Kaelen's Staff Picks
Marika Hackman's Tense "No Caffeine" Tries to Pull the Brake on an Inevitable Crash
Exclaim! Staff Picks
PUBLISHED Sep 6, 2023
It starts with a gentle piano figure and Marika Hackman's sombre vocals — things feel like they're entering pillowy ballad territory until...
Kylie Minogue Finds Pure Release on "Tension"
Exclaim! Staff Picks
PUBLISHED Aug 31, 2023
Over 30 years into her career, Kylie Minogue suddenly had another hit on her hands. "Padam Padam" — released four months ago to a slow-grow...
Mannequin Pussy Are Bloodthirsty Angels on the Vengeful "I Got Heaven"
Exclaim! Staff Picks
PUBLISHED Aug 28, 2023
"And what if Jesus himself ate my fucking snatch?" Missy Dabice snarls at one point during Mannequin Pussy's "I Got Heaven," spittle flying...
Chappell Roan's "HOT TO GO!" Is a Stroke of Horny Genius
Exclaim! Staff Picks
PUBLISHED Aug 25, 2023
"HOT TO GO!" should be annoying. On first listen, it kind of is — it's got that grating, self-aware hook (or, in this case, series of hooks...
Exclaim!'s Staff Picks: Sheer Mag Are (Thankfully) Still Themselves on "All Lined Up"
PUBLISHED Aug 3, 2023
Sheer Mag do one thing. In regard to most bands, that would sound like an insult, but Sheer Mag do that one thing so well — so (seemingly)...
Exclaim!'s Staff Picks: Lost Girls Leave Their Bodies Behind on "Ruins"
PUBLISHED Jul 25, 2023
"Bodies are stupid / Bodies are dumb," Jenny Hval sings at the climax of "Ruins," the first new song since 2021 from Lost Girls, her collab...
Exclaim!'s Staff Picks: ANOHNI and the Johnsons 'My Back Was a Bridge for You to Cross'
PUBLISHED Jul 11, 2023
ANOHNI's first album in 13 years with her forever-shapeshifting Johnsons is a return home — abandoning the chrome-buffed enormity of 2016's...
Exclaim!'s Staff Picks: Arthur Russell Retains His Enigma on Gorgeous 'Picture of Bunny Rabbit'
PUBLISHED Jul 3, 2023
With every posthumous Arthur Russell album — each organized and edited with painstaking care by Russell's longtime partner Tom Lee and Audi...