SOUND BITES

Throughout the '90s, as a class of exciting young rock bands wrestled power away from the excess and gloss of '80s hair metal under the umbrella of what lazy journalists coined "grunge", rock music experienced perhaps its greatest ever surge in popularity outside the days of The Beatles. I assign some of the credit for this to the cross-pollination of influences and styles that permeated major labels and, in turn, charts during the decade. If you think about it, there hasn't been a decade (before or since) home to as many niche genre breakouts and such a wide berth of disparate talents succeeding as the '90s. To put it into a bit clearer perspective, consider this: any current indie band that gets even a little bit of traction on streaming and/or social media these days would have found themselves a major label deal with relative ease in the '90s. For example, off the top of my head, take a band like Black Midi; indie darlings enjoying great critical accla...

After releasing a plethora of singles and EPs over the course of their first few years, Deep Down Happy marks the official debut LP from UK upstarts Sports Team; that said, that early material helped them develop a small but rabid fan base in their home country, so it feels just a bit unfair to label them as upstarts.  Whatever their status may be, their first full-length has finally arrived; the run-up has been long, with one of the album's re-recorded tracks first released in 2017, so suffice to say anyone turned onto the band early has been waiting a long time for this. After one listen to Deep Down Happy , I can tell how Sports Team has amassed such a loyal following. Occupying a sonic space somewhere in the neighbourhood of Parquet Courts and Courtney Barnett (hey, this record just happens to be helmed by Burke Reid, who co-produced both of Barnett's LPs!), Sports Team's sound is rough around the edges and fun.  When a band's debut record reminds me of my Album of...

Following the subdued but brilliant, largely acoustic tones of her acclaimed 2017 debut Stranger in the Alps with a slew of side projects and collaborations lent an air of mystery to the release of her second solo LP; she participated in no less than two all-star bands since that record's release, one with fellow critical powerhouses Julien Baker and Lucy Dacus (Boygenius, whose 2018 EP beautifully crackles with intensity) and another with indie mainstay Conor Oberst (Better Oblivion Community Centre, whose 2019 LP is one of that year's most underrated listens). She's also appeared on tracks by artists such as The National's Matt Berninger and The 1975. Considering the breadth of talent she's aligned herself with in the three years since Stranger in the Alps , who could tell what direction her music would go in? As it turns out, Punisher isn't a vastly different experience from Stranger in the Alps , at least on the surface; Bridgers still trades in somber, sma...

RTJ4 , the (obviously) fourth album by esteemed hip-hop duo Run The Jewels. Comprised of El-P and Killer Mike, RTJ was launched in 2013 and has grown in scope and status with each subsequent album released. Through equal parts humour and activism, the duo have achieved recognition from critics and fans alike that have at this point arguably eclipsed their individual accomplishments, which are numerous. RTJ4 sees El-P and Killer Mike in typically top form, scaling back on some of their more humourous tendencies in favour of the society-baiting observations that the times call for (though they still allow themselves the occasional joke); much of its subject matter seems perfectly suited to the current environment and in many ways plays as prophetic, although if we're being honest it's more so the soundtrack to history repeating itself. Though lacking in some of the "fun factor" that made their first three albums such a blast, RTJ4 is more personal and important. Killer...