Jordan Mainzer/Since I Left You

The Joy Formidable Interview: Little Bricks Towards Something Better Photo courtesy of the artist BY JORDAN MAINZER Let's get this out of the way: Welsh band The Joy Formidable, whose drummer Matt Thomas left the band a couple years ago, haven't broken up. They...

Thanks to Ritzy from @joyformidable.bsky.social for talking about the band, being vulnerable in revisiting older material, she and Rhydian's solo projects, and their stripped-down duo show tomorrow night at @oldtownschool.bsky.social sinceileftyoublog.tumblr.com/post/8097067...

Langhorne Slim Interview: A Fire Within Me Photo by Kate LaMendola BY JORDAN MAINZER When I called Langhorne Slim a couple weeks ago, he picked up from a Hilton Hotel in Carrboro, North Carolina, having left for tour from his home in...

Talked to Langhorne Slim in the middle of his current tour for The Dreamin' Kind, which includes a stop tomorrow night at @thaliahallchicago.bsky.social. "This set is 95% the new record, which is super fucking exciting." sinceileftyoublog.tumblr.com/post/8094518...

Beverly Glenn-Copeland Album Review: Laughter In Summer (Transgressive) BY JORDAN MAINZER "Life is a part of love," sang Beverly Glenn-Copeland on "Prince Caspian's Dream", a track from 2023 album The Ones Ahead. That album represented the culmination of...

Despite the album title Laughter in Summer (@transgressive.bsky.social), the symbol of the preceding season, spring, and its connotation of cyclical rebirth, is exemplary of Beverly Glenn-Copeland’s remarkable story and eventual legacy. sinceileftyoublog.tumblr.com/post/8093417...

Spoke with actor and musician Adam Goldberg about his new The Goldberg Sisters album When the Ships of My Dreams Return, out tomorrow, why he doesn’t often play live, and allowing himself to be sad while listening to Elliott Smith and Sparklehorse. sinceileftyoublog.tumblr.com/post/8089880...

Like the best indie rockers that preceded them, Westside Cowboy’s ramshackle nature seems not just intentional, but downright holy. @pitchperfectpr.bsky.social sinceileftyoublog.tumblr.com/post/8087110...

Don't try to define Westside Cowboy on their sophomore EP, So Much Country 'Till We Get There sinceileftyoublog.tumblr.com/post/8087110...

Jana Horn Live Preview: 2/12, Judson & Moore, Chicago Jana Horn BY JORDAN MAINZER Normally, I don't give too much attention to capitalization choices in song titles, but that the tunes on Jana Horn's self-titled album (No Quarter) are in sentence case....

Jana Horn's new record is a balm. Previewed her show at Judson & Moore tonight, with James Elkington opening sinceileftyoublog.tumblr.com/post/8083552...

A thudding snare hit from @noochiez.bsky.social introduces a level up for @ratboysband.bsky.social, 30 seconds into their new album Singin' to an Empty Chair. The band doesn't look back. Review: sinceileftyoublog.tumblr.com/post/8082590...

Lande Hekt Interview: All Music Is So Embarrassing Photo by Robin Christian BY JORDAN MAINZER "There's always things to write about if you move around enough," Lande Hekt said to me last month. She was speaking over Zoom from a cold, breezy...

"Recording layers of guitars and proper fuzzy guitars is so much fun. It’s very easy to get carried away." Spoke to Lande Hekt about everything Lucky Now, her great new album out via @tapeterecords.bsky.social sinceileftyoublog.tumblr.com/post/8078108...

Was here too. Can confirm, SPRINTS rips. Read Jordan’s write-up!

SPRINTS & Trophy Wife Live Show Review: 1/29, Lincoln Hall, Chicago SPRINTS BY JORDAN MAINZER There was a moment during SPRINTS' set on Thursday at Lincoln Hall where it was clear to me that the Dublin punk quartet had leveled up. It wasn't a particularly showy...

Thursday at Lincoln Hall, in the middle of “Coming Alive”, a standout from their second album All That Is Over (@subpop.bsky.social), SPRINTS made it clear they had leveled up. sinceileftyoublog.tumblr.com/post/8074739...

Friendship & Natalie Jane Hill Live Show Preview: 1/29, Empty Bottle, Chicago Friendship BY JORDAN MAINZER The bill tomorrow night at the Empty Bottle presents two different sonic manifestations of interpretational music, observations colored by the subconscious mind....

Friendship's Caveman Wakes Up (@mergerecords.bsky.social) is a series of earnest barroom confessionals...Natalie Jane Hill's Hopeful Woman (@dearliferecs.bsky.social) is content to drift even though she knows she’ll hit rough patches. Both playing 2morrow sinceileftyoublog.tumblr.com/post/8069935...

Brigitte Calls Me Baby Live Show Review: 1/21, Schubas, Chicago Brigitte Calls Me Baby frontman Wes Leavins BY JORDAN MAINZER In the middle of presenting songs from Brigitte Calls Me Baby's upcoming sophomore album Irreversible (ATO), frontman Wes Leavins...

Wednesday night at Schubas represented a remarkably confident beginning of an assured new era for Brigitte Calls Me Baby sinceileftyoublog.tumblr.com/post/8065402...

The Salt Collective Interview: A Beautiful Surprise Photo by Declan Levitt BY JORDAN MAINZER Stéphane Schück's life so far has been chock full of coincidences. How many full-time physicians do you know, who are also power pop aficionados, who...

You could say A Brief History of Blindness (@propellersound.bsky.social) is a lifetime--of fandom, hard work, leadership, struggle--in the making. My interview w/ physician and power pop aficionado Stéphane Schück about the latest from The Salt Collective sinceileftyoublog.tumblr.com/post/8063600...

Austra's Chin Up Buttercup (@dominorecordco.bsky.social) works because it’s not linear; a lesser artist might have succumbed to the temptation of telling us what happened. Katie Stelmanis instead mirrors the imperfect timeline of heartbreak. sinceileftyoublog.tumblr.com/post/8059025...

"How one’s lived experience colors the interpretation of a song is as different as there are as many people on the earth." Jamie Stewart of Xiu Xiu spoke to me about the band's new covers record out Friday via @polyvinyl.bsky.social sinceileftyoublog.tumblr.com/post/8057239...

SILY's Top Albums of 2025 BY JORDAN MAINZER During our first year of full-blown fascism, music--and art in general--proved to be more important than ever, as the form of expression with the purest intentions around which to.....

From daring experimentalists @maryhalvorson.bsky.social and @orenambarchi.bsky.social to pop geniuses @sparksofficial.bsky.social and FKA twigs: SILY's top albums of 2025 sinceileftyoublog.tumblr.com/post/8052860...

Lilly Hiatt's Forever is full of swagger and new love heightened by its instrumentation. My review: sinceileftyoublog.tumblr.com/post/8034022...

Bonner Kramer Song Premiere: "Whispers for the Dead" Bonner Kramer BY JORDAN MAINZER Tomorrow, prolific avant-garde legend Bonner Kramer caps off a busy 2025 with …and the crimson moon whispers goodbye (Shimmy-Disc), his first solo album since 2020's....

"The suggestion that music is an artform rooted firmly to 'the moment' seems absurd to me... If we take my seemingly habitual use of reverb as perhaps the most potent example, the so-called 'present' is rendered invisible by it." Spoke with KRAMER sinceileftyoublog.tumblr.com/post/8026456...

Bob Mould Album Review: Here We Go Crazy (Granary/BMG) BY JORDAN MAINZER With October's announcement of the long-awaited Sugar reunion and last month's unearthed Hüsker Dü live performances, it's easy to forget that back in March,...

Wrote about the most recent @bobmouldmusic.bsky.social album; if you're anxiously awaiting a live show or music from Sugar, might I suggest a song I didn't even write about in my review, "When Your Heart Is Broken"? As good as anything on Copper Blue! sinceileftyoublog.tumblr.com/post/8025664...

Panic Shack Interview: Reclaiming the Bum Crack Panic Shack BY JORDAN MAINZER When guitarist Meg Fretwell and bassist Emily Smith of Cardiff band Panic Shack asked me for recommendations of things to do should they ever come to Chicago, Smith...

"We work well under pressure. If you give us a week to do something, we’ll do it in the last half a day." Panic Shack speak to us about "laughing, drinking, chatting, gossiping" and then buckling down in the studio to make their self-titled debut sinceileftyoublog.tumblr.com/post/8023713...

Alabaster DePlume Album Review: A Blade Because A Blade Is Whole (International Anthem) BY JORDAN MAINZER Last year, Mancunian musician Alabaster DePlume previewed his most recent album A Blade Because A Blade Is Whole with, among other things, a poetry book....

On @alabasterdeplume.bsky.social's A Blade Because A Blade Is Whole (@intlanthem.bsky.social), he's invitational rather than antagonistic in his attempts to heal the globe. @atlesmusic.bsky.social sinceileftyoublog.tumblr.com/post/8020965...

Aaron Parks Interview: Titles and Subtitles Photo by Isaac Namias BY JORDAN MAINZER Little do I think about improvisational jazz, one of the most profound tenets of Black American music, in the same breath as improvisational comedy,...

"There’s no big concept. It’s, 'Here’s some music that I think feels good; maybe it’ll make you feel good too.'" Spoke with jazz pianist Aaron Parks about By All Means, his third album for @bluenoterecords.bsky.social out now sinceileftyoublog.tumblr.com/post/8019272...

Case Oats’ Last Missouri Exit: A Debut That Resonates in Studio and on Stage Photo by Braedan Long BY KEITH MILLER Chicago band Case Oats makes an immediate impression with their debut album, Last Missouri Exit, released in August on Merge. Thoughtful, steady, and inviting,....

SILY contributor Keith Miller on Case Oats' debut Last Missouri Exit (@mergerecords.bsky.social), which "feels like the perfect soundtrack for a drive through the Midwest as you pass by cornfields, grain elevators, cows, and scattered patches of forest." sinceileftyoublog.tumblr.com/post/8017345...

Magic Fig Interview: Kaleidoscope of Sound Photo by Kittie Krivacic BY JORDAN MAINZER San Francisco psych band Magic Fig are in no hurry. They don't celebrate their new album Valerian Tea, out Friday via Exploding in Sound, with a record...

San Francisco psych rockers Magic Fig on their upcoming album Valerian Tea, visual identity, recording practices, jamming, and more sinceileftyoublog.tumblr.com/post/8004880...

The Faint & Hercules and Love Affair Live Show Review: 11/12, Metro, Chicago The Faint BY JORDAN MAINZER There's Never Been A Better Time To Assess The Faint's Legacy, argued Stereogum earlier this year in an interview with lead vocalist Todd Fink around the March reissues.....

Did the reissues of two The Faint albums from earlier this year (@saddlecreek.bsky.social) recontextualize them as having foreshadowed indie sleaze? When paired with Hercules and Love Affair at the Metro, I realized they're just a band you can dance to: sinceileftyoublog.tumblr.com/post/8004057...

Asking whether something in an S.G. Goodman song is “true” reduces her storytelling to mere linear literalism. The same could be said for Fust frontperson Aaron Dowdy. sinceileftyoublog.tumblr.com/post/8001062...

Nicholas Tremulis, Helping The Mainland Feed the Island Bernard Fowler and Nicholas Tremulis at the 2025 Maui Music & Food Experience; Photo by Sean Hower BY JORDAN MAINZER Chicago tech executive Gary Grube founded the Hua Momona Foundation to feed Maui....

Nicholas Tremulis has brought together another batch of like-minded musicians for the Hua Momona Foundation fundraisers in Chicagoland today through Saturday. Spoke with him about his involvement. sinceileftyoublog.tumblr.com/post/7994864...

In David Byrne’s world, songs that in lesser hands might appear absurd throwaways are key for us to comprehend his ethos. Words on Saturday night's Who Is The Sky? (@matadorrecords.bsky.social) show in Chicago sinceileftyoublog.tumblr.com/post/7993836...

The Besnard Lakes Interview: The Besnard Lakes Are No Longer The Greatest Besnard Lakes Cover Band Of All Time The Besnard Lakes BY JORDAN MAINZER The titles of most albums by indie rockers The Besnard Lakes follow the format The Besnard Lakes Are _____. Really, then, the truly consistent thing about their.....

"I was obsessed with music when I was a kid, and I still am, obviously. I hope that all that [we] can do...is create a space for people to disappear into and feel great for at least 45 minutes." Check out my interview w/ Jace Lasek from The Besnard Lakes! sinceileftyoublog.tumblr.com/post/7988360...