power pop

Due to English director Edgar Wright’s (Shaun Of The Dead, Hot Fuzz) recent cinematic hagiography The Sparks Brothers, 2021 has become the year of Sparks. Variously described as “the best British band to come from Los Angeles,” “your favorite band’s favorite band” and “the greatest band you’ve never heard of,” it’s high time. After all, […]

Alternative Press’ native home of Cleveland, Ohio, stands alongside New York City and London as one of punk’s birthplaces. Yet, few outside of U.K. music journalist Jon Savage, in his crucial ‘70s punk history England’s Dreaming, acknowledge this. But how could Cleveland—a torched-and-trashed post-industrial landscape by the ‘70s, famed for the Cuyahoga River being so […]

1997: All media is declaring the alternative–rock explosion—for which Nirvana lit the fuse—over. This means the commercial pop-punk wave Green Day touched off was over in their eyes, too. That selfsame media could not have been more wrong. Green Day had just issued their fifth album, Nimrod. The Offspring, the band who made the catchphrase […]

A greasy R&B riff rips from the speakers, coated in more fuzz than a peach orchard wearing a 50-year-old wool sweater. A singer with a sneer that could wilt Elvis’ upper lip indicates he’s gonna tell you a story about his town. He snarls about hanging out by the notoriously polluted Charles River, “along with […]

Trixie Mattel, aka Brian Michael Firkus, is well-known among drag fans for winning the third season of RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars. The performing sensation has recorded three albums of original music and launched a successful cosmetics line. If that wasn’t enough, she also published a New York Times bestseller, appeared in a documentary and […]

Following their bright power-pop track “PET,” L.A.-based duo COWBOY BOY are back with their second grunge-laced track, “INCONVENIENT,” from their upcoming EP, GOOD GIRL. Featuring vocalist Olivia Maria and Mike Nevin on bass, guitar and drums, the duo offer a completely raw, unabashedly honest look at relationships that have gone awry with a huge sound, […]

Fact: Guitar solos are awesome. Plain and simple. They’re just as much fun to see live as they are to listen to, as they fully display the guitarist’s raw passion for the instrument. While solos are a staple of certain rock subgenres, they’re far less common in pop-punk songs. So, when we do come across […]

All hail the genre-benders! Seriously, it’s one thing to be successful in a single genre, but to change things up and continue to excel? That’s the mark of a legend. Admittedly, most artists go through some form of sonic progression over the course of their careers. But how many can you name that distinctly embody […]

The ’80s feel like a lifetime away, and for many in the scene, they actually are (yikes). The good news is the decade has left a longstanding musical legacy. The incorporation of 1980s sound elements into modern music is hardly new, but its frequency seems to be rising. It seems impossible to turn on the […]

Showing off some steamy visuals, Juliet Simms celebrated her new deal with Sumerian Records by dropping a new single, “Bad Love.” Along with some intense visuals of Simms getting up-close and personal with a snake, the songstress made a statement with the release of her first Sumerian single. Read more: ‘Black Mirror’ creators “vaguely aware” […]

What began as an emphatic middle finger to the closed-mindedness of an ’80s world has blossomed into a full-blown movement. Queercore has quickly transcended its DIY punk roots, now spilling into a plethora of genres and media. Films, magazines and countless other art forms fall under the queercore umbrella, but it all comes back to […]

To mark the announcement of their new album, the Regrettes shared a fresh single, “I Dare You.” Packaged with a colorful new music video, the band sets their sights on the release of their sophomore record titled How Do You Love? Read more: Marilyn Manson officially announces band’s new drummer The band announced the arrival of the new […]