Considering the bottomless pit of nihilistic absurdism that is Tim and Eric’s Awesome Show, Great Job!, Tim Heidecker’s folk rock albums might seem relatively unassuming. Still, it wasn’t long before he rustled some jimmies with his 2017 collection of anti-Trump songs. Too Dumb For Suicide, along with Heidecker’s general…

I Images courtesy “Murder in the Front Row.”Decades after their release, countless fans still furiously debate whether Ride the Lightning or Master of Puppets is the best Metallica album. But the Bay Area spawned an entire thrash scene in the ’80s, including successful bands like Exodus, Testament, Possessed and…

Empathy has become depressingly scarce over the past four years, with polarization and animosity pulling people farther apart by the day. Kishi Bashi’s observations inform his latest album, Omoiyari. In Japanese, the title translates as creating compassion toward other people by thinking about them. It’s a heartfelt theme for…

It’s understandable that Frank Iero didn’t think he’d make solo albums. After rising to fame as the guitarist for 2000s emo titans My Chemical Romance, finding his own identity became a daunting task. He proved himself wrong twice. Now, Iero’s third outing finds him joining forces with a new…

Clockwise from top left: Wreck and Reference, Lingua Ignota, Knocked Loose, Daydream Masi, Jordan Klassen and Shenseea. It’s easy to get overwhelmed by the sheer volume of music on the internet. Don’t get me wrong; I love how platforms like YouTube, Bandcamp and Soundcloud have opened the floodgates of independent…

Steven Ellison’s legacy far predates his role in Kendrick Lamar’s 2015 landmark album, To Pimp a Butterfly. As Flying Lotus, his glitchy, abstract production has continually pushed hip-hop’s artistic boundaries. In 2006, Los Angeles set a new standard for L.A. beat music, while 2010’s Cosmograma transcended genre boundaries as a nu-jazz space odyssey.…

Shannon Shaw performs with Shannon and The Clams at The Fillmore on Feb. 15, 2018. Photo: Karen Goldman. We all know the festival grind: trying to fit as many performances as possible into a handful of days. Anyone who says that’s not overwhelming is a liar. This is why…

With pop music trending toward the reserved and the minimal, it’s refreshing to hear the empowered synth-pop sonics of Sally Ó Dúnlaing. Better known as Ódú, the New York-born, Ireland-raised musician is as lively as ever on her new single, “The Feeling.” Her impassioned notes effortlessly punch through meticulously layered…

Rammstein, untitled. Since breaking out of the German techno-metal Neue Deutsche Härte scene in the mid ‘90s, Rammstein remains one of the last real shock rockers. The moral panic this band caused with over-the-top stage antics and spreading music videos on adult entertainment websites seems rather silly this far…

Within the isolated DIY metal and punk music communities of Iowa, Aseethe has championed leveling riffs, nuanced ambiance and conscientious themes since 2007. What started as a solo project for guitarist-singer Brian Barr is now a power trio with drummer Eric Diercks and bassist Noah Koester. Like contemporaries Thou…