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Shirley Collins' ​'Heart's Ease'​ Affirms Her Musical Prowess

Shirley Collins' Heart's Ease makes it apparent these songs do not belong to her as they are ownerless. Collins is the conveyor of their power while ensuring the music maintains cultural importance.
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Music

Rustin Man's 'Clockdust' Is Woozy Psych-Folk of Arresting and Fathomless Beauty

Arriving less than a year after Drift Code, Rustin Man consolidates a rich vein of form with the sepia-toned Clockdust, an autumnal record rendered generous and exquisite by each song's emotional weight.

Music

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.

Music

The Sound of Young Scotland? Spinning Coin Channel Postcard Records on 'Hyacinth'

Recorded in France, by musicians resident in Berlin, Spinning Coin's Hyacinth still sounds like it was made in Glasgow. In 1981.

Music

Dan Deacon Creates Shimmering, Welcoming Electropop on 'Mystic Familiar'

Mystic Familiar keeps Dan Deacon's signature musical appeal while utilizing a few new tools. The album delivers on the camaraderie and musicianship you expect from the Baltimore producer.

Music

Richard Dawson and the Multitudes Contained in Brexit Britain

Richard Dawson's 2020 is a coruscating state-of-the-nation piece as Britain faces up to its muddled identity at the end of a tumultuous decade.

Music

Bill Ryder-Jones Offers a Piano-Based Take on 2018 Album with 'Yawny Yawn'

New, minimalistic takes from his successful 2018 album Yawn bring you far closer to Bill Ryder-Jones' songwriting and performance. Yawny Yawn re-creates a dynamic sonic landscape with a unique instrumental consistency.

Music

Blood Orange's New Mixtape 'Angel's Pulse' Is Like a Thick Soup

How do you navigate the personal murk of every day, or in the political climate that hates you? Blood Orange's Angel's Pulse is a "mixtape" that sounds like how it might feel to live underwater.

Music

Retro Rock Duo Night Moves Charm with 'Can You Really Find Me'

In channeling greats like Fleetwood Mac, Todd Rundgren, and Neil Young, Night Moves' Can You Really Find Me is equally nostalgic and new.

Music

Hot Chip's 'A Bathfull of Ecstasy' Is Music for All Five Senses

Electropop's Hot Chip prove once again with A Bathfull of Ecstasy that they one of the most consistently excellent working bands.

Music

Protomartyr's 'No Passion All Technique' Contains Plenty of Both

The reissue of Protomartyr's first album No Passion All Technique offers early signs of the band they would become on subsequent albums.

Music

How Avey Tare Made a Whole Album Out of Necessity

The songs on Avey Tare's Cows on Hourglass Pond emerged from a need for material for a live show, but you wouldn't assume that when sucked in by their soothing, intricate surrealism. Tare speaks about his creative process, the technical forces driving the record, and where he's at lyrically.

Music

Portishead's Beth Gibbons Collaborates with the Polish National Radio Symphony to Celebrate the Work of Henryk Górecki

With Portishead's Beth Gibbons as the soprano, Henryk Górecki's Symphony of Sorrowful Songs is hoisted into modernity and emblematic of the contemporary political and social turbulence.

Music

James Yorkston Takes a New Road on 'The Route to the Harmonium'

Esteemed Scottish folk singer-songwriter James Yorkston heads into midlife with The Route to the Harmonium, and no has affection for what he sees.

Reviews

Rustin Man Returns with Avant-Garde Folk Charm on 'Drift Code'

On Rustin Man's Drift Code, each track fits as a piece of the whole puzzle while also housing its own personality via surprisingly resourceful tones and constructions.

Music

Bill Ryder-Jones Brings You into a Late-night Conversation with 'Yawn'

Bill Ryder-Jones creates a dynamic sonic landscape for a personal invitation and dialogue just on the precipice of sleep with his latest album, Yawn.

Music

Julia Holter Produces Her Most Ambitious Work Yet with 'Aviary'

With her new record, Aviary, Julia Holter expands her scope to include elements of free improvisation, neo-classical leanings, and folk-induced hallucinations, thereby producing a substantial work of art.

Music

Art Is a Recycling Across Generations: In Conversation with Julia Holter

As an artist who boldly blurs the line between avant-garde aesthetics and pop accessibility, Julia Holter's new album comes at us as a statement, and one that speaks to the power of her artistic journey.

Music

Jaakko Eino Kalevi Warps Straightforward Pop Into Ephemeral Works of Art on 'Out of Touch'

Key to the creative success of Out of Touch, the newest release from Finnish musician Jaakko Eino Kalevi, is an ephemeral and invaluable element of surprise.

Reviews

Dirty Projectors Bounces Back with the Sonically Taxing 'Lamp Lit Prose'

Dave Longstreth returns with the poppiest album yet from his project Dirty Projectors. Lamp Lit Prose offers big hooks as well as plenty of nervy rhythms and typical sonic left turns, resulting in a soundscape that's both exhilarating and exhausting.

Music

Cat Power Reflects on Her Life's Journey on 'Wanderer'

Cat Power's ability to centralize her self-worth and artistic integrity imbues Wanderer with a sanguine and empowering assurance.

Music

Villagers Are Modern Day Adult Contemporary Music

Villagers' music is pleasant and easy to listen to without being simple, and has catchy melodies that don't reach the level of massive pop hooks.

Music

Anna Calvi Proves the Lioness Is the True 'Hunter'

Anna Calvi's Hunter is a liberating, balls-to-the-wall rock and roll album that tears blind masculinity to shreds while redefining feminine power and desire.

Music

Animal Collective Dives Into the Sea with 'Tangerine Reef'

Baltimore's resident oddball experimental quartet Animal Collective add a new dimension to their sound - for a good cause - on Tangerine Reef.

Music

Tirzah Sound Like They're Drifting Apart on 'Devotion'

Devotion lacks the clarity and urgency of Tirzah's earlier work.

Music

Jon Hopkins' Expanding Universe

With Singularity, electronic composer Jon Hopkins uncovers a joyful sense of connection at the center of all things. "The idea of singularity is the idea that every atom in the universe exists in the same place, this infinitely small point," he says.

Music

Flasher's 'Constant Image' Is Driven by the Small Liberties That Make Our Days Better

Flasher play hook-filled rock songs, influenced by everything from post-punk to new wave via shoegaze and indie dream pop on new album, Constant Image.

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20 Questions: Alexis Taylor

Hot Chip's Alexis Taylor finally gives in to his pop instincts on his new record, working with an outside producer and then telling us why Rubbermaid bins remind him of Star Wars.

Evan Sawdey
Music

Arctic Monkeys Make a Brilliant Shift of Their Sound on 'Tranquility Base Hotel and Casino'

Tranquility Base Hotel and Casino is an intriguing musical shift from Arctic Monkeys' wildly popular and massively dominating AM, but rooted in their style and progressive growth as musicians and performers.

Music

Stephen Malkmus' 'Sparkle Hard' Slips Out of Twisting Plot Traps As Nonchalantly As It Slides Around Rigid Logic

The indie rock statesman Stephen Malkmus hones his sleight-of-hand rock on a fiery collection of songs for Sparkle Hard.

Music

Little Cub: Still Life

South London's Little Cub craft a debut album that elegantly addresses modern-era woes via a blanket of warm, familiar influences.


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