When Hozier’s song “Take Me to Church” put the Irish folk-soul singer on the map in 2014, he told Rolling Stone that he had recorded the song’s original demo in his attic in a fit of inspiration, and that his performance in that private session had been so powerful his …
Read More »Rhiannon Giddens Doesn't Just Want to Be a Folk Singer Anymore, And We're Here For It
Opening with a fiddle and banjo straight out of a folk recital, “You’re the One,” the title track on Rhiannon Giddens‘ third album under her own name, starts the way one would expect a Giddens song to open. Addressing one of her children, she sings in a voice that’s warm …
Read More »Noname Is Back And Ready To Make Trouble on 'Sundial'
L.A.-via-Chicago rap poetFatimah Nayeema Warner took off with her 2015 mixtape Telefone and her 2018 albumRoom 25, with a rude-girl wit all her own. As she famously boasted, “My pussy wrote a thesis on colonialism.” It’s been a long wait, but Sundial is exactly what you were praying the new …
Read More »Travis Scott's 'Utopia' Is an Empty Paradise
After his 2018 album Astroworld, Travis Scott reached a commercial steeple that allowed him to sell candles and McDonalds meals and Forgiatto rims and anything else he wanted to pick up and wail, “It’s lit!” with. He carried that eye for consumerism into his Utopia rollout to middling effect. Even …
Read More »'Barbie the Album' Is Like a Perfect Night on the Dreamhouse Dancefloor. You Won't Want It to End
With colorful vinyl variants, Nicki Minaj singles, and record-store listening parties, the star-studded soundtrack Barbie the Album has become as much of a cultural phenomenon as the Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling-starring film itself. Produced by Mark Ronson, Barbie the Album shines on its own as a fun sonic reimagining …
Read More »Greta Van Fleet Are Back And (Spoiler!) They Still Want to Be the New Led Zeppelin
There’s no way around it, so just let’s say it: On album number three, Greta Van Fleet still want to get the Led out. Despite being praised or damned for its fealty to the hammering of certain gods, the Michigan band is still not remotely backing down from its mission. …
Read More »Rita Ora Delivers Vulnerable Ballads and Euphoric EDM-Lite on Her Most Personal Record Yet
In the last five years, Rita Ora has seemingly been everywhere: in the tabloids, as a panelist on The Masked Singer, a coach on The Voice Australia, in a handful of film roles including a supporting stint in Pokémon Detective Pikachu and collaborating on a smattering of singles with artists …
Read More »Gabe Lee Is Here to Tell His American Story in 'Drink the River'
Gabe Lee has managed to package a prayer, a truth, and a dream in one album. Drink the River, his fourth studio album, delivers this trifecta through each of its nine songs, doling them out in a way that feels like both a fever and a fairytale. He’s here to …
Read More »Palehound's 'Eye On the Bat' Is An Intense Journey. You'll Want to Ride Along
The latest release from Palehound is one hell of a ride. The album was inspired by the “apocalypse road trip” across the U.S. that the indie Boston band took mid-tour to get safely back home as the pandemic hit in early 2020. The stress and tension of that moment informs …
Read More »Anohni Weeps Tragically and Beautifully on 'My Back Was a Bridge for You to Cross'
Every track on My Back Was a Bridge for You to Cross feels like a Greek statue frozen in some tragic visage of horror. Anohni‘s voice sounds delicate, angry, and exhausted, as she grieves track by track — for the unfulfilled promises of civil rights, for friends lost to drugs …
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