Ben Salmon

Honey Bucket ASK A MUSICIAN about their artistic influences, and chances are pretty good they’ll play coy. At best, you’ll get a thoughtful response that makes sense. Those are rare. More likely, you’ll get some hemming and hawing, and then a short list of carefully curated artists selected to showcase maximum cool. At worst, you’ll […]

The album is uncluttered and inescapable.

TIM HOWE “WHO THE FUCK said my band sounds like pavement,” Cool American’s Nathan Tucker tweeted on July 11, “i’ll fight them.” Fair enough. For two decades now, ’90s heroes Pavement have had an outsized influence on indie rock, with Stephen Malkmus’ prickly licks and pouty lines living on in seemingly every new guitar-pop group. […]

Their new album is terrific, top to bottom.

MAZE KOROMA Flowers for all! And sick rhymes. Riley Brown MAZE KOROMA isn’t going anywhere. The 24-year-old Portland native has seen a parade of rising rappers leave his hometown over the past few years, including Tope, Glenn Waco, and Luck-One (now known as Hanif). But he’s not following them, at least not anytime soon. “I’m […]

The North Portland emcee’s hip-hop is built to last.

FEAR OF MEN They’re still working on their “see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil” gestures. ROSIE CARR & DANIEL FALVEY FOLLOWING THE announcement of their sophomore album, it quickly became apparent that Brighton, England dream-pop trio Fear of Men was heading in an exciting new direction. Last month the band released Fall […]

The British dream-pop trio peels back layers on their new record, Fall Forever.

BIG THIEF Yeah, they named their album Masterpiece. Deal with it. MICHAEL BUISHAS FOR ALL OF its good qualities, one of the most likeable things about Brooklyn band Big Thief’s debut album, Masterpiece, is how easily its parts fit together. Songwriter and frontwoman Adrianne Lenker’s delicate vocals are often enveloped in the warm crunch of […]

The Brooklyn band’s debut, Masterpiece, falls together seamlessly.

CASE/LANG/VEIRS What’s in a name? In their case, everything. Jason Quigley WHEN RENOWNED singer/songwriters Neko Case, Laura Veirs, and KD Lang announced a musical partnership earlier this year, their union came with a utilitarian name—case/lang/veirs—and a seemingly unlikely origin. The story goes, Lang messaged Veirs and Case out of the blue proposing that they make […]

Neko Case, kd lang, and Laura Veirs release their self-titled debut.