This is A Tribe Called Quest’s most political album, but those politics flow naturally from everything the group has given us throughout its existence.
Blastoma exemplifies the many ways music helps us explain unspeakable feelings, through a combination of words, sounds, moods and melodies that work on each other, through each other and around each other.
Keith Urban is a 48-year-old student of the game (popular music). This album is his playground. He’s trying out various things -- adapting -- while staying very much the same.
You can think or feel your way into narratives and “songs” that deliver messages, but in a way you’re tricking yourself into thinking there’s something solid here that you’re fully grasping.
The Prettiots will no doubt be described as cutesy indie-pop, but there’s a serious strain of nihilism, anxiety and realism within their songs, even the jokey ones
There is a sense throughout that we’re sitting spellbound listening to a storyteller, even though part of our being is never completely sure we follow or even trust the yarns he’s spinning.
In 2015 indie pop, there are recurring appearances by the Dunedin Sound, brevity, the changing of the seasons, and the spectre of childhood that hangs over our adult lives.