Liking a band’s output and being fully engaged by it sometimes turn out to be two very different things.
The Hero Country Deserves
Orville Peck represents a tectonic shift in country music that could have game-changing implications. So why doesn’t it feel like he’s making strictly country music?
Selling Out is So Over (Part 2)
Our attitudes about what we used to call “selling out” have changed for the better. In a way, McDonald’s is to thank for this shift in attitude. … Ughhhh.
Selling Out is So Over (Part 1)
The Shins took the bold step of getting paid for the use of one of their songs in 2002. So why did some people hate them for it?
Ahead of the Woke Curve
Seattle’s Perfume Genius offered an exquisite, at times difficult, portrayal of what true empathy could sound like…but it arrived long before anyone was looking for it.
Inbetween Days
Okkervil River’s Will Sheff is a master at living in the spaces between traumatic events and their ultimate effects.
The Hidden Path to Clarity
On his newest LP, Helado Negro performs the illusion of hiding beautiful truths in plain sight only to expose them, along the way crafting one of 2019’s best albums so far.
The Currency of Cool: A Troubling Trend in Modern Criticism
Is criticism an art in itself? We think so, and we’d love to explain the significance of that analysis by using the context of the current Billie Eilish geostorm as a jumping off point.
Somewhere, Blitzen Trapper is Dreaming This Right Now...
While the blogosphere was deluged in a veritable tidal wave of folk and indie rock music, making an album that would stand the test of time turned out to be an exercise in making one that was indisputably untimely.
Discovery As An Act Of Rebellion
If you haven’t yet discovered Discovery, get hyped on a crystal ball of an album that broke rules while prognosticating the shape of pop to come.
Wolves At The Door
My Latest Novel’s debut still seems like the breakthrough album that should have been, and years later it remains a confident and assured work that plays by no one’s rules.
An Open Door for Willing Ears
Hard time appreciating jazz? Me too. Here’s how I got around it.
These Go To Eleven
Blistering riffs and fully-formed themes come to life and leave none unscathed on David Nance Group’s new LP.
Our Jams Could Be Your (Inner) Life
Predicated on a style of music that typically makes no impact, Foxwarren embarks on a shock-and-awe campaign through inner monologues and coping mechanisms that sounds like one of the best records of the year.
How to Start a Fire
Liam Howlett and company have been ranting and raving for over 25 years in the attempt to create hard rave music for the masses regardless of shifting trends in electronic music.
The Dream of Interactive Sheep
Re-Critic’s first attempt at film dissection devolves into a chaotic maelstrom of asking what makes something “art”. Yikes.
Bracing For Impact
In which we find our protagonist ending the year with a pre-emptive strike against a burgeoning (and possibly wholly imaginary) onslaught of opinions against vinyl as the music-buying market becomes increasingly complicated by waves of new and revived technologies.
Countdown to Freedom : Re-Critic's Top 10 Albums of 2018
As the sun sets on another year, let’s delve back in to the albums that made 2018 worth listening to.
Ernest Greene's Bid For Immortality
Washed Out won in a genre that was barely a blip on the pop culture radar. Agree or not with chillwave being a thing, this song cannot be denied.
Dispatches from the Other Side
It might be a song about simply beginning a new life, or it may be a poetic meditation on the line between the living and the dead. Lost In The Trees’ 2014 song gets another look.