Gen X’s Nostalgia for 1980s Music Is a Memory Problem
Gen X nostalgia for 1980s music like Starship’s “We Built This City” and Toto’s “Africa” is built on old forgotten words and ancient melodies – and faulty memory.
Music
Features, reviews, interviews, and lists about music, covering the latest as well historical topics.
Why the New GWAR Don’t Feel Dangerous Anymore
GWAR have always existed on the edge of chaos, a grotesque blend of satire, violence, and spectacle, but now, it’s predictable and choreographed.
OutKast’s ‘Stankonia’ Uses Mirrors and Oppositions
OutKast’s Stankonia is a diptych that opposes and mirrors the duo; creating a stylistic reverence for an inimitable vision.Â
The Mountain Goats Create Their First Proper Musical
Derived from a dream, the Mountain Goats’ new musical tells the intimate and vivid tale of the lone survivors from a shipwrecked crew.
Daniel Avery’s ‘Tremors’ Paints With Astonishing New Shades
Tremor feels like the start of a brand new chapter for Daniel Avery. While he paints with a lot of familiar colors, there are also many new shades.
SPRINTS’ New LP ‘Swimming’ Reaches for the Stars
SPRINTS remain emotive but more polished and reflective, questioning rather than acting—though often admitting defeat as the songs grow louder.
Whitney Perfect Their Quiet Language of Loss
Whitney’s new album, Small Talk, is less about drifting through melancholy and more about staying still long enough to understand it.
RosalÃa’s ‘Lux’ Is a Brilliant Act of FaithÂ
RosalÃa’s Lux may seem, at first, hard to read as pop, but it’s as pop as religion, one of its inspirations. The very act of calling it pop is an act of faith in the power of music.
Stéphane Wrembel’s Django New Orleans Honors Reinhardt
Like Django Reinhardt, Stéphane Wrembel and his group are crowd-pleasers, taking music that is technically complex and making it instantly enjoyable.
Jamie Lidell and Luke Schneider Explore Music’s Healing Power
The experimental duo of Jamie Lidell and Luke Schneider have delivered an otherworldly soundtrack to dreams—and the spaces between them.
Blues Pianist Memphis Slim Had One Hell of a Debut
Gate of Horn highlights a set of new recordings of Memphis Slim’s best tunes, mostly credited to LC. Frazier, one of Slim’s several pseudonyms.
Gorillaz Innovate on “The God of Dying”
This is the sound of Gorillaz at their most innovative yet reassuringly familiar.