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Talkhouse

As the frontman of The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, Kip Berman wrote songs about the thrills and ills of young adult life with the care and concern of a cool older sibling. The long-standing New York City indiepop group disbanded soon after releasing their final record, The Echo of Pleasure (2017), and Berman found himself at a creative crossroads. He wanted to keep making music, but the themes and sounds he was interested in had shifted; it felt time for a course correction.
Enter Tethers, Berman’s first solo record as The Natvral, which finds him coming to terms with the changes in his own life by observing those transformations in the people he’s known — a self-portrait in relief. In the time between making his last record with his former band, Berman’s life and location have shifted dramatically, as he welcomed a daughter, then a son, and moved from Brooklyn to Princeton. With his new identity as a parent came a crucial shift in how he approached music. Gone were the months in a cramped tour van and late nights rehearsing with his band in a windowless warehouse space. In its place were amorphous, suburban afternoons playing whimsical songs to two young children, while writing music for himself after their bedtime.
But in this time away from the life of a touring artist, Berman discovered an unvarnished, broken folk rock sound — a marked departure from his previous work.
(Photo Credit: Remy Holwick)

Kip Berman

Music

Richard Thompson Isn’t Just a Boomer Folk-Rock Guitar God

Personal Space is a conundrum: indie without a scene, prog disdaining complexity, a dad band without dads. Since they released their debut EP, The Early Universe Was Entirely Opaque, in 2014, the band has been a work in progress, perennially under review. For their official debut, Sam Rosenthal and Henry Koehler joined forces with Alex Silva and Jesse Chevan, recently of Brooklyn smoothcore band Face of Man, to release 2016’s Ecstatic Burbs on Tiny Engines. Ecstatic Burbs showcased the band’s “eccentro-pop” sound and range of influences, from experimental post-punk like the Dismemberment Plan to the baroque pop of The Zombies, and earned the band praise from the Village Voice, Stereogum, and Brooklyn Vegan.
A Lifetime of Leisure, the band’s second LP release, and its first for Good Eye, showcases the members’ development, musically and personally, since Ecstatic Burbs was released. Where Ecstatic Burbs dealt with reconciling the saccharine surreality of a suburban upbringing with the stark realities of life after college, A Lifetime of Leisure finds Personal Space negotiating more thematically complex terrain. The world has gotten a lot darker in the intervening years, and the grooves have followed suit. Like Steely Dan with less glitz, or a mordant Pinback, the 10 tracks on ALOL find the band fretting over downward mobility, preoccupied with ethically sourcing their groceries, and hoping, against hope, that humanity can still find its way to a very chill, socialist utopia.

Personal Space

Celebrating 20 Years of India.Arie’s Acoustic Soul

Josh Gondelman is a writer and comedian who incubated in Boston before moving to New York City, where he currently lives and works as a writer and producer for Desus &amp; Mero on Showtime. Previously, he spent five years at Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, where he earned four Emmy Awards, two Peabody Awards, and three WGA Awards. In 2016, Josh made his late night standup debut on Conan, and he has also performed on Late Night With Seth Meyers and The Late Late Show with James Corden. Gondelman is the author of the essay collection Nice Try: Stories of Best Intentions and Mixed Results and the co-author (along with Joe Berkowitz) of the book You Blew It, and has become a regular panelist on NPR mainstay Wait Wait&#8230; Don&#8217;t Tell Me! In Spring 2020, Gondelman launched his own podcast Make My Day, a comedy game show. Josh has written for Fuse TV’s Billy On The Street and was the co-creator of the popular Modern Seinfeld Twitter account. He has released the comedy albums Dancing on a Weeknight, Physical Whisper (which debuted at #1 on the iTunes comedy charts) and Everything’s the Best, and his writing has appeared in prestigious publications such as McSweeney’s Internet Tendency, New York Magazine and The New Yorker. (Photo by Mindy Tucker.)

Josh Gondelman

Film

Revisited: I Guess a 30-Year-Old Beastie Boys Record Is My Best Friend Now?

Dream Nails are a punk force to be reckoned with. The hotly-tipped band was founded by feminist activists in 2015, mixing unapologetically political content with pop punk joy. The female fourpiece have built a reputation across the UK, Europe and Scandinavia for their riotously feel good live shows.

Dream Nails

Partner Are Queering Classic Rock

I Guess a 30-Year-Old Beastie Boys Record Is My Best Friend Now?

K Nkanza Hansen is a musician and visual artist from Maryland. They’re the producer and multi-instrumentalist behind projects Spring Silver and Blonde Duluth. As of May 2020, they have graduated from University of Maryland, Baltimore County with a BFA in Visual Arts.

Spring Silver

Eccojams Vol. 1 Was the Blueprint for Vaporwave

Dominic Angelella is a songwriter and musician born and raised in Baltimore, Maryland. He currently plays bass for Lucy Dacus, has toured with Natalie Prass and MewithoutYou, and has played on records by Kendrick Lamar, Juicy J, Mac Miller, Hop Along, and more. In addition to his resumé as a touring and recording musician he releases records under his own name, most recently God Loves A Scammer.
(Photo Credit: Josh Pelta-Heller)

Dominic Angelella

Fontaines DC Trudge Through the Muck of Existence

Memphis, Tennessee’s Julien Baker released her sophomore record, Turn Out The Lights, via Matador Records in 2017. Follow her on Twitter <a href="http://twitter.com/julienrbaker" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a> and Instagram <a href="http://instagram.com/julienrbaker" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a>.
(photo credit: Nolan Knight)

Julien Baker

Katie Malco Reflects Mercifully on the Past

Sam Goblin currently lives in Tallahassee, FL and plays music with Mister Goblin and Deady. He hopes to never, ever, ever become a music writer.

Sam Goblin

Appreciating the Ordinary with Land of Talk

Loren DiBlasi is a writer and musician from New York. She is the bassist of post-punk band <a href="https://patio-bandcamp.bandcamp.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://patio-bandcamp.bandcamp.com/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1558011684779000&amp;usg=AFQjCNFJ9loT6K1Ygxmofcf9l1xKipQRiQ">Patio</a>. Her writing has appeared in MTV News, Vulture, and NPR Music.

Loren DiBlasi

What Awaits Us at the End of Protomartyr’s Cruel Summer?

Chris Farren is a songwriter from Florida living in Los Angeles, CA. In addition to performing and releasing music under his own name, he also fronts the band Antarctigo Vespucci. He is very cool and nice and wrote this about himself. You can follow him on Twitter at <a href="https://twitter.com/chrisfarren">@ChrisFarren</a>.

Chris Farren

Some Suggestions Re: Jeff Rosenstock’s NODREAM

Jacob Faber is the drummer of Sunflower Bean. The band&#8217;s latest release, 2019&#8217;s King of the Dudes EP, is out now via Lucky Number Music.

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