August 4, 2026

Reviews

Cate Kennan - "Shadows" | Album Review

August 4, 2026

Reviews

Cate Kennan has already established herself as one of the most intriguing musicians of her generation, one of the few to explore the language of dreams and the subconscious. Shadows is arguably one of the masterpieces of the decade so far.

July 22, 2026

by: Chris Coplan

Reviews

Consensus Madness - "Endeavors" | Album Review

July 22, 2026

by: Chris Coplan

Reviews

Consensus Madness - "Endeavors" | Album Review

Across Endeavors – their 10-song, 17-minute debut – Consensus Madness deliver a "love-letter to proto-punk, first wave, and hardcore punk as a whole."

July 20, 2026

by: brian e. snapp

Reviews

Eddy Current Suppression Ring - “In Light of Recent Events” | Album Review

July 20, 2026

by: brian e. snapp

Reviews

Eddy Current Suppression Ring - “In Light of Recent Events” | Album Review

In Light of Recent Events delivers a social survival guide to the sheer volume of chaos and nonsense churned up since we last saw Eddy Current Suppression Ring. It’s eleven tracks of their signature garage-punk, hewn together by able hands and a voice for today.

July 8, 2026

By: Kurt Orzeck

Reviews

Gunner - "Reality Soldier" | Album Review

July 8, 2026

By: Kurt Orzeck

Reviews

Gunner - "Reality Soldier" | Album Review

So-called “negative” hardcore band Gunner is the successor to another Perth band, Semtex 87, with a similar aim, if you will: to vomit forth music so cacophonous, discordant and abhorrent to most that it will repel and chase them away.

June 25, 2026

By: Charlie Bailey

Reviews

Styrofoam Winos - "Any River" | Album Review

June 25, 2026

By: Charlie Bailey

Reviews

Styrofoam Winos - "Any River" | Album Review

Nashville’s Styrofoam Winos have been a part of some of the biggest alt-country comeups in the last five years. Their new album Any River is an infectious, intimate slate of tracks blending folk-country tradition and the modernity of collective avant garde songwriting technique.

June 18, 2026

By: Brett Abrahamsen

Reviews

Souled American - "Sanctions" | Album Review

June 18, 2026

By: Brett Abrahamsen

Reviews

Souled American - "Sanctions" | Album Review

One could argue that Souled American’s Sanctions is the most unfashionable album ever released. It’s their first album in thirty years, and the Scott Tuma-less band has made an album that’s weird, spectral, and haunted, with none of the concessions to trends that usually mar reunion albums.

June 10, 2026

by: Nick Levi

Reviews

Moontype - "I Let The Wind Push Down On Me" | Album Review

June 10, 2026

by: Nick Levi

Reviews

Moontype - "I Let The Wind Push Down On Me" | Album Review

Moontype’s second full length I Let the Wind Push Down on Me is as emotionally charged as its predecessor. It plays like a document of McCarthy’s twenties, shaped by loneliness, self-reinvention, and addiction.

June 9, 2026

by: Kris Handel

Reviews

Beck Zegans - "Engraving of Armor" | Album Review

June 9, 2026

by: Kris Handel

Reviews

Beck Zegans - "Engraving of Armor" | Album Review

Beck Zegans has shown great depth and strength through her previous songwriting in Goo. Her solo debut Engraving of Armor highlights and accentuates that skill, as these songs travel down emotional paths filled with determination and warmth.

June 8, 2026

by: Kris Handel

Reviews

Touch Girl Apple Blossom - “Graceful” | Album Review

June 8, 2026

by: Kris Handel

Reviews

Touch Girl Apple Blossom - “Graceful” | Album Review

Named after a lyric from K Records labelmates Beat Happening, Touch Girl Apple Blossom are unafraid to revel in a raucous joy on their debut Graceful.

June 5, 2026

By: Brett Abrahamsen

Reviews

Squirrel Flower - "Live at Top Note Theatre" | Album Review

June 5, 2026

By: Brett Abrahamsen

Reviews

Squirrel Flower - "Live at Top Note Theatre" | Album Review

The cryptic, ethereal nightmares of Grouper were given new, haunted life via the hushed and chilling set performed by Squirrel Flower in early 2025 in Chicago. Live at the Top Note Theatre firmly establishes Ella Williams as Grouper’s natural heir.

June 3, 2026

by: Kris Handel

Reviews

Slippers - "Slippers 08" | Album Review

June 3, 2026

by: Kris Handel

Reviews

Slippers’ pop style is exceedingly charming and full of bright sunshine, but these songs are full of bite and menace that work extremely well. It’s what makes Slippers 08 so compelling.

June 2, 2026

by: Nick Levi

Reviews

Rusty Santos - "Psycho Horses" | Album Review

June 2, 2026

by: Nick Levi

Reviews

Rusty Santos - "Psycho Horses" | Album Review

Rusty Santos is an acclaimed and eclectic producer known for working with mid-aughts projects like Animal Collective, TV on the Radio, Beach House, DJ Rashad, and more. Psycho Horses is his latest LP, which he describes as his “antidote to sleepwalking.”

June 1, 2026

by: Kris Handel

Reviews

Youbet - "Youbet" | Album Review

June 1, 2026

by: Kris Handel

Reviews

Youbet finds Nick Llobet asserting himself with bold physical soundscapes and a profound lyrical intensity. This record is the sound of a band that continues to grow in their ever-expanding and hypnotic musical universe.

May 29, 2026

by: Devin Birse

Reviews

Iceage - "For Love of Grace & Hereafter" | Album Review

May 29, 2026

by: Devin Birse

Reviews

Iceage - "For Love of Grace & Hereafter" | Album Review

Iceage’s first record in five years sees them at their tightest and poppiest. Sharp and melodic, For Love of Grace & Hereafter is the Copenhagen group’s most tender release yet.

May 28, 2026

by: Khagan Aslanov

Reviews

Bill Orcutt & Mabe Fratti - "Almost Waking" | Album Review

May 28, 2026

by: Khagan Aslanov

Reviews

Bill Orcutt & Mabe Fratti - "Almost Waking" | Album Review

On Almost Waking, Orcutt and Fratti’s practices converge spectacularly. Weaving abstract electric six-string work with rich acoustic bowing, this eight-track collection transforms adversarial, jagged improvisation into sheer elegant instinct.

May 27, 2026

by: brian e. snapp

Reviews

Lupo Città - INVERNO | Album Review

May 27, 2026

by: brian e. snapp

Reviews

Lupo Città’s INVERNO is true “band” music — not a singer/songwriter-led team, but collectively built, with the sum being multiplied by the powers of its individual parts.

May 26, 2026

by: Pat Pilch

Reviews

National Photo Committee - "Red Hot Photo Committee" | Album Review

May 26, 2026

by: Pat Pilch

Reviews

National Photo Committee - "Red Hot Photo Committee" | Album Review

The Chicago project’s jammy cluster of interesting rock music is intensely charming and nonnegotiably on the jukebox all night long. Red Hot Photo Committee contains punk’s out-of-fucks heart with a rock n’ roll soul.

May 26, 2026

by: Chris Coplan

Reviews

Bullseye - "Bullseye" | Album Review

May 26, 2026

by: Chris Coplan

Reviews

With their latest, Bullseye have slowly, deliberately shown us that rehashing the past means something if you're fearless, fun, and dedicated to the things that always work.

May 21, 2026

by: Jade Marantz

Reviews

Sub*T - "How My Own Voice Sounds" | Album Review

May 21, 2026

by: Jade Marantz

Reviews

Sub*T - "How My Own Voice Sounds" | Album Review

With their first LP How My Own Voice Sounds, New York-based duo Sub*T offer an introspective journey through the process of understanding oneself.

May 19, 2026

By: Jess Makler

Reviews

Friko - "Something Worth Waiting For" | Album Review

May 19, 2026

By: Jess Makler

Reviews

Friko - "Something Worth Waiting For" | Album Review

Friko’s latest record is a searing reflection on the never-ending nature of life’s mysteries. The Chicago band finds hope in constant motion, fighting through uncertainty to chase contentment while battling the ambiguous nature of the unknown.