Indigo Girls
Indigo Girls are among the most enduring musical outfits to emerge from the late-’80s female singer/songwriter scene and to a lesser degree the later iteration of the Athens, Georgia scene that birthed R.E.M., Love Tractor, and Widespread Panic. The Grammy-winning duo of Amy Ray and Emily Saliers established a devoted national fan base thanks to early hits such as ‘Closer to Fine’ from their self-titled Epic release in 1988; it was the first of six consecutive gold- and/or platinum-certified albums. Their two-women-with-guitars formula may not have been revolutionary on paper, but the combination of two distinct musical personalities and songwriting styles provided tension and an interesting balance. Saliers, hailing from the Joni Mitchell school, boasted a gentler sound but was more compositionally complex, with lyrics that revealed the abstract and spiritual. Ray drew heavily from the singer/songwriter tenets of punk rock, citing influences such as the Jam, the Pretenders, and Hüsker Dü for her more direct, often confessional approach. Indigo Girls are celebrated almost as much for their political and social activism on such issues as LGBTQ and Native American rights, protecting the environment, and work against the death penalty. With a passionate live show that consciously sought to erase distances between audience and performer, they grew a fan base across U.S. borders into Canada and Europe. Later recordings, such as 1994’s Swamp Ophelia, led by the charting single ‘Least Complicated,’ sustained their appeal even as their sound expanded to include Americana, rock, and even blues. To bring across their vision, they employed touring bands filled with top-shelf musicians including Budgie, Sara Lee, Gail Ann Dorsey, Brady Blade, Matt Chamberlain, Jane Scarpantoni, and Caroline LaVelle. After leaving Epic, the Indigo Girls delivered Grammy-nominated Top 50 albums for the Hollywood, Vanguard, and IG labels, including 2006’s Mitchell Froom-produced Despite Our Differences, 2009’s Poseidon and the Bitter Bug, and 2011’s Beauty Queen Sister. Their 15th…
Read MoreArcade Fire
Emerging from Montreal, Canada in the early 2000s, Arcade Fire quickly earned a reputation for transcendent live shows that brought arena-size ambition to stages of all sizes. Their debut album Funeral – widely hailed as one of the most important albums of the ‘00s – combined cathartic confrontation of tragedy and life-affirming celebration of love, hope and band members’ Haitian roots. The album has been named the #1 album of the ‘00s by Rolling Stone & has topped Best of the Decade lists from NME, Q, Pitchfork, The Guardian, Mojo and more. Subsequent albums Neon Bible, The Suburbs, Reflektor & Everything Now have earned the band three #1 albums worldwide, 9 GRAMMY nominations, 4 Juno awards, a BRIT Best International Album award, as well as an Academy Award nomination for the original score to the film HER.
WE, the sixth Arcade Fire album, is made up of seven songs that speak to this moment with unique directness. Written, recorded, and released during a critical historical juncture, they are divided into two distinct sides, “I” and “WE.” If the “I” side of the record evokes and embodies our holed-up anxiety and lack of physical connection, the “WE” side captures the excitement of new possibilities and the elevating thrill of committing to one another socially and personally. Produced by Nigel Godrich, Win & Régine, WE is a 40 minute epic as much about the forces that threaten to pull us away from the people we love, as it is inspired by the urgent need to overcome them.
Band of Horses
There might be no other band that was able to channel the generational anxiety in those early millennial years and turn it into such powerful and inclusive art quite like Band of Horses. Band of Horses fashioned gorgeously ragged epics, Ben Bridwell’s high-flying vocals and eccentric enunciation floating like a specter that felt like prelude to a dream. Full of profundity, truth and sometimes just homespun advice on how to live, Band of Horses songs have become anthems and touchstones for fans. Emotionally intense, both on a personal and elemental level, the songs for Band of Horses’ sixth album, Things Are Great, find Bridwell more autobiographical than he’s ever been on record, detailing the nebulous frustrations and quiet indignities of relationship changes and what a person will do to make things right. And what you do when you can’t. Band of Horses is composed of Bridwell, longtime members Ryan Monroe and Creighton Barrett and new members Matt Gentling on bass, and guitarist Ian MacDougall. This fresh chapter finds the band recapturing the raw emotion and unpolished punk-rock spirit of its early days. The songs on Things Are Great document the connections in Bridwell’s life that have shifted, or remained. An epic album, Things Are Great is not an exercise in nostalgia or regret. It’s closer to the classic pattern of the hero’s journey, one where Bridwell doesn’t locate those elusive answers but does find himself in the end, providing hope that all of us can do the same.
Read MoreIlsey
During her career, Ilsey has collaborated with some of music’s biggest names. But on her debut album, From The Valley (arriving October 6th via Elektra), the Los Angeles-based singer-songwriter crafts an immersive, singular sonic universe that sounds like nothing else out there. Across breezy Laurel Canyon rock, sparse pop ballads seared by solemn guitars and synths, and acoustic-driven music, Ilsey narrates each of the album’s 10 tracks with deliberate care, thanks to a tender, empathetic voice full of hard-fought wisdom. With acclaimed producer BJ Burton at the helm [Bon Iver, Soccer Mommy, Low], and additional production and co-writing from Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon, From The Valley comes from a deep dark valley of the heart; a drive through that winding valley of self-doubt, longing, delusion, and ultimately hope, trying to find a way back home.
Read MoreDaniel Donato
Daniel’s musical style blends the best of Nashville honky tonks with an improvisational spirit rooted in the ethos of truthful, beautiful, and good music. This intersection proves to be a potent combination, made only stronger but a vibrant, youthful, and supremely talented touring band. Cosmic Country, in short, presents itself as a timeless musical personality that may cause the heart to swell and the hips to shake.
Read MoreSlow Pulp
Slow Pulp is a rock band that was founded in Madison, Wisconsin, and is currently situated in Chicago, Illinois. The band has garnered significant recognition for their unique sound and captivating performances. Slow Pulp’s music is a mesmerizing blend of indie rock, shoegaze, and dream pop, which has earned them a loyal fan base worldwide. With their thought-provoking lyrics and haunting melodies, Slow Pulp stands out as a standout artist in the contemporary music scene.
Read MoreAdrianne Lenker
On bright future, Adrianne Lenker, a songwriter known for turns of phrase and currents of rhyme, says it plainly, “You have my heart // I want it back.” Documented with analog precision, what began as an experiment in collaboration, became proof Adrianne’s heart did return, full to the brim, daring her into the unknown.
Admirers of Adrianne’s solo music and Big Thief will find on bright future her reliable talent captured in stunning, magnetic clarity. In the company of parlor instruments, Adrianne’s modern melodic and lyrical inventions create new traditions. Her vocal flights at times outwit gravity, then land, guiding along an earthly path. The wholeness of the unspliced recordings preserve a time of musical friendship during a golden season.
The Secret Sisters
Since their 2010 self-titled debut, The Secret Sisters have brought their spellbinding harmonies to songs that untangle the thorniest aspects of life and love and womanhood. In the making of their new album, Mind, Man, Medicine, Alabama-born siblings Laura Rogers and Lydia Slagle found their songwriting transformed by a newfound sense of self-reliance and equanimity, threading their lyrics with hard-won insight into the complexities of motherhood, commitment, compassion, and self-preservation in an endlessly chaotic world. Centered on a kaleidoscopic sound that boldly blurs the edges of country-folk, the duo’s fifth full-length ultimately confronts many of modern life’s harshest challenges while leading the listener toward a more open-hearted state of mind.
Read MoreJaime Wyatt
Hailed by Pitchfork as one of the most exciting and skillful storytellers working today, Jaime Wyatt is the kind of generational talent whose raw, honest lyricism is matched only by the power of her huge, unmistakable voice. Wyatt first began turning heads with her breakout 2017 debut, Felony Blues, which chronicled her now much-publicized battle with addiction and transformative journey through the criminal justice system. Wyatt’s 2020 follow-up, Neon Cross, tackled even more profoundly personal revelations. Both records arrived to universal acclaim, with NPR praising Wyatt’s remarkable voice and Rolling Stone lauding her lush, layered, and complex performances.
Her upcoming album, Feel Good Recorded with Black Pumas’ Adrian Quesada, takes Wyatt to new heights. Feel Good is bold and ecstatic, built on tight, intoxicating grooves that belie the songs’ substantial emotional stakes. Wyatt’s writing is unguarded and intuitive here, tapping into the deep recesses of her subconscious as she reckons with grief and growth, and her delivery is visceral to match, cutting straight to the bone with equal parts sensitivity and swagger. Taken as a whole, the collection stands as a radical act of creative liberation from an artist already known for pushing limits, a genre-defying work of healing and self-love that tips its cap to everything from Al Green and Otis Redding to Waylon Jennings and Bobbie Gentry in its relentless pursuit of peace and pleasure.
Faye Webster
The title of Faye Webster’s new album is inspired by her occasional compulsion to lose herself among concertgoers at the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. Craving company and distraction but also leaning into the anonymity of a crowd, Webster often bought a ticket to a performance at the last second. “Going to the symphony was almost like therapy for me,” she says. “I was quite literally underdressed at the symphony because I would just decide at the last moment that’s what I wanted to do.”
Webster has never been more comfortable in her own skin than right now, which makes her ascent into the vanguard of young, independent artists even sweeter. At any given moment, Webster might be making country-tinged indie rock flecked simultaneously by pedal steel guitar and modern R&B production – a bespoke sound which has won her ardent fans and turned her into something of a stealth superstar. The world around Webster may be moving faster and faster, but despite an influx of new fans, she’s still singing about it in an almost impossibly low-key way on her fifth album.
Recorded at Sonic Ranch Studios with her longtime band, Underdressed at the Symphony revels in experimentation and playfulness. Webster isn’t providing answers here, nor is she on a journey of healing and self-care. Instead, she’s choosing to just live, to document heartbreak and ridiculous moments right next to each other until they start to blur, becoming real enough for us all to feel.
Squeeze
Squeeze, one of the most traditional pop bands of the new wave era, served as a crucial link between classic British guitar pop and post-punk. Inspired by iconic artists like the Beatles, the Kinks, Chris Difford, and Glenn Tilbrook, Squeeze was celebrated as the modern-day successors to Lennon and McCartney in the early ’80s. The partnership between Difford and Tilbrook was a genuine collaboration, with one handling the lyrics and the other providing the music. Despite not achieving the same level of popularity as the Beatles, Squeeze’s charm lay in their wry, subtle songwriting that merged traditional pop values with literate lyrics and clever musical references. While the band struggled to gain traction in the US initially, their dedicated following and timeless hits like “Take Me I’m Yours” and “Up the Junction” solidified their status as pop classics of the new wave era.
Formed in 1974, Squeeze, led by Chris Difford and Glenn Tilbrook, embarked on their musical journey by recruiting talented members like Jools Holland and Gilson Lavis. The band’s quirky and pop-oriented style set them apart in the pub rock circuit. Despite initial setbacks with record labels, Squeeze persevered and released their debut EP, Packet of Three, in 1977. Over the years, the band underwent lineup changes, explored new musical directions, and eventually saw commercial success with albums like Cool for Cats and Argybargy. With critical acclaim and moderate success in the UK and the US, Squeeze’s legacy was further cemented with hits like “Another Nail in My Heart” and “Tempted.” The band’s journey, marked by creative growth and evolving sounds, resonated with audiences and critics alike, earning them a lasting place in music history.
Following a period of disbandment in the early ’80s, Chris Difford and Glenn Tilbrook continued their partnership through solo projects before reuniting to reform Squeeze. The band’s later albums like East Side Story and Babylon and On showcased their musical versatility and songwriting prowess. Despite ups and downs in their career, Squeeze’s resilience and dedication to their craft led to rejuvenated success with hits like “Hourglass” and “853-5937.” Their ability to adapt to changing musical landscapes and connect with audiences through timeless tunes solidified their position as iconic figures in the British music scene. As Squeeze continues to evolve and create new music, their impact on the industry remains undeniable, marking them as enduring legends of the pop rock genre.
Nada Surf
Nada Surf is a witty and literate melodic rock band known for their cult status in the ’90s alt-rock scene. Their journey began with the popular anthem ‘Popular’ and evolved into a series of sophisticated productions over the years. The band grabbed attention with their debut album ‘High/Low’ in 1996, produced by Ric Ocasek, leading to a mature sound showcased in subsequent albums like ‘Let Go’ (2002), ‘The Weight Is a Gift’ (2005), and ‘You Know Who You Are’ (2016). Nada Surf even experimented by adding symphonic backing from Germany’s Deutsches Filmorchester Babelsberg in their concert album ‘Peaceful Ghosts’ (2016).
Founded by Matthew Caws (vocals, guitar) and Daniel Lorca (bass), who were longtime school friends, Nada Surf originated after their school days. They formed Because Because Because in 1991, which later evolved into Nada Surf in 1993. Despite initial challenges, the band’s demo caught the attention of producer Ric Ocasek, catapulting them to success. Signed to Elektra in 1995, Nada Surf’s debut LP ‘High/Low’ and the hit single ‘Popular’ marked their breakthrough. Subsequent albums like ‘The Proximity Effect’ (1998), ‘The Weight Is a Gift’ (2005), and ‘Lucky’ (2008) further solidified their place in the music industry.
Continuing their musical journey, Nada Surf explored new territories with albums like ‘If I Had a Hi-Fi’ (2010), ‘The Stars Are Indifferent to Astronomy’ (2012), and ‘You Know Who You Are’ (2016). The band’s commitment to their craft is evident in their charity projects, cover albums, and live performances, showcasing a blend of creativity and generosity. With their philosophical album ‘Never Not Together’ (2020) and subsequent EP ‘Cycle Through’ (2021), Nada Surf continued to captivate audiences with their introspective and expressive music. Their tenth album ‘Moon Mirror’ (2024) marks a poignant return, displaying lyrical depth and emotional resonance in their evolving musical landscape.