Lizzie Manno

Guitar modelers can be a headache. Often, their UI is so complex that it distracts players from what really matters—the transformative power of the music and the ability to achieve your desired sound. With the Tone Master Pro, Fender has taken the guesswork out of building your dream rig.
The Tone Master Pro empowers players with simple, drag-and-drop touchscreen controls, plus over 100 of the world's most popular amps and effects, so you can practically assemble your signal chain with your e...

Classics are given that name for a reason. From the suave swagger of the 50s and kaleidoscopic grit of the 60s to the funky allure of the 70s, Fender is committed to preserving the iconic, timeless sounds of yesteryear.
With the Vintera II Series, we’re giving players the ability to access this gold mine of sonic tones that continue to inspire. Own an updated spin on the instruments that have quite literally rewritten history. From the 50s Jazzmaster, Nocaster and P Bass to the 60s Tele and 7...

I first heard Bad Nerves roughly six years ago. Their spring-loaded fusion of power pop and punk was pretty undeniable—at once pure candy and raw adrenaline. I don’t remember the first Bad Nerves song I heard, but I remember how it made me feel. I’m not sure what getting struck by lightning feels like—a quick Google search suggests it feels like getting clobbered with a sledgehammer or kicked in the head by a horse, which sounds decidedly more unpleasant and less whimsical than I thought—but ...

I’m not sure I believe in ghosts. I can’t say I’ve ever consciously encountered one, and I think everyday life feels easier to swallow without the possibility of an afterlife. But listening to Activity is how I imagine a visit from the ghost of a loved one must feel. It’s moments like these that the edges of fear and comfort are blurred, and Brooklyn-based art rock quartet Activity...

Cory Hanson makes beautifully puzzling music. Best known as the lead singer and guitarist of Los Angeles art rock outfit Wand since 2013, Hanson melds a love of rip-roaring American classic rock with songcraft that’s much more abstract than the average tune on your local Oldies station. His lyrics filter gnawing desires and fears through raw, i...

On their wryly-titled debut Change Is Bad, the Chicago quartet captured the nagging anxiety of life under a fucked-up system, pairing political screeds with twitchy, groove-driven post-punk that recalls Protomartyr and Mission of Burma. Lead singer Greg Obis likened his powerlessness to that of a bug: “I am the cockroach hissing alone/Another panicked and twitching drone.” The band sharpened their knives on 2021’s Content ...

Based in Paste’s hometown of Atlanta, Shaky Knees has long been one of our favorite festivals, even if this year’s lineup didn’t excite everyone. But despite a little drizzle, the weekend featured some wonderful music, and we captured the best of it in photos and words. Here, in alphabetical order, are our nine favorite acts from the 2023 Shaky Knees Music Festival.

To put it bluntly: this year’s Shaky Knees lineup is not great. With the caveat that major American festival lineups seem to be becoming universally less interesting, this year’s spread doesn’t provide much by way of artistic intrigue or critical relevance. This annual Atlanta event’s rock-centric bills tend to offer a refuge from la...

The Mississippi band’s debut album ‘Post-American’ is a seething synth-punk rallying cry
Photo by Libby Zanders Music Features MSPAINT
America is littered with towns that are both aggressively ordinary, quaint communities and pressure cookers of ugly, unresolved history and modern-day “culture war” disputes. Mississippi is home to a lot of these places, as it touts the highest poverty rate and one of the lowest COVID vaccination rates of any U.S. state, and it also has a brutal legacy of raci...

Hannah van Loon's second solo album uncovers new sounds and leans on satisfying contrasts
Music Reviews Tanukichan
Tanukichan, the solo project of Bay Area musician Hannah van Loon, has been releasing striking dream pop for the last few years. Marked by van Loon’s distinct, disarmingly gauzy vocals and distorted guitar plucks, Tanukichan’s music feels singular in the broader dream-pop sphere. Her voice exudes the calming hum of ambient music, her guitar textures pull from gritty post-hard...

The Tubs exist at the intersection of several concurrent crises — urban decay, the housing crisis, the mental health epidemic, the gig economy and the devaluation of the arts, just to name a few. However, the southeast London band carries on against the odds out of creative necessity, and their debut album, Dead Meat, serves as a funny, warm pick-me-up in these increasingly unforgiving times.
Historically, London has been a magnet for British bands, with many flocking there to be a part of it...

The Texas band's third album 'Moments of Clarity' is an urgent reinvention
Heavy bands don’t always get credit for their pop music bonafides, but Narrow Head are one of today’s best pop bands. This Texas outfit aren’t really a pop band per se—their songs have so many layers of pummeling hard rock guitars that they’d give the infamously dense Be Here Now a run for its money—but they have an impressive sixth sense when it comes to pop hooks. Their songs are packed with so much intoxicating forc...

Since 2014, Disq have been a vessel of familiar, feel-good tunes, tactile guitars and young adult woes. Their sweetly sung songs use ’60s pop melodies and ’90s indie rock distortion, resulting in hooks that might sound cloying if they weren’t so instantly catchy. The Wisconsin five-piece’s recordings contain the energizing thrust of a live performance—in large part due to their uncluttered arrangements and their three guitarists. Their 2020 debut Collector evoked that one local band that’s a ...

Dazy is for the people. People who know the words to every Punk-O-Rama compilation. People with an emergency Oasis reunion fund. People who will talk your ear off about Dookie. People who worship at the altar of the Jesus And Mary Chain’s proto-shoegaze. People who love ’60s pop (and can tolerate full-throttle guitar distortion). People who dig the current wave of independent power pop, led by the likes of Mo Troper and Young Guv. And that’s just for starters.
Dazy is the one-man band of Jame...

This special edition of the column features some of Paste's favorite underappreciated albums of 2022 (so far)
We’re just past the midway point of 2022, which means it’s a good opportunity to look back at some solid records that might have flown under the radar for some. From Straw Man Army’s masterfully detailed punk to Bodysync’s buoyant rave pop and Whitney K’s poetic, Lou Reed-esque twang, there’s so much wonderful artistry out there this year. Fall under the spell of Queen of Jeans’ might...