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music November 10, 2018
Bleeding Knees Club’s Fade the Hammer
Bleeding Knees Club’s second album, Fade the Hammer, sees songwriter Alex Wall weave some far-flung influences into his bratty pop punk, from Lightnin’ Hopkins to doo-wop.
music October 20, 2018
The second albums of Empress Of and Oh Pep! see the acts moving from electronica and alt-folk respectively into poppier territory, and making good use of collaborators to assist the transition.
music September 22, 2018
Liars’ new album of oblique rock, TWTWF, finds Angus Andrew lyrically exploring the departure of his long-time songwriting partner and sonically drawing on his natural surrounds.
music October 13, 2018
The soundtrack to A Star Is Born – featuring Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper – unwittingly rebuts the film’s storyline, with the female star’s serious music less compelling than the pure pop she’s meant to have outgrown.
music September 8, 2018
Troye Sivan’s album Bloom delivers polished, romantic pop music laced with an appreciation of longing and regret.
music May 19, 2018
Courtney Barnett’s ‘Tell Me How You Really Feel’
With her second album, Tell Me How You Really Feel, Courtney Barnett more than delivers on her promise, confirming her as one of the country’s finest songwriters.
music May 12, 2018
Angel Olsen on turning fandom to stardom
When Angel Olsen first found community in the Chicago indie music scene, she was an unabashed fan-girl. Now she’s an accomplished artist who commands the stage with a voice that is pliant and pitch perfect. “Something changed when I got introduced to indie music. Then later someone was like, ‘You need to listen to Leonard Cohen, you need to listen to Fairport Convention, King Crimson, The Velvet Underground…’ And I was like, ‘Okay, this is it.’ ”
music May 5, 2018
William Crighton delivers the year’s best album, Australian or international, with the charged rock and heartfelt lyrics of Empire.
music April 21, 2018
Evelyn Ida Morris’s piano forte
After a decade of critical acclaim as Pikelet, musician Evelyn Ida Morris is releasing the first music under their own name – a grand suite of piano songs, both sung and speechless, about the experience of being non-binary. “Non-binary is very strange, because it’s about preserving that internal space, and feeling proud of it, and finding ways to communicate it.”
music April 14, 2018
Confidence Man and Space Invadas
Confidence Man and Space Invadas both deliver refurbished R&B, but one polishes vintage grooves and the other delivers a fun-packed take on a ’90s dancefloor.
music April 7, 2018
How hip-hop offered a language for a Sydney Sikh and lead him to take the name L-Fresh the Lion.
