The Auteurs’ New Box Set Neatly Slims Down Their Legacy
While Luke Haines’ morbid British rock outfit is happy as a cult act, this box set, repackaging their 2014 reissues, makes a case for the Auteurs’ greatness.
baroque pop
Andy Schauf Uses ‘Norm’ to Ask About Love After Death
Andy Schauf’s Norm offers journeys down sonic trails that start in the same hallway but change from room to room as he ponders the big topic of love.
To Ride Into ‘Paradise’: Lana Del Rey’s EP at 10
What’s most striking about Lana Del Rey’s Paradise EP and its music videos, are the ways they cement her transgressive and hallucinatory aesthetic.
Tori Amos’ ‘Scarlet’s Walk’ Travels Across Land and Time
In the aftermath of 11 September 2001, the USA was searching for its identity. So, too, was Tori Amos. With creative freedom, Amos wrote Scarlet’s Walk.
New Weds and Nearly-Deads: 10 Under-Appreciated Elvis Costello Albums
While many of Elvis Costello’s albums are regularly heralded as masterpieces, these ten albums don’t get nearly the love they deserve.
Love and Unhappiness Go Arm in Arm: Elvis Costello’s ‘Imperial Bedroom’ at 40
Elvis Costello’s Imperial Bedroom is a shape-shifting masterpiece of chamber-pop, folk, bursts of punk rage, Beatlesesque earworms, jazz-leaning future standards, and bits of pysch rock.
Perfume Genius’ Ugly Season’ Questions the Accepted Meaning of “Ugly”
Michael Hadreas of Perfume Genius delivers his most experimental, wandering, and gorgeously unkempt album to date with Ugly Season.
Florence + the Machine Are Free on ‘Dance Fever’
Creating their most conceptual, theatrical work, Florence + the Machine air out their lockdown grievances and ugly feelings by reminding us all to dance it out.
The Dark Parts: Perfume Genius’ ‘Put Your Back N 2 It’ at 10
Perfume Genius’ 2012 album Put Your Back N 2 It offers a bleak yet comforting unpacking of sexual identity, addiction, physical abuse, and family trauma.
The Further Adventures of the Left Banke
The Left Banke only released two albums before breaking up but are highly regarded as the inventors of baroque pop. Strangers on a Train has been reissued.
20 Years Ago Marianne Faithfull Went Pop Plotting Late Career Comeback with ‘Kissin Time’
Kissin Time is the sole moment in Marianne Faithfull’s more recent recording period in which she allowed her musical collaborators to shape her sound.
Cate Le Bon’s ‘Pompeii’ Flows with Heat and Light
With its multi-layered arrangements and art-rock leanings, Cate Le Bon’s Pompeii is a disorienting record, one wholly appropriate for our time.
