Quick Takes

  • The Wallflowers Exit Wounds

    It’s been almost ten years since the Wallflowers released their last album, 2012's Glad All Over. Even if, for most listeners, the Jakob Dylan-led roots-rockers are better known for writing late-nineties singles like One Headlight and...

  • METZ Live at the Opera House

    A live set from the Canadian noise trio at peak level performance was bound to come. That the nearly hour long set documents our darkest days is an added bonus for future sentimentalists.   

  • Lucy Dacus Home Video

    On her third album, Lucy Dacus makes it clear that her latest collection of songs is not just personal but autobiographical. Anyone familiar with the Richmond, Virginia singer-songwriter will readily recognize the enormous humanity on display...

  • Garbage No Gods No Masters

    Since the early 2000s, every Garbage release has felt like a minor comeback. Starting with their 2005 LP Bleed Like Me, the electronic rockers' output has been infrequent yet familiar—always experimenting with all sorts of new studio...

  • Mia Joy Spirit Tamer

    It’s a bit strange to say, but the new album from Chicago-based singer-songwriter Mia Joy isn’t the sort of debut that immediately grabs you. It took a few days after I heard Spirit Tamer for the first time, but I was eventually drawn...

  • Mannequin Pussy Perfect EP

    No punk band today exemplifies flowers and fangs better than Mannequin Pussy. The Philly trio, having made their biggest splash with 2019’s showstopper Patience, operate on a level of vulnerable fearlessness regardless of...

  • Renée Reed Renée Reed

    Louisiana singer-songwriter Renée Reed has a fascinating backstory. Her families' Cajun influence runs deep—from a grandfather who played Zydeco to being the daughter of musician parents who run a one-stop shop surrounded by Creole and...

  • Dinosaur Jr. Sweep It Into Space

    You know the drill by now: J. drawls unenthusiastically over interminable guitar squall punctuated by furious solos, Murph pounds the snare drum and throws in the odd breathless fill, and Lou delivers the bass and approximately two sad bastard...

  • Weezer Van Weezer

    Let’s be honest, most bands just don’t have it.  A few are lucky enough to capture fleeting greatness, only to lose the formula – usually forever. And then there’s Weezer. Now three decades deep into a career...

  • The Armed ULTRAPOP

    ULTRAPOP is not easy listening by any means. But weighed against the rest of The Armed's discography, it's objectively their most accessible—the mock-branding exercise of the album's artwork itself prone to fooling anyone who...