Stuart Berman

3 weeks ago | pitchfork.com | Stuart Berman

When Calgarian siblings Patrick and Matt Flegel dissolved their beloved indie-rock band Women in 2012, they effectively mined its components like a couple divvying up their assets after a divorce. Patrick imported Women’s uncanny sense of melody into the phantasmagoric pop project Cindy Lee; Matt and fellow Women exile Mike Wallace repurposed the group’s foundation of dissonance and drone for their new band, which would come to be known as Preoccupations.

2 months ago | pitchfork.com | Stuart Berman

Population II tick all the boxes for a proper prog-rock act. They can easily fill an entire album side with a single track. Their drummer is also their lead singer. The guitarist and bassist double as synth players. And they hail from Quebec, historically the proggiest of all Canadian provinces. But approached from a different vantage, the Montreal trio is also a prototypical garage-rock band, fueled by maniacal energy, blistering fuzz, and a belief in raw power over precision.

2 months ago | pitchfork.com | Stuart Berman

Over the past decade and a half, Unknown Mortal Orchestra conductor Ruban Nielson has often resembled two different artists wrestling for control over the same soul. He’s a savvy pop synthesist who stands as one of his generation’s most reliable purveyors of vibed-out indie streamcore, but he’s also a restless musical nomad drawn to free-flowing exploration that steers clear of the algorithm.

2 months ago | pitchfork.com | Stuart Berman

Every punk agrees that Black Flag were an important band. Few can agree on what exactly made them so.

Mar 6, 2025 | pitchfork.com | Stuart Berman

Yves Jarvis’ relationship with songwriting is akin to a sommelier testing wine—he’s perpetually drunk on melody, yet he savours each one just long enough to register a brief blissful taste before moving onto the next. Unlike noted data-dump tunesmiths like Robert Pollard, Jarvis isn’t on a mission to flood the market; rather, he’s motivated by the challenge of seeing how much he can pack into a two-minute track.