Rap regions have been blurring their boundaries like never before in recent years. Goldenboy Countup, who hails from DeLand, just north of Orlando, Florida, sounds like a Michigan artist with a country drawl — a bit like Gucci Mane’s, but with more of a whisper. On “Air Fryer,” Goldenboy leans …
Read More »Fefe Dobson's 'Fckn in Love' Welcomes Back a Star Who Deserved More
For so many BIPOC rock fans in the early aughts, Fefe Dobson’s presence was a breath of fresh air in a very white scene. It seemed like she never got a fair shake: Label and promotional issues caused album delays and a mixed commercial performance for her early releases. With …
Read More »Let's Eat Grandma's 'Happy New Year' Is Indie-Pop Dynamite
A set of mmm’s and explosive synths open the new stunner from Let’s Eat Grandma, the U.K. duo made up of Rosa Walton and Jenny Hollingworth. And as the title suggests, “Happy New Year” is a genuinely happy track, with actual firecrackers entering at three-and-a-half minutes and lines about the …
Read More »Glaive's 'I Wanna Slam My Head Against the Wall' Is Exactly How Everything Feels Right Now
At one point on his new single, “I Wanna Slam My Head Against the Wall,” 16-year-old Glaive swoons sweetly for serotonin. “I need you bad, you know it,” he sings in one of the track’s more traditional pop moments, complete with a shimmering acoustic guitar. It’s a good example of …
Read More »'Love Story (Taylor's Version)' Is a Brilliantly Bittersweet Update on a Classic
On the surface, the new version of “Love Story” that Taylor Swift released today to introduce her re-recorded catalog project shows few obvious differences from the original 2008 hit. The two songs share the same 3:55 length and nearly identical arrangements, from the opening banjo plucks to the tasteful fiddles …
Read More »Song You Need to Know: NCT, '90's Love'
The hallmark of K-pop has always been the ability of its artists to creatively bridge cultures and genres — from G-Dragon’s frenetic EDM-meets-Southern-rap track “Crayon,” to 2NE1’s “I Am the Best,” the girl group’s signature song that gloriously weaved a Middle Eastern synth line in the middle of a glossy …
Read More »Valerie June Heads Into the Mystic
The last time Valerie June released an album, 2017’s ethereal The Order of Time, the singer-songwriter began to toy with some of the loaded expectations of roots purism and country-blues authenticity that had begun to hover around the singer after the success of her 2013 breakthrough,Pushin’ Against A Stone. June …
Read More »Song You Need to Know: Chris Stapleton, 'Watch You Burn'
Chris Stapleton doesn’t say a lot. And his songs, while personal, often don’t belie his most dark, tortured feelings. Which is what makes “Watch You Burn” so stunning. Over four fiery minutes, the country songwriter allows himself to get pissed off, furious even, as he recounts the 2017 mass shooting …
Read More »Song You Need to Know: Illuminati Hotties, 'Freequent Letdown'
FREE I.H.: This Is Not the One You’ve Been Waiting For, the new album-length mixtape from Illuminati Hotties (a.k.a. Los Angeles studio wiz Sarah Tudzin), is one of 2020’s most outrageously idea-stuffed releases to date. The self-produced songs whirl by in one- or two-minute bursts of melody and noise, creating …
Read More »Brevin Kim's 'I Need Water' Won't Make You Feel Better
Brevin Kim‘s music tends to aim for brutality. The two Massachusetts-born brothers love jagged edges, wild distortion, and synths that contort into animalistic screeches. Their latest two-minute assault, “I Need Water,” is no different. The song unloads like a sonic storm that splits the difference between PC music’s nearly random …
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