Over the course of seven years, the Tim Darcy-led Montreal quartet Ought cemented itself within the top tier of the recent wave of contemporary post-punk. It succeeded in unearthing beauty and comfort with a suburban lifestyle and all of its mundanities with its first two albums, More Than Any Other Day and Sun Coming…

Spurred by the success of their initial collaboration back in 2016 and their 2017 rendition of Steve Riche’s “Music for Pieces of Wood,” Minneapolis indietronica experimenters Poliça and Berlin contemporary ensemble Stargaze have furthered their joint efforts. As both groups discovered how naturally their respective approaches could synthesize, the resulting…

From its 2004 debut to 2013’s Right Thoughts, Right Words, Right Action, no band other than The Strokes and Interpol epitomized the post-punk revival than Franz Ferdinand. As the genre experienced a steep decline in popularity, so did Franz Ferdinand. So for Alex Kapranos and company, it meant it was time…

MGMT, “Little Dark Age.” It’s been five years since pioneering Brooklyn synth-pop darling MGMT released its snoozefest self-titled album. Considering the sound of Andrew VanWyngarden and Ben Goldwasser has deteriorated since their stunning debut, Oracular Spectacular, expecting a revelatory follow up to 2013’s album seemed farfetched. While I was pleasantly surprised by…

Once you have success fronting a band, it can’t be easy going solo. Everything you do is compared to your performance in the band, and unless you’re in a boy band, your good times are rarely ahead of you. As a solo artist, Brian Fallon will always be compared to…

Recreating the excitement of live performances on record can pay off tremendously, but switching focus to the meticulous studio process after the fact can become challenging. English noisy psych-rockers Hookworms, after proving their worth in the former regard with their previous releases, now seek to concentrate on filtering past their brazen exterior…

Simple Minds, “Walk Between Worlds.” “Magic,” the first track off of Simple Minds‘ latest release, would never be picked out of a lineup by a casual fan. Absent are lead vocalist Jim Kerr’s signature baritone pleadings. Instead, he tries on a lighter style that doesn’t quite scratch the itch…

Dream Wife, self-titled. The countercultural, nonconformist, confrontational nature of punk reaches far beyond three-chord riffs—a reality foundational to the cleverly named Icelandic-British trio Dream Wife. Finding its main influences in Madonna and David Bowie, two legendary examples of punk manifesting far outside its stereotype, these three are set to carry the…

Mimicking Birds have a sound that covers all sorts of genres, ranging from anywhere between stripped down serenades to subtle synth soundscapes. Through these elements, the Portland folk-pop quintet creates something that works for both the coffee shop next door and a movie soundtrack. Layers of Us Mimicking Birds…

Glen Hansard, “Between Two Shores.” It’s easy to pigeon-hole Irish singer-songwriter Glen Hansard as strictly a folk singer, especially if you’re only familiar with his first two solo albums. But prior to that, he led a rock band (The Frames), had The Swell Season partnership with Markéta Irgolvá and…