Philadelphia punks The Wonder Years have continually shown that they’re more than just punks. Since the release of Suburbia, they’ve never really had an adequate match within the Warped Tour scene that they’re often lumped into, and they don’t really mesh with the artsy DIY punk scene that creates artists like Long Neck or Pinegrove. This is all to say that even though Sister Cities isn’t their best, The Wonder Years are still in a class all their own. Continue reading
This lineup boasts the return of Nine Inch Nails, as well as some common ground with Coachella in Mitski, DJ Shadow, Preoccupations and Glass Animals. Some other highlights include Angel Olsen, Cloud Nothings, Pinegrove, MGMT, Foxygen, Tyler the Creator, Girl Talk and many others.
Pinegrove have placed their entire discography on Bandcamp at a “pay-what-you-want” rate with all proceeds going to Planned Parenthood. Pinegrove’s Cardinal was a favorite for the year. The band also will be playing New York’s Bowery Ballroom, following an excellent set at Something in the Way fest.
It’s almost not fair that one record label can have so many great bands. Run For Cover Records has one of the strongest rosters in the indie-rock world now. Just about every band that put out a record on RFC ended up becoming one of the must-hear artists of the year. To name a few, Nothing, Crying, Pinerove and Modern Baseball each put out highlight albums this year, and on December 14th, they were all in the same building. In addition to this year’s big names, Petal, Alex G, and mewithoutYou all had hit records last year. When they announced a one-day festival that’s only their artists, it’s hard to turn down a ticket. The inaugural Something in the Way fest was truly a special evening for the label and its fans. Continue reading
There was a lot of good music that came out in 2016, and it’s terrible. Of course, no one is complaining about the excellent tunes, but the greater amount of good music, the harder it is to keep up with. There’s so much music that you couldn’t possibly give everything a thorough listen; therefore, here are some of the albums that won’t make my best-of list and may be on my honorable mentions list, but I still plan on giving a much more complete listen to in the end of 2016 and in 2017.
As album-of-the-year season approaches, we’ve been reflecting on the music we’ve heard this year. While a more formal list is coming, these items are all honorable mentions for a number of reasons. While it may just be that we felt our list was better, for many of these albums it has to do with the fact, we just didn’t get to spend as much time as we would have liked with them. These are still some of the best records of the year, in no particular order.
Chance the Rapper-Coloring Book
Chance’s third mixtape is one of his strongest. With gospel-infused hip hop, he brought some of the best feel-good songs of the summer.
Must listen song: “No Problem”
Following Trump’s election, various artists are calling for help to make their shows safe spaces. Kevin Devine has called to help anyone who may feel unsafe to contact the God Damn Band, Petal, Julien Baker, Pinegrove or himself. Mitski posted a similar message on Instagram: Continue reading
The stripped down song fits well in Brand New’s set. Brand New are still on their tour with The Front Bottoms and Modern Baseball. Baker just set out on tour with Kevin Devine, Petal and Pinegrove.
Kevin Devine & the Goddamn Band have announced a fall tour with Julien Baker, Pinegrove, and Petal. Kevin Devine’s 9th LP, also titled Instigator, is due out soon, hopefully in time for this stacked tour lineup. Baker, Pinegrove, and Petal all released excellent albums last year. Detailed tour dates can be found on Devine’s official website.
James is on Twitter.
Burger-A-Day 