The persistence of memory is at the core of Trevor Powers’ latest release, utilizing video recordings of his childhood to explore his past. It’s in line with his last album Heaven is a Junkyard if not as memorable to me as that record.

We had to wait several years for the Australian synthpop act to… dumb down their sound? We Always Had Tomorrow opts for beauty over catchiness, finding plenty of time to stop and smell the roses while forgetting to make impactful music along the way. There are highlights for sure, but this album is missing the energy of a “Leila” or “I Look To You”.

To her credit, GFOTY finally put together a coherent project with INFLUENZER. It’s not half-finished like FEMMEDORM or abhorrently unlistenable like GFOTV. It’s just that she’s still years behind the rest of her hyperpop compatriots. For every sexed-up pop anthem here, you can find an artist who’s done it better a thousand times over. There’s a long way to go before GFOTY catches up, but at least she’s on a passable track now.

In the age of the internet, so many intriguing genres of music have come and gone without enough time to properly develop. Future funk is one of those many styles of music that came in with a bang only to fizzle away instantly. Its French house origins interweaved with Japanese city pop created fleeting sample-filled songs full of lust, longing and, most importantly, the need to dance your ass off. The heyday of the genre ended a decade ago, but hearing an album like Apogee makes me think that ... read more

I am neither a melancholy brunette (proud redhead) or a sad woman, but that doesn’t stop me from feeling much of what Michelle Zauner usually sings about. She’s no stranger to singing about sadness, whether it’s about personal loss, her family’s past, or the concept of love itself. It’s powered her band to some incredible heights, and much of For Melancholy Brunettes (& sad women) was recorded after a stint in South Korea where she further reacquainted herself ... read more

Every time I hear “We Will Rock You” at a baseball game or “We Are The Champions” at a championship parade, I can’t help but think of A Night At The Opera. Those stadium anthems wouldn’t be possible without Queen’s best album, and Queen’s best album wouldn’t have been possible if their backs weren’t against the wall. Strapped for cash and facing an uncertain future as a band, it was paramount the quarter came up with something ... read more

It’s incredibly bold to name your album something as simple as MUSIC. That evokes the thought that either you’ve decided your album encompasses all things music, or you just don’t give a damn about having a creative title. Playboi Carti clearly thinks the former of this album, and his long-awaited follow up to 2020’s Whole Lotta Red cranks up his gargantuan vision of trap and pop rap to even bigger levels. MUSIC at times reminds me of why Carti has become the sensation ... read more

HAIM have been writing about the difficulty of relationships since they began making music, but their direct, earnest lyricism has always ensured they’re not writing the same song over and over again. Their first single in a few years, aptly titled “Relationships”, would be too familiar if they weren’t damn good at exploring every aspect of modern love. With some punchy percussion and a carefree pop melody, the sisters muse on the difficulties of communication no matter ... read more

Having already conquered pop music with her debut record, it’s not surprising that Chappell Roan saw fit to expand her empire in a new genre. But she’s a Midwest kid at heart, a Midwest Princess at that, so her stepping into the world of country music isn’t that far-fetched of a move. It’s why she sounds so effortless on “The Giver”, a track that no doubt will play endlessly in honky tonk chateaus this year and beyond. Those repeats will be deserved, with the ... read more

The presence of mid-aughts Eurodance is felt throughout the entirety of choke enough, the debut album from French sensation Oklou. Pulsing, aggressive synths defined artists like Cascada or Max Coveri, and to an extent, they define Oklou too. But she’s not interested in smashing you over the head with her beats. The songs of choke enough are forever in a trance, one filled with subtle, thoughtful electronic noise that softens the explosiveness of a “Everytime We Touch” while ... read more

It struck me in the middle of listening to Lady Gaga’s latest album (LG7? LG6? LG10???) how we really are nostalgic for 2009. That was only 16 years ago and we’re already reaching back for it? Time waits for no one, but Gaga has never felt stuck in any particular moment. She’s pulled from artists from Madonna to Barbra Streisand to BLACKPINK to everyone in between, making each of her records unique unto themselves. That winding path of influence has led her back to her ... read more

The first single for any new Ghost album is part song, part story. It sets the tone for the aesthetic and the vibe of the upcoming record, and for a group that’s reliant on theatrical visuals, it’s important to nail it. “Rats” was a spectacular glammed-up anthem for the plagues to come on Prequelle, while “Call Me Little Sunshine” was a fine introduction to the rise and fall of empires on Impera. The group’s sixth album, entitled Skeletá, ... read more

With the release of Panda Bear’s latest solo record, I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how influential Animal Collective has been to the last decade and a half while reaping none of the benefits themselves. The four members of the group waffled between middling solo releases and confounding group projects, all as their masterpiece Merriweather Post Pavilion came to define so much of what indie music has been since 2009. It all seems like a missed opportunity to me, and ... read more

Lizzo always had something her progenitor Meghan Trainor never had: charisma. Listen to “Juice” or “Truth Hurts” and tell me the Minnesotan isn’t just dripping with character, no matter how uninventive her thoughts on self-empowerment are. Not everything has to be so deep, and that’s what made so much of her early music fun. For whatever reason Lizzo and her producers have seen fit to strip her of much of that character over the last few years, and ... read more

Hearing the first few singles for Give Us The Moon didn’t make me think The Night Flight Orchestra’s latest would amount to much at all. After all, how many 80’s hair metal-worshipping songs can you make and have them all be worth hearing? Turns out, a lot more than I thought. The true joys of this album are hidden beyond the lead singles, and here the band gives us some of their best Journey-inspired fist-in-the-air anthems to date.

No, Give Us The Moon doesn’t offer a ... read more

Sharon Van Etten’s biggest strength has always been her idiosyncratic voice. Amidst a sea of indie rock vocalists, Van Etten’s deep and powerful drawl stands tall, especially when it fills cavernous instrumentals like those on “Your Love Is Killing Me”. At this point she’s run the gamut of traditional indie rock, so she’s branched out in recent years to synth-ier directions. Her latest adds a strain of post-punk to her sound, and the results are some of the ... read more

For years, Abel Tesfaye has been teasing the end of The Weeknd. After all, what life of excess and danger can last forever? The Weeknd’s character has been toeing a fine line for years now, filling his days with copious amounts of drugs, alcohol and women across a litany of glitzy, 80’s-tinged records. Starting with 2020’s After Hours and continuing with 2022’s phenomenal Dawn FM, Tesfaye has honed in on a style of synthpop that’s made him a global superstar, and ... read more

The first album I listened to in 2025 is a fairly middling indie record by Camille Schmidt. There’s traces of something more interesting than your usual boiler plate indie on the title track and “Cult in Denver”, but too often Schmidt sticks to the tried and true methods that end up sounding too similar to better artists to really stick out. The use of Autotune on several tracks adds little to the album’s personality too. Give her a couple albums, though, and she might ... read more

The singles for Josh Tillman’s latest hinted at a big, almost operatic project, and Mahashmashana is just that. The eight songs within are long and opulent, as big and cinematic as any single Father John Misty song has ever been. Whether it’s the lively “She Cleans Up” or “I Guess Time Just Makes Fools Of Us All” or the more intimate “Being You”, each track makes for an incredible soundscape for Tillman to sing over. This is one of his most ... read more

COIN play a very listenable style of indie rock. There’s not a lot from their latest record that really stands out for one another, but it’s a pleasant if mildly unmemorable 40 minutes of indie rock tunes.