STRFKR’s road to their next album continues with their latest release – new single ‘Under Water / In Air’. Doing what they do best, the single is a dose of weightless indie-pop and a masterclass in uplifting musical craftsmanship. The track is joined by its surreal animated music video, directed and animated by regular STRFKR … Read more
Jeff RosenstockHELLMODEPolyvinyl Records [2023] HELLMODE marks the fifth studio album Jeff Rosenstock has released in the last ten years under his own name, following the dissolution of his beloved cult projects Bomb the Music Industry! and The Arrogant Sons of Bitches. This record once again perfectly captures his frenetic, genre-bending tour de force that encapsulates … Read more
PalehoundEye On The BatPolyvinyl Records [2023] The fourth album from El Kemper’s Palehound is a break-up record to beat all break-up records, as their poetic distillation of the moments that led up to the relationship’s inevitable dissolution fuel the driving music of their rock trio. Kemper’s diary-like lyrics in “Independence Day” chronicle how a collision … Read more
Ian Sweet — the project of songwriter and pop auteur Jilian Medford — has announced her new album, Sucker, out November 3rd on Polyvinyl, and presents lead single/video, “Your Spit.” Perfectly merging Medford’s pop sensibilities with the widescreen indie rock that she first made her name on, Sucker is both sumptuous and fully realized. Medford’s … Read more
Punk rocker Jeff Rosenstock has actually announced an album before releasing it. HELLMODE, Rosenstock’s fifth studio album, is coming on September 1st via Polyvinyl Records. Jeff Rosenstock makes increasingly chaotic albums for an increasingly chaotic world. “To me, the album feels like the chaos of being alive right now,” Rosenstock says of HELLMODE. “We’re experiencing … Read more
AlvvaysBlue RevPolyvinyl Records [2022] For many bands there is still a standard process of releasing a new record every two or three years. More recently, we have seen some artists cranking out records even faster or just releasing a single here and there to what I believe is a focus to stay relevant. Now you … Read more
of MontrealFreewave Lucifer f<ck f^ck f>ckPolyvinyl Records [2022] If the Polyvinyl bio is to be trusted, Kevin Barnes shaped of Montreal’s January 2020 release UR FUN with the concert stage and live performance in mind. We all know how that went, 2020 the year of the pandemic shutdown, isolation, and closures. When the going gets … Read more
Alvvays has returned and have announced the new album Blue Rev which will be released via Polyvinyl on October 7th. At least the five-year wait was worthwhile: Blue Rev doesn’t simply reassert what’s always been great about Alvvays but instead reimagines it. They have, in part and sum, never been better. There are 14 songs … Read more
Diane CoffeeWith PeoplePolyvinyl Records [2022] Diane Coffee is the solo creative pop music project and nom de guerre of Shaun Fleming, who played drums for a while for Foxygen, and had a voice acting career in the early 00’s on a number of Disney Channel animated TV series, Kim Possible and Lilo & Stitch, … Read more
Momma—the Brooklyn-based band led by singers/guitarists Etta Friedman and Allegra Weingarten—will release their new album Household Name on July 1st, 2022 via Polyvinyl Records. Co-written with Momma’s Aron Kobayashi Ritch (whose indelible guitar riff serves as the song’s foundation), the album’s fuzzed-out single “Speeding 72″ details a fast burning romance between two kids who meet … Read more
Yumi ZoumaPresent TensePolyvinyl Records [2022] While Yumi Zouma is most comfortable in gentle confines of the midtempo electronic tones of classic Euro-pop sounds, the band which got its start in Christchurch, New Zealand, leans into the energy of live drums and a wider spectrum of organic, orchestrated sounds on their fourth full-length album, Present Tense. … Read more
Pedro The LionHavasuPolyvinyl/Big Scary Monsters [2022] Singer/songwriters have been offering proof of the truth that “what is most personal is most universal,” first posited by psychologist Carl R. Rogers in the early 60’s, since the early blues artists first complained why they “woke up this morning” with the blues. Whether it’s been James Taylor reacting … Read more
Laura Jane GraceAt War With The Silverfish (EP)Polyvinyl Records [2021] By now fans of Laura Jane Grace are well acquainted with her transitional journey, the physcial culmination of her songs on Against Me!’s 2014 album, Transgender Dysphoria Blues. While it’s not entirely clear what the future holds for Against Me!, Grace has been busily producing … Read more
Jeff RosenstockSKA DREAMPolyvinyl Records [2021] A good song is a good song. That is why single covers work so many times for artists. Full album covers can be a bit harder but when an artist puts their own spin on it typically it makes for a good listen. Many times after the novelty wears off … Read more
Squirrel Flower, the moniker of Ella Williams, has a new single, “I’ll Go Running,” from her forthcoming album, Planet (i), out June 25th on Polyvinyl Records. In conjunction, she’s pleased to announce she’ll support Soccer Mommy on a fall North American tour later this year. Dates of the tour are below. You can pre-order the … Read more
Bachelor—the collaborative project of Jay Som’s Melina Duterte and Palehound’s Ellen Kempner—will release its debut album Doomin’ Sun on May 28th via Polyvinyl Record Co., and today the duo announce their first-ever tour. Bachelor will hit the road in support of Lucy Dacus starting mid-September, marking both artists’ first performances since lockdown. Tour DatesSeptember 13, … Read more
Squirrel Flower, the moniker of Ella Williams, announces her new album, Planet (i), out June 25th on Polyvinyl Records, and today offers its lead single and video, “Hurt A Fly.” Planet (i) is the follow-up to 2020’s I Was Born Swimming. Planet (i) is a world entirely of Williams’ making. The title came first to … Read more
Ian Sweet – the musical project of Jilian Medford – has officially announced her first album for Polyvinyl, Show Me How You Disappear, out March 5th. Dizzying and enthralling, Show Me How You Disappear is the sound of someone coming apart and putting themselves back together — the moment an old mantra, repeated into the … Read more
Laura Jane Grace Stay AlivePolyvinyl Records [2020] If 2020 had gone as planned, Laura Jane Grace expected to have recorded a new album with Against Me! by now, maybe spend the late summer and fall months on tour. But when the world shut down due to the viral pandemic, she found herself stuck in Chicago … Read more
Jeff RosenstockNO DREAMPolyvinyl Records [2020] If you were to see Jeff Rosenstock walking down the street of Los Angeles you would have no idea that this is the dude that keeps punk rock alive and well in 2020. At 37, Rosenstock has become an unlikely hero in the scene with a band resume that includes … Read more
Yumi Zouma Truth Or ConsequencesPolyvinyl Records [2020] The third full-length effort from the quartet of New Zealanders who got their start playing shows around Christchurch in 2014, finds the popsters delivering another album of light electronic dance grooves focused on listener friendly melodies. While the four no longer live close together on one continent, they … Read more
Post Animal Forward Motion GodysseyPolyvinyl Records [2020] I feel like if I’m going to introduce you to Chicago, Illinois’s Post Animal then I have to get one thing out of the way first. Joe Keery, yes, Steve Harrington of Stranger Things contributed to their debut album When I Think Of You In a Castle. I … Read more
of Montreal UR Fun Polyvinyl Records [2020] Album Review: For the 16th album form the Athens, GA-based of Montreal, principal songwriter and band leader, Kevin Barnes opted to make the album in isolation, playing all of the instruments himself. While Barnes often takes the band out on tour as a quintet and will likely do … Read more
Jay Som Anak Ko Polyvinyl Records [2019] TFN Album Review: If you have been a fan of Jay Som, aka Melina Duterte, since her early work was on the Intranet (and then captured on 2016’s Turn Into) you already have a sense that some of her best work was to come. Anak Ko represents her … Read more
The Get Up Kids Problems Big Scary Monsters/Polyvinyl Records [2019] Album Review: The Get Up Kids came out of Kansas City in the mid-90s in that second wave of emo, punk/pop bands like Blink-182, Jimmy Eat World, and My Chemical Romance. Best remembered for their 1999 release, “Something to Write Home About,” the band broke … Read more