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âEWYT,â the new single by the North Carolina alt-folk artist Loose green, feels like stumbling upon a moment thatâs still happening. The lyrics open with either âletâs go to New York Cityâ or âitâs cold in New York City.â I canât quite make it out, but either way, Iâm transported into a scene that feels straight out of Inside Llewyn Davis. It hits like a forgotten demo from some 60s folk underdog.
Heavily inspired by older folk and rock and occasionally interjecting elements of noise, the project is the work of one artist playing every instrument and churning songs until the good ones come out. Earlier this year, Loose green released 7 Songs by Loose Green, a reflective, low-key record. You'll find similar moods running through both that and âEWYT.â Thereâs a certain heaviness in his voice that brings to mind Mark Kozelek of Sun Kil Moon; the storytelling here is intimate and unfiltered. - J.vienberg
Heavily inspired by older folk and rock and occasionally interjecting elements of noise, the project is the work of one artist playing every instrument and churning songs until the good ones come out. Earlier this year, Loose green released 7 Songs by Loose Green, a reflective, low-key record. You'll find similar moods running through both that and âEWYT.â Thereâs a certain heaviness in his voice that brings to mind Mark Kozelek of Sun Kil Moon; the storytelling here is intimate and unfiltered. - J.vienberg
Jul 16, 2025
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If you want to feel like a Gregg Araki character, throw on âWillow,â the new single from Minneapolis dream rockers sheâs green. They wash pop music out until itâs something entirely different. The bandâs dense arrangements are like taking a warm bath, or sunbathing in a creek, or being half awake. Watercolor guitars support a story of evolving love, and the drums hint at the âgaze groupâs unpredictable range. Following the time-honored tradition of songs in this style, thereâs a less-is-more lyrical approach, pumped with air and stretched out lengthwise. It takes around six seconds to grandiosely amble through the word "metamorphosis." With so many references to Mother Nature, it feels both weeping and grounded.
- Madeline Frino
3d ago
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âIn March of 2023 I was on tour with my band Trophy Wife. We had just played a set on the second date in a dingy hardcore bar in Philly that was selling microwaved White Castle sliders and packs of American Spirit for cheap. Ahead of us was a 17 hour drive to New Orleans that would have to be made in one day.
I woke up in the backseat somewhere in between and leaned my head on the window beside me. It was pitch black but before sunrise. The road becomes something different when you're traveling for that long, resembling more of a habitat than a construct with its own set of strict rules and guidelines. In the dark, protected by the shell of a Honda CRV, I would watch the trucks pass by like behemoth steed; big iron whales, and I am so small.
'Wooly Mammoth's Absence' became gospel during that drive. I found it before we left, sometime during our day in Philly when I was getting ready for the show. I listened alone at first, the woody nylon guitars and hushed words of Phil Elverum were a trusted secret for my ears only. Once I showed it to them we discovered multiple versions of the song that were released over the years, my favorite of which is the first one I heard, from 'Seven New Songs'. It was a perfect companion; something wiser than me that kept me moving forward, like the only torch in a dungeon.
"Quickly forgotten was this forgetful way of life, when I left home and I lived as if I had died" he still sings quietly, and only for me.
I woke up in the backseat somewhere in between and leaned my head on the window beside me. It was pitch black but before sunrise. The road becomes something different when you're traveling for that long, resembling more of a habitat than a construct with its own set of strict rules and guidelines. In the dark, protected by the shell of a Honda CRV, I would watch the trucks pass by like behemoth steed; big iron whales, and I am so small.
'Wooly Mammoth's Absence' became gospel during that drive. I found it before we left, sometime during our day in Philly when I was getting ready for the show. I listened alone at first, the woody nylon guitars and hushed words of Phil Elverum were a trusted secret for my ears only. Once I showed it to them we discovered multiple versions of the song that were released over the years, my favorite of which is the first one I heard, from 'Seven New Songs'. It was a perfect companion; something wiser than me that kept me moving forward, like the only torch in a dungeon.
"Quickly forgotten was this forgetful way of life, when I left home and I lived as if I had died" he still sings quietly, and only for me.
Jan 26, 2024
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My friend Matthew Caws went about his music career completely backward.
His band, Nada Surf, had an MTV hit very early in their career, "Popular," and were then dropped (let go, get it?) by the major label that signed them and proceeded to make the best album of their careers on an indie label, without pressure or deadline.
As he told me once: "It's as if we got to start over again, a new band."
Matthew was living a musical life; working in a Brooklyn record store called Earwax, going to shows, writing music. In a way, "Let Go" is a record that asks "what if you had a second chance to do it all over again, the way YOU wanted to do it all along?" And then diving from head to toe into that opportunity.
I've had "Let Go" kicking around in one format or another for more than twenty years and always find something new to love about it; isn't that the very definition of "Favoritte album?"
"Blizzard of '77:" A mellow little piece of recoverred (drug) memory with a decidedly Elliott Smith vibe to it. Produced by then-Death Cab for Cutie member Chris Walla for $100, which the band paid to him in $1 and $5 bills from their merch sales at shows.
"Treading Water:" Linked here, the sound of what adulting in Manhattan looked like then (and still does). "Always rushing, always late."
"Neither Heaven Nor Space:" just high. "And if you sit long enough, you can hear ghost trains/As if the city speed is just in our brains/And coke's as close as we get to sugar cane."
"Blonde on Blonde:" Living that below-14th Street life, soundtracked by Dylan.
"Paper Boats:" a floaty, dreamy ode to depression. "Been thinking and drinking, all over the town/Must be gearing up for some kind of meltdown."
Years later, Matthew and I met up while they were recording their album "Lucky" at a live-in studio in Seattle called Robert Lang (it's the same place where Dave Grohl recorded the first Foo Fighters album). He had just discovered he was a dad and was in the middle of a custody fight over the child -- the mother hadn't told him it was his, there were lots of complications -- and we were comparing notes on fatherhood and just generally in the same headspace about having plenty of problems but being fortunate to have them. He's one of my favorite humans and "Let Go" is his masterpiece.
Oct 2, 2024
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HĂŒsker DĂŒ were in limbo in 1985. Their relationship with SST was starting to sour after the legendary Twin Cities bandâs release of New Day Rising, and by the end of the year they were in talks with major labels (Septemberâs Flip Your Wig stayed with Greg Ginnâs label, but Warner swept in soon after). Now, five live recordings from the top of 85, split between those aforementioned albums, were unearthed and freshened up by the archival titans at Numero Group, who also put out the groupâs 2017 box set Savage Young DĂŒ.
Donât expect a bootleg. The hometown show at Minneapolis venue First Avenue was recorded to 24-track tape for an intended release that never came to fruition. Jan. 30, First Ave Pt. 1 highlights the bandâs brash, pop-pushing punk, proving that good things come in threes. Their raw presence surely silenced a few naysayers who, at the time, thought their melodic inclinations and genre bleed pointed towards a âcommercialâ sound. Some people donât know what theyâve got until itâs gone ⊠and then recovered by the label that introduced Duster to Gen Z. - Madeline Frino
Donât expect a bootleg. The hometown show at Minneapolis venue First Avenue was recorded to 24-track tape for an intended release that never came to fruition. Jan. 30, First Ave Pt. 1 highlights the bandâs brash, pop-pushing punk, proving that good things come in threes. Their raw presence surely silenced a few naysayers who, at the time, thought their melodic inclinations and genre bleed pointed towards a âcommercialâ sound. Some people donât know what theyâve got until itâs gone ⊠and then recovered by the label that introduced Duster to Gen Z. - Madeline Frino
Jul 8, 2025
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What if the entire Splice library was launched into the ether, prompting a Pokemon-esque scavenger hunt to catch âem all? This is what ear pulls off. And yet, the duoâs voices are the best instruments in the mix. Chopped notes and cheeky whispers and sharp breaths abound in their latest singles, âFetishâ and âValley Serpent.â A cut-and-sew craft project of a song, âFetishâ shows impressive restraint for as long as possible before mutating multiple times. Itâs not just a glazed ambient track, or bass-boosted electronic, or .5 speed breakcore. The disjointed lyrics are hypnotically aphasic, as if having a stroke could be a beautiful experience. âValley Serpentâ has the same structureless setup, shrouding a poignant piano ballad in blown-out artificial noise. For all they add, they know when to get minimal. The gentle recitation âfeels like a burdenâ is scripted to haunt. The most Lynchian release of the year!
- Madeline Frino
Jul 17, 2025
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The Norwegian experimental musician HĂ„vard Volden has the CV of a lifer. For over a decade, he has played in the experimental rock band Moon Relay. For coming up on two decades, he has been a collaborator with the Norwegian singer and songwriter Jenny Hval. So itâs fitting that his new record is called Small Lives. Itâs full of jazzy, experimental guitar music that lives on the edges of multiple genres, which is also befitting of an artist whose seasoned approach to the guitar is accommodating of a variety of methodologies and traditions. As a whole, itâs a pleasant listen, its moderate dissonance taking on a vaguely ECM feel at times, its guitar playing nodding to folk and rock and drone, its tactile electronics dancing in the corners of the composition. What is the ideal listening environment for this record? Headphones and a couch wouldnât hurt.
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6d ago