A Comeback Story for the Ages: Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Californication at 25
Red Hot Chili Peppers made an LP on their own terms with Californication. They silenced the doubters and launched the second act of their extraordinary career.
alternative rock
The Mysterines’ New LP Is Moodier, Darker, and Slower
The Mysterines’ new record is the aural equivalent of a spooky, creaky old house—at an amusement park. It gets the look and feel right, but it’s artifice.
Cicadastone’s ‘Future Echoes’ Is Grunge’s Rip-Roaring Last Stand
Cicadastone’s Future Echoes is a gleeful, rip-roaring, endlessly entertaining beat-down of everything sensitive or delicate in our homogenized society.
The Black Watch Might Be Signaling the Beginning of Their End
With Weird Rooms, John Andrew Fredrick and the Black Watch are at the late height of their powers and perhaps the end of their life as a group.
Dirty Three Prove the Theory That Love Changes Everything
Dirty Three continue their long career of making organic, meditative post-rock jazz that always humbly approaches a single moment, without pretense or distraction.
Joan of Arc Are Resurrected at Last (Just Ask Tim Kinsella)
By putting Joan of Arc’s collected works in a dynamic box set, Tim Kinsella gauges how fans and critics are reconciling with the band’s work with modern ears.
The Decemberists’ New LP Is a Return to Form
The Decemberists straddle between the exotic and quotidian, the real and imagined, to reveal that existence is most interesting when lived in a liminal state.
The Dark Beauty of Alice In Chains’ ‘Jar of Flies’
Unplanned and unprepared, when Alice in Chains recorded Jar of Flies‘ catchy songs on the fly, they created some of their career’s darkest yet warmest music of their career.
Steve Albini’s Black Swan Song: Shellac’s ‘To All Trains’
Shellac’s To All Trains is as compelling as anything they ever produced and a swan song. In Steve Albini’s case, the swan must surely be big, angry, and black.
Eels Are (As Always) Unafraid of Life’s Blemishes
On Eels Time!, Mark Oliver Everett offers up his many different temperaments and reminds us why he is cautiously optimistic despite the pervading melancholy.
Pillow Queens Bring the Rock to ‘Name Your Sorrow’
Dublin’s Pillow Queens have a pair of strong singers and solid musicianship, but their songwriting is a bit hit-and-miss on their third LP Name Your Sorrow.
The Killers’ ‘Hot Fuss’ 20 Years On: A Layered Hit That Still Slays
The Killers’ Hot Fuss is made for the hips and heart, not the brains. Their best tunes are eminently digestible, meant to have you vibrating from the first few bars.