Everything You Know Means Nothing: Problematic Art and Crystal Castles’ Legacy
An abusive past with Crystal Castles haunts former singer Alice Glass. Glass haunts her past back with her multi-artist, collaborative goth synthpunk.
electropop
I Dream of Wires: Richard Evans’ ‘Listening to the Music the Machines Make’
Electropop history Listening to the Music the Machines Make comprehensively and at times humorously zeros in on five critical years in UK music.
The Dare’s ‘The Sex EP’ Wants You to Have a Really Good Time
The Dare’s mission is urgent, as simple as breathing. Have a good time – a stupid good time – like your life depends on it. Because it literally does.
Kesha’s ‘Gag Order’ Is an Artistic Cry for Help
Is Kesha’s new experimental art-pop record, Gag Order, a cautionary tale? A cry for help? A cathartic release? Most likely, it’s all of the above.
Ane Brun Releases Two LPs and Shares “Hand in the Fire” (premiere)
Norwegian alt-pop artist Ane Brun releases two compilation records tomorrow, while today, she shares the previously unreleased “Hand in the Fire” with a video.
Ellie Goulding Invites Listeners to Dance on Bubbly ‘Higher Than Heaven’
Following the intense ambition of Ellie Goulding’s previous album, 2020’s Brightest Blue, Higher Than Heaven is a refreshing jolt of candy-coated vigor.
Baaba Maal Makes a Refreshing Electropop Return with ‘Being’
Worldbeat master Baaba Maal’s musical homecoming on Being is not myopic or static but embraces motion through space, time, and sound.
M83 Get Lost in the Synth Clouds of ‘Fantasy’
With a bloated runtime and a tendency toward monochromatic synth textures, M83’s ninth studio record Fantasy indulges one too many of the group’s clichés.
Haunted By the Sky: The Secret History of Tor Lundvall’s Ambient Pop
With a decades-long career of crafting ambient material as flexible in tone as it is in scope, a new box set reveals secrets to Tor Lundvall’s unknown catalog.
100 gecs Mine Cultural Maximalism in ‘10000 Gecs’
100 gecs’ 10000 Gecs succeeds as a cultural correlative, an audial reflection of modern-day life, as much as, perhaps more than, a purely aesthetic offering.
Nuovo Testamento’s ‘Love Lines’ Is an ’80s New Wave Italo Extravaganza
Who knew the music of mullets, wrap-around shades, and bodysuits could be so compelling? Nuovo Testamento’s Love Lines succeeds and transports the listener.
Weval Quantum Leap Down Memory Lane in the Cerebral Dance of ‘Remember’
Weval pore beats and static all over the melodies on their dense textural new album, Remember, which only highlights how melodic it really is.
