Jordan Mainzer/Since I Left You
@jmainzer.bsky.social
Jana Horn's new record is a balm. Previewed her show at Judson & Moore tonight, with James Elkington opening sinceileftyoublog.tumblr.com/post/8083552...
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....
sinceileftyoublog.tumblr.com
February 12, 2026 at 5:34 PM
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...
sinceileftyoublog.tumblr.com
February 11, 2026 at 3:42 PM
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...
"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...
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...
sinceileftyoublog.tumblr.com
February 6, 2026 at 3:54 PM
"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...
Reposted by Jordan Mainzer/Since I Left You
Was here too. Can confirm, SPRINTS rips. Read Jordan’s write-up!
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...
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...
sinceileftyoublog.tumblr.com
February 2, 2026 at 11:13 PM
Was here too. Can confirm, SPRINTS rips. Read Jordan’s write-up!
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...
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...
sinceileftyoublog.tumblr.com
February 2, 2026 at 9:42 PM
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'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...
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....
sinceileftyoublog.tumblr.com
January 28, 2026 at 6:35 PM
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...
Wednesday night at Schubas represented a remarkably confident beginning of an assured new era for Brigitte Calls Me Baby sinceileftyoublog.tumblr.com/post/8065402...
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...
sinceileftyoublog.tumblr.com
January 23, 2026 at 4:54 PM
Wednesday night at Schubas represented a remarkably confident beginning of an assured new era for Brigitte Calls Me Baby sinceileftyoublog.tumblr.com/post/8065402...
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...
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...
sinceileftyoublog.tumblr.com
January 21, 2026 at 4:18 PM
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...
sinceileftyoublog.tumblr.com
January 16, 2026 at 4:28 PM
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...
sinceileftyoublog.tumblr.com
January 14, 2026 at 3:37 PM
"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...
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...
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.....
sinceileftyoublog.tumblr.com
January 9, 2026 at 7:35 PM
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...
sinceileftyoublog.tumblr.com
December 19, 2025 at 10:56 PM
Lilly Hiatt's Forever is full of swagger and new love heightened by its instrumentation. My review: sinceileftyoublog.tumblr.com/post/8034022...
"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...
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....
sinceileftyoublog.tumblr.com
December 11, 2025 at 5:15 PM
"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...
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...
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,...
sinceileftyoublog.tumblr.com
December 10, 2025 at 5:30 PM
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...
"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...
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...
sinceileftyoublog.tumblr.com
December 8, 2025 at 5:25 PM
"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...
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...
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....
sinceileftyoublog.tumblr.com
December 5, 2025 at 2:59 PM
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...
"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...
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,...
sinceileftyoublog.tumblr.com
December 3, 2025 at 4:25 PM
"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...
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...
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,....
sinceileftyoublog.tumblr.com
December 1, 2025 at 4:02 PM
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...
San Francisco psych rockers Magic Fig on their upcoming album Valerian Tea, visual identity, recording practices, jamming, and more sinceileftyoublog.tumblr.com/post/8004880...
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...
sinceileftyoublog.tumblr.com
November 17, 2025 at 6:56 PM
San Francisco psych rockers Magic Fig on their upcoming album Valerian Tea, visual identity, recording practices, jamming, and more sinceileftyoublog.tumblr.com/post/8004880...
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...
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.....
sinceileftyoublog.tumblr.com
November 16, 2025 at 9:21 PM
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...
sinceileftyoublog.tumblr.com
November 13, 2025 at 5:13 PM
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 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...
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....
sinceileftyoublog.tumblr.com
November 6, 2025 at 5:48 PM
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...
sinceileftyoublog.tumblr.com
November 5, 2025 at 5:29 PM
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...
"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...
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.....
sinceileftyoublog.tumblr.com
October 30, 2025 at 4:22 PM
"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...
List of Demands (@intlanthem.bsky.social) came out in January, but now is as good as a time as ever to dive into Damon Locks' masterpiece of poetry, samples, and virtuosic instrumentation. My review: sinceileftyoublog.tumblr.com/post/7982920...
sinceileftyoublog.tumblr.com
October 24, 2025 at 4:23 PM
List of Demands (@intlanthem.bsky.social) came out in January, but now is as good as a time as ever to dive into Damon Locks' masterpiece of poetry, samples, and virtuosic instrumentation. My review: sinceileftyoublog.tumblr.com/post/7982920...