The White Stripes blew up fast. I was a high school senior in 2002, when V2 Records brought the prior year’s White Blood Cells to the MTV2 viewers of America. I remember immersing myself in the album on a portable CD player in the backseat of my parents’ sedan on my way from Columbus to Lansing for a college visit …

Here’s an unexpected combination! Say Anything and Wavves both came along in the ’00s, and they had extremely different takes on pop-punk. Say Anything had a troubled run in the Warped Tour spotlight before Wavves emerged as a scrappy, noisy lo-fi auteur. But now, all these years later, idiosyncratic frontmen Max Bemis and Nathan Williams have come together for a …

Three summers ago we shared Serotonin, the debut album God Of War. The band — a collaboration between They Are Gutting A Body Of Water’s Doug Dulgarian and the two members of Hooky, Scott Turner and Sam Silbert — is back today with news of a second LP. It’s called Molly Picture, it’s dropping in a month, and two songs …

Dublin’s Lankum, last heard collaborating with Fontaines D.C.’s Grian Chatten on the Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man soundtrack, have a stark, doomy, experimental take on traditional Irish folk music. A lot of their power comes from the bell-clear voice of singer Radie Peat. Today, Peat releases her first-ever debut single, and it continues the Lankum project of spooky traditionalism. The …

Human hook-factory Kai Slater is a member of the and Lifeguard and a key piece of Chicago’s Hallogallo scene, the circle of super-young bands documented on the recent Red Xerox compilation. Slater also makes groovy ’60s-style power-pop gems under the name Sharp Pins. Last year, he released the excellent album Balloon Balloon Balloon. Today, he’s got another super-impressive new gem …

Fucked Up don’t get the kind of attention that they once did, but they are still an underground rock ‘n’ roll institution, and they still put out a whole lot of music. Just last month, Fucked Up released Year Of The Monkey, the second installlment in the hugely ambitious new 12″ single series Grass Can Move Stones, which will apparently …

If you’re the right age, the world “Candlebox” brings up all kinds of indelible memories. If you’re too young, just know that Candlebox were a Seattle rock band who happened to catch on during the grunge explosion, even though they weren’t really a grunge band. They were one of the first acts who signed to Madonna’s Maverick label, and their …

Around the time that he formed the White Stripes, Jack White had a stint as a guitarist for the Go, a wooly and psychedelic Detroit garage-punk band. White was in the Go when they recorded their debut album Whatcha Doin’, which came out on Sub Pop in 1999. Shortly thereafter, White left the Go, and they recorded another album called …

I’m not sure any song this year has burrowed its way into my brain more effectively than “Monday,” the springtime offering from LA power-pop band Jawdropped. That song is catchy as hell, it moves with an irresistible momentum, and I love the noisy tension threaded into it, which neatly dovetails with the lyrics about delighted, anxious anticipation. It’s further elevated …

Asher White doesn’t stay quiet for too long, and thank god for that. Last year she released her 16th album 8 Tips For Full Catastrophe Living, which was also her debut for Joyful Noise that earned her our Artist To Watch honor. Earlier this year the prolific indie artist covered Jessica Pratt’s entire debut LP, and now she’s returning with …