Review: Bruce Hornsby And The Noisemakers, ‘Rehab Reunion’
Thirty years after his breakthrough hit “The Way It Is,” the singer-keyboardist once again hits the sweet spot between joyful improv and immaculate songcraft.
Category: Music
Review: Mogwai, ‘Atomic’
More than 20 years into its career, the mostly instrumental Scottish rock band returns with an album that can be poignant, blood-curdling and beautiful.
Review: Mitski, ‘Puberty 2’
These 11 tracks creep up on you, as Mitski Miyawaki’s coiled melodies suddenly explode into cavernous freak-outs or build to a crescendo of unbearable catharsis.
First Listen: The Low Anthem, ‘Eyeland’
This is an album in which you can lose yourself and, along the way, glimpse something you’ve lost. Throughout Eyeland, The Low Anthem crafts a rich Technicolor psych-folk world.
Review: Allen Toussaint, ‘American Tunes’
A posthumous album from the great behind-the-scenes man sets a retrospective, autumnal focus on songs which gave rise to Toussaint and his city — and thus to a bigger American music canon.
Review: Eli Paperboy Reed, ‘My Way Home’
The gospel-inspired soul singer has a knack for imbuing narrative tropes with new meaning, transforming them into stories that couldn’t be anyone else’s.
First Listen: Brandy Clark, ‘Big Day In A Small Town’
The country singer-songwriter’s second album boasts a big sound. But it keeps beautiful details intact, as Clark speaks for those often pushed aside within traditional storytelling narratives.
First Listen: Fantastic Negrito, ‘The Last Days Of Oakland’
Angry, righteous and redemptive, The Last Days Of Oakland celebrates survival, as Xavier Dphrepaulezz infuses his songs with hard-bitten perspectives on life, love, art, commerce, class and society.
First Listen: Fear Of Men, ‘Fall Forever’
Jessica Weiss exudes ambivalence as a singer, but the arrangements around her billow and bloom. On Fear Of Men’s second album, darkness and light fuse to form multifaceted gems.
Review: Xenia Rubinos, ‘Black Terry Cat’
Rubinos returns fully formed, with her musical vision still finding ways to meld the unexpected, the familiar and, in songs like “Mexican Chef,” the fiercely political.
Review: Robert Ellis, ‘Robert Ellis’
On his fourth solo album, the Americana singer-songwriter considers the tilted fulcrum of a dissolving marriage in order to confront the allure and the cost of restlessness.
Review: William Tyler, ‘Modern Country’
On the guitarist’s new album, Tyler’s instrumentals stretch past the limits of most lyrics and approach a rare sense of mystery.
First Listen: iLe, ‘iLevitable’
Ileana Cabra Joglar came of age onstage, performing with her older brothers in Calle 13. Now, she emerges from their shadow with her solo debut, a collection of classic sounds.
Review: PUP, ‘The Dream Is Over’
The Toronto punk band sounds anthemic and unhinged on its second album, with shout-along pop songs that are at once communal and cathartic.
Review: Big Thief, ‘Masterpiece’
On its debut album, Big Thief sounds warm and muscular, with moments that comfort and explode nestled closely together.
Review: Beth Orton, ‘Kidsticks’
On her first album in nearly four years, the singer-songwriter returns to the beat-driven sound that made her name. The result functions as both a yearning journey and a well-earned victory lap.
Review: The Echocentrics, ‘Echo Hotel’
Listening to Adrian Quesada’s latest project is like stepping into an alternate reality — an unhurried place with time to contemplate love, loss and longtime friends.
Review: Andy Shauf, ‘The Party’
On his new album, the Canadian singer-songwriter crafts a batch of connected vignettes, offering up tiny observations from a single night.
Review: Mudcrutch, ‘2’
Tom Petty’s old band returns with a cleansing wash of classic rock, crafted with just the right touch of sweet-natured sentimentality.
Review: Oddisee, ‘The Odd Tape’
The Brooklyn rapper-producer’s latest instrumental album is evenly weighted from front to back. There’s never an off moment — or even a precarious one.