Best Albums of 2021 so far

It’s been a good six months for music in the first half of 2021, with both a slew of great albums and concerts making their return to the calendar. The Young Folks asked its music staff to compile lists of…

Album review: Sleater-Kinney – ‘Path of Wellness’

Keith Richards once said: “There couldn’t be a Rolling Stones without Charlie Watts.” The implication being that Watts’ drumming is so crucial to The Rolling Stones’ sound, everything else would disintegrate if you were to remove him from the equation.…

Album Review: Sleater-Kinney – “The Center Won’t Hold”

Sleater-Kinney made a great album (Call the Doctor) before drummer Janet Weiss came on board and it’s likely that they could make several more, despite her announced departure in July. Yet losing one of their most undeniable assets just before…

Album Review: Ex Hex – “It’s Real”

There are two Ex Hexes. The first was Mary Timony’s third and final solo album. The ’90s saw the indie rock powerhouse hopping from band to band, project to project; She was the frontwoman of the acclaimed indie bands Autoclave…

Interview: Skating Polly

It’s clear that the members of Skating Polly were born to rock. Stepsisters Kelli Mayo and Peyton Bighorse started the self-proclaimed “ugly pop” band in 2009, when they were 9 and 14 years old, respectively. Since then, they’ve released four…

From The Record Crate: Sleater-Kinney — “Dig Me Out”

Long before the triumphant No Cities to Love, before Carrie Brownstein and Fred Armisen teamed up to create Portlandia, before the comprehensive boxset, the Bob’s Burgers music video, and Stereogum’s dubbing them as “the best rock band to come along…

Melody on Music: Sheer Mag, Sleater-Kinney, Allison Crutchfield

Editor’s note: From 2012 to 2014, Melody Rice wrote the music column Matt on Music for The Eastern Echo, the student newspaper for Eastern Michigan University. Beginning in 2016, Melody relaunched this column on The Young Folks. You can read past…