Panda Bear and Sonic Boom Create Immersive Neo-Psychedelia
What feels missing from Panda Bear’s new LP is a greater willingness to let carefully chosen timbres lead to equally adventurous harmonic or structural destinations.
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When Lee “Scratch” Perry and Mouse on Mars Teamed Up
When Mars on Mars were in the studio with Lee “Scratch” Perry in late 2019, they didn’t realize they were getting the last chance to capture his essence on tape.
Croz Boyce Create Fragmentary, Beautiful Music
If Animal Collective records translated density into exhilaration, Croz Boyce work in the opposite direction, pulling things apart and seeing what remains.
Jon Hopkins Goes Back to Nature with ‘Wilding’
Jon Hopkins and Biggi Hilmars’ soundtrack, Wilding, achieves something modest but meaningful — music that makes space for the land to breathe.
Blood Orange’s ‘Essex Honey’ Paints a Vivid Picture of Grief
Nothing on Blood Orange’s new album is a throwaway, because it fulfills a deep need within his creative soul. It’s also profoundly beautiful and deeply cathartic.
Guedra Guedra’s ‘Mutant’ Is Breathtaking and Scintillating
Guedra Guedra’s new LP is filled with thoughtful assemblages of field recordings, digital and analog beats, and some of the year’s most luscious dancefloor melodies.
James Yorkston Impresses with Brilliant Swedish Singers
James Yorkston hits new heights of organic wistfulness and melancholy with the aid of ex-Cardigans singer Nina Persson and First Aid Kit’s Johanna Söderberg.
Electronic Rockers Fat Dog Go ‘WOOF’
Fat Dog’s combination of live instruments and rock influences with a more modern dance sound seems like a winner for finding an audience in 2024.
Ambient Composer Jon Hopkins Shares His Latest ‘RITUAL’
British ambient composer Jon Hopkins creates dark, intimate landscapes of analogue and electronic sound on his new “ceremonial” album RITUAL.
Hayden Thorpe Melds Electropop, R&B, and Ambient on ‘Moondust for My Diamond’
Former Wild Beasts frontman Hayden Thorpe combines electropop with R&B-influenced vocals and ambient into an effective, coherent sound on his second solo LP.
James Yorkston’s ‘The Wide, Wide River’ Is Warm, Cozy, and Expansive
The beauty of James Yorkston's The Wide, Wide River allows the coziness back in without making concessions to his continued development and desire to push beyond traditional folk music.
Protomartyr’s ‘Ultimate Success Today’ Reflects Our Times
Post-punk’s Protomartyr have honed their sound into something apocalyptic on their defiantly modernist Ultimate Success Today.