lost the instinct and, practical girl, uses enhancements. In the evening, with her lover nearby, does she vape a little Lavender Haze CBD Rosin and focus on the quietude creeping into her body beneath the relentless chatter of her thoughts? Does she grasp his hand and put it …
Go | Kevin Morby at Intuition Ale Works
With a critically acclaimed new album, the popular singer-songwriter makes a stop in Jacksonville
Singer-songwriter Kevin Morby is currently on tour in support of his critically acclaimed new record, This Is A Photograph (out now on Dead Oceans), and will make a pitstop in Jacksonville at the Bier Hall inside Intuition Ale Works’ Downtown taproom on Tuesday, October 18. Before 2014’s critically acclaimed Singing Saw, Morby was already a veteran of the indie music scene. …
‘Cheat Codes’ is the album Black Thought couldn’t have made until now
For many years, the Black Thought solo album felt like an imaginary object, long rumored yet never revealed. It went by several names — Masterpiece Theatre, The Talented Mr. Trotter — and had many soft launches. The Philly rapper born Tariq Trotter had of course already displayed his otherworldly dexterity as frontman and co-founder of The Roots, and, beginning in …
On ‘No Rules Sandy,’ Sylvan Esso finds freedom outside the formula
Sylvan Esso‘s fourth album ends in a manner almost antithetical to the duo’s original musical impulses, putting the band’s early-days and present versions on opposite shores. As they’ve recounted, it all started when folk singer Amelia Meath — then best known as a member of the choral-forward group Mountain Man — conscripted electronic music producer Nick Sanborn to remix her …
MUNA’s New Album Features Growth and An ‘Astral Projection Anthem’
A new album by MUNA, out today, has it all: personal growth, influences from pop prophet Robyn and a song the band calls an “astral projection anthem.” Singer-songwriter Katie Gavin and bandmates Josette Maskin and Naomi McPherson met in college, and have been making music together for nearly a decade. But it hasn’t been easy lately – after releasing their …
When it feels like the world’s ending, Sharon Van Etten still cares
“It’s too much,” Sharon Van Etten sings on We’ve Been Going About This All Wrong, “but I’ll try.” Well, yes. You don’t really need to know the specifics of Van Etten’s recent experiences to relate, to understand the coexistence of overwhelming fatigue and resigned commitment she expresses. On her sixth album, much of which was written in the sustained trauma …
On ‘Dawn FM,’ The Weeknd is both suffering and saved
“Now that all future plans have been postponed, and it’s time to look back on the things you thought you owned, do you remember them well?“ actor Jim Carrey, serving as narrator, asks listeners on the final track of The Weeknd’s new album. The dawn climbs out of the darkness where we’ve roamed for the erratic past two years to …
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