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1 week ago | 
pastemagazine.com | Clare Martin
Listen to this article Your browser does not support the audio element. BLONDSHELL’S NEW ALBUM IS IN no way a sonic shift from her celebrated self-titled debut; instead If You Asked For A Picture is a cohesive follow-up, the subsequent chapter in a book or the next snapshot tucked away in a scrapbook.
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2 weeks ago | 
pastemagazine.com | Clare Martin
Listen to this article Your browser does not support the audio element. THERE’S SOMETHING ABOUT THE halcyon days early on in a relationship, when you and your paramour don’t know that much about each other, except that you want to spend all your time together. Around every corner is a mystery—What was their childhood like? Did they go to camp as a kid? Do they get along with their family? What were they like in college?—and those question marks keep us coming back for more.
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1 month ago | 
pastemagazine.com | Clare Martin
Brian and Michael D’Addario dropped their fifth album as the Lemon Twigs, A Dream Is All We Know, only last year, so it feels like a quick turnaround for the former to release his debut solo record. However, most of the songs on Brian’s album Till the Morning have been floating around for some time now, just waiting for the right home. “These were tunes that piled up over the years but when I started putting the album together, it really hung together musically and thematically.
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1 month ago | 
pastemagazine.com | Clare Martin
Japanese Breakfast is undoubtedly one of indie rock’s heaviest hitters, but anyone hoping for a successor in the vein of Jubilee should turn back now; author, musician and singer Michelle Zauner is not in the business of predictability. Her new album, For Melancholy Brunettes (& sad women), is less about the singles than Zauner’s 2021 breakthrough.
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2 months ago | 
pastemagazine.com | Clare Martin
Sasami Ashworth, a.k.a. SASAMI, refuses to be pigeonholed. She veers away from the metal-inspired sound of her 2022 album Squeeze or the shoegaze subtleties of her self-titled debut on her new release Blood On the Silver Screen, opting instead for straightforward pop inspired by the music of the late ‘00s and 2010s—in particular Lady Gaga’s Born This Way, Kelly Clarkson, Katy Perry and Sia.
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2 months ago | 
pastemagazine.com | Clare Martin
We’ve been fans of Los Angeles-based trio Provoker going on four years now—ever since we featured them as the Best of What’s Next back in 2021 and highlighted their first album Body Jumper as one of the best debut records that year—so of course we’re delighted to share that the group will release their third album Mausoleum on May 9 via YEAR0001.
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2 months ago | 
pastemagazine.com | Clare Martin
Listen to this article Your browser does not support the audio element. After the tour for her sophomore album ROACH, indie-pop chameleon Miya Folick found herself burnt out and feared she may never write a song again. “I just didn’t think I had it in me. But at the same time, I desperately wanted to write new music.
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2 months ago | 
pastemagazine.com | Clare Martin
Listen to this article Your browser does not support the audio element. Hachiku’s prismatic, sugary new dream-pop album The Joys of Being Pure at Heart seems to have been beamed down from a different, better universe. The synths shimmer more brightly, sublime brushes of harp sound like they’re straight out of heaven and hope shines through every word. Though filled with questions about fear, uncertainty and human connection, this is the feel good record of the year (so far).
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2 months ago | 
pastemagazine.com | Clare Martin
Listen to this article Your browser does not support the audio element. When I’m spending time with my pals, often I’ll see them do something that makes me think contentedly, that’s what friendship looks like. It could be a thoughtful gesture, like giving someone a bouquet of tulips just because, or a silly exchange, so hyper-specific and ridiculous that only this small group of people would appreciate it.
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2 months ago | 
pastemagazine.com | Clare Martin
When I hear James Taylor’s Sweet Baby James, I think of my mother, who’s been playing the album in our house since I could form memories. But for my mother, it’ll always remind her of her father; my grandfather gave her Taylor’s sophomore record when he returned from Vietnam and the family relocated across the country. My mom was in middle school—a difficult time no matter what, but especially considering they’d moved from the West Coast to Pennsylvania, where she struggled to make friends.
