Daily Newsletter, April 18, 2025

A look at whether the concept of guilty pleasure can exist in the 21st century, where music is simultaneously more loved and less analysed than ever.

Lee “Scratch” Perry may largely be synonymous with the dub end of the reggae spectrum. But his work with Max Romeo in the mid to late 70s also signified

AVERY FRIEDMAN NEW THING AUDIO ANTIHERO Brooklyn seems to be a musical hotbed in recent years, with new, exciting artists cropping up by the day. Judging by New Thing, her debut album, you can add singer-songwriter Avery Friedman to that list. Inhabiting that not easily definable musical space inhabited by the likes of Big Thief […]

ABIGAIL HOPKINS STARDUST INDEPENDENT Surviving a traumatic event, a serious illness, leaves heavy marks on both body and soul and is often something that is really hard to describe in words, let alone in music. Yet, with her latest album Stardust, singer songwriter Abigail Hopkins was able to transform her traumatic experience of surviving bowel […]

BLUE FOUNDATION CLOSE TO THE KNIFE KØN RECORDS Danish band Blue Foundation are no newcomers, at least that cannot be said about the band’s frontman, singer, multi-instrumentalist, and producer Tobias Wilner, who favours that Mark E. Smith concept of a revolving musical cast when working in a band setting. Since 2010, the core members of […]

“Before Elvis,” John Lennon famously said, describing the cultural landscape of the 1950s, “there was nothing.” And if you were a young aspiring musician looking for an escape from your suburban existence, then that must have been how the decade seemed. Post-war austerity. Scant television. “How Much Is That Doggie In The Window?” on the […]

The FADER's weekly roundup of the best new music featuring Lana Del Rey, Bon Iver, Jordan Patterson, billy woods, Kurtains, Jim Legxacy, Eli Keszler, Deradoorian, and more.

The rise of streaming, the false promise of democratization, and the quiet erasure of music’s meaning

Liam Inscoe-Jones explores the psychedelia inherent in the music of Danny Brown, Earl Sweatshirt and others, arguing that it reflects the increasingly surreal reality of working class life far more effectively than rock’s outdated cliches 

Along with Michael Stipe’s quartet and that of Frank Black, Bob Mould’s trio Hüsker Dü was one of the most important and influential groups of the 1980s.

Our latest KLOF Mixtape features new music from Clara Mann, Natalie Wildgoose, Adrianne Lenker, VARO, Brìghde Chaimbeul, Lady Queen Paradise, Bells Larsen, Eli Winter, Lonnie Holley, Annie A, Macie Stewart, William Tyler, Satomimagae and more eaze & claire rousay.