Youngster Year

ME. is an acronym for Mark O’Connell and Eddie Reyes, formerly of Taking Back Sunday. Having closed that chapter of their lives years ago, it was only a matter of time before they gathered together a fresh band and returned to doing what they do best. Their debut album, “All Good Things,” came out July 24, and it sounds exactly like what you’d expect when career musicians rediscover the excitement and authen...

Hannah Cole has been making music her entire life. But it wasn’t until she moved out of her hometown that everything became more real. After a few steady years of EPs, her debut album finally arrives Sept. 4. It contrasts the challenges of starting out in the music industry with the familiarity of coming home. “Switchbacks” is built around the idea that sometimes, in order to move ahead, we must look to the past.

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What started as a college band in Florida has grown into a cross-country effort with the staying power to thrive through years of recording from thousands of miles apart. But the Hails decided it was time for a change — or rather, a return.

Out Oct. 23, their new album took shape under the same roof for the first time in years. It’s called “Duckpond,” and it’s a record they can proudly say came from all...

Celebrated in their home country of Canada and beyond for their succinct, immersive indie rock songs and lyrical storytelling, Kiwi Jr. has returned with their first album in four years — and it’s a record worth the wait.

“Blowin’ Up,” the band’s fourth studio album, is out Aug. 14. Recently, frontman Jeremy Gaudet spoke about this new collection of songs, where they came from and where the band i...

Weird Nightmare is not something you wake up from — it’s something you wake up to.

After a debut album that hung around on the outskirts of contemporary indie records, the solo project of longtime METZ frontman Alex Edkins is finally getting the recognition it deserves. With “Hoopla,” its latest release on Sub Pop Records, Weird Nightmare has garnered a well-deserved worldwide reach — a long way from wh...

Ultra Lights began as a pandemic recording project in a homemade studio. Now a full-fledged band with their debut album on the way, the project evolved from frontman John Robinson’s desire to escape the 'jaded' cycles of being in a band.

On “Pleasure’s All Yours," they embrace creative limitations and a dreamer’s mindset, resulting in a sound that’s more honest and relatable than Robinson’s past w...

Montreal’s knitting returns this week with their sophomore album. While recent singles provide dark foreshadowing, the heavy, existential subject matter of the record doesn’t come without a few glimmers of hope.

Out this Friday, “Souvenir” was written, recorded and produced entirely in-house. What we’re left with is a thoughtful and deeply personal body of work that serves as a worthy follow-up to the b...

When the Pretty Littles released their previous album in 2025, it followed a long stretch of dormancy, change and a rebuilt lineup. Through it all, the songwriting of frontman Jack Parsons remained the band’s center of gravity.

Out June 5, “Mulga Wire” marks the quickest turnaround in the history of the Littles. The album came together in what Parsons described as “a series of last things falling into place&r...

Boston’s Gollylagging has spent years sharpening a sound that blends shoegaze fuzz with alt-country and bedroom pop sensibilities. Following their 2024 EP, “Dry Rot,” the quartet entered a new era with their latest single, “Jackknife,” on May 26.

Recently, the band sat down to discuss the painstaking process of revising their new sound, their deep collaborative roots in the New England circuit and the f...

Borrowing from shoegaze while carving out a sound distinctly their own, self-described “moss music” purveyors of Minneapolis she’s green haven’t slowed down since their formation. Their new EP, “swallowtail,” arrives July 10 as the follow-up to 2025’s “chrysalis” — together revealing a band capable of far more than the dreamy, fuzz-soaked sound they first became known for....

After 10 years away, Mrs. Magician has returned. With an entirely new lineup, frontman Jacob Turnbloom’s creative vision is the sonic anchor that refines this new collaborative energy into an evolution rather than a departure; they’re still the same surf-adjacent San Diego band you know and love.

The band’s new album, “Spiritual Hangover,” is out May 15. Last month, I was thrilled to speak with Turnbloo...

Gnaw may be one of Singapore’s newest bands, but they are far from late to the game — because the city’s burgeoning indie music scene is only just beginning. The band made its debut on April 10 with “Inside a Machine That’s Glistening,” a four-track EP representing a year of sonic exploration and self discovery.

Last week, band members Tara, Dan and Zak sat down to discuss their creative processes...

Radium Dolls are living proof that hard work pays off. Despite the grown-up obligations of daily life, they’ve managed to remain one of Brisbane’s busiest bands, never missing a show and recording the next big idea only when the exact moment strikes.

Their second album, “Wound Up,” comes out Jan. 30, and it was created in a similar fashion to their first. But the term “sophomore slump” is not eve...

Kula Shaker — the Britpop anomaly, as they’ve called themselves — came up in the mid-nineties alongside bands like The Verve, Oasis, Blur, but they never quite fit into the media pigeonhole of that catchy label, and for good reason. Today, nearly eight studio albums into their career, they’re older, wiser and maybe a little more mature, but their philosophy remains the same as it’s always been: to crea...

In their thirty years together as a band, The Dandy Warhols have lived an incredibly storied career, cultivating a distinct sonic identity and making friends along the way with the likes of The Brian Jonestown Massacre, Pixies, David Bowie and just about anyone else they’ve come across — because you don’t stay a band that long without doing something right. Their 12th studio album, “Rockmaker,” came ou...

You might have heard the expression “band of brothers” — and that’s exactly what Joyer is, although I don’t think that’s what Shakespeare had in mind when he coined the phrase. Today however, it’s often used to refer to any group of people who share a deep bond after enduring together through some hardship. And that also happens to be the story behind the latest album from brothers Nick and...

The Chameleons are widely regarded as unsung pioneers of the post punk variety, having influenced countless bands who are wildly successful to this day. But like many accomplished musicians who’ve been around the block more than a few times and continue to prove their instinctive need to create, lead singer and main songwriter Vox is fervently humble, and his processes have remained largely the same as they were some 40 years...