Month: January 2015

Lower Dens: Confidently Embracing Hypnotic Pop

Lower Dens' third album, Escape From Evil, is out March 31 via Ribbon Music. (Frank Hamilton/Courtesy of the artist)
Lower Dens’ third album, Escape From Evil, is out March 31 via Ribbon Music. (Frank Hamilton/Courtesy of the artist)

Whether in her early years as an inward-looking and confessional songwriter, or as the enigmatic creative center of Lower Dens, Jana Hunter has always seemed like a mysterious, reserved figure. Content to mask her voice amid the foggy, blissed-out atmosphere of the Baltimore band, Hunter came off like a shy frontwoman on stage, tolerating the attention because she was driven to perform as a means to push through her own anxiety and internal darkness.

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Novellus: Eerie Electronics, Shrouded In Secrecy

Novellus' Untitled EP is out Jan. 26 via New Ancestors.
Novellus’ Untitled EP is out Jan. 26 via New Ancestors.

Okay, I have no clue who Novellus really is. Maybe it’s a young upstart developing a following by withholding information. Perhaps it’s an established artist I already know, operating under a different moniker. Or, an enigmatic superstar dropping new music on the sly. Wait, I know! It’s Paul McCartney, right? No? Is it Burial? Probably not.

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Dan Deacon’s Duet With Himself

Dan Deacon's new album, Feel The Lightning, is out Feb. 24. (Frank Hamilton / Courtesy of the artist)
Dan Deacon’s new album, Feel The Lightning, is out Feb. 24. (Frank Hamilton / Courtesy of the artist)

Yesterday I wrote a short thing for NPR Music’s Songs We Love series on the brilliant mad scientist and dance-off ringleader Dan Deacon, and his fantastic and very poppy new single “Feel The Lightning” — which you can read over here.

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Waxahatchee’s ‘Air’ Embraces Change And A Broader Palette

Waxahatchee's latest album, Ivy Tripp, is out April 7 via Merge.
Waxahatchee’s latest album, Ivy Tripp, is out April 7 via Merge.

I wrote a quick couple paragraphs about Waxahatchee’s amazing new song “Air” from her upcoming album Ivy Tripp. You can read that as part of NPR Music’s Songs We Love series.

You can also read a slightly different version that was used for NPR’s Heavy Rotation series.

Below, here’s a much longer, and unedited ramble about Katie Crutchfield’s music, about being in transition and embracing change, even when it’s hard.

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My Favorite New Comics (I Read) In 2014

Another year, another fantastic year of comics. And, another year where comic book characters demonstrated their dominance in pop entertainment.

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