Music Reviews

Music & Culture

Shirley Collins is an English folk song's bridge between now and then

2:46pm May 25, 2023

by Jonathan Williger

On Archangel Hill, memories of the English countryside, Collins' family and friends are embedded in each song, just out of reach for the listener but vivid as sunshine in her mind.

On Wolf Eyes' Dreams in Splattered Lines, the tracks are shorter and marked by mangled melodies, disjointed beats and bloated blues.

Music & Culture

Wolf Eyes still mirrors and mutates reality

1:32pm May 25, 2023

by Lars Gotrich

Dreams in Splattered Lines refines the long-running noise band's approach to cinematic horror: still gross and grueling, but painted in thicker strokes of neon gloom.

The record runs like a compilation of their best musical instincts compressed, refined and fine-tuned to a punchy summer frequency.

Music & Culture

Kaytranada and Aminé come full circle

8:22pm May 24, 2023

by Jordan Coley

Kaytranada and Aminé are two artists who have had to surmount a bit of outsider's anxiety. Their new collaborative album, KAYTRAMINÉ, finds them comfortable — with themselves and each other.

Music & Culture

A new CD set captures the 'Greatest Moments' of opera star Renée Fleming

1:28pm May 24, 2023

by Lloyd Schwartz

This set features excerpts from most of Flemming's 26 roles at the NYC Met. Fleming's studio recordings have always captured her lovely voice; these live recordings prove her magic on the stage.

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Music & Culture

On 'Gag Order,' Kesha gets intensely personal

5:59pm May 22, 2023

Listening to Kesha's new album, Gag Order, you can't help but think about all she's been through in the past 10 years.

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Brandy Clark's self-titled fourth album is out May 19.

Music & Culture

Brandy Clark is playing for keeps this time

5:17pm May 21, 2023

by Brittney McKenna

Produced by Brandi Carlile, the eponymous 11-song collection offers snapshots of Brandy Clark the person, not Brandy Clark the pen-for-hire.

Pernice Brothers' Overcome by Happiness celebrates 25 years with a coffee table book and a second LP of singles and demos.

Music & Culture

At 25, Pernice Brothers' debut throws even brighter sparks — and darker shadows

1:03pm May 18, 2023

by Lars Gotrich

Threadbare demos on a new reissue of 1998's Overcome by Happiness illuminate Joe Pernice's songwriting paradox: Brill Building pop woven from homespun scruff, sarcastic but always sure-footed.

On Maps, an album-length collaboration with the producer Kenny Segal, rapper billy woods (in the photo above obscuring his face, as is his custom) offers the collected wisdom of two decades worth of journeys.

Music & Culture

It's time to get on the billy woods bandwagon

12:09pm May 17, 2023

by Sheldon Pearce

A longtime hero of the underground rap scene for his worldly, wily lyrics that are erudite and streetwise, billy woods has made his clearest, most engaging album yet with Maps.

Music & Culture

Review: 'Bolero Apocalíptico' by Monsieur Periné

5:26pm May 15, 2023

by Felix Contreras

Bolero Apocaliptico from Colombian duo Monsieur Perine, their first album in five years, shows signs of artists who are comfortable with their musical path and are expanding on it.

Music & Culture

Everything but the Girl's Tracey Thorn writes lyrics that capture women's inner lives

1:31pm May 12, 2023

The married British duo Tracey Thorn and Ben Watt — aka Everything but the Girl — have their first album in 24 years. Ken Tucker reviews Fuse, then we listen back to a 2018 interview with Thorn.

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