First Listen: ‘Master Mix: Red Hot + Arthur Russell’
The Red Hot Organization pays tribute to an inimitable character on a double-length tribute, with help from Robyn, Sufjan Stevens, Hot Chip, Phosphorescent, Blood Orange, Scissor Sisters and more.
Category: Music
First Listen: Thurston Moore, ‘The Best Day’
In the wake of Sonic Youth’s collapse, Moore’s new solo album is almost calming in its familiarity, particularly as it recalls a minor-key update of SY’s well-loved late-’90s salvo A Thousand Leaves.
First Listen: Horse Feathers, ‘So It Is With Us’
The chamber-folk band’s fifth album feels unerringly graceful — a quality that transcends tempo and tone, infusing every song with enough beauty to overwhelm sadness.
First Listen: Kindness, ‘Otherness’
British singer Adam Bainbridge doubles down on his many ’80s influences (disco, ’80s boogie and R&B, house music, go-go) while still making them sound refreshed.
First Listen: Stars, ‘No One Is Lost’
The Montreal band recorded its new album within earshot of a since-closed discotheque, and it shows. No One Is Lost prioritizes lightness and bittersweet uplift over the devastation of past records.
First Listen: Meatbodies, ‘Meatbodies’
Meatbodies’ Chad Ubovich has learned to put his personal spin on the surf-strum mutant beach party championed by California psychedelic rock bands like Thee Oh Sees, Wand and Bleached.
First Listen: A Winged Victory For The Sullen, ‘Atomos’
An ambient-minded neoclassical duo that likes its sounds intensely measured, contemplative and slow, A Winged Victory For The Sullen works hard to make listeners feel eerily, gloriously lost.
First Listen: Brooklyn Rider, ‘The Brooklyn Rider Almanac’
The adventuresome string quartet asked a huge range of musicians to create new pieces modeled on artistic idols. Hear pieces inspired by figures ranging from John Steinbeck to James Brown.
First Listen: Electric Wizard, ‘Time To Die’
Electric Wizard has spent two decades playing ridiculously heavy, misanthropic doom metal. On Time To Die, the band gets more room to explore than ever.
First Listen: John Luther Adams, ‘Become Ocean’
The winner of the 2014 Pulitzer Prize for music is both an unforgettable seascape and an urgent call to action. Hear the Alaskan composer and environmentalist’s sweeping symphonic work.
First Listen: Leonard Cohen, ‘Popular Problems’
Cohen’s 13th album creates a space for slow-moving reflection that expands with each listen. The tarpit-voiced raconteur’s songs unfold like dirty canticles, with room for both jokes and profundities.
First Listen: Perfume Genius, ‘Too Bright’
After two solid albums, Too Bright is something shockingly new for Perfume Genius: a set of muscular, magnificently controlled songs that explore darkness inside and out.
First Listen: Tweedy, ‘Sukierae’
The Wilco singer and his 18-year-old son Spencer record a 20-song family-band album together. There’s not much contrivance, not much high-concept, just a dad and his son bashing out tunes.
First Listen: GOAT, ‘Commune’
The Swedish collective makes irresistible trance/dance music that doubles as hypnotic hippie hoodoo. Along the way, GOAT captures the spirit of the ’60s in its guitar meanderings and acid tones.
First Listen: Jason Moran, ‘All Rise: A Joyful Elegy For Fats Waller’
Fats Waller sang, emceed, told jokes, wrote hits, and played mean piano. Decades later, a fellow jazz pianist tries to capture his life-of-the-party spirit with drastically new versions of his tunes.
First Listen: Steelism, ‘615 To FAME’
The debut album by the guitar duo Steelism doesn’t simply tap into all the flavors of country music; it also demonstrates how those flavors blend and complement each other.
First Listen: Lia Ices, ‘Ices’
Ices’ first two albums recalled the work of Cat Power and Tori Amos. But on her third album, the singer-songwriter expands her palette considerably.
First Listen: Moon Hooch, ‘This Is Cave Music’
The New York band, known for its wild performances on subway platforms, abandons its comfort zone in an effort to explore new sounds and recording methods.
First Listen: Interpol, ‘El Pintor’
The New York post-punk band has aged into its polished sound nicely, maintaining its influences (Joy Division, Echo and the Bunnymen, et al) while sounding more distinct from them than ever.
First Listen: Zammuto, ‘Anchor’
Nick Zammuto, formerly of the art-music duo The Books, takes a crafty, hands-on, spirit-forged approach to sound. The newer band that bears his name never bothers to stay in place for long.