This was my second year witnessing the greatness of Big Freedia at Boulevardia. (I have been lucky enough to see her twerking class at Bonnaroo in years past as well, thankfully.) The hottest weekend of the year so far in Kansas City, this weekend slot of the biggest beer and music festival in the area is always sweltering. And Big Freedia always brings the attitude and energy to make that heat bearable.
What I love about a Big Freedia performance is that, as I walk around the perimeter of the main stage area, I can see people in every direction realizing she is on stage, or hearing dance music, and running in her direction. What an insane power to have. What a great thing to get to see in my life. Here, some early highlights. (And we have gifs to come!)
For those weary of pop’s increasingly homogenized soundscapes, the Indianapolis duo LITTRELL emerges as a refreshing antidote. Their latest single, “Dirty,” doesn’t just defy genres—it blends them seamlessly, creating a uniquely turbulent and immersive sonic experience.
“Dirty” combines a haunting atmosphere with intense energy, placing LITTRELL among forward-thinking acts like Massive Attack, Portishead, and BANKS. Lindsay Littrell’s vocal performance walks a tightrope between urgency and haunting restraint, perfectly anchored by Garrett Langebartels’ masterful production.
At its core, “Dirty” explores the inherent messiness of intimacy, rejecting idealized notions of love in favor of raw, complex emotions, in spite of their messiness. The song’s thematic complexity is mirrored in its sound, showcasing LITTRELL’s ability to craft a sound that’s both beautiful and haunting.
LITTRELL’s lyrics delve into the discomfort of shallow relationships. The opening lines, “I don’t wanna be your respite from reality / When you go you leave the ashes of your fantasies,” set the stage for a song that craves genuine connections over escapism. The chorus, “They don’t keep me warm / They just pile up on the floor / And leave me feelin’ dirty,” highlights the emptiness left by temporary comforts.
“Dirty” demands active engagement from its listeners, encouraging them to dive deep into its disquieting themes. LITTRELL understands that true catharsis comes from confronting the messiness head-on and finding transformation on the other side.
“Dirty” is one of 2024’s most compelling releases, challenging the polished, PR-driven mainstream with its bold, unfiltered approach. This track serves as a reminder that impactful art leaves a mark and invites listeners to explore deeper emotions.
LITTRELL has crafted a sound that is both beautiful and moody, with dark electronic elements. With lyrics and songwriting that cut through surface-level platitudes to grapple with deeper existential questions around sincerity, truth, and meaning, Lindsay Littrell and Garrett Langebartels have tapped into something truly unique as songwriters and producers. “Dirty” is a captivating single for fans of alternative and electronic music who appreciate lyrical depth and emotional resonance. Dive into the world of LITTRELL and let “Dirty” envelop you in its raw, emotional embrace.
The headliner of night 1 at Boulevardia 2024 was Milky Chance, a band the event’s organizers had been trying to contract for years. They were giddy as they introduced them, as the night set in on the streets of downtown Kansas City. The band was as fun as ever and the music created an entirely standalone vibe in the main stage. Milky Chance kind of sprinkles magic where they go with their feel-good energy. Photos below to prove it.
Maybe it’s just me, but I think Gen Z needs to be more aware of the countless R&B and funk superstars from the 70s and 80s. A lot of these artists just seem to be overshadowed by larger artists like Michael Jackson, Prince, or Stevie Wonder. I love the music of those three too, but there’s so much great music that needs to be rediscovered and praised as classics. One of these artists is Chaka Khan, known as the “Queen of Funk” and has multiple hits with both her band Rufus and her solo career. She still has a large following, but only a handful of her biggest hits have reached younger audiences. If you’re unfamiliar with her work, I can’t recommend her Tiny Desk Concert performed last week at NPR enough as a starting point.
For those that don’t know, Tiny Desk Concerts are performances held in NPR’s headquarters in DC. What separates them from just a normal concert is that all the musicians and equipment must be able to fit behind the desk where NPR’s weekly podcast “All Songs Considered” gets recorded. That means all the musicians get squeezed just inches apart from each other in an office space. If it sounds awkward, that’s the fun of it! With the audience only a small group of NPR employees right next to the space, it makes the concerts more intimate, up-close, and personal. The limited room makes the music fully center stage instead of surrounding it with other stage effects and unnecessary parts of a more corporate concert performance. Really, just think of Tiny Desk Concerts as a late millennial/Gen Z version of MTV Unplugged except less pretentious and not entirely acoustic.
Despite the tight space that Chaka Khan and her band have, what’s even tighter are the nonstop grooves and funk rhythms they play for their 30-minute show. (Was that clever writing? I thought it was.) The entire time I was listening to it, I couldn’t stop dancing, swaying, and moving to the music. Chaka’s backing band that accompanies her is absolutely on fire, with the funk starting immediately and never letting up. My favorites were the percussion, shakers, and sparkly chimes, as well as the bass playing. If I had one tiny criticism, it would be that a synthesizer is used to replicate horns and orchestrations, even if a lot of classic synth-funk did that as well. However, it still sounds serviceable (even great during the closing songs), and I doubt they could fit anyone else with the limited space they had.
The concert set list is a collection of seven singles from both her solo career and time with Rufus, spanning from 1974 to 1985, with the most famous singles being at the very end. Okay, let’s talk about Chaka Khan herself during this show. You would never believe that she’s 71 years old because she looks and sounds fantastic. Her energy is loose and fun, her singing hits the high notes with ease, and she sounds almost identical to the original studio recordings. Just as good as her are her backing vocalists, who get moments of their own to shine (see Tiffany Smith getting a solo to show off her pipes on “Sweet Thing”). The onstage chemistry between Chaka, the backing vocalists, and the band is always apparent during the show.
Like many Tiny Desk Concerts, part of the fun is also the interactions between the band and the crowd. A show highlight was Chaka letting the NPR audience sing several verses on their own during “Sweet Thing”, and it’s adorable hearing the enthusiasm and love for the music from the crowd. By the time the show closes with “I’m Every Woman”, it’s impossible for anyone on stage (or yourself, for that matter) to keep a smile off their face. Chaka Khan’s Tiny Desk Concert is nothing but delightful, and a victory lap for a monumental artist.
Considering the band members that comprise psych-tinged alt-rock quartet Liily – Dylan Nash (Frontman), Sam De La Torre (Guitarist), Charlie Anastasis (Bassist), and Maxx Morando (Drummer) – are all artistic in a variety of ways, it comes as no surprise that the video for single “Swallow” off their fresh drop Liily was so fully ideated and realized by the band, who directed it. The song – which is very specifically about their disdain for trauma porn – is, according to the band, “a pretty simple rock tune, we wanted to keep it straight forward along with the rest of the EP, no bells and whistles! We saw it as our chance to be musical vs over-intellectualizing something that is meat and potatoes.”
About the composition, they are correct. A little bit of a dirty edge to it, with a steady rhythm most can get into, the song is more catchy than one would assume when they think of the subject matter. With both vocals and a video that are sprinkled with the stereotypical bored demeanor of a true rock outfit, the build of energy in the song is almost unexpected, but equally welcoming.
“Swallow” was shot by members of Liily in 2022 with a little help from Keegan James Hurley, Justin Billings, and Andie Jane. Guitarist Sam De La Torre edited it, giving it an admittedly engaging finish.
Talking Heads is easily my favorite band. They were the first band that really got me into being a massive music geek, and I can’t imagine where I’d be today without them. So, when I heard A24 was planning a large-scale tribute album of Talking Heads’ iconic Stop Making Sense concert film with a different artist covering each song, I got excited but also quite cautious. I loved the band was getting more exposure to new audiences, but who would A24 pick to cover each song? Would they choose artists that honor Talking Heads’ material but still do their own spin on it to keep it fresh?
I’ll go out and say immediately that many of the musicians featured on the album aren’t necessarily ones that would be on my shortlist for a covers album, but that’s not at all a bad thing. Part of Talking Heads’ appeal is the way they respected and performed countless music styles—sometimes multiple at once. They created a unique sound of punk, funk, dance, and art rock and still had room for inspirations from world music or hip-hop made them so forward-thinking. Choosing artists of a variety of styles complements the multicultural palette Talking Heads had worked with.
(Okay, but if I had to choose who I’d want on the album, I’d choose LCD Soundsystem, St. Vincent, HAIM, and a more contemporary post-punk band like Squid or black midi… I can dream.)
However, there was still another big concern I had with the announcement: it was a covers album. A known, respected artist doing a cover of a song is a tricky balancing act. You must honor the source material, but not too close to where it just sounds like you’re doing karaoke. But, if you divert from the original too much and go somewhere too new, it makes your cover just seem like a pointless exercise and you won’t make fans of the original happy. It’s difficult, but it’s totally possible to accomplish this mix.
With that said, the easy standouts of the album were the ones that got this balancing act down the best. Paramore’s cover of “Burning Down the House” kills with Hayley Williams’ stage presence and irresistible vocal performance, and “Crosseyed and Painless” done by Chicano Batman and Money Mark captures the original’s relentless, nonstop energy. It’s hard to recapture the feeling of such a soulful, heartwarming song, but the version of “This Must Be the Place (Naïve Melody)” by BADBADNOTGOOD and Norah Jones gets damn close. I’m a fan of the former’s lush 70s soul inspirations and using that with Jones’ comforting presence just makes their cover feel like a warm hug in all the same ways the original did. And, if Talking Heads’ cover of “Take Me to the River” equally combined them with Al Green, then Lorde’s cover of the same song is a satisfying blend of both her sound and Talking Heads’.
Some of the other covers closer to the originals can depend on your tastes. I liked The National’s version of “Heaven” which works well with their atmospheric indie folk sound, and quite like some of Aaron Dessner’s produced work for that one super famous rich white and blonde woman who I won’t name*. (*Forgive me, Meredith.) The Linda Lindas and girl in red do acceptable versions of “Found a Job” and “Girlfriend is Better” respectively without changing much, and I enjoyed seeing an African group represented on the album through highlife band The Cavemen’s version of “What a Day That Was”.
The problem with many other covers is that they’re too different from the originals, and it makes them difficult to judge. I love “Psycho Killer” and I’m fine with Miley Cyrus covering it, but why do it as a Lady Gaga-style EDM song? “Thank You for Sending Me an Angel” isn’t one of my favorite Talking Heads songs, yet it’s hard to get behind Blondshell doing a slow burn grunge version of it (albeit with a pretty rad guitar solo at the end). Then there’s some of the out-there covers like DJ Tunez performing “Life During Wartime” as an afrobeats-inspired trap song or Kevin Abstract going as far away from “Once in a Lifetime” as possible.
None of these songs are necessarily bad in terms of their sound or how they changed the originals, but they’re hard to appreciate in contrast to the other songs that try hard to honor the spirit of the originals. It’s not to say some covers work despite being too close to the originals (i.e. Teezo Touchdown’s “Making Flippy Floppy” or Toro y Moi’s “Genius of Love”), but perhaps the album could have functioned better with more direction as opposed to letting the artists run completely free.
Everyone’s Getting Involved isn’t bad, despite what some more closed-minded Talking Heads fans may say. However, it’s difficult to appreciate based on how different each artist approaches the original material. It has enough good covers to make the experience worthwhile, even if it may also leave you scratching your head at points. Still, nothing here stains Talking Heads’ enduring legacy as one of the best bands of its time.
With their latest single, “Heaven,” Austin-based trio Culture Wars plunges listeners into the dizzying rapture of all-consuming love. Blending raw energy with heartfelt intimacy, the track’s smooth guitars, propulsive basslines, and pulsing rhythms mirror love’s intoxicating rush.
“All I have is your love,” frontman Alex Dugan chants over a hypnotic bassline, his voice—reminiscent of Julian Casablancas and Matt Berninger—carrying both desperation and reverence. This refrain becomes the song’s heartbeat, a mantra born from Dugan’s real-life period of isolation while living abroad, where these words took on literal significance.
Lyrically, “Heaven” reads like fevered journal entries, snapshots of a heart so full it might burst. “Fill my head up / Cold and broken down (I need it now) / Heat my heart and / Heat my heartache out,” Dugan pleads, framing love not just as desire, but as a salve for deep wounds. It’s a sentiment that hits even harder when contrasted with the band’s earlier, more detached writing. Here, vulnerability isn’t just on display—it’s a force of nature.
The beauty of “Heaven” lies in its ability to immerse you in the feeling of being utterly consumed by love. The outside world fades away, replaced by a swirling vortex of you and your person. Verses simmer with restrained longing before exploding into choruses that swell with tidal waves of affection. Dynamic shifts aren’t just heard; they’re felt, carrying the listener through love’s peaks and valleys. A bridge near the song’s end strips things back to little more than voice and heartbeat-like percussion—a musical inhale before the final, cathartic release.
While “Heaven” explores well-worn thematic territory, Culture Wars avoids cliché by grounding universal feelings in vivid specificity. The result is at once highly personal and widely resonant. It’s a track that feels vitally current in an era of digital disconnection as the band reminds us how earth-shattering human connection can be.
Don’t just listen to “Heaven.” Let it envelop you. Let Alex Dugan’s lovesick pleas unlock your own memories of consuming passion. Let the pulsing instrumentals sweep you off your feet until you, too, are standing in that transcendent place where love is all that exists. Then, once you’ve caught your breath, join the growing chorus of voices eager to see where Culture Wars heads next. Because if “Heaven” is any indication, this ascent is just beginning!
Brooklyn’s own indie rock band Razor Braids just released Big Wave, their sophomore LP after 2021’s “I Could Cry If You Want Me To”. The new album is of a concept record about the timeline of going through a breakup, and lyrically it’s very personal. It goes into the narrator’s (which could be any of the members of the band, or multiple writing from shared experiences) feelings about their insecurities, self-doubts, and feelings of anguish within themselves. The lyrics are one of the strong points of the band, being clear, relatable, and easy to identify with as a listener.
Musically, the band’s style has its inspirations in 90s indie and alternative rock. There are many obvious comparisons like the lo-fi sound of Liz Phair, some Mazzy Star-style touches of psychedelia, as well as heavy grungy guitars that occasionally pop up. The production and guitar work on the album is consistently good, with a hazy but dreamy atmosphere composing many of the songs. Lead vocalist Hollye Bynum gives a lot of great performances throughout, showing her singing as more confident than the band’s earlier singles like “Nashville”. The backing vocals (contributed by rhythm guitarist Jillian Karande) are just as strong, though some of the best sounding parts of the album were when both vocalists harmonized, like on “B26” and “Windy Gap”. It’s an element of the band’s sound that I wish they used more.
My favorite track is the lead single, “She”, which is an upbeat pop-rock song that easily has the breeziest and most danceable groove on the album (with the drums provided by former member Sid Nichols). The band’s irresistible energy and chemistry here shines through, accentuated by brief giggles by the band as the song closes. However, while “She” is a great single, it differs a bit from the rest of the album in terms of its accessibility and focus on a pop chorus. Not that this is a bad thing, as mellow and downbeat songs like “It Goes Quiet” and the title track are still strong because of the earnest performances and lyrics, and especially from the lush guitars (from lead guitarist Janie Peacock) in the second half of the latter.
Big Wave is mostly a storytelling album rather than one that’s song driven. There’re points where the tracks can feel more about expressing emotions rather than structure and rhythm. This is most apparent on “JR”, which seems to explode with intensity as a musical emotional breakdown in the second half, as psychedelic guitars bury the vocals before they come crashing down on themselves. The vulnerability given from Bynum’s performances helps make this seem rawer and more effective.
All the songs are good, and the album is easy to recommend to fans of modern indie rock that are more into lyrically driven music. It’s not perfect, as I think it could’ve used another good hook or two and better pacing. Still, the album ends on a bittersweet but hopeful note on “There’s No Sound”, and I think the band still has a lot of talent and potential to build on based on the more promising parts of the album.
Big Wave may end up just being a steppingstone for a band that’s still evolving, but it’s captivating enough to look deeper into it.
The new single by Swedish indie rock band Girl Scout, “I Just Needed You To Know”, shows the range of the band in terms of their musicianship. It’s entirely in the realms of punk music, with driving drums and bass, distorted guitars, and an intentionally raw and unpolished production. The song never lets up for its entire duration, especially as it approaches noise rock-levels of volume at its climax. The song can appear loose and sloppy, yet it’s still obviously controlled and well thought out as more than just a fun studio jam session.
From what it seems, Girl Scout is still finding a distinct identity based on their previous singles more in line with contemporary bedroom indie pop. However, garage-inspired songs like this and “Do You Remember Sally Moore?” show they refuse to be pigeonholed. They’re successful in part because of the talents of members Per Lindberg, Viktor Spasov, and Evelina Arvidsson Eklind; but also because of the vocal range that front-woman Emma Jansson provides. Throughout many of Girl Scout’s songs, her voice can change from soft and vulnerable, angsty and grungy, or powerful and belting out. The latter is seen especially in “I Just Needed You To Know” as her voice almost becomes a powerful instrument in itself, soaring upwards and refusing to be buried under sludgy guitars.
The song is an easy recommendation for indie rock fans or anyone who’s a fan of fast-paced 90’s alternative rock. Despite only gaining attention last year through the release of two EPs (Real Life Human Garbage and Granny Music, respectively), the band’s popularity is rapidly growing as they embark on a summer tour opening for Alvvays. Considering the mountains of energy contained in the track, I’m sure it’ll become a Girl Scout live favorite for years to come.
