Ryan Leas

The word “supergroup” comes with a lot of baggage. Historically, there has been the occasional great album, the lightning strike of right time and right place and right chemistry, when a couple of well-known musicians from various projects join forces. But more often than not, the term is thrown around loosely, diluting its impact. More often than not,  » Read More

Over two decades since their first EP, Hot Chip are an institution. Every couple of years, they come back with another collection of fizzy, addicting dance-pop, and on Friday they’re returning with their latest, Freakout/Release.  » Read More

The long-awaited return of Kendrick Lamar is here. In May, he came back with the messy, complicated, and striking double album Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers. Now, he’s taking the Big Steppers tour across the world. The show, in many ways, was as messy, complicated, and striking as the album it promotes.  » Read More

It’s hard to believe now, but there was a period when Bruce Springsteen was still quite famous, but also deeply uncool. After achieving mega-stardom in the mid-’80s, Springsteen set about almost willfully dismantling it. He followed the blockbuster Born In The U.S.A. with the more personal, mature Tunnel Of Love.  » Read More

By the early ’00s, the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ comeback was in full swing. After the massive success of 1991’s Blood Sugar Sex Magik, the fortunes of the Peppers took a dip in the mid-’90s. Their wunderkind guitarist John Frusciante left the band and battled addiction; Anthony Kiedis relapsed himself.  » Read More

For the last few months, Florist have been rolling out a new self-titled album, their first full-band project since 2017. We’ve heard several singles from it already, including “Red Bird Pt. 2 (Morning),” “Spring In Hours,” and “Sci-Fi Silence.” The album finally arrives at the end of the month,  » Read More

Though Margaret Glaspy wrote “My Body My Choice” two years ago, it is of course an unfortunately resonant time for her to release it now. After the Supreme Court overturned Roe V. Wade, Glaspy was, like many of us, appalled. She decided to finally release the song “My Body My Choice,” with a portion of its proceeds going to the Brigid Alliance.  » Read More

Avril Lavigne is no stranger to emotionally bare material in her own music, but now she’s taken on a particularly volcanic song — Adele’s immortally intense “Hello.” Lavigne made her own rendition for the Spotify Singles series, alongside a stripped-down version of the title track from her recent album Love Sux.  » Read More

After the Walkmen went on an indefinite hiatus almost 10 years ago, Peter Matthew Bauer started up a solo career, kicking off with Liberation! in 2014 and then Mount Qaf (Divine Love) in 2017. Then, for a while, it seemed Bauer had transitioned to managing bands. But last month,  » Read More