Category: ESSENTIAL NEW MUSIC

Essential New Music: Cocteau Twins’ “The Pink Opaque”

Cocteau Twins was three albums and seven EPs into its career before its first U.S. release, The Pink Opaque, arrived

August 25, 2015 / ESSENTIAL NEW MUSIC

Essential New Music: The Membranes’ “Dark Matter/Dark Energy”

These Blackpool musical anarchists burst upon Thatcher’s ’80s like an angrier, punkier colleague of Gang Of Four or PiL. ’Twas

August 23, 2015 / ESSENTIAL NEW MUSIC

Essential New Music: Miguel’s “Wildheart”

On misfit’s miscellany “what’s normal anyway,” Miguel Pimentel touchingly enumerates his internal contradictions: “too opinionated for the pacifists,” “too far

August 22, 2015 / ESSENTIAL NEW MUSIC

Essential New Music: Joy Division’s “Unknown Pleasures,” “Closer,” “Still” And “Substance”

Thirty-five years on from “Love Will Tear Us Apart”—Joy Division’s magnum opus during a short career that was essentially a

August 20, 2015 / ESSENTIAL NEW MUSIC

Essential New Music: Eszter Balint’s “Airless Midnight”

Eszter Balint is a fascinating face familiar to downtown NYC film lovers for her work in Jim Jarmusch’s Stranger Than

August 18, 2015 / ESSENTIAL NEW MUSIC

Essential New Music: The Dream Syndicate’s “The Days Of Wine And Roses”

More menacing and Velvets-influenced than its jangly Paisley Underground brethren, the Dream Syndicate was born seemingly fully formed, creating a

August 16, 2015 / ESSENTIAL NEW MUSIC

Essential New Music: Mariachi Los Camperos De Nati Cano’s “Tradición, Arte y Pasión”

It’s hard not to pick up a spring in your step while listening to mariachi music. The uplift of the

August 15, 2015 / ESSENTIAL NEW MUSIC

Essential New Music: Richard Buckner’s “The Hill”

To help commemorate the 100th anniversary of Edgar Lee Masters’ Spoon River Anthology, Merge is re-releasing Richard Buckner’s 2000 album

August 13, 2015 / ESSENTIAL NEW MUSIC

R.I.P. MAGNET Senior Writer Jonathan Valania