Jana Horn's new record is a balm. Previewed her show at Judson & Moore tonight, with James Elkington opening sinceileftyoublog.tumblr.com/post/8083552...

A thudding snare hit from @noochiez.bsky.social introduces a level up for @ratboysband.bsky.social, 30 seconds into their new album Singin' to an Empty Chair. The band doesn't look back. Review: sinceileftyoublog.tumblr.com/post/8082590...

"Recording layers of guitars and proper fuzzy guitars is so much fun. It’s very easy to get carried away." Spoke to Lande Hekt about everything Lucky Now, her great new album out via @tapeterecords.bsky.social sinceileftyoublog.tumblr.com/post/8078108...

Was here too. Can confirm, SPRINTS rips. Read Jordan’s write-up!

Thursday at Lincoln Hall, in the middle of “Coming Alive”, a standout from their second album All That Is Over (@subpop.bsky.social), SPRINTS made it clear they had leveled up. sinceileftyoublog.tumblr.com/post/8074739...

Friendship's Caveman Wakes Up (@mergerecords.bsky.social) is a series of earnest barroom confessionals...Natalie Jane Hill's Hopeful Woman (@dearliferecs.bsky.social) is content to drift even though she knows she’ll hit rough patches. Both playing 2morrow sinceileftyoublog.tumblr.com/post/8069935...

Wednesday night at Schubas represented a remarkably confident beginning of an assured new era for Brigitte Calls Me Baby sinceileftyoublog.tumblr.com/post/8065402...

You could say A Brief History of Blindness (@propellersound.bsky.social) is a lifetime--of fandom, hard work, leadership, struggle--in the making. My interview w/ physician and power pop aficionado Stéphane Schück about the latest from The Salt Collective sinceileftyoublog.tumblr.com/post/8063600...

Austra's Chin Up Buttercup (@dominorecordco.bsky.social) works because it’s not linear; a lesser artist might have succumbed to the temptation of telling us what happened. Katie Stelmanis instead mirrors the imperfect timeline of heartbreak. sinceileftyoublog.tumblr.com/post/8059025...

"How one’s lived experience colors the interpretation of a song is as different as there are as many people on the earth." Jamie Stewart of Xiu Xiu spoke to me about the band's new covers record out Friday via @polyvinyl.bsky.social sinceileftyoublog.tumblr.com/post/8057239...

From daring experimentalists @maryhalvorson.bsky.social and @orenambarchi.bsky.social to pop geniuses @sparksofficial.bsky.social and FKA twigs: SILY's top albums of 2025 sinceileftyoublog.tumblr.com/post/8052860...

Lilly Hiatt's Forever is full of swagger and new love heightened by its instrumentation. My review: sinceileftyoublog.tumblr.com/post/8034022...

"The suggestion that music is an artform rooted firmly to 'the moment' seems absurd to me... If we take my seemingly habitual use of reverb as perhaps the most potent example, the so-called 'present' is rendered invisible by it." Spoke with KRAMER sinceileftyoublog.tumblr.com/post/8026456...

Wrote about the most recent @bobmouldmusic.bsky.social album; if you're anxiously awaiting a live show or music from Sugar, might I suggest a song I didn't even write about in my review, "When Your Heart Is Broken"? As good as anything on Copper Blue! sinceileftyoublog.tumblr.com/post/8025664...

"We work well under pressure. If you give us a week to do something, we’ll do it in the last half a day." Panic Shack speak to us about "laughing, drinking, chatting, gossiping" and then buckling down in the studio to make their self-titled debut sinceileftyoublog.tumblr.com/post/8023713...

On @alabasterdeplume.bsky.social's A Blade Because A Blade Is Whole (@intlanthem.bsky.social), he's invitational rather than antagonistic in his attempts to heal the globe. @atlesmusic.bsky.social sinceileftyoublog.tumblr.com/post/8020965...

"There’s no big concept. It’s, 'Here’s some music that I think feels good; maybe it’ll make you feel good too.'" Spoke with jazz pianist Aaron Parks about By All Means, his third album for @bluenoterecords.bsky.social out now sinceileftyoublog.tumblr.com/post/8019272...

SILY contributor Keith Miller on Case Oats' debut Last Missouri Exit (@mergerecords.bsky.social), which "feels like the perfect soundtrack for a drive through the Midwest as you pass by cornfields, grain elevators, cows, and scattered patches of forest." sinceileftyoublog.tumblr.com/post/8017345...

San Francisco psych rockers Magic Fig on their upcoming album Valerian Tea, visual identity, recording practices, jamming, and more sinceileftyoublog.tumblr.com/post/8004880...

Did the reissues of two The Faint albums from earlier this year (@saddlecreek.bsky.social) recontextualize them as having foreshadowed indie sleaze? When paired with Hercules and Love Affair at the Metro, I realized they're just a band you can dance to: sinceileftyoublog.tumblr.com/post/8004057...

Asking whether something in an S.G. Goodman song is “true” reduces her storytelling to mere linear literalism. The same could be said for Fust frontperson Aaron Dowdy. sinceileftyoublog.tumblr.com/post/8001062...

Nicholas Tremulis has brought together another batch of like-minded musicians for the Hua Momona Foundation fundraisers in Chicagoland today through Saturday. Spoke with him about his involvement. sinceileftyoublog.tumblr.com/post/7994864...

In David Byrne’s world, songs that in lesser hands might appear absurd throwaways are key for us to comprehend his ethos. Words on Saturday night's Who Is The Sky? (@matadorrecords.bsky.social) show in Chicago sinceileftyoublog.tumblr.com/post/7993836...

"I was obsessed with music when I was a kid, and I still am, obviously. I hope that all that [we] can do...is create a space for people to disappear into and feel great for at least 45 minutes." Check out my interview w/ Jace Lasek from The Besnard Lakes! sinceileftyoublog.tumblr.com/post/7988360...

List of Demands (@intlanthem.bsky.social) came out in January, but now is as good as a time as ever to dive into Damon Locks' masterpiece of poetry, samples, and virtuosic instrumentation. My review: sinceileftyoublog.tumblr.com/post/7982920...

"The last couple weeks playing gigs and being in a room with people, everybody feels focused in a way where they want...[to] embrace an experience that feels positive and human." Chicago area, go see Amy Rigby tonight in Berwyn! My interview with her: sinceileftyoublog.tumblr.com/post/7976638...

Chicago! Go catch @natesmithdrums.bsky.social tonight at Promontory in Hyde Park and tomorrow at @evanstonspace.bsky.social. I spoke with him about his new album LIVE-ACTION, a collaboration born from online pandemic-era relationships sinceileftyoublog.tumblr.com/post/7975691...

The Sophtware Slump and Greg Freeman's new Burnover (@transgressive.bsky.social & @canvasbackmusic.bsky.social) came out 25 years apart but share more than just their lead singer's style. My review of their show at Thalia Hall last week: sinceileftyoublog.tumblr.com/post/7975632...

There are more of us than there are of them. @riotfest.bsky.social Sunday coverage, ft. @smokingpopesmusic.bsky.social @lambrinigirls.bsky.social @idlesband.bsky.social sinceileftyoublog.tumblr.com/post/7973860...

Thinking back to a Saturday in September at Douglass Park. @riotfest.bsky.social coverage including @thecribs.bsky.social @superchunk.bsky.social @dropkickmurphys.com @officialjackwhite.bsky.social @weezer.bsky.social sinceileftyoublog.tumblr.com/post/7969299...

Posting about my @riotfest.bsky.social Friday coverage weeks late in this small corner of the internet. sinceileftyoublog.tumblr.com/post/7967507...

Sound & Gravity was as advertised: a mini-Big Ears. Words on and photos of Sam Prekop, James Elkington/Nathan Salsburg, Bill Callahan, Helen Money, Fred Moten/Brandon Lopez, and Finom. sinceileftyoublog.tumblr.com/post/7950428...

"I like when things are layered and ambiguous, when you’re not quite sure what you’re hearing or where one sound ends and another begins." Maria Somerville talks Luster (@4ad.com) in advance of her Sound & Gravity set tonight at Judson & Moore! sinceileftyoublog.tumblr.com/post/7944988...

2025 has seen Mdou Moctar go acoustic and William Tyler and Steve Gunn go ambient. I can't wait to see all 3 of them at Sound & Gravity tonight and tomorrow. sinceileftyoublog.tumblr.com/post/7943110...

Happy Sound & Gravity week, Chicago! I especially can't wait to see so many @intlanthem.bsky.social artists, such as Chicago Underground Duo, who celebrate their first album in 11 years on Friday at the Beat Kitchen. Read my interview with Rob Mazurek! sinceileftyoublog.tumblr.com/post/7941275...

Raspberry Moon is the second Hotline TNT album released via @thirdmanrecords.bsky.social, and their first written with a full band. Wrote about the record and the band's upcoming 24-hour livestream/telethon after they removed their music from Spotify. sinceileftyoublog.tumblr.com/post/7935842...

"I’ve become a member of this local Brooklyn community of struggling musicians who are struggling to keep going in the face of this very strange music industry where all music is free with a little monthly subscription." sinceileftyoublog.tumblr.com/post/7925835...

"In the hands of @jamesmcmurtry.bsky.social and @bettysoo.bsky.social, the utilitarian, inanimate objects are symbols of survival and thriving." sinceileftyoublog.tumblr.com/post/7924141...

Terrific singer-songwriter showcase tomorrow night at FitzGerald's in Berwyn: @jamesmcmurtry.bsky.social and @bettysoo.bsky.social! Wrote about both of their new records in advance sinceileftyoublog.tumblr.com/post/7918542...

A jam band unafraid of the darkness, and a duo occupying the most experimental, formless, epic end of the "jam" spectrum: Review of @rosecityband.bsky.social and @jenpowers.bsky.social @matthewjrolin.bsky.social duo at @evanstonspace.bsky.social. sinceileftyoublog.tumblr.com/post/7905104...

A mixed emotions, contrast-heavy record about being stuck in the middle: Treasure Pool, the new one from NYC band Freezing Cold, out Friday via Don Giovanni. Spoke with lead vocalist/lyricist/guitarist Jeff Cunningham sinceileftyoublog.tumblr.com/post/7903225...

"It’s funny that this very short-lived micro genre of freak folk has been applied to [Michael] Hurley, because he’s so much bigger than that. He was a super sophisticated musician." Spoke with Jolie Holland about her and Max Knouse's new covers EP. sinceileftyoublog.tumblr.com/post/7900513...

Trekked to Lincoln Square this past weekend (ok, I actually live kind of close) for Square Roots, wrote some words on and took photos of @alejandro-escovedo.bsky.social @tedleo.bsky.social Heartless Bastards and Verböten. The revolution is in your mind! sinceileftyoublog.tumblr.com/post/7893254...

I've been writing about music for 13 years, and this is my first time ever premiering a song. Hard to believe! Anyway, if you missed Jamie Lidell, he's back, and reinvented sinceileftyoublog.tumblr.com/post/7892326...

Tonight at @saltshedchicago.bsky.social, Primus and Ty Segall grace the stage! Wrote about the inspired pairing, the new Primus era/song, and Ty's new album Possession. sinceileftyoublog.tumblr.com/post/7887796...

DECK is "limitless, everything independent music can sound like." SILY contributor Keith Miller on the new one from Hallelujah the Hills (@ryanhwalsh.bsky.social) sinceileftyoublog.tumblr.com/post/7880497...

Read about his latest album LOWER, and you might think Benjamin Booker’s heavy-handed. In reality, his sense of humor and unlikely optimism shines brightest on the album. sinceileftyoublog.tumblr.com/post/7879638...

Meg Remy (U.S. Girls) talks to SILY about the new band behind her new album Scratch It, out now via @4ad.com. Catch them Sunday night at Lincoln Hall! sinceileftyoublog.tumblr.com/post/7873411...

"I write songs that mean something to me...How lucky am I to get to do that? I work hard. I’m under-slept. [But] the new record, I’m thrilled about." Read my interview with Willie Nile about his new album The Great Yellow Light. sinceileftyoublog.tumblr.com/post/7872378...

"If Flight b741 was about controlling from the cockpit, taking risks, and seizing adventure, Phantom Island is about what happens when you run out of fuel." SILY contributor Keith Miller reviews the new one from King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard sinceileftyoublog.tumblr.com/post/7867869...