Music Reviews

Music & Culture

SZA sends out a powerful 'SOS,' mixing pop, hip-hop and R&B

3:51pm January 09, 2023

by Ken Tucker

SZA sings and raps fluidly on her latest album, which features frequent medium tempos and romantic imagery that harken back to Luther Vandross, Minnie Riperton and the "Quiet Storm" era of 1980s R&B.

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Music & Culture

Beyoncé and Wet Leg top Ken Tucker's round-up of 2022's best music

2:24pm December 27, 2022

by Ken Tucker

Beyoncé's album Renaissance celebrates disco rhythms and club culture, while the self-titled album by the Isle of Wight duo Wet Leg features intense, punk-influenced pop.

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Music & Culture

'Emerald City Nights' revisits jazz pianist Ahmad Jamal in a series from the 1960s

1:55pm December 13, 2022

by Kevin Whitehead

When Jamal's trios visited Penthouse jazz club in Seattle in the '60s, they came to play. Now 92, the pianist has signed off on the release of a new series of live recordings from back in the day.

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The classical singer Julia Bullock has released Walking in the Dark, her debut solo album.

Music & Culture

With a bold debut album, Julia Bullock curates an unconventional career

4:05pm December 09, 2022

by Tom Huizenga

The velvet-voiced soprano with a career on the rise chooses her projects, and the music on her debut solo album, with consummate intention.

Music & Culture

These three new songs will help you grapple with romances of the past

4:05pm December 05, 2022

by Ken Tucker

After a decade, Caitlin Rose is "Getting It Right." Weyes Blood's "It's Not Just Me, It's Everybody" is an ethereal ballad. And Carly Rae Jepsen and Rufus Wainwright duet in "The Loneliest Time."

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The work that so clearly went into sharpening Wizkid's delivery bristles against the listlessness applied to his writing. His voice alone can no longer sustain him.

Music & Culture

Wizkid's 'More Love, Less Ego' is so relaxed it's nearly static

1:17pm November 29, 2022

by Jessica Kariisa

The Nigerian singer is among the biggest stars of a generation. Though pleasant, his new album refuses to keep pace with a rapidly evolving genre.

Natalie Mering — who performs as Weyes Blood — has been known to swing for the fences.

Music & Culture

The personal apocalypse of Weyes Blood's 'And In The Darkness, Hearts Aglow'

5:00am November 28, 2022

by Meaghan Garvey

The singer-songwriter's fifth album is an ecosystem of intimacy, in its power to redeem and to destroy.

SAULT's work reinforces the sonic connections between global Black communities — from Africa to the Americas — and brings in a multitude of voices to tell an undivided story.

Music & Culture

SAULT's five-album drop deepens its long-standing communal values

11:05am November 26, 2022

by Anupa Mistry

The collective's new music — Today & Tomorrow, AIIR, Earth, 11 and Untitled (God) — suggests divinity void of control or coercion, in order to contemplate our common human needs.

Album Review: 'Tu Historia' by Julieta Venegas

4:25pm November 24, 2022

by Miguel Perez

Julieta Venegas, a legend of Latin American pop music, released her first album in seven years, called "Tu Historia."

GloRilla hardly deviates from her points of emphasis, lyrically, but in energy, she's giving something different at almost every turn.

Music & Culture

GloRilla is finding her voice

2:13pm November 23, 2022

by Lawrence Burney

Though it feels like a mere sample of what's to come, the Memphis rapper's new EP presents her as a singular talent using her instrument as a megaphone for provocation and inspiration.