Migos Go Massive with ‘Culture II’ and Stake Their Claim Atop the Rap Game
Last year Migos' Culture album brought its own vibe, walked its own steady walk. Its sequel doubles down on it, and expands it outward almost to infinity.
Dave Heaton
The Best Country Music of 2017
There are many fine country musicians making music that is relevant and affecting in these troubled times. Here are ten of our favorites.
The Best Indie Pop of 2017
These ten bands share a perspective on the world that doesn't shy away from tough questions or feelings.
Last Leaves – “The World We Had” (video) (premiere)
Former Lucksmiths return with lovelorn fuzz-pop.
The Mountain Goats: Goths
Goths, like the Mountain Goats' music in general, is based on a deep understanding of what it feels to be out of step with the world, and of the sort-of communities built around that feeling.
Kendrick Lamar: DAMN.
The title is our reaction to his verbal gymnastics, his brazenness. And it’s a question: are we damned?
Guided By Voices: August By Cake
Setting “Pollard’s 100th LP” up as a historic marker may set up expectations the album isn’t prepared to deliver. At this point, it’s best to think of his discography as a raging river -- jump in, hold in for as long as you can handle it.
Jake Xerxes Fussell: What in the Natural World
Some things are eternal. Beauty is one. Strangeness another. Brutality a third. The songs here reflect all of those, through the harshness and beauty of the natural world, the generosity and brutality of humankind.
Kath Bloom: This Dream of Life
We're all dreams, evaporating before each other's eyes, within Kath Bloom's complicated folk, transcendent but grounded in human weakness.
Jimmy Scott: I Go Back Home
As the story goes, German producer Ralf Kemper wanted to make one last great album with Jimmy Scott before he passed from this earth. But is this it?
Fred Thomas: Changer
The weight of memory falls across Changer, whether Fred Thomas and his characters are running or walking, daydreaming or trying hard to forget.
The Best Indie Pop of 2016
In 2016, indie pop's highlights often went hand-in-hand with a general feeling of fading away, falling apart, saying goodbye.
