Features/Interviews

The Needle Drop • May 26th, 2026

INTERVIEW: feeble little horse are wired in

A cultural backlash-induced luddite movement was bound to happen. On Instagram, the product I get advertised to me the most is a hunk of plastic that locks you out of whatever apps you tell it to. "Analog bags" stuffed with screen-free activities has become a rising trend among young adults. In a time where the pope writes an Encyclical rebuking the technocrats of Silicon Valley and their sweeping AI aspirations, it feels obvious young creative types are desperate to turn back the clock. Pittsb...

The Needle Drop • May 7th, 2026

INTERVIEW: Broken Social Scene provide some conventional human wisdom

When I logged onto my Zoom call with Broken Social Scene songwriter Kevin Drew, I was met with an unexpected second face. At 10:30am on a Thursday morning, Drew was huddled up in multi-instrumentalist (and fellow Scenester) Charles Spearin's garage-turned-studio. The pair gave me a tour of the space before I got a chance to introduce myself, showing me individual pieces of gear that were near and dear to their hearts. They showed me the 8-track tape machine that recorded the group's 2001 debut F...

The Needle Drop • March 25th, 2026

"I don't feel like it really benefited anybody": Snail Mail on rejecting the "sad girl" genre, vocal surgery, and the Goo

Snail Mail frontwoman Lindsey Jordan is no stranger to confession. She wrote all of the songs on her 2018 debut Lush before she could vote. Jordan's pointed yet complicated tales of queer heartbreak had critics designating her as a wunderkind wise beyond her years. Now eight years, two albums, and a vocal polyps surgery later, Jordan has new priorities. She moved from a small one bedroom apartment in New York City to a big house in North Carolina, got a dog, and is in a happy long-term relations...

The Needle Drop • October 13th, 2025

dodie: a career retrospective and notes on 'Not For Lack Of Trying'

30 year old singer-songwriter Dorothy Clark has been sharing pieces of herself online since she was a child. In a bit-crushed 144p video, a 14 year old dodie stands in an open field in her hometown of Epping, England. Next to her stands her childhood best friend Alice, and they sing a vague song of heartbreak – the exact kind you'd expect a 14 year old to come up with. They giggle in between verses, eventually devolving into the two taking turns riffing "yeah yeahs" and impersonating Michael Jac...

The Needle Drop • October 2nd, 2025

INTERVIEW: Wednesday's Karly Hartzman talks 'Bleeds', quitting social media, and 'Rap World'

The invigorating charm of a Wednesday song is not made in vain. Frontwoman Karly Hartzman is a curator of her surroundings. Even the corner of her room that framed her half of our Zoom call was filled to the brim with an eclectic collection of records, books, and posters. She dons Stewie Griffin pajama pants with a panache that feels unique to her alone. In the time that she used to spend on social media, Hartzman now chronicles and commemorates her life via her website prisondivorcebombshell.co...

The Alternative • September 15th, 2025

Interview: Laveda Have Their Ears to the Ground - The Alternative

Posted: 15th September, 2025 by The Alt Editing Staff

New York City transplants are, and always have been, the subject of scrutiny. Most of the time it’s called for. It’s easy to picture an audacious, “former” theater kid that just got their degree from a small liberal arts college and is desperate to make sure nobody finds out the square footage of their parents’ Jersey Shore beach house.

Indie rock quartet Laveda are in the process of being fully based in Queens, with each member moving from...

The Needle Drop • August 22nd, 2025

INTERVIEW: Water From Your Eyes talk Zohran, the Pope, and their new record

Brooklyn's Water From Your Eyes have really made a name for themselves. The duo comprised of Nate Amos (who had a breakout 2024 with side project This Is Lorelei) and Rachel Brown (who also releases music under the moniker Thanks For Coming) present themselves in a humble and understated fashion despite how audacious and daring their music sounds. While 2023's Everyone's Crushed made them a bonafide act to watch, It's A Beautiful Place, out today via Matador records, will likely send them over t...

The Needle Drop • May 21st, 2025

INTERVIEW: Samia on new record 'Bloodless', coded lyricism, and self discovery

Singer-songwriter Samia Finnerty released her third LP Bloodless last month to critical acclaim. The emotionally dense record sees Finnerty tackle themes of womanhood, identity, and bitterness atop some of the most compelling pop instrumentation of the year. Finnerty recently moved from her hometown of Los Angeles to Minneapolis, now living near longtime collaborator, Hippo Campus's Jake Luppen. Bloodless has production contributions from Luppen, Caleb Wright (who has worked on all three of Sami...

The Alternative • October 3rd, 2024

DIY Superbowl Underdogs and the Ethos of the Philly Scene - The Alternative

Posted: 3rd October, 2024 by The Alt Editing Staff

Photos by Alex Ramirez

It pays to be a good hang – that’s the mantra DIY Superbowl openers armbite live by. After placing second at a battle-of-the-bands style show for a slot playing at the festival’s fifth annual installment, the band was invited by the members of the 4333 booking collective to play anyways. I sat down with armbite immediately following their set at Ukie Club to discuss their story and their reverence of the Philly scene at...

Paste Magazine • September 30th, 2024

Origami Angel Embrace Their Own “Spiritual 404 Error”

With the pure bombast that’s packaged in most Origami Angel songs, it’s quite easy to forget that they’re a two-piece. After a huge bump in popularity during the pandemic, Ryland Heagy and Pat Doherty have found themselves at a crossroads of fulfillment and disillusionment: The DMV faithful’s new album, Feeling Not Found, finds Heagy at odds with both himself and the internet, calling the lyrical ethos of this record a “spiritual 404 error.” Second single “Dirty Mirror Selfie” is the most direct...

Paste Magazine • September 13th, 2024

Lunar Vacation Are DIY at Heart

Inside a 100-year-old house in Decatur, Georgia, you’ll find Gep Repasky, Maggie Geeslin, Matteo DeLurgio, Connor Dowd and Ben Wulkan—the five members of Lunar Vacation. Decorated top to bottom with vintage artwork and crafts made by the members themselves, the band has forged a creative haven, even if it means getting inventive with their sleeping arrangements. Having been friends since high school, the members of Lunar Vacation are about as close as you can get without being blood related. Rep...

Paste Magazine • August 27th, 2024

Orla Gartland Snaps Into Focus

Releasing demos of original songs on YouTube and her “Secret Demo Club” Patreon for nearly a decade, Orla Gartland is no stranger to effective, skeletal songwriting. Sharing tales of insecurity, heartbreak and disillusionment is Gartland’s forte, and the Dublin singer-songwriter found herself determined to turn that into a focused effort for her sophomore record, Everybody Needs A Hero (out October 4).
The nearly year-long rollout for her debut, 2021’s Woman on the Internet, and being forced to...

Paste Magazine • July 26th, 2024

Daffo is Ready to Be Heard

Just over a year ago, the Crisis Kit EP by Gabi Gamberg had hit my Discover Weekly on Spotify. The infectious and confessional indie rock tunes were songs that Gamberg had written at age 16 and recorded in the bedroom of their friend and collaborator Hudson Pollock. Now at 20, Gamberg has a second EP and an upcoming tour supporting illuminati hotties under their belt, and they’re releasing music under the moniker Daffo. I caught up with Gabi at Goo Fest, a DIY festival held in the patch of grass...

Paste Magazine • June 14th, 2024

Bess Atwell is Finding Peace

English singer-songwriter Bess Atwell’s third album, Light Sleeper, is tender and authentic. The entire record was made at the legendary Long Pond Studios in Hudson Valley, New York with the National’s Aaron Dessner. Bess is a lifelong fan of the National, and she grins ear to ear recounting the time Aaron had found her music. “Aaron tagged me in something on Instagram, and I was already a huge, huge fan of his, saying that he liked one of the songs on my last record,” she says. “He started foll...