This past weekend, a few A.V. Club staffers headed to Chicago’s Douglas Park for Riot Fest, the marathon three-day music festival boasting approximately 90 different artists. And due to a variety of mitigating factors—family commitments, advanced age, a general dislike of crowds and heat—we saw only a fraction of…
Abraham Lincoln. Martin Luther King Jr. Violent J and Shaggy 2 Dope.
Hiss Golden Messenger’s M.C. Taylor has always been a prolific songwriter. But even for him, releasing Hallelujah Anyhow less than a year after 2016's Heart Like A Levee (which itself was packaged with a bonus eight-song record, Vestapol) is rather impressive. By way of explanation, Taylor told Uncut’s John Mulvey,…
It’s not hard to see why Ariel Pink would be fascinated with forgotten pop singer—and fellow Los Angeleno—Bobby Jameson. Jameson found minor success in the 1960s, only to see his career derailed by bad business dealings, substance abuse, and mental health issues. He spent much of the ’70s in institutions or living on…
He has been in two of the biggest rock bands of all time, but it’s clear that Dave Grohl remains an unjaded, over-the-top rock fan (witness his recent appearance in the pit at a Metallica show). Only somebody who grew up under the protective umbrella of album-oriented rock FM radio could pull off an inspired cover to…
Rostam Batmanglij left Vampire Weekend last year, but he didn’t head for the beach to relax: The multi-instrumentalist, producer, and songwriter had already released some solo material, formed a duo with the singer of Ra Ra Riot called Discovery, collaborated with The Walkmen’s Hamilton Leithauser on an excellent…
Grant Hart didn’t behave as if he owed the world anything. He thought nothing of letting a decade pass between his solo albums. He performed sporadically and toured even more sporadically. He barely had a presence online—he didn’t even send his first email until 2009, and didn’t tour with a cellphone until 2010.…
The dance-punk stalwarts of !!! just put out a new song off an EP they’ll be selling at their upcoming live shows, and it easily would’ve been one of the best tracks on their recently released album Shake The Shudder. “The Long Walk” sees the band in an extremely disco-forward mode from the very start, bringing in a…
This album is not good. In point of fact, it is terrible. If you are looking for trainwreck bad—latter-day Limp Bizkit bad, “Magnets, how do they work” bad—you will find it radiating throughout Prophets Of Rage’s debut record. Assembled last year for the Republican National Convention, the band pairs Rage Against The…
The opening seconds of “Magazine,” the first song off Sløtface’s debut Try Not To Freak Out, are a bit of a feint. Behind a veil of feedback, a chorus of “woo-oo”s usher in a shambolic slice of mid-’90s alterna-pop, like early Modest Mouse covering a grunge anthem. It flattens out into a stately midtempo rhythm that’s…
Welcome back to AVC Sessions, our series where we bring in an artist, band, musician, singer, rapper, etc. to perform three of their own tracks. This week, we present Mount Kimbie, the ever-evolving electronic duo from London. While we shared some of their new material yesterday, in this video the duo reaches back…
In a recent edition of Lenny Letter, Tori Amos recounts taking a trip to retrace her mother’s Appalachian ancestry. She didn’t write any songs on that journey, Amos says, but her new Native Invader feels like a homecoming nonetheless. Featuring a song dedicated to Amos’ mother and vocals from her own daughter, Native…
For the president and many uniformed people around the country, Chicago has become the poster child for gun violence in America. But being based here, The A.V. Club knows the city’s darkness is outshone by its people, culture, and the brilliant artists to come out of the city. One of those artists is Vic Mensa, who’s…
Whether it’s the cynicism that comes from living in the shadow of Hollywood or the crushing boredom of it being sunny all the time, there’s something about Southern California that makes it a haven for goths. That morbid streak runs throughout the self-titled full-length from L.A. Witch, a garage-rock trio whose…
Advertisement
Advertisement
