No Depression Likes American Seams
“Even from the opening fiddle bars,” writes No Depression, “American Seams, the fifth studio album from Rose’s Pawn Shop, speaks directly to the moment. The band proves their prowess at drawing from all aspects of American music to create something timeless and enduring. After twenty years of pounding the boards, it’s not surprising that Rose’s Pawn Shop […]
New Music From Souled American
Founded in Chicago in late 1986, Souled American played alternative country before that term existed, slowcore before that term existed, and ambient Americana (a term that never existed). Between 1988 and 1995, the band released six records. Their style evolved from alt-country precursor to an ambient Americana that one critic termed “trance roots.” Though they received little attention at the […]
The Big Takeover Hails Highway To Heavenly For Being “Quietly Revolutionary”
The Big Takeover contends that “With Highway To Heavenly, Heavenly do something quietly radical: they return not as a legacy act smoothing out its edges, but as a band whose politics, emotions, and melodies feel as urgent as they did in the 1990s; if not more so. Nearly three decades after Operation Heavenly, the group reaffirm their role as […]
Jeffrey Runnings’ Piqued Is “Timeless,” Says Musoscribe
Musoscribe has some words on Piqued, the posthumous album from For Against frontman Jeffrey Runnings. “Though the label is bandied about with reckless abandon, Lo-fi is an actual aesthetic. For Against’s Jeffrey Runnings trafficked in the style/idiom for his solo work. Though Runnings had been working for years, Piqued is the product of his final sessions, completed shortly before his 2024 death from […]
Norman Records Loves Woo’s New Reissue
Norman Records highlighted Woo‘s Whichever Way You Are Going, You Are Going Wrong, at radio now from Independent Project Records, as its Reissue of the Week for January 12. They write, “It’s been said before that one of the reasons Woo’s music is so hushed and intimate was because they recorded through the night in a small flat mindful […]
MusicOMH Says Heavenly Is More Vital Than Ever
MusicOMH says that “there’s an argument to be had that Heavenly are one of the most influential bands of our time,” as the band helped pioneer the entire twee ethos decades before their song “P.U.N.K. Girl” went viral on TikTok. Now the band is back with Highway To Heavenly, and the site writes that it’s “a triumphant return […]
Rose’s Pawn Shop’s Paul Givant Talks To Chip Midnight
The Big Takeover‘s Chip Midnight recently spoke with Paul Givant, the leader of Rose’s Pawn Shop, about Fishbone and all of the metal bands he was into in highschool. There’s also a lot of talk about the band’s new album, American Seams, which is at radio now. Of the album’s title track, Givant says, “Of the collection, I thought it […]
Tidal Exposes Black Nile
In a recent edition of Tidal’s Playlisters’ A-listers feature, Brad Farberman says that “The jazz track ‘Exposure’ has it all — funky ideas, traditional thoughts, even a nod to dub music. And they do it all subtly. Black Nile is fronted by brothers Aaron and Lawrence Shaw, on sax and bass respectively — they’ve low-ended for John Legend and given André […]
New Music From Melvins and Napalm Death
Melvins and Napalm Death are sharing “Rip The God,” the latest in a chaotic alchemy conjured on their joint album, Savage Imperial Death March, due April 10, 2026 via Ipecac Recordings. The album shares its name with the bands’ Savage Imperial Death March tours from 2016 and 2025, but marks their first full-length studio collaboration under the moniker. The album […]
Crank It Says Heavenly’s New Album Is “Pure Bliss”
“There’s more than just nostalgia” to Heavenly’s return, Highway To Heavenly, according to Crank It. “Start to finish,” the site says, “Highway to Heaven envisions or perhaps wishes to revisit a golden age of pop rock where the sun never leaves the overhead sky, and the drive to nowhere ceases to end. In today’s state and climate, this can […]
Twangville Appreciates Rose’s Pawn Shop; See Them Live This Spring
As Twangville writes, “There’s a specific kind of American band that always sounds like it’s been driving all night, even when it’s standing perfectly still. The rhythm section has road dust in its pockets. The harmonies feel like the front porch light got left on. The songs smile at you, but they’re squinting, like they’ve seen how […]
Charm School, Writes Girl At The Rock Shows, Is “Powerful”
Girl At The Rock Shows finds Charm School to be “powerful.” The site writes that, on new offering “Schadenfreude Ploy,” the title track of their new EP, “there’s something haunting, almost daunting about the darkness of the vocals and the juxtaposition of the dissonance that comes with the guitar and the power of everything else really forms this […]
Heavenly Survives The Golden Age
“For a band that haven’t released an album in three decades,” Surviving The Golden Age writes, “Highway To Heavenly is a remarkable return that finds the twee pop outfit sounding refreshed and inspired.” The site has a full review of Heavenly‘s newest album, which is at radio now from the band’s own Skep Wax label. Read it here. Highway To […]
Rosy Overdrive Compliments Charm School’s Hammer Wielding
According to Rosy Overdrive, “Charm School wield the hammer and scalpel as deftly as ever throughout Schadenfreude Ploy,” their new EP. The record finds the band “at their 90s underground rock-evoking best” and also finds them pushing new boundaries, as on the “adventurous” track “Prime Mover Unmoved.” Read more here. At radio now, Schadenfreude Ploy made its debut on the […]
Woo’s Clive Ives Goes Track-by-Track With Ransom Note
Ransom Note explains, “Whichever Way You Are Going, You Are Going Wrong marks the first time the outside world could lean in and eavesdrop on what [Woo was] dreaming up — irreducibly British and fully formed, carrying traces of pastoral folk, post-punk, dub, jazz and ambient without quite belonging to any of them. The NME and Melody Maker reached for the Durutti Column and Penguin […]
New Music From Black Nile
For Black Nile, jazz isn’t a musical genre as much as it is a language. A Black American form of communication that bridges music, visual art, and performance. An improvisational mindset that fits into nearly any genre derived from the Black experience. Brothers Aaron and Lawrence Shaw see a very different Los Angeles. Hollywood has stolen the beautiful […]
Pitchfork Likes Heavenly’s New LP
Pitchfork recently gave Heavenly‘s new album Highway To Heavenly a 7.9. “With new wisdom and experience,” the site writes, “the groundedness Heavely explored on their last two records has only intensified, without sacrificing the band’s sentimental side. As long as an afternoon spent inside with tea and cookies still hits the spot and men still abuse their clout in […]
Country Music News International Celebrates The “Definitive Voice” Of Rose’s Pawn Shop
Country Music News International calls Rose’s Pawn Shop “a definitive voice in American roots music” and says the titular track of the band’s new album American Seams is “both a homecoming and a bold step into the unknown. It is a song that feels as worn-in as a favorite denim jacket, yet it vibrates with a modern, ‘amplified grit’ that […]
Zadar Official Says Jeffrey Runnings Has Lasting Power
Zadar Official says Jeffrey Runnings‘ posthumous album Piqued is “not a retrospective or curated collection. It is a raw document of where Runnings was creatively in his final years. No attempt was made to modernize the sound or turn these songs into something they weren’t. That decision is what gives this record weight. Jeffrey Runnings passed away in on […]
Return Of Rock Features Charm School
“Charm School sharpen their satirical blades even further on this latest release,” according to Return Of Rock. “‘Schadenfreude Ploy’ is a darkly humorous howl at the manipulative absurdities of modern life: tech overlords, A.I. doom, algorithmic entrapment; all rendered through a jagged blend of post-hardcore energy and indie-noise pedigree. Frontman Andrew Sellers, steeped in Louisville’s underground lineage […]
