Religiosity isn’t a particularly good look lately, at least as it’s being performed by politicians. Artists, though — especially one the caliber of Jamaica’s Samory-Tour Frazer, a.k.a. Samory I — can still conjure the unifying power, beauty and healing that religion sometimes brings. Samory made this clear on Black Gold, …
Read More »Dolly Parton Throws a Karaoke Party With a Bonkers Guest List on 'Rockstar'
Dolly Parton is arguably the most beloved living American. How many people are alive today because Dolly told them to get the Covid vaccine back in early 2021? Of course, she’s a paragon of country music, but her reach goes far beyond Nashville, from the disco pop of her working-woman …
Read More »Danny Brown Comes Down On 'Quaranta'
Since exploding into popular consciousness with XXX, a 2011 masterwork detailing his crazed life of sex, pills, and weed, Danny Brown has served as a lodestone for modern rap’s perilous embrace of hard drugs. The Detroit rapper utilized a manic, strangely hyper cadence seemingly fueled by too much Molly. More …
Read More »Chris Stapleton Sticks With What Works On 'Higher'
When rock and pop A-listers have needed a world-class country singer to sing on their song over the past few years, they usually call Chris Stapleton. Since his last album, 2020’sStarting Over, the 45 year-old traditionalist has duetted with Taylor Swift and Adele, written songs with Santana, and collaborated with …
Read More »Greg Dulli's 'Other Band,' the Twilight Singers, Get Their Due in Comprehensive Box Set
To borrow a phrase from Jack London’s 1909 novel Martin Eden, which is a book that Twilight Singers frontman Greg Dulli once found profoundly inspirational, the Black Out the Windows box set represents the band’s “work performed.” Did you appreciate these recordings when they were new? Or are you interested …
Read More »PinkPantheress Battles Anxiety, Follows Her Curiosity, and Finds New Life on 'Heaven Knows'
“Another Life,” the first song on PinkPantheress’ long-awaited debut album, Heaven Knows, opens with the ominous sound of an electrified cathedral organ. The collaboration with Nigerian musician Rema, in which the British singer wakes up next to her partner only to find him dead, fittingly sounds like a funeral. “Can …
Read More »Jimmy Buffett Goes Out Smiling With His Final Album 'Equal Strain on All Parts'
When Jimmy Buffett died on September 1, he left a finished album in the can ready for release. Equal Strain on All Parts, his 32nd LP, is every bit the laidback, eclectic, inviting set of tunes you’d expect from the beloved singer-songwriter, bridging pop, country, and rock & roll, mixing …
Read More »Women Run the Game on the Soundtrack to Season Two of Issa Rae's <em>'</em>Rap Sh!t'
Fans are stirring with excitement as RAP SH!T, Issa Rae’s television series on Max, gears up to return for its second season. On Nov. 9, viewers will continue to follow the fictional lives and musical journeys of Shawna Clark (Aida Osman) and Mia Knight (KaMillion). The show, based in Miami, …
Read More »'1989 (Taylor's Version)' Is Our Deepest Look Yet Into the Record That Made Everyone a Swiftie
Long before Taylor Swift went into the woods for Folklore, she desperately wanted out of them. In the sixth music video she released from 2014’s 1989, she’s running through the forest in a blue dress, escaping a pack of wolves and magical roots that long to twist and curl around …
Read More »Mr. Eazi Displays His Pan-African Pride and Global Purpose on 'The Evil Genius'
Mr Eazi has been a leading figure in the world of Afrobeats for years, and he’s always had an expansive definition of that ever-rising music’s sonic and cultural possibilities. The Nigerian-born artist, who now mainly lives in Accra, Ghana, has collaborated with Beyoncé and Diplo, and among his most popular …
Read More »