DEAN’s Return on Anderson .Paak’s “Aftertaste” Rekindles the Mystique That Once Felt Destined for America
LOS ANGELES, CA- For a certain generation of music fans, especially those who spent the latter half of the 2010s diving headfirst into alternative R&B playlists and late-night YouTube recommendation spirals, DEAN felt inevitable. Not just successful. Not just influential. Inevitable. Back around 2016…
Sawyer Hill “Jimmy’s Gone Numb” Review: A Blues-Rock Sermon on the American Dream
LOS ANGELES, CA- There’s something immediate about Sawyer Hill’s “Jimmy’s Gone Numb” that hits before you even start parsing the lyrics. Maybe it’s the weight in his voice. Maybe it’s the way the groove swings with a quiet menace. Or maybe it’s the uncomfortable…
Claire Rosinkranz “Just A Man” Review: A Soft, Insightful Take on Vulnerability
LOS ANGELES, CA- There’s something immediately disarming about Claire Rosinkranz’s “Just A Man.” It doesn’t try to overwhelm you. It doesn’t lean on big production or dramatic swings. Instead, it settles into a gentle, almost conversational space, and somehow that’s exactly what makes it…
JPEGMAFIA “babygirl” Review: A Collision of Chaos, Control, and Clout
LOS ANGELES, CA- There’s a certain kind of energy that JPEGMAFIA brings to a track that you don’t really ease into. You either catch it immediately or you don’t. “babygirl” hits with that same urgency. It’s aggressive, unpredictable, and loud in all the right…
Love Spells “Crutch” Review: Dream Pop Vulnerability with a Hypnotic Vocal Edge
LOS ANGELES, CA- There’s something quietly arresting about Love Spells’s “Crutch.” It doesn’t demand your attention in the traditional sense. It pulls you in slowly, almost subconsciously, until you realize you’ve been sitting with it longer than you expected. On first listen, it’s the…
The Red Clay Strays “Demons In Your Choir” Review: A Powerful Southern Rock Warning
LOS ANGELES, CA- It’s taken me way too long to get into The Red Clay Strays. Longer than I’d care to admit. This is a band that’s been building since 2019, steadily gaining momentum, and somehow it took me nearly six years to finally…
Integra Pink “CURBSTOMP” Review: Danceable Chaos with a Defiant Edge
LOS ANGELES, CA- There’s something immediate about Integra Pink’s “CURBSTOMP” that pulls you in before you even fully process what’s happening. It moves. It hits. It feels built for bodies in motion. But the more you sit with it, the more it reveals itself…
Durand Bernarr’s “Am I Okay?!” Is the R&B Wake-Up Call I Didn’t Know I Needed
LOS ANGELES, CA- There are artists whose names feel familiar long before you can actually place where you know them from. Durand Bernarr was one of those for me. His name always rang a bell, but in that frustrating way where you know you’ve…
Pastel Blank’s “Radiator” Turns Anxiety Into Art-Rock Gold on Unmade in Minutes
LOS ANGELES, CA- Montreal’s indie scene has never lacked for bands willing to get weird, but Pastel Blank seem especially comfortable living in that strange little space where anxiety, humor, and danceable art-rock all collide. Led by songwriter and vocalist Angus Watt, the project…
Failure and Hayley Williams Unite Perfectly on “The Rising Skyline”
LOS ANGELES, CA- Last year, I had the chance to interview a peer of mine, Priscilla Chavez Scott, one of the producers behind “Every Time You Lose Your Mind”, the documentary chronicling the legacy of Failure. Watching that film really drove home just how…
