Saturday Night Video
Hurts Like Hell
Charlotte Cornfield is the latest musician to put out something via Durham, NC’s Merge Records. Hurts Like Hell is also the first long player by the Canadian singer/songwriter since becoming a mother. The title track, “Hurts Like Hell,” wallows in a remembered sentimentality with the advantage of looking
If You Change
Widowspeak has a new record coming this June and produced a video for the lead single, “If You Change.” I first heard the band when they covered Dire Straits’ “Romeo and Juliet,” a song that never landed with me previously. Widowspeak won me over with the wistful tenderness they gave
The Shape of Paris
This week’s Saturday Night Video is a bit different than the usual fare. It’s technically more of a skate video than a music video (but it does feature music). Powell Peralta-sponsored skateboard pro Andy Anderson and I have very different styles, but I enjoy his skating and
Way You Walk
I saw Papas Fritas play during their run in the nineties at a club called Go Studios that straddled the border between Chapel Hill and Carrboro. They were an energetic live band and most impressively, had a drummer (Shivika Asthana) who sang. Purchasing their third long-player, Buildings and Grounds,
Stop Me If You Think That You’ve Heard This One Before
One testament to my affection for the Smiths is the fact that I desperately wanted to hate them. My girlfriend in high school sung their praises, but we weren’t totally in sync in the music department. I was turned off by what I saw as the pretentiousness of Morrissey,
King Cnut
London-based outfit Mandrake Handshake has something like a psychadelic+ sound. Or as they call it themselves—flowerkraut. They probably owe as much to Stereolab as anyone else. In their song “Hypersonic Super-Asterid,” they actually use the phrase “metronomic underground," which is the first track from Stereolab’s
Too Fast To Last
Longtime readers know I’m a big fan of Scout Gillett, who I first discovered via her beguiling cover of Broadcast’s “Come On, Let’s Go.” I had her first full-length, 2022’s No Roof No Floor, on very heavy rotation for a couple of months after its
Lonely Road
I was unfamiliar with Natalie Bergman and discovered her new material while combing through this post by Jason Morehead about some of his favorite songs of 2025. This track leads off Bergman's 2025 release, My Home Is Not In This World. It's got a Brill Building
120 Minutes That Saved My Life
When I was starting to explore the scope of music in what used to be called the “alternative” scene in the late ’80s and early ’90s, the MTV show 120 Minutes was an effective teacher. The label described a loosely knit category—if you can even call it that—in
Let Me Take You Out
Listening to “Let Me Take You Out” by Class Actress in 2025 feels like hearing the sound of promise unfulfilled. When the single from their first EP, Journal of Ardency came out in 2010, it seemed like the start of a band destined to make a mark. The song was