Juniper Sloan
46 reviews and 19 musings for Only Great Music. Usually found somewhere near Indie Rock, Indie Folk, Post-Punk, Psychedelic Folk.
Reviews
Jake Xerxes Fussell's 'The Old Beloved Path' Is a Quietly Radiant Masterpiece of Interpretation
Fussell's sixth album takes nine traditional songs and treats them like living things rather than museum pieces. Produced by Ben Whiteley, recorded at Betty's in Chapel Hill, and gone in about thirty-three minutes — which is exactly long enough.
Blondshell's 'Violins' Is the Sound of a Songwriter Who Stopped Apologizing for the Volume
Sabrina Teitelbaum's third record, eleven songs in thirty-nine minutes for Partisan. Yves Rothman produced, Beatriz Artola mixed, Emily Lazar mastered. Metacritic has it at 80 across nine reviews, Album of the Year at 80 across thirteen, with Clash and Under the Radar both landing in the nineties.
Applied Communications' 'Bites the Big One' Is a Glorious One-Man Pile-Up of Ney Flutes and Bad Decisions
Max Wood's first Applied Communications full-length in over two decades, written and performed entirely alone, out on his own Rare Noodles imprint. Bandcamp Daily made it Album of the Day and described hearing Arabic ney flutes, calypso drums and lyrics ricocheting between Claire's Accessories and Disney villains. All nine tracks are lowercase and none of them sit still.
SUAHN's 'Distort Everything Forever' Is a Ferocious, Freeing Debut of Hardware Bass Music
Michael York — Baltimore multi-instrumentalist and former guitarist for Pianos Become The Teeth — spent six years building his debut LP out of analog hardware and found sound. Bandcamp Daily made it Album of the Day and ended the review with three words: this music sounds like freedom.
Actress' 'Radical Frame' Is a Patient, Corroded Masterclass in Electronic Space
Darren J. Cunningham returns to Ninja Tune with eight tracks, thirty-eight minutes, and a sixteen-minute closer that eats nearly half the record. DJ Mag stamped it 'Masterpiece'; Clash gave it 8/10 and called it Actress at his most essential.
Biita Houdei's 'This Bed Was Made For Me' Is a Silken Masterpiece of Canyon Folk
Lisa Houdei, formerly LéPonds, makes her debut-ish on Father/Daughter Records: thirteen psych-folk songs recorded over ten straight days, produced by Haley Heynderickx in her first lead-production role, with Buck Meek dropping in. No Depression hears Carole King and CSNY in the harmonies.
Babehoven's 'I See Them, I See Me' Is a Quietly Devastating Feat of Arrangement
Maya Bon's project returns on Double Double Whammy, co-produced with Phil Weinrobe and Ryan Albert across four studios. Fiddle, slide guitar, banjo and a harmony stack that includes Karly Hartzman. Paste called it a mostly stunning collection of indie-folk tunes.
boycalledcrow's 'the sprawl' Is a Beautifully Haunted Masterpiece of Tape and Bass Weight
Carl M. Knott's twelfth-hour swerve away from folk instrumentation and into distorted textures, hip-hop weight and dub basslines, out on the micro-label Mortality Tables. Backseat Mafia scored it 89 and called it folktronica that 'goes darker and deeper.'
Sylvan Esso's 'Ow ∞' Is a Gleeful, Percussion-Drunk Record About Hurting
Twelve songs written across four years in the woods outside Chapel Hill, out on the duo's own Psychic Hotline. Six different drummers, including Glenn Kotche, Joe Westerlund, Jenn Wasner and Jake Luppen. Paste says it 'brims with delight' while looking straight at pain and mortality.
Pokey LaFarge's 'Rent Money' Is a Warm, Hard-Working Masterpiece of '60s Soul
Eleven songs, the first full-length on LaFarge's own Boxer Boy Records, produced by Elliot Bergman at a woodsy Chicagoland studio. After fifteen years of shuffling every deck in American roots music, he's picked one lane — '60s R&B — and floors it.
Angela Autumn's 'Believer' Is a Gloriously Overgrown Masterpiece of Stacked Guitars
Twelve songs from the Nashville songwriter's first full-length since 2021's Frontiers Woman, out on Gar Hole Records. Produced by Isaiah Beard at Club Roar, it runs honky-tonk, psych-rock and clawhammer banjo through the same tape and comes out sounding like one thing.
This Is Lorelei's 'The Singer In My Band' Is a One-Man Back-Porch Miracle
Nate Amos wrote his follow-up to 'Box For Buddy, Box For Star' on tour with no instruments in reach, then went home and played nearly all of it himself. Out September 11th on Matador. Stereogum made it Album of the Week and said it 'instantly sounds like an old favorite.'
Arab Strap's 'Half-Told Tales' Is a Widescreen Masterpiece of Late-Career Nerve
Ninth album, out on Rock Action, fourteen tracks, recorded again with longtime collaborator Paul Savage. Metacritic has it at 84 across seven reviews — universal acclaim. The Quietus says the arrangements are the most far-reaching of the band's thirty-year career.
Lily Seabird's 'Lightspheres On Their Way' Is a Woodstove-Warm Level-Up
Nine songs cut in the first days of 2026 in Garrett Linck's woodstove-heated house in rural Maine, out on Lame-O. Cello, trumpet, harmonium and lap steel around some of the sharpest songwriting of Seabird's career. Stereogum's Album Of The Week, and a Paste Pick at A-.
RAP's 'Navigator' Is a Subterranean Beauty of After-Hours Electronics
The fourth full-length from the UK duo of Guy Gormley and Thomas Bush is exactly the kind of record you're supposed to fall for after too many hours down the internet — twelve tracks of blurred, subterranean club music that reward the trawl. Jolly Discs put it out and Bandcamp Daily called it Album of the Day the next day.
Jim James's 'Wowed Out' Is a Self-Produced Salvage Job That Turns Into a Gift
Ten self-produced songs from the My Morning Jacket frontman, out August 28th on ATO. Metacritic has it at 79 from six reviews, every one of them positive. Mojo calls it a rescue operation on his own archives.
Blind Yeo's 'The Lemoine Point' Is a Debut That Refuses to Sit Still
A Cornwall collective's debut on Les Disques Bongo Joe, made by a rotating cast who met at a Falmouth arts hub. Eight tracks, recorded on a disused airfield. Bandcamp Daily made it Album of the Day and heard Stereolab in it.
RIBS's 'COLD RIBS' Is a Post-Punk Record Built Backwards, and It Works Beautifully
Ten songs out on Three Lobed Recordings from a Raleigh four-piece who write the music first and hand it over for words afterward. Raven Sings the Blues says it hits like a sack of rocks to the small of the back. It also has a piano ballad on it. Both things are true.
Cobrafuma's 'Droga Total' Is Twenty-One Minutes of Portuguese Punk With No Fat On It
Seven songs, twenty-one minutes, one LP from Porto's Cobrafuma on the Portuguese label Lovers & Lollypops. Bandcamp Daily made it an Essential Release and called it a gem. It thrashes, it grooves, and it is gone before you can decide which genre it belongs to.
Ok Cowgirl's 'Rhinestone Cowgirl' Is a Big-Sky Indie Rock Record With Slide Guitar in Its Teeth
Leah Lavigne's project decamps to Asheville, hands the board to Alex Farrar, and comes back with ten tracks of wide-open dream-rock that borrows alt-country's horizon without cosplaying the genre. Bandcamp Daily made it Album of the Day. Slide guitars wail. Nobody apologizes.
Primate House Turn Jagged Angles Into a Debut That Never Lets You Get Comfortable
A self-released Brooklyn debut that trades comfort for constant surprise — jagged guitar lines, unresolved melodies, and not a single moment that lets you settle in. This is exactly the kind of record Bandcamp Daily's weekly digging exists to find.
Phoebe Bridgers' 'Lost Weekend' Is a Gorgeous, Unruly Leap Forward
Phoebe Bridgers trades Punisher's hush for something stranger and more crowded. Pedal steel collides with synth chaos, grief sits next to jokes, and it somehow all holds together. This is the sound of an artist refusing to repeat herself.
Duffy x Uhlmann Find a Common Language in Two Guitars on 'Hot Creek'
Meg Duffy (Hand Habits) and Gregory Uhlmann strip their collaboration down to just two guitars, using a Mono County geothermal spring as a guiding metaphor for constant change and quiet discovery across thirteen tracks.
Nina Winder-Lind's 'Wild Love' Is a Feminist Punk Debut That Sings With Real Bite
The New Eves frontwoman steps out solo with eleven raw, riotous songs that filter C86 jangle and girl-group doo-wop through pure DIY punk conviction. Wild Love is gloriously unpolished and all the better for it.
maya ongaku's 'Nothing Space Music' Turns Silence Into an Instrument
A Japanese four-piece turns negative space into the loudest instrument on the record. Acid folk that floats instead of strums. Headphones, low volume, full attention.
Man/Woman/Chainsaw's 'Cannonball' Is a Direct Hit of Theatrical Chaos
Five voices, one runaway train. Cannonball swings from piano ballad to post-punk detonation without ever losing the plot. Debut albums this confident are rare.
Hourloupe's 'Last Lost Word' Finds a Whole World in a Vanished Language
The sixth album from the experimental duo of Frank Menchaca and Anar Badalov draws on Alexander von Humboldt's travels and the story of a tribe whose language survived only in the song of one bird. Bandcamp Daily called it the duo's boldest work yet.
This Is Lorelei's 'Oh No Now My' Is a Climactic, Career-Best Hook Machine
Nate Amos signs to Matador and immediately writes one of the biggest hooks of his career. A pounding, primitive drum part turns a classic chord cycle into something that feels enormous.
Elijah Wolf's 'track star' Turns Catskills Ennui Into Gorgeous Small-Town Poetry
A surprise-dropped tenth record about upstate New York dive bars and dead-end expectations, recorded with Felix Walworth of Told Slant and Florist. Warm, unhurried, and quietly devastating.
Liquid Cross's 'Hateful EP' is a Snarling, Big-Hearted Masterpiece of Backyard Punk
A Eugene, Oregon four-piece takes the political heaviness of daily American life and turns it into four tracks of tuneful, buzzing catharsis. Wipers worship with a conscience — and a cause.
Yard Act's 'You're Gonna Need A Little Music' Is a Post-Punk Band in Maximum Flight
The Leeds band's third album, produced by Justin Meldal-Johnsen (Beck, Wolf Alice) and finished in Los Angeles after being built in their own studio, swings back toward grittier post-punk chaos. NME gave it 8/10 and called it 'the sound of a band in maximum flight.'
Brian Ennals & Blockhead's 'Boatshoes' Is Funny, Confessional, and Kicking the Year Into Gear
The Baltimore rapper and veteran NYC producer's full-length team-up is thirteen tracks of dusty boom-bap and psychedelic detours, out on Phantom Limb. Bandcamp Daily called it a record 'kicking the second half of the year off right.'
Mallory Hawk's 'Chinook' Refuses to Sit Still, and That's the Whole Point
The Philly songwriter's self-released new record refuses to pick a lane — noisy indie, dance-punk, acoustic rock, and country twang all show up inside ten tracks — and somehow every turn still sounds like the same person talking to you. Stereogum made it Album of the Week.
Houndmouth's 'Lordy' is a Big-Hearted Triumph of Stripped-Back Songcraft
Five years away, then this: Houndmouth's fifth album trades polish for pulse. Brad Cook production, MJ Lenderman guitar, a Sam Beam duet. Naked, honest, immediate — and certified.
mary in the junkyard's 'Role Model Hermit' is a Volatile Wonder of Art-Punk Nerve
London trio's debut swings from feather-soft whisper to feral snarl, with a viola doing things violas shouldn't. Polished without being tamed. One of the year's most assured first albums.
Brokenchord's 'Lima Echo Crack!' is a Motorik Fever-Dream of Spy-Movie Psych-Pop
A Lithuanian one-man band builds a paranoid little spy thriller you can dance to. Krautrock pulse, radio-static texture, hooks smuggled in like microfilm. Scrappy, hypnotic, and impossible to shake.
Star Moles Turn Restraint Into Real Magic on 'Highway to Hell'
Emily Moales has quietly released some forty-odd records since her GarageBand teens. This one — cut live-feeling in a South Philly row house with the Historic New Jersey crew — is the one where holding back becomes her superpower. Yes, it's called Highway to Hell. No, not that one.
Olivia Rodrigo Goes New Wave and Sticks the Landing on 'you seem pretty sad for a girl so in love'
The best pure-melody writer of her generation borrows new wave's nervous energy and post-punk's angles, and somehow gets MORE herself. Confidence looks good on heartbreak.
Ibeyi Turn Rhythm Into Ritual on Offering
The French-Cuban twin duo weave electronic production and global rhythmic traditions into something that feels both ancient and brand new. Harmony-rich vocals, rhythmic depth for days.
Kim Petras Takes the Best Detour of Her Career
Aughts pop worship colliding with deconstructed club noise and hardstyle techno. High-vis hedonism, maximum commitment, and her best album yet.
Ratboys Find the Beauty Inside Grief on Singin' To An Empty Chair
Fuzzed-out rock, tender folk, and gloriously indulgent jams, all refined into one cohesive statement. Julia Steiner explores living inside grief rather than transcending it, and the honesty is stunning.
My New Band Believe's Debut Is Theatrical Folk Magic
Cameron Picton goes full theatrical visionary on this chamber-folk stunner. Precise vocals, avant-folk arrangements, and a fearless look at fame's dark side. It believes in itself, and so do we.
Grace Ives Does More With Less on Girlfriend
Economical hooks, personality-forward production, zero wasted motion. Girlfriend is alt-pop that trusts a great idea to stand on its own — and every idea here is great.
underscores Goes Full Pop Star on U — And It Rules
A lean, glossy bid for pop stardom that ditches the proggy concept-album scaffolding and just delivers bangers. Sparkles like a classic late-2000s pop record while keeping the post-genre chaos on a leash — barely.
Mitski Writes Circles Around Everyone on 'Nothing's About to Happen to Me'
Chamber pop, Americana, slacker rock, and alt-country folded into one seamless indie folk record. Mitski's songwriting precision and emotional control are operating at full strength.
Mandy, Indiana Turn Up the Grit on 'URGH'
Album two doubles down on the industrial grit with arrangements that keep escalating past where you think the ceiling is. 'Magazine' alone is worth the price of admission.
Musings
- The One-Take Vocal Is Worth the NervesSep 13, 2026
- The Shazam Moment Is the Modern Record StoreSep 3, 2026
- Side Two, Track OneAug 31, 2026
- Leave the Count-In On the RecordAug 25, 2026
- Night One Is Never the Best Show (And That's the Point)Aug 24, 2026
- The Gang Vocal Is an Open InvitationAug 24, 2026
- The Loudness War Is Over, and Dynamics WonAug 17, 2026
- The Deep Cut Request Is an Act of FaithAug 13, 2026
- The Lyric You Misheard and Loved AnywayAug 11, 2026
- The Group Chat Is the New RadioAug 7, 2026
- In Praise of the Key Change (The Moment the Song Stands Up Straighter)Aug 4, 2026
- The Long Fade-Out Is a Trust Fall, and Great Bands Still Do ItAug 1, 2026
- In Praise of the Backing Band (The Best Records Are a Group Effort)Jul 29, 2026
- In Praise of the Closer (The Last Word Gets to Be Right)Jul 27, 2026
- In Defense of the Encore (Yes, We Know It's Staged)Jul 22, 2026
- Show Up for the OpenerJul 17, 2026
- Eight Records That Made June 2026 Ridiculously GoodJul 9, 2026
- Bring Back Liner Notes (They're Already Coming Back)Dec 9, 2025
- Vinyl Isn't Nostalgia. It's Attention.Jul 22, 2025