Category: The 2020’s
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Viagra Boys ‘Cave World’ (2022)
My brother shared this band with me a few weeks ago and it’s a total trip. The concept of Cave World is simple yet brilliant– the band dove deep into the world of terminally-online conspiracy theorists and wrote an album based off the first-person perspectives of those they were mocking. The band explores these topics…
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The War and Treaty ‘Plus One’ (2025)
The War and Treaty dropped their newest album yesterday (Plus One as you would expect) and my wife and I had the pleasure of seeing them host a special Valentine’s Day show at the Grand Ole Opry last evening. The bill included The Band Perry, Neon Union, Jon Randall, LoCash and more, but it was…
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Finneas ‘For Crying Out Loud’ (2024)
I spent last night at the Ryman Auditorium watching Finneas play an incredible live show. For those of you not in the know, the Ryman Auditorium is in Nashville and is one of the most iconic live music venues in the United States, standing basically alongside Madison Square Garden as one of the most desired…
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Codefendants ‘This Is Crime Wave’ (2023)
Originally coined as their self-made genre, This Is Crime Wave evolved into a fluid fusion of punk, hip-hop, and reggae layered with dark, cinematic storytelling. With Fat Mike (NOFX) at the helm alongside Sam King (Get Dead) and Ceschi Ramos, the group embraced a raw, unfiltered sound reminiscent of The Transplants meets Days N’ Daze.…
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Inhaler ‘It Won’t Always Be Like This’ (2021)
Inhaler’s It Won’t Always Be Like This was a fresh and energetic debut that blends the shimmering synth-pop of the 1980s with the raw edge of modern indie rock, creating a sound that draws on nostalgia while keeping things fresh and new. Drawing clear inspiration from bands like The Killers, The Strokes, Kings of Leon,…
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The Red Clay Strays ‘Made by These Moments’ (2024)
The Red Clay Strays’ Made by These Moments is a really nice blend of 1960s Americana and modern country rock that hits all the right nostalgic notes. Drawing from the roots of country, rock, and soul, the band weaves stories of love, loss, and resilience into the album that pays homage to a bygone era…
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Wunderhorse ‘Cub’ (2022)
Two years ago I set out on a mission to listen to one album per day. I’m beginning year 3 of that journey starting today, and there’s no album more fitting to kick off 2025 with than Wunderhorse’s debut album Cub. It’s an album that demands to be listened as a cohesive whole, and one…
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Peter Cat Recording Co. ‘BETA’ (2024)
Peter Cat Recording Co.’s BETA is a kaleidoscopic journey through sound that defies genre conventions with its avant-garde spirit and restless creativity. Emerging from the vibrant indie scene of New Delhi, the album feels like a sonic experiment conducted in a dimly lit jazz club on a spaceship. Layers of waltzing horns, hypnotic vocals, and…
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Chappaqua Wrestling ‘Plus Ultra’ (2023)
Chappaqua Wrestling’s debut album Plus Ultra is a kaleidoscope of sound that merges the dreamy textures of shoegaze with the swagger of Britpop, creating a sonic identity that is both nostalgic and forward-thinking. The Brighton-based band channels the shimmering guitars of My Bloody Valentine and the anthemic confidence of Oasis (once you hear it you…
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Momma ‘Household Name’ (2022)
If you’re like me you love 90’s alternative rock and Momma’s Household Name is without a doubt a love letter to that bygone era, bringing the raw, unapologetic energy of grunge back to life with a fresh indie twist. Channeling the rebellious spirit of bands like The Smashing Pumpkins, Pavement, and Hole by weaving those…
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Militarie Gun ‘Life Under The Gun’ (2023)
Music had always been a lifeline for Militarie Gun frontman Ian Shelton. Growing up in a small Washington town, Shelton was drawn to the raw intensity of hardcore punk as an outlet for pent-up frustrations (a love affair I can certainly understand). After years of honing his craft in other bands, most notably as the…
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Fontaines D.C. ‘Romance’ (2024)
I was visiting my brother and sister-in-law in Washington DC a few weekends ago (absolutely splendid time) and he started playing me a few songs off a few playlists he put together. My brother has always had an incredible ear for new and interesting music, stuff that’s sort of off the beaten path while still…
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Hellripper ‘Warlocks Grim & Withered Hags’ (2023)
It’s pretty incredible when you stumble upon a one-piece black metal band, especially one who is recording exclusively in their home studio. The brainchild of Scottish-based guitarist James McBain, Hellripper was recommended to me by a new friend who loves speed metal– I immediately loved it for some obvious reasons (Hellripper sounds like the combination…
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Chuck Strangers ‘The Boys & Girls’ (2023)
On The Boys & Girls Chuck Strangers eschews optimism and embraces pessimism in a stark way. With a brooding baritone Strangers embarks on a somewhat cryptic journey, weaving together bits and pieces of anecdotes in a way that makes it clear the aesthetic he’s shooting for is a lo-fi blueprint very similar to Earl Sweatshirt’s…
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Mach-Hommy ‘#Richaxxhaitian’ (2024)
Mach-Hommy is known for his opaque caginess lyrically and his ability to shapeshift verbally, twisting into different verbal configurations both stylistically as well as linguistically– the album is kind of a trip in that he abruptly will transition from English to Kreyòl and back again at a moment’s notice. But the thing I appreciated most…
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Omnigone ‘Against The Rest’ (2023)
Tomorrow night I’ll be going to see The Matches live for the first time in over 15 years. They’ll be doing a reunion show in San Francisco celebrating the 20 years anniversary of their debut album E. Von Dahl Killed The Locals and I couldn’t be more excited about it. Omnigone is going to be…
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Post Malone ‘F-1 Trillion’ (2024)
When I first heard Post Malone was dropping a country album I was absolutely ecstatic. I was obviously familiar with Postie for his massive chart-topping pop singles (my mom and daughter held numerous dance parties together to “Circles” for about three straight weeks when she was about two years old) but had also seen his…
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Veeze ‘Ganger’ (2023)
It’s hard to find a rapper who has reached immense online popularity while at the same time being seemingly unaware of the fact that he’s in front of a microphone than Veeze. The Detroit MC almost sleepwalks through his bars, slurring his enunciation on every syllable, and yet it sort of works the more you…
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Knocked Loose ‘You Won’t Go Before You’re Supposed To’ (2024)
American hardcore music is kind of having a moment as of late, and Knocked Loose’s third album You Won’t Go Before You’re Supposed To is a good representation of what it’s all about– thick as all hell, with a mixture of post-hardcore screams from mid-aughts heavyweights like Underoath and the rhythm section of industrial metal…
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Drug Church ‘Hygiene’ (2022)
I’ve been on a bit of an intense running kick this year, logging about 15 miles a week, and am constantly on the lookout for a perfect album to serve as the soundtrack for my 5K’s which I’m clocking in at around a 25 minute average. I popped on Drug Church’s Hygiene Friday morning at…
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Patrick Stump ‘Marvel’s Spidey and His Amazing Friends’ (2024)
As a parent of two young kids you get exposed to (dare I say completely deluged with) programming geared toward children, from TV shows to music to toys. And while some of it is relatively disposable and grating, there exists some really solid offerings that you can’t help but sing along to– Bluey is filled…
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Gene Woods ‘Love & Protest’ (2022)
Alongside my passion for writing and recording my own music I work in sales for a software company that supports nurses in the health care industry. My mom has been a NICU nurse for 30+ years so the opportunity to help nurses provide better care for patients was a natural fit for my unique skill…
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Ingrid Andress ‘Good Person’ (2022)
If you’re at all plugged into the internet over the past 24 hours you probably saw Ingrid Andress get absolutely roasted for her performance of the National Anthem at last night’s MLB Home Run Derby. The internet can be a pretty cruel place and oftentimes more critical than is actually deserving, but this time they…
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Barry Can’t Swim ‘When Will We Land’ (2023)
Barry Can’t Swim’s debut album When Will We Land is an incredible experience. I was first introduced to him at a bachelor party in Cabo a few months ago by one of the groom’s cousins and I’ve been casually hooked on it ever since. At face value it’s an electronic dance album in the vein…
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No Pressure ‘No Pressure’ (2022)
I’ve been a huge fan of The Story So Far for a long time now. Their album Proper Dose is one of my favorite pop punk albums of all-time, a seminal record in the genre. As I wrote earlier about it: Whether it be the perils of substance abuse (“Keep This Up”) or a triumphant…
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Chappell Roan ‘The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess’ (2023)
Chappell Roan’s The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess reminds me a whole helluva lot of a combination of Lady Gaga, Taylor Swift, and Cyndi Lauper, which certainly makes sense considering her aesthetic and musical inspirations. Roan takes a lot from Swift’s melodic traits, blends it together with 80’s synth pop, and adds a…
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Joey Valence & Brae ‘NO HANDS’ (2024)
NO HANDS sounds like a time machine transported the Beastie Boys to 2024 and let the boys rip with modern trance rock sounds. Joey Valence & Brae self-admittedly take a ton of inspiration from the boys from the 5 boroughs, but in the end it doesn’t really matter cause this shit is simply just fun…
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JID ‘The Forever Story’ (2022)
Penned as a spiritual follow up to his 2017 debut studio album The Never Story, JID’s 2022 cut The Forever Story is an ambitious project that chronicles the life experiences over the past 20 years that brought him to where he is today. In the vein of hip hop giants Kendrick Lamar and J Cole,…
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Casey ‘How To Disappear’ (2024)
Casey’s 2024 album How To Disappear marked a return for the Welsh based five piece after a five year hiatus where there future was uncertain. The band broke up in 2019 after lead singer Tom Weaver suffered severe health complications, reuniting a few years later once they realized they collectively had more to say. The…
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Slash ‘Orgy of the Damned’ (2024)
Slash just dropped his newest album entitled Orgy of the Damned this past Friday and I simply had to check it out. As dutiful readers will remember I had the opportunity to see Slash in-person at Power Trip Live last year and it was an incredible experience: I was lucky enough to catch them live…
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Bilk ‘Bilk’ (2023)
I happened upon Bilk via X two weeks ago when I saw that their founding drummer was arrested in Jamaica for taking part in a robbery that saw him and his accomplices steal $2 million worth of corned beef. That’s an almost inconceivable amount of corned beef, and the absurdity of the story basically made…
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Dream Widow ‘Dream Widow’ (2022)
Dave Grohl’s love for all things rock and roll comes through in every single project he touches. Whether it be his documentary on Sound City Recording Studios, his numerous contributions to rock through bands like Foo Fighters and Nirvana over the last 30 years, or just a casual interview over a plate of hot wings,…
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Taylor Swift ‘THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT’ (2024)
Despite being in the midst of the record-breaking Eras World Tour, an incredibly public courtship with NFL star Travis Kelce, and the release an astounding 8 albums in the past four years (which includes four of her “re-recorded albums”, a concept we previously covered with her 2021 edition of Red) Taylor Swift managed to find…
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All Time Low ‘Wake Up, Sunshine’ (2020)
Veteran pop punkers All Time Low returned to their roots on 2020’s Wake Up, Sunshine and in the process scored the biggest chart-topping song of their career with “Monsters”. Despite the fact the band has been around since the early aughts and been a mainstay in the pop punk scene for over 20 years (which…
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Conway the Machine ‘God Don’t Make Mistakes’ (2022)
As part of a Buffalo-based hip-hop duo alongside his paternal half-brother Westside Gunn, Conway the Machine has built up a loyal and dedicated fanbase of hardcore hip hop heads since first entering the scene during the mid-2010’s. His life story is reminiscent of 50 Cent’s in many ways– Conway was shot in the head and…
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Hot Mulligan ‘Why Would I Watch’ (2023)
Hot Mulligan is the natural evolution of the mid 2000’s emo and pop punk movement, a band whose creativity and songwriting can both probably be safely described as being diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder, pinwheeling between chord breaks and rhythmic staccatos at a frenetic pace. As a songwriter myself it’s pretty apparent that what these…
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