Kathy Valentine was just 14 years old when first caught sight of her idol, 1970s glam rock bassist Suzi Quatro.  “It split the ground right open,” the Go-Go’s bassist recalled in her 2020 memoir, All I Ever Wanted: A Rock 'n; Roll Memoir. “Seeing [Quatro] doing what I had seen only men do changed everything. From that moment, I had one goal: to be in a kick ass band with a gang of like-minded girls and claim the life I wanted for myself.” With help from her...

Tuelo is a singer and songwriter from South Africa who beautifully blends punk, rock, and soul into her music, and today she's released a music video for her song “Saint Margaret”; an ode to her familial matriarch. The singer, whose full name is Tuelo Minah, took inspiration for this song by reflecting on the virtues we learn from our parents, and the way they shape our lives. In her music, Tuelo uses her voice to create soulful art-rock, inspired by the traditions of South African...

  SHANNON & THE CLAMS Year of The Spider (Easy Eye Sound) Shannon & the Clams manages to buoyantly ride the waves of grief on the band’s sixth studio album. Produced by the Black Keys’ Dan Auerbach, the grungy punk quartet completed Year of the Spider just before the COVID-19 lockdown and in the wake of personal tragedies. Singer and bass player Shannon Shaw said it felt “like the end of an era.” The effervescent tracks cope with death on intimate and universal scales while celebrating making...

KING WOMAN  Celestial Blues  (Relapse Records) King Woman fans who have been waiting for a new record since the 2017 debut, Created in the Image of Suffering, will have their patience rewarded with Celestial Blues. These nine doom-metal/ shoegaze tracks bring us what we’ve come to expect from vocalist and band mastermind Kristina Esfandiari (who also performs as Dalmatian, Miserable, and NGHTCRWLR) and then some. From the striking album imagery to lyrics that reckon with a religious upbringing and struggles with trauma and mental illness,...

After a five-year hiatus, Adele has finally returned her voice to our radios with new song “Easy on Me," and fans couldn’t be more excited. Since watching the song teaser that Adele released on October 5th, we’ve been anticipating its release. Since dropping at midnight  last night, the song has become the fourth most-played song on Apple Music in the US, and the music video has received more than 23 million views within the first twelve hours which surpasses that of her 2015 hit “Hello”,...

  After nearly five years of radio silence, Grammy-award-winning artist Adele recently announced that she is releasing her fourth studio album, 30. On October 5th, Adele dropped the teaser for her latest single, “Easy On Me.” Before confirming, many fans were speculating her return after seeing billboards plastered with the number “30” all across the globe. Adele’s previous three albums are all named after her age; from 19 in 2008, 21 in 2011, and 25 in 2015, and many of us began connecting the dots with...

TKAY MAIDZA  Last Year Was Weird Vol. 3 (4AD/Dew Process)  Tkay Maidza exemplifies what happens when you pair creative ambition and raw talent with Last Year Was Weird Vol. 3, the final installment of her acclaimed trilogy (Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 came out in 2018 and 2020 respectively). With longtime collaborator/producer Dan Farber, the Zimbabwe-born, Australian-raised, genre-blending rapper and singer takes us on an eight-song trip as vivid and commanding as her visual presence, like in the psychedelic daydream video for single “Cashmere.” From easy summer singalong...

Like many people stuck at home during the pandemic, Neko Case had to find a new way to occupy herself. Unable to tour and still dealing with the aftermath of the 2017 fire that burned down her Vermont home, the singer/songwriter turned to a friend who’s never let her down: nature. “I write about it all the time in my journal,” she explains. “I think a lot about nature when I’m sitting around for hours outside a club and there are plants growing through the...

Directed and produced by Bobbi Jo Hart Fanny was one of the first all-women rock bands to release an LP on a major record label (Warner/Reprise, 1970). The nucleus of the band was Jean and June Millington, two sisters who moved from the Philippines with their family in 1961, landing in Sacramento, CA. They were influenced by the Beatles and 1960s youth culture at large, but they didn’t want to date the band, they wanted to be them. Self-taught on bass and guitar, the sisters formed their first band, the...

R. Kelly, multiplatnium R&B singer and producer, was found guilty on Monday of all counts of racketeering and sex trafficking. For decades, the “I Believe I Can Fly” singer has been accused of masterminding a scheme to recruit underage girls and boys for sex. He was charged with one count of racketeering - which includes charges of sexual exploitation of a child, bribery, and sex trafficking - as well as eight violations of the Mann Act, a federal sex trafficking law. The verdict was reached...