Category: Album Review
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Cat Power Blends Altruistic Emotion with Radical Introspection on ‘Covers’
Covering songs is a science. Remaining faithful to the original creator while simultaneously reinventing the wheel as you sing lyrics that were written by somebody else is no easy balance to strike. But it takes an exceptionally unique individual to render a well-known tune almost unrecognizable. Cat Power’s Chan Marshall is a master at transformative…
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‘I Want the Door to Open:’ Lala Lala’s Artistic Victory Lap
Listening to the latest album by Lala Lala–the brainchild of Chicago-based indie rocker Lillie West–is like listening to a once-cynical adult reverting back to their childlike wonder and learning to play again. It’s a manic trip of bombastic synth-infused ballads that transports the listener to another dimension, with lyrics that traverse tragedy, mortality, and joy…
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Anika Re-Emerges with “Change:” Review
Berlin-based artist and political-journalist-turned-indie-icon Annika Henderson has finally come out with her long-awaited sophomore album after an eleven-year hiatus. Her eponymous 2010 album was comprised of dub and minimal wave reinterpretations of classic folk rock tunes by the likes of Bob Dylan, the Kinks, and Yoko Ono, with instrumentals that bonded like a magnet to…
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Allow Cosha to Re-Introduce Herself – Mt. Pleasant Review
After having her creativity stifled as a major-label R&B rave-pop artist, Irish singer-songwriter Cassia O’Reilly–who formerly sung under the name Bonzai–has since broken away and re-branded her artistic identity, now making sensual and confident R&B under the moniker Cosha. Cosha’s newest album, Mt. Pleasant, is a breezy and erotic amalgamation of come-to-bed anthems saturated in…
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Pretty Sick Ventures Into Shoegaze Territory on New EP
Come Down is an amalgamation of reflections on love lost, and what it feels like to grow up in New York—a laborious and emotionally-draining undertaking that both prepares you for the crushing weight of heartbreak and simultaneously leaves an even nastier bruise when a relationship doesn’t work out.
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Liz Phair’s “Soberish” is a Liberating Return to Form
The pioneering Gen X queen of alt folk is back after an 11-year hiatus to reclaim her crown.
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St. Vincent is Taking Things Personally This Time… And it Sounds Magnificent
This album is a very sharp left turn, yet it’s still quintessentially St. Vincent—a sweet and sour, blues-filled acid trip of elation, self-destruction, and stinging confrontation.