By Paul Jacobson | Contributor Slowdive's original run in the early 1990s followed the typical indie rock narrative: a promising debut album (1991's "Just for a Day"), a following genre-defining classic (1993's "Souvlaki") and a polarizing and career-ending third album (they were dropped by their label ...
By Paul Jacobson | Contributor As I inch closer and closer to graduating and entering the real world, I've been experiencing the existential dread and angst that all early twenty-somethings go through at this point in their lives. Meilna Duterte, who writes and performs under the name Jay Som, is no ...
Paul Jacobson | Contributor If there's one thing I appreciate in a musician, it's honest songwriting. David Bazan is an honest songwriter; he's one of the most honest songwriters I can think of. Bazan is an interesting character: once an outspoken Christian writing songs about his faith and doubts ...
By Paul Jacobson | Contributor 5. "Preoccupations"- Preoccupations Preoccupations follows up their fantastic 2015 release with another very strong album. The band continues to dole out tight, well-written post-punk tunes. Though the album does falter a bit in the middle with the shorter songs "Sense" ...
By Paul Jacobson | Contributor Visceral; ethereal; overwhelming; primal; emotional. These are all words I would use to describe My Bloody Valentine's 1991 release"Loveless," which celebrates its 25th anniversary on November 4 (the occasion for this review). The album was met with critical acclaim upon ...
By Paul Jacobson | Contributor Very few musicians can romanticize isolation, solitude and loneliness the same way that Justin Vernon can. His first two albums explored these themes extensively, and undoubtedly inspired countless listeners to long for a similar kind of experience in a snowy log cabin ...
By Paul Jacobson | Contributor Lina Tullgren - WISHLIST: I have a confession; this one's not actually a "hot summer release that you might have missed" (it was released in March 2016). But, I've been listening to it all summer, so I would be remiss to exclude it. Tullgren's lo-fi singer-songwriter ...
By Paul Jacobson | Echo When you have a voice as bold and beautiful as Gallant's, you're bound to turn some heads. Since the release of his EP "Zebra" in 2014, he's garnered acclaim from Elton John, Sufjan Stevens, Zane Lowe and Seal, and has been compared to R&B contemporaries like The Weeknd and ...
By Paul Jacobson | Echo Two years ago, Taylor students had the treat of seeing Lucius perform live in the Union. To this day, that show remains one of my favorite concerts I've been to. The band brought to life songs that I already adored, and somehow made me love them even more. Smash cut to March ...
By Paul Jacobson | Echo I'd like to get one thing out of the way; everything about this album is a trainwreck. And I mean that in the best possible way. "The Life of Pablo" is Kanye West's seventh studio album, and the hotly anticipated follow-up to his mercurial 2013 release, "Yeezus." The amount of ...
Solutions by The State News