New Releases

Eden Ariel's "Altars" Is an Ethereal Joyride Through New York City

The indie singer exudes confidence and unassuming wisdom beyond her years.

Photo by Emma Noelle

On Eden Ariel's ethereal and magnetic debut EP, Altars, the 22-year-old budding indie star reflects on life in New York City with unassuming wisdom beyond her years.

Photo by Emma Noelle

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MUSIC

How Has G-Eazy Dated Megan Thee Stallion, Lana Del Rey, and Halsey?

Twitter is reacting aversely to the news that G-Eazy might be dating Megan Thee Stallion. Though he as a history of dating beloved pop starlets, this one has sparked particularly strong backlash.

Agency/NurPhoto/Shutterstock


Early this morning, the rapper G-Eazy posted an Instagram video of himself with fellow rapper Megan Thee Stallion.

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MUSIC

On "Let's Rock," the Black Keys Resurrect Garage Rock

The Black Keys' newest album is a return to their roots, but it feels designed for our modern times.

The Black Keys

The Black Keys should be an unremarkable rock band. Their arrangements are somewhat formulaic, and their genre is a form of rock and roll that's all but gone extinct in the mainstream sphere.

However, their songs have always possessed a certain underlying tension that sets them apart from the majority of wannabe Strokes impersonators and garage rock bands. That tension is an electric breathlessness that stems from somewhere between the hyperactive drum beats, the gritty wail of the electric guitar, and Dan Auerbach's grainy vocals. It's an invisible X-factor, and it gives "Let's Rock" an internal life that makes even the more laid-back tracks feel threatening, more apropos for a Hollywood car chase scene—or perhaps for the instability of our current moment in time—than for fulfilling any sort of nostalgia for rock and roll bands of the past.

Despite the feeling of anxiety that haunts each of the album's short, concise songs, "Let's Rock" marked a definitive return to the simplicity of the past. It's the band's first album in five years; since the release of Turn Blue, drummer Patrick Carney composed the BoJack Horseman theme and produced several albums, including one for his wife Michelle Branch, and Auerbach founded his label, Easy Eye Sound, and released his second solo album.

Still, there's something uniquely magical about the union of their talents. According to Auerbach, he and Carney both unconsciously decided to return to their roots on their new album, foregoing experimentation for the garage rock that they cut their teeth on as kids. "We got together in the studio and it was like it was already agreed upon, but we hadn't even spoken about it: It was just going to be a guitar and drums record," Auerbach said. "There's no keyboards, no other musicians, no outside producers, just the two of us. After so many years apart, that was the way that it had to be."

black keys album reviewImage via Consequence of Sound

You can sense the duo's automatic, effortlessly synchronized relationship throughout the album. One of the tracks that best highlights this is "Walk Across the Water," a song that could almost pass for an '80s Tom Petty single if it weren't for the impeccable production that makes it feel distinctly modern. Auerbach's guitar sounds like a human voice as it wails out the solo; and each chord feels purposefully placed, hit with the desperation of someone trying to work out old demons with a little thrashing on the six-string.

Sometimes the tracks let a bit of psychedelia creep in via unexpected peals of guitar and layered vocals, as in "Tell Me Lies," or especially on "Fire Walk With Me," a tribute to the David Lynch film of the same name. The album's title may also be a Twin Peaks nod, as "let's rock" is the catchphrase of one of the show's resident demons. Like the show, "Let's Rock" is an album that implies that nothing is as it seems. That the title is in quotes indicates that there's something purposefully artificial about this album, something intentionally transplanted from another place and time. If rock is dead, then "Let's Rock" might just be its zombie, come back from the grave with a sharp, desperate hunger at its core.

Despite its surrealistic leanings, Patrick Carney's brisk, clean drumming keeps everything in check. Carney drums with the urgency of a racing heartbeat, crunching Auerbach's already tightly wound melodies into songs that are perpetually in motion, surging towards an unknown vanishing point in the distance.

Ultimately, "Let's Rock" is dark and tenacious, a cynical and embittered return to traditional rock and roll that feels anything but stuck in the past. If anything, it feels like holding on tight as the rollercoaster of time lurches towards an ever-stranger future.

CULTURE

Are These Artists Actually Clones Created by Greedy Music Industry Executives?

Is Ariana Grande just a renovated Mariah Carey? Are Brendan Urie and Patrick Stump dating—or are they the same person? The truth is out there.

Though all music borrows in some way from other music, sometimes bands or artists just sound and/or look uncannily similar to each other.

These similarities raise pressing questions: how and why do these bands sound so alike? Could there be some dark secret behind their successes, some cloning initiative launched once music industry executives realized they could just repackage the same artist under a different name and double their profits?

Regardless of how much of the truth you're willing to see, this list exposes pairs of bands or artists that not only sound the same but also seem to occupy the same cultural purpose, performing the same symbolic and emotional roles for fans everywhere.

1. Cage the Elephant and the Black Keys

Cage the Elephant and the Black Keys are different bands. It's a proven fact. And yet are they? They both feature singers with mid-range voices and vaguely Southern drawls. They both use grungy guitars that sound like they've been filtered through a litany of overdrive pedals. They both make songs that have lyrics—but are the songs really about anything, or are they both just kind of sad attempts to fill the hole created by rock and roll's death?

Objective facts tell us that these bands are indeed different—Cage the Elephant opened for the Black Keys on several tours, and Black Keys frontman Dan Auerbach produced Cage the Elephant's 2015 album and their new 2019 single. But is it so hard to believe that some rip in the fabric of the time-space continuum created a world in which two slightly different iterations of the exact same band can walk around at the same time? Even some of their biggest hits like "Gold on the Ceiling" and "Ain't No Rest for the Wicked" are eerily similar, both relying on ominous bass lines and sparse, punchy guitar hits.

The Black Keys - Gold On The Ceiling [Official Music Video]www.youtube.com

Cage The Elephant - Ain't No Rest For The Wicked (Official Music Video)www.youtube.com

2. Mariah Carey and Ariana Grande

They both have stratospheric ranges, prima donna pop culture royalty and/or meme status, and impressive whistle tones. Sure, Ariana's music is tailored to the ultramodern era, whereas Mariah's occupied a similar space in the late 90's and early 2000's pop canon, but they both embody the image of the magnetic, radiant, super-talented starlet with an only slightly infuriating trail of number one hits.

Mariah Carey Vs. Ariana Grande SAME AGE Vocal Battle! (UPDATED)www.youtube.com


3. America and Neil Young

If you've heard the band America's number one hit, A Horse With No Name, chances are you might have wondered if you were listening to one of Neil Young's early collaborative efforts. But Young and Dan Peek, the late lead singer of America, share little else than a slightly nasal tenor voice, a penchant for dreamy folk rock, and dozens of harmony-laden albums from the 1970s.

America - A Horse With No Name+Lyricswww.youtube.com


Neil Young - Harvest Moonwww.youtube.com

4. Radiohead and Muse

They're both obsessed with technology, paranoia, apocalypses, and thematically complex concept albums. Ultimately Radiohead's breadth and range of sonic textures far outdoes Muse's, but on some of their better-known songs, Thom Yorke and Matt Bellamy's desperate and wailing voices could easily be mistaken for one another, especially when they're both crying on about fear and loneliness in the digital era over dizzying layers of synthesizer. Plus, it would fit well with both of these bands' brands if they were replicants of each other.

How Much Does Muse Sound Like Radiohead: Analysing Composition, Style, and the Radiohead Zeitgeistwww.youtube.com

5. Fleet Foxes and Grizzly Bear

Grizzly Bear and Fleet Foxes both have a propensity for multi-layered trippy, ambient folk. Their lead singers have high, delicate voices that sound like they're emanating from a distant cabin, wafting towards you on waves of campfire smoke. There's a whole battalion of folk bands that sound like these two, but as pillars of the genre, the similarities between indie's leading foxes and bears are difficult to ignore.

I'm Losing Myself (Feat. Ed Droste) by Robin Pecknoldwww.youtube.com

6. Fall Out Boy and Panic! at the Disco

Patrick Stump and Brendon Urie both have irrationally massive vocal ranges, which they use to create passionate, angsty, climactic jams that have been giving voice to tween girls' pain for decades. They actually have collaborated several times—even on a Coke ad, which you can listen to in its full glory as each of these singers attempts to out-belt the other. Both bands formed within three years of each other (Fall Out Boy in 2001, Panic! in 2004) and occupied similar cultural spaces in their respective golden years. Fans have even shipped the two lead singers together. Plus their specific vocal styles spawned dozens of shaggy-haired copycat frontmen.

Drunk History: Fall Out Boy featuring Brendon Urie of Panic! At The Discowww.youtube.com

Fall Out Boy Ft Brendon Urie from Panic! at the Disco - Don't Stop Believing coverwww.youtube.com

7. Avril Lavigne Pre and Melissa Vandella

Everybody knows that Avril Lavigne died and was replaced by a clone of herself, created by deft industry people who couldn't resist the potential profits of more Sk8r Bois. Still, the clone does sound and look remarkably similar to her predecessor, despite the obvious differences (Melissa prefers dresses and skirts, while Avril favored pants; and Avril would never have married Chad from Nickelback). Very impressive, music industry executives, but we're onto you.

Conspiracies: Did Avril Lavigne Die in 2003? | Pigeons & Planes Updatewww.youtube.com


Eden Arielle Gordonis a writer and musician from New York. Follow her on Twitter @edenarielmusic.


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Music Reviews

The Cactus Blossoms Branch Out on 'Easy Way'

The duo carves out their own unique sound on Easy Way.

Brothers, Page Burkam and Jack Torrey, better known as The Cactus Blossoms, released their new album, Easy Way, earlier this month.

An infectious blend of classic country, indie, and some good ol' fashioned rock and roll, this 10-track sophomore effort is a breezy and pleasant ride filled with rich harmonies, effortless melodies, and smooth mixing.

The album is a short but concise listen, clocking in at around 30 minutes from start to finish. For how short it is, it feels surprisingly whole. No song feels out of place or unnecessary. From the upbeat opening track, "Desperado," a love song from the perspective of a rambling man who has finally found his rock, to the album's closer, "Blue as the Ocean," a simple country-laden ballad, Easy Way brings the listener on a sonically complete and musically satisfying journey in just 10 short songs.

With assistance from Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys (who co-wrote two songs), Michael Lewis of Bon Iver, and Andrew Bird on the sax, Cactus Blossoms have found a bigger, bolder, and more complexly layered sound on Easy Way than the sparser, more folk-oriented arrangements of their 2016 debut, You're Dreaming.

Not only does this album give us a more evolved sound from the brothers, but it also broadens the duo's musical horizons as well. Fans who fell in love with The Cactus Blossoms for their country sensibilities will still find much to love about Easy Way, but fans of indie and rock will also want to give this a listen. The Cactus Blossoms are branching out on Easy Way, and it has resulted in a new and original sound that is all their own.

Easy Way



Dustin DiPaulo is a writer and musician from Rochester, New York. He received his MFA in Creative Writing from Florida Atlantic University and can most likely be found at a local concert, dive bar, or comedy club (if he's not getting lost somewhere in the woods).


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Music Reviews

The First Black Keys Single in Five Years Sounds Exactly as You'd Expect

"Lo/Hi" sounds like a band uninterested in satisfying your inflated expectations.

Image courtesy of © Danny Clinch

"Has it really been five years?"

"What's so important to Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney that they had to break a half-decade streak of absence (as the Black Keys) and interrupt our collective wallow in the bogus muck of Ariana Grande, Post Malone and a thousand hand-me-downs of counterfeit Drakes?"



Those are the two questions I posed to myself, and the empty room around me, as I pressed play on The Black Key's "Lo/Hi," recorded at Auerbach's own Easy Eye Sound studio in Nashville.

Yes, it has been that long. The last Black Keys joint, Turn Blue, dropped in 2014. However, the answer to the second question isn't as obvious.

Listening to the song unfold, I was initially a little let down. There wasn't a whole lot going on. But as I re-listened, I swiftly decided that "Lo/Hi," by virtue of aggressive structural, harmonic and lyric simplicity, isn't trying hard to insist upon its own importance: it's 2:47 minutes of precise, medium-heavy riff rock with a driving, 70s-era rock beat. There are six-string nods to Dire Straits and — even if it seems improbable, given a long-standing rivalry — Jack White.

The single will, put plainly, neither disappoint nor blow away loyal Keys fan. Rather than a triumphant return to Rome after years away fighting foreign wars (both Auerbach and Carney have kept themselves very busy since 2014), perhaps it was intended only as a brief reminder that rock n roll isn't dead. After all, the idea of relevance has always been, well, irrelevant for a band of preservationists, interested mainly in disinterring and embroidering past forms. They continue to do so with tasteful aplomb.


Matt Fink lives and works in Brooklyn. For more of his writing, go to organgrind.com.


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