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Anna Calvi Re-writes Her Own History on 'Hunted'

With the help of some celebrity friends, Anna Calvi tinkers with her past and creates an alternate version of her last album.

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Music

The Wants Make Post-Punk That Matters on 'Container'

Brooklyn post-punk trio, the Wants deal in 21st-century dread but do so in a most danceable way on Container.

Music

Grimes - "Idoru" (Singles Going Steady)

Creative, existential bondage for the sleep-deprived, Grimes' "Idoru" is better than any hallucination Titanic Sinclair could dream up for Poppy this week.

Music

U.S. Girls Reckons With Being a Breakout Indie Star on 'Heavy Light'

Meghan Remy's experimental pop project U.S. Girls ventures into more mainstream territory to mixed results on Heavy Light.

Music

Counterbalance No. 5: The Beatles' 'Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band'

Number five on the list is practically synonymous with Great Artistic Statements. But was Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band really the Beatles' "Sgt. Pepper"? A splendid time is guaranteed for all as Counterbalance figures it out.

Music

Grimes' 'Miss Anthropocene' Watches the World Go Out With a Whimper

Ironically, you may wind up wishing that Grimes' vision of a scorched Earth was a bit more fun.

Music

Beck + Pharrell = Mushy Synth Songs? Huh.

Hyperspace ends up being a frustrating record. Beck and Pharrell Williams produce two excellent songs, "Uneventful Days" and "Saw Lightning", but their other five tracks each leave something to be desired.

Music

Pet Shop Boys Deliver Another Glorious, Smart, and Relevant Pop Album with 'Hotspot'

Four decades in the music business is no small feat, and yet the Pet Shop Boys enter the new decade sounding just as current and catchy as the pop landscape they helped construct.

Music

Little Scream Combines Easygoing Pop with Serious Lamentations About Politics and Culture on 'Speed Queen'

Montreal's Little Scream offers up reflections on class and poverty disguised as sweet low-key pop songs on her real grower of an album, Speed Queen.

Music

Prince's '1999' Shines a Light on What Might Be the Best Year Ever for a Pop Artist

Prince's 1999 is not so much one of the greatest albums of all time as a curation from an amorphous mass of music that might be one of the greatest achievements in pop.

Music

Poppy Expands Her Musicality and Challenges Genre Conventions on 'I Disagree'

Poppy lays bare a necessary reminder to reject conformity and encircle empowerment. Whereas I Disagree explores what is confining and liberating - the latter is the album's unequivocal focal point.

Music

With "Santa Baby", Emergency Tiara Updates a Classic Just in Time for the Holidays (premiere)

J-pop meets vintage girl group in Emergency Tiara's smart, sassy cover of the Eartha Kitt Christmas standard, "Santa Baby".

Music

Katmaz Celebrates the Sadness with "Alone (With Me)" (premiere)

Brooklyn-based art pop artist, Katmaz dances his cares away with a new single (and video) that chronicles a doomed long-distance relationship.

Music

No-Man Finally Land Their Disco White Whale: An Interview with Tim Bowness

Nearly 30 years have gone into the making of Tim Bowness and Steven Wilson's seventh album as No-Man, Love You to Bits. Bowness speaks with PopMatters about returning to the duo's electronic early days, and how Love You to Bits may be the Terminator: Dark Fate of No-Man albums.

Music

Pop Meets Soul Meets Experimentation in Sequoyah Murray's Debut

Atlanta's Sequoyah Murray has delivered one of the best albums of 2019 with his extraordinary debut Before You Begin.

Music

OMD at 40: Making Sense of a Synthpop Legacy

OMD's first three albums were crucial in the development of ambitious, intellectual, art-pop. They also led to the emergence of a whole generation of electronic pop groups that have continually influenced artists up to this day.

Music

FKA twigs Elegantly Explores Her Delicate Core on 'Magdalene'

Magdalene makes an unpredictable turn wherein FKA twigs traverses an introverted dimension of her vision through a minimalist perspective and a sense of controlled extravagance.

Events

Florence Welch Discussion and Acoustic Set at New Yorker Festival

Florence Welch participated in a deep discussion and gave a short performance as part of the 2019 New Yorker Festival.

Music

Art Pop's Elk City Explores Truth and Beauty With "Pity of a Rose" (premiere + interview)

Art pop group Elk City share their latest video "Pity of a Rose" and discuss their latest EP, Souls in Space. "My goal in directing the video was to illustrate a human being incapable of emotion, who is navigating the prison of her mind," says co-founder Renée LoBue.

Music

Deep Tan Amplify the Groove on New Single "Shimmer" (premiere)

London's deep tan further their distinctive electropop/alt-pop sound on new single, "Shimmer". Fans of Foals, the XX, Maribou State, and Beach House listen up.

Music

Jenny Hval's 'The Practice of Love' Is Brainy, Conceptual, and Hugely Entertaining

Jenny Hval's The Practice of Love is a playful, conceptual pop record that makes sorting through its heady themes as fun as listening to it.

Music

Ezra Furman Blasts Off on 'Twelve Nudes'

On Twelve Nudes, Ezra Furman demonstrates how an explosion of negative feelings can create an enjoyable sensation.

Events

Vampire Weekend's Grandiose Madison Square Garden Debut

Vampire Weekend's largest headlining show in New York City, in support of their fourth album, Father of the Bride, was just one date of an extensive tour.

Music

Denmark's Blaue Blume Create Gorgeous Electropop on "Loveable" (premiere)

Denmark's Blaue Blume gently mould a lushly textured backing with little more than twinkling, arpeggiated synths and chilly electronics on "Loveable".

Music

Bat for Lashes Sacrifices Exceptional Artistry for Nostalgia on 'Lost Girls'

In contrast to Bat for Lashes' previous efforts—whose dense peculiarities and poeticisms rewarded deep listening—the retro Lose Girls is too run-of-the-mill and inconsequential.

Music

The B-52s 30-year Anniversary Re-Issue of 'Cosmic Thing' Keeps the Party Going

With Cosmic Thing, the B-52s launched into the big time, shooting up the national album and singles charts with "Channel Z", followed by "Love Shack" and "Roam".

Music

Salami Rose Joe Louis' 'Zdenka 2080' Tells a Dystopian But Still Hopeful Allegory of Ecocidal Capitalism

On the 22-track concept album Zdenka 2080, Bay Area musician and planetary scientist Salami Rose Joe Louis shuffles nu jazz, dream pop, and hip-hop vibes into the soundtrack for a dystopian sci-fi allegory of ecocidal capitalism.

Music

Hero Worship: The B-52's Embrace Their Place in Rock History

To casual onlookers, they made for the best kind of disposable party pop. To their devoted fans, they were taboo-breaking new wave kingpins. Now, with four decades of history under their belt, the B-52's look back and take their bow. Cindy Wilson speaks to PopMatters about their legacy.

Evan Sawdey
Music

Hanne Hukkelberg's Ongoing Pop Evolution Continues with "The Young and Bold I" (premiere)

Ahead of the release of Birthmark, art pop virtuoso Hanne Hukkelberg shares her newest single, "The Young and Bold I".

Music

LANDROID Channel David Lynchian Desert Melancholy on "Yellow Sea" (premiere)

Dream pop band LANDROID's latest track is at once dense and distant, filling the room with evocative noirish timbres and haunting introspection.

Music

Silence My Drum: An Interview with ionnalee

A medical scare forced ionnalee to make what she thought might be her last album, and asked her fans to crowdfund her tour. They funded it in five days, and once home, was inspired to write a whole new album ripe with optimism -- and right when we need it the most.

Evan Sawdey
Music

Olden Yolk's 'Living Theatre' Is Both Vital and Dramatic

Olden Yolk's second album, Living Theatre, is phenomenally impressive and powerful, while it explores small moments with great concision and ambition.

Music

Vampire Weekend Attempt Their 'White Album with 'Father of the Bride'

With the sprawling 18-track Father of the Bride, Vampire Weekend have written their White Album.

Music

MXMS Hits the Mark in "Salvation Hurts" (premiere)

Dark pop duo MXMS are flashing in and out of our subconscious with the video from their latest single, "Salvation Hurts".

Music

UNKLE's 'The Road: Part II (Lost Highway)' Is an Epic of Collaborators

As a vast collective of collaborators joins for spoken word, orchestral ballads, and nostalgic trip hop cuts, UNKLE's The Road: Part II (Lost Highway) compiles as many ideas as it does features.

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