#DIY

Chelsea Jade - Soft Spot - cover artwork

Chelsea Jade Makes Enigmatic Pop Music for Outsiders with Soft Spot LP

Chelsea Jade has always felt like an outsider in the music industry. Even after making the voyage to Los Angeles from her isolating home country of New Zealand, Jade’s journey in music has always seemed like something that happened despite her plan, not because of it. She went to art school and...

Sara Barron

Alex Orange Drink Comes to Terms with Brokenness on Most Candid LP Yet

As a pioneer in New York City's DIY all-ages scene over the past decade, alongside his brothers in the The So So Glos, Alex Zarou Levine - better known by his solo moniker Alex Orange Drink - represents a millennial shift in pop punk. Today’s punks hold space for complexity, they go to therapy, and...

Michelle Rose

Michelle Rose Makes Her Own Dreams Come True "One Promise At a Time"

Fans of the show are probably already humming (or belting) its singular refrain: "I am...

Lindsey Rhoades

Wing Vilma Lets Nature Guide Self-Discovery on Spirit Practice LP

Instead, from early on in their life, they found themselves tuning into the complex and ever-present rhythms that nature has to offer - branches of a tree tapping a window, waves crashing to shore, their...

Sara Barron

Melbourne Punks Plaster of Paris Distill Queer D.I.Y. Ethos on Debut LP Lost Familiar

After years of thrilling Melbourne with brain-shuddering, pelvic-shaking garage rock on stage at some of Melbourne's...

Cat Woods

Audiofemme's Own Mandy Brownholtz Set to Release Debut DIY Novel Rotten

"Now I’m in this position where I have to talk about myself and things that I’ve created; it’s this peek into my brain that I’ve never really allowed people to have, and it’s scary."...

Lindsey Rhoades

Port Lucian Uses Twitter to Curate 'Trans Musicians and Allies for Change' Compilation

But sometimes, it can also be a catalyst for beautiful projects that inspire change. Twenty-one year old college junior Portia Maidment (of Port Lucian) harnessed the power of the internet and used it to create a...

Sara Barron

Teenanger Have "Good Time" with Social Critique on Latest LP

Other times, it makes us want to bob our heads and shake off our worries. And, occasionally, it does both. Good Time, the latest release from Toronto-based post-punk...

Annie White

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PLAYING DETROITPrude Boys Unpack Grief and Grievances on New Seven Inch

Hamtramck-based DIY band Prude Boys (Caroline Thornbury, Quentin Thornbury, and Connor Dodson) recently celebrated the release of their new 7-inch record, The Reunion/Daddy. The songs - put out on the band’s own label, Grumble Records - are a preview of a full-length record the band recorded last...

Sara Barron

WOMAN OF INTERESTNOW WHAT?? Offers A New Approach to Networking in the Digital Era

The three hosts of NOW WHAT?? take questions at the beginning of their roundtable discussion. All photos by Desdemona Dallas. Spreadhouse Cafe is lit softly with rose-colored neon. A group of creative types gather around a table, excitedly talking about art, projects, new ideas, past ideas,...

Desdemona Dallas

PLAYING DETROITThis Summer's Hottest Releases You Might've Missed

Summer Like the Season released "Wakey" in July via PopMatters. Photo by Allen Zhang. As we all know, it’s impossible to keep track of all the incredible music being released on a regular basis, even on a local scale. Instead of focusing on one particular release, I wanted to do a roundup of some...

Sara Barron

VIDEO PREMIEREEmily Jane Powers "Sullen Days"

With her latest video, Emily Jane Powers proves there's more than one shade of blue when it comes to feeling sad. The Chicago-based art rocker's clip for "Sullen Days" is an atmospheric meditation on the spectrum of emotions contained within a sullen or sad mood. The entire video was shot on an...

Sara Barron