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Dan Poppa’s project People I Love is too good to be reduced to a “RIYL: Alex G” tagline. The Brooklyn-based songwriter’s new single “The Witch,” brought to us by the also Brooklyn-based label Vinegar Hill Sound, is swathed in bittersweet production. It’s all guns and death and supernatural beings, yet it’s disarmingly gentle. The song’s strung-together series of vignettes shift between high-strung vocals, lo-fi fuzz, and tactile arpeggios, possibly played on a guitar. There’s a comfortable dissonance between Poppa’s whining frustrations and plucky sense of irony. The song is seasonless and thematically enduring, and I can only hope it’s indicative of the artist’s upcoming album.
- Madeline Frino
Jul 10, 2025
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The name of the British artists Worldpeace DMT and Rowan Please’s new release, The Velvet Underground and Rowan, harkens back to the iconic album that Brian Eno once claimed launched a million projects. It’s a befitting reference for two artists in their own burgeoning gallerina-punk scene. It’s experimental in a topical way, indebted to the internet, and filled with silly sounds, stuff like squeaks and boings and chiptune motifs. Worldpeace DMT plays perfectly with Please, who is one half of two-hit wonder The Femcels.
In spite of its off-kilter quirk, the record is chock full of cloying earworms and pop sensibilities. On “Love Yourself,” the Leonard Cohen-esque line “Jesus was a sailor when he walked upon the sand” is quickly followed by “sorry that I fucked your dude.” There’s seemingly an emo influence, which is also present on unfettered, shouty tracks like “Numbers” and “Hey Marshmallow.” The 60s come back full force on “Marina,” complete with handclaps and melodic familiarity. “The Ledge” covers a Fleetwood Mac classic and briefly interpolates “Blitzkrieg Bop.” All the harmonica and strings and bitcrushed buzz can’t distract from the fact that the bones of this music would be impressive on their own … But a little fun never hurts. - Madeline Frino
In spite of its off-kilter quirk, the record is chock full of cloying earworms and pop sensibilities. On “Love Yourself,” the Leonard Cohen-esque line “Jesus was a sailor when he walked upon the sand” is quickly followed by “sorry that I fucked your dude.” There’s seemingly an emo influence, which is also present on unfettered, shouty tracks like “Numbers” and “Hey Marshmallow.” The 60s come back full force on “Marina,” complete with handclaps and melodic familiarity. “The Ledge” covers a Fleetwood Mac classic and briefly interpolates “Blitzkrieg Bop.” All the harmonica and strings and bitcrushed buzz can’t distract from the fact that the bones of this music would be impressive on their own … But a little fun never hurts. - Madeline Frino
4d ago
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This year's wine tasted suspicious but just enough like love
God must be with the outcasts 'cause when I call, you come
The production on the chorus is such a bold move I was agog when it came in for the first time. The lyrics are beautiful. Stunning.
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In Evening Air is a personal all-time classic, but aside from a few singles here and there nothing from these guys has caught me… until now!
I always described them as “Tom Waits fronting a synthpop band,” which is still true, but there’s a little more emphasis on the synthpop now. “The Thief” might be the best pop song I’ve heard in years.
I always described them as “Tom Waits fronting a synthpop band,” which is still true, but there’s a little more emphasis on the synthpop now. “The Thief” might be the best pop song I’ve heard in years.
Feb 16, 2024
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Hüsker Dü were in limbo in 1985. Their relationship with SST was starting to sour after the legendary Twin Cities band’s release of New Day Rising, and by the end of the year they were in talks with major labels (September’s Flip Your Wig stayed with Greg Ginn’s 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 group’s 2017 box set Savage Young Dü.
Don’t 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 band’s 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 “commercial” sound. Some people don’t know what they’ve got until it’s gone … and then recovered by the label that introduced Duster to Gen Z. - Madeline Frino
Don’t 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 band’s 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 “commercial” sound. Some people don’t know what they’ve got until it’s 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 ‘em all? This is what ear pulls off. And yet, the duo’s voices are the best instruments in the mix. Chopped notes and cheeky whispers and sharp breaths abound in their latest singles, “Fetish” and “Valley Serpent.” A cut-and-sew craft project of a song, “Fetish” shows impressive restraint for as long as possible before mutating multiple times. It’s 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. “Valley Serpent” 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 “feels like a burden” is scripted to haunt. The most Lynchian release of the year!
- Madeline Frino
Jul 17, 2025
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The Norwegian experimental musician Håvard 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 it’s fitting that his new record is called Small Lives. It’s 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, it’s 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 wouldn’t hurt.
- editorial
5d ago