Brody Price Lays It on the Line with ‘Leaf Miner’s Daughter’
Brody Price is unafraid to sit with dark emotions without letting them destroy him or his compositions, because the darkness will transfigure into the light.
Music Reviews
Margo Cilker Finds Grace in Sadness on ‘Little White Cross’
Margo Cilker’s Little White Cross succeeds not because it dwells on sadness but because it finds meaning within it. Her gifts as a storyteller give these songs weight.
Role Model Commits to Caricature on ‘Chuck Timely’
On Chuck Timely and the Hourglass, Role Model uses an affable alter ego to navigate relationships, commitment, and what it means to be a pop star.
Meshell Ndegeocello Offers Superb Soulful Duets of Classics
Meshell Ndegeocello’s Synonym is a superb modern soul album filled with sensual grooves, compelling vocals, and ingenious arrangements.
The Album Leaf’s Ambient Music Finds Its Perfect Voice
After 25 years of creating enthralling ambient instrumental music, the Album Leaf has found singers who understand how to speak its language.
Penelope Isles’ New LP ‘3’ Is Both Comforting and Sad
Penelope Isles’ 3 is a sad album, something of a song cycle about heartbreak, reflection, and uncertainty. Yet it’s usually more comforting than depressing.
Midori Hirano Draws Inspiration from a Classic Icelandic Film
Midori Hirano’s The Juniper Tree is fascinated by humans’ place in the natural world. She has successfully found a sonic outlet for this sense of wonder
Gilla Band Embody Current Zeitgeist with a Noisy and Agitated LP
Gilla Band emerge as spokespersons for our age of solipsism, dissecting and lampooning these proclivities. If we can’t laugh at ourselves, we’re doomed.
Carly Rae Jepsen Finds Life’s Balance on ‘Day and Night’
On Day and Night, Carly Rae Jepsen blends funk, synths, and acoustics for an eclectic but cohesive collection of tunes about love, loss, and settling down.
The Male Pattern Creates a Brilliant Concept Album
The Male Pattern’s I Was Shot in the Heart! uniquely chronicles one man’s struggles with heartbreak, money, and drugs on a brilliant concept album.
Epitaphe Showcase Their Progressive Death Metal on ‘III’
III may have little in common on the surface with Epitaphe’s early death/doom, but that history is precisely what makes their current direction work.
Rhiannon Giddens Champions Past and Present American Folklore
Rhiannon Giddens summons brilliance and reimagines American folk music in her latest release Hope Is the Thing with Feathers.