Wesley Joseph Is a Hugely Talented New Musical Voice
Wesley Joseph creates a sweeping, ambitious collection of tracks that serves as a vivid self-portrait of a hugely talented new voice in British music.
PopMatters Picks
PopMatters picks the best pop culture for your enjoyment, including music, film, TV, books, games, comics, and more.
Thin Lear Unspools More Disarming Pop Perfection
Thin Lear offers so much, from moral anguish and difficult truths to a sound steeped in the best qualities of pop, rock, and folk music from the last half-century.
Lucas Santtana Champions Brazilian Language on ‘Brasiliano’
Politically and philosophically, Lucas Santtana’s Brasiliano demonstrates wondrous clarity of purpose and boasts consummate musicianship.
Dale Watson Is Still Fiercely Independent on ‘Unwanted’
Dale Watson sings and writes about love, life, and liquor with equal fervour. He’s a passionate man, whether he’s crooning about yellow mustard or his own death.
Mr Eazi and King Promise Document a Long Kinship
Mr Eazi and King Promise’s See What We’ve Done lands like a pulse check: messy, breathing, and defiantly human.
Joseph Branciforte and Jozef Dumoulin Are Stunning
ITERAE sees two trailblazing musician-composers, Joseph Branciforte and Jozef Dumoulin, experiment with keyboards and electronics.
Jessie Ware’s ‘Superbloom’ Is Her Gayest Album Yet
Jessie Ware is hornier on Superbloom than its predecessors, and that alone makes it more assertive. It’s quite possibly her gayest record yet.
Vocalist Claire Dickson Creates Beguiling Art Music
Claire Dickson makes art music that casts a spell. There is a power here that mixes popular, personal, and jazz elements into a daring, delicious whole.
Square One and Turn of Phrase Create Powerful Melodic Hardcore
Pale Skies pairs two of the melodic hardcore’s strongest acts of the past year: Square One and Turn of Phrase.
‘Amrum’ Presents Wartime Distress with Visual Grace
Fatih Akin’s visually beautiful wartime drama, Amrum, turns a child’s survival into a memory handed from one talented filmmaker to another.
Holly Humberstone Is Raw and Mature on ‘Cruel World’
Although Holly Humberstone ends her new album on a signature sad note, Cruel World has a promising tone that shines through the clouds.
Brown Horse Get Loud and Bleak As They Drive On
Brown Horse have released their loudest and bleakest LP, where muscular guitars, walloping drums, and thumping pedal steels converge and erupt like a volcano.