Max Freedman
53 articles written by Max Freedman
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Zola Jesus – Taiga
“Top 40 synth sounds from a few years ago but with more reverb on the vocals: indie in 2k14. No thank you.” This recent tweet from Vampire Weekend soundmaster Rostam Batmanglij, despite being a bit rude and superficial, isn’t...
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The Underdog: September 2014
Now that fall is finally here, the big name releases keep coming in even larger amounts. The third edition of The Underdog, then, feels more important than ever: a lot of good new stuff that came out this month...
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Avi Buffalo – At Best Cuckold
Avi Zahner-Isenberg is a weird dude. The songwriter, vocalist, and guitarist of the Long Beach-based band Avi Buffalo has an Instagram account replete with morbid, badly-drawn Microsoft Paint sketches of objects ranging from skeletons to skyscrapers to the insides...
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Mozart’s Sister – Being
In case you were wondering, no, Being is not the work of the woman who is actually Mozart’s sister. Instead, Mozart’s Sister is the alias of Caila Thompson-Hannant, who chose her moniker because the real Mozart’s sister was an...
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The Underdog: August 2014
The second edition of The Underdog comes during a month that saw an abundance of releases by well-established acts: Spoon, FKA twigs, The New Pornographers, Basement Jaxx, and so forth. But for every big name that put out an...
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Cymbals Eat Guitars – LOSE
Benjamin High did not die in vain. His tragic 2007 passing at just 19 years old, far too young an age for anyone to leave us, began to inform Cymbals Eat Guitars’ impressive catalog even before the band caught...
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FKA twigs – LP1
Is FKA twigs human, or is she dancer? “I can’t recognize me”, she sighs at the end of “Video Girl”, a song that expresses her disdain towards sometimes being more noticed for her dancing in the background of two...
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Sean Desiree Explains The Origins & Themes of ‘Bell’s Roar EP’
Bell’s Roar began with just a guitar and a voice. Over the years Sean Desiree has transformed her solo project by fully taking advantage of her skills as a drummer, bassist, and ultimately a producer. Her approach to music...
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The Underdog: July 2014
Welcome to The Underdog, a new column here at Way Too Indie! Each month we’ll collect and highlight the best new indie releases. Our aim here is to expose readers to great new music they may not have been...
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Field Mouse – Hold Still Life
A shoegaze band named Field Mouse. At first glance, things couldn’t be any more typical, right? Here’s yet another female-fronted, searingly emotive band taking cues directly from My Bloody Valentine; here’s yet another band with the word “Field” in...
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Way Too Indie’s Best Albums of 2014 (So Far)
I have to hand it to music critics, myself included to an extent: this year, we’ve become masters of overhyping albums that really aren’t all that great. A painful reminder of this trend comes around this time of year,...
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White Lung – Deep Fantasy
Earlier this year, I wrote here about my disappointment with Perfect Pussy’s Say Yes to Love , and cited its length (or, rather, lack thereof) as one of its major flaws. It’s easy to get the notion, then, that...
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Talk Rock – Vile
Is it surprising that someone writing for a site called Way Too Indie went through a deeply immersive heavy metal phase when he was fifteen years old? I’m talking about myself here. From the time I began high school...
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Beast Patrol: Live at Mercury Lounge
To get an idea of what four-piece NYC band Beast Patrol sounds like, it helps to check out their list of “Artists We Also Like” on their official Facebook page. Older names on this list include the low-pitched demonics...
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Shamir – Northtown EP
Is it 2014 or 1984? Although this is a question that’s been asked lately in regards to the whole NSA scandal, it’s also one that applies to the state of recent music. The last few years have given rise...