A Foggy Disorientation Pervades the Intoxicating Music of Drab City

Drab City combine sultry vocals, superlative songwriting, vibraphone chords, twangy guitar, and shadowy atmospherics to conjure an intense trip-hop fever dream on Good Songs for Bad People.

                                      
Music
    
        The Album That Changed Everything: Massive Attack's 'Blue Lines'
    
Steve Jansen

        18 May 2020
    
Music
    
        'WOMB' Reclaims Purity Ring's Distinctive Electropop
    
Max Totsky

        21 Apr 2020
    
Music
    
        Glass Animals - "Your Love (Déjà Vu)" (Singles Going Steady)
    
PopMatters Staff

        10 Apr 2020

Recent

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

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

Banks and Zara Larsson Are Two Pop Performers You Must See to Believe

They may be as different as night and day, but California's Banks and Sweden's Zara Larsson had the same, successful effect on Denver-area crowds over a five-day span in September.

Music

Blonde Redhead's Kazu Examines Her Life on Solo Effort 'Adult Baby'

On her first album independent of Blonde Redhead, Kazu Makino arrives at a new stage in life, one she examines with the curiosity of a beginner.

Music

A Musical Chameleon: An Interview with Morcheeba

One year since the release of Morcheeba's Blaze Away, the band unleash a special edition full of remixes, which leads to questions of how their process works, how some songs got remixes and others didn't, and what the next 20 years of Morcheeba look like.

Jose Solis

Music

Electro-Worldbeat's Azam Ali Shares Mesmering Video for "Phantoms" Ahead of New LP (premiere)

Electro/worldbeat singer, songwriter, producer Azam Ali steps out of Niyaz for a solo turn to pay tribute to '80s synthpop heroes on "Phantoms".

Music

HÆLOS' 'Any Random Kindness' Comes Across As a Love Letter to the Planet and Humanity

Any Random Kindness finds HÆLOS expanding on their core sound while reminding themselves and the listener of just why they are such an exciting and intriguing outfit.

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.

Music

Brooklyn Electropop Duo CLAVVS Announce EP 'No Saviors' + Share Stunning Title Track (premiere)

CLAVVS mix killer pop hooks with dance/hip-hop rhythms, Amber Renee's sublime vocals, and subtle electronics on their catchy new single "No Saviors".

Music

Paved with Good Inventions: Norway's Anja Garbarek on Her Journey Back to Music with 'The Road Is Just a Surface'

Just beneath Anja Garbarek's deceptively cool and composed music are the raucous emotions of a fevered storyteller, trying desperately to impart an often startling and vicious truth.

Music

Neneh Cherry Teams Up with Four Tet for 'Broken Politics'

Neneh Cherry only emerges when she has something to say, granting an artistic purity to every release. Given these times, Cherry has a lot to say on Broken Politics.

Music

Rachel Eckroth's "Strangest Dream" Enchants and Haunts (premiere + interview)

Featuring riveting guitar work from Derek Trucks, "Strangest Dream", culled from Rachel Eckroth's When It Falls, is a powerful introduction to singer-songwriter's diverse talents.

Music

Garbage's 20 Years Paranoid Tour: Weirdos Take the Spotlight

Garbage brings a powerful female perspective 20 years on, in a show devoid of nostalgia and full of powerful messages.

Music

CLAVVS "Lay Back" with Chill New Single (premiere)

Indie pop duo CLAVVS explore a collection of worldly influences with their laid-back new jam, "Lay Back".

Music

Manes' 'Slow Motion Death Sequence' Is a Diorama of the Band's Existence

Norwegian art rock band Manes contemplate death and human existence on their electronica and trip-hop infused full-length Slow Motion Death Sequence.

Music

Brits in Hot Weather #5: Sisteray, Alpines, RuthAnne, Inland, and the Run Up

In this edition we have swaggering rock 'n' roll from Sisteray, shadowy trip hop from Alpines, classy contemporary pop from RuthAnne, intricate ambient techno from Inland, and life-affirming pop-punk from the Run Up.

Music

Swoone Take on Another Mission in Video for "The Bullet Never Kills" (premiere)

The video for the hauntingly beautiful "The Bullet Never Kills" provides the perfect entry point for Swoone's evocative, filmic take on '90s trip hop.

Music

Morcheeba Celebrates the Hot British Summer with "It's Summertime" (video premiere)

On their latest single "It's Summertime", Morcheeba paired up with Lambchop's Kurt Wagner to pen the tune and it's a shiny, summery, pop number that evokes the warmth of this year's quite hot British summer.

Music

sir Was: Digging a Tunnel

A hazy, hip-hop inspired album for the early hours that features moments of deep introspection from the impressive Joel Wästberg.

Music

Archive: The False Foundation

Despite some exciting and vital moments, The False Foundation struggles to cohere into a cogent statement befitting of a legitimately scary political moment.

Interviews

Dark Blue-Grey With Neon Pink Flashes: An Interview With Jon Hopkins

Transcendent electronic musician Jon Hopkins reflects on two decades of composition and collaboration and hints at what’s on the horizon.

A. Noah Harrison

Interviews

Cloud Nine: Interview with Hælos

They broke on Soundcloud and are being hailed as a successor to the sound of trip-hop greats like Massive Attack. But HÆLOS are out to craft a legacy all their own.

Sara Rodrigues

Music

Poliça: United Crushers

Poliça's third full-length is an understated take on their singularly dark synthpop sound.

Music

Yasmine Hamdan: Ya Nass

Her narrators miss their lovers, they're sad about them, they're filled with longing.

Music

Lilacs and Champagne: Midnight Features Vol. 1: Shower Scene

With Midnight Features Vol. 1: Shower Scene, the sample-heavy duo of Lilacs and Champagne prove that their one-of-a-kind sonic can function beyond the realms of the recording studio.

Music

Snow Ghosts: And the World Was Gone

Snow Ghosts return with their And The World Was Gone EP,- a brilliantly moody slice of modern trip hop.

Music

Bomb the Bass: In the Sun

Trying to adopt a more consistent sound throughout the record is a double-edged sword. It means that you can concentrate on what you do best, but, at the end of the day, it also means that’s all you have to play with.

Music

Sister Crayon: Cynic EP

The Cynic EP tends to fire on all cylinders when it’s more musically upbeat and veers away from certain trip hop genre trappings.

Music

Bomba Estereo: Elegancia Tropical

The band's star has risen thanks to their unique blend of cumbia-powered jams, electro-shimmering layers of sound and catchy riffs from the guitars and synths.

Music

Wax Tailor: Dusty Rainbow From the Dark

Concept album by trip/underground hip and downtempo, hop. Leave that button alone, it works.

Music

Neneh Cherry & The Thing: The Cherry Thing

Neneh comes full circle by returning, and embracing, her roots on this vital album.

Music

Monica Lionheart: Indian Summer

These 11 songs are the stuff that sitting outside on a blanket staring at a starry sky are made of, winding their way into your cranium in beleaguering and subtle ways.

Music

Poliça: Give You the Ghost

On this promising debut, the Minneapolis quartet (with the help of Gayngs producer Ryan Olson) puts singer Channy Leaneagh's emotional turmoil in the spotlight, then artfully blurs it.

Music

Lilacs & Champagne: Lilacs & Champagne

Lilacs & Champagne have crafted what will likely stand out as one of 2012's best debut albums with their self-titled LP, mixing trip-hop beats, absurd samples, and an intriguing spy film atmosphere.

Music

Counterbalance No. 70: Portishead’s 'Dummy'

From this time, unchained, we’re all looking at a different picture. But we’re also looking at the 70th most acclaimed album of all time. Trip-hop fun, 1994-style, is next on Counterbalance.

Reviews

Collapse Expand Reviews

BROWSE ALL ALBUM REVIEWS

Features

Coronavirus and the Culture Wars

Collapse Expand Features

PM Picks

Collapse Expand Pm Picks

Drab City combine sultry vocals, superlative songwriting, vibraphone chords, twangy guitar, and shadowy atmospherics to conjure an intense trip-hop fever dream on Good Songs for Bad People.

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.

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.

They may be as different as night and day, but California's Banks and Sweden's Zara Larsson had the same, successful effect on Denver-area crowds over a five-day span in September.

On her first album independent of Blonde Redhead, Kazu Makino arrives at a new stage in life, one she examines with the curiosity of a beginner.

One year since the release of Morcheeba's Blaze Away, the band unleash a special edition full of remixes, which leads to questions of how their process works, how some songs got remixes and others didn't, and what the next 20 years of Morcheeba look like.

Electro/worldbeat singer, songwriter, producer Azam Ali steps out of Niyaz for a solo turn to pay tribute to '80s synthpop heroes on "Phantoms".

Any Random Kindness finds HÆLOS expanding on their core sound while reminding themselves and the listener of just why they are such an exciting and intriguing outfit.

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.

CLAVVS mix killer pop hooks with dance/hip-hop rhythms, Amber Renee's sublime vocals, and subtle electronics on their catchy new single "No Saviors".

Just beneath Anja Garbarek's deceptively cool and composed music are the raucous emotions of a fevered storyteller, trying desperately to impart an often startling and vicious truth.

Neneh Cherry only emerges when she has something to say, granting an artistic purity to every release. Given these times, Cherry has a lot to say on Broken Politics.

Featuring riveting guitar work from Derek Trucks, "Strangest Dream", culled from Rachel Eckroth's When It Falls, is a powerful introduction to singer-songwriter's diverse talents.

Garbage brings a powerful female perspective 20 years on, in a show devoid of nostalgia and full of powerful messages.

Indie pop duo CLAVVS explore a collection of worldly influences with their laid-back new jam, "Lay Back".

Norwegian art rock band Manes contemplate death and human existence on their electronica and trip-hop infused full-length Slow Motion Death Sequence.

In this edition we have swaggering rock 'n' roll from Sisteray, shadowy trip hop from Alpines, classy contemporary pop from RuthAnne, intricate ambient techno from Inland, and life-affirming pop-punk from the Run Up.

The video for the hauntingly beautiful "The Bullet Never Kills" provides the perfect entry point for Swoone's evocative, filmic take on '90s trip hop.

On their latest single "It's Summertime", Morcheeba paired up with Lambchop's Kurt Wagner to pen the tune and it's a shiny, summery, pop number that evokes the warmth of this year's quite hot British summer.

Who Are Nipplepeople? The masked duo behind a string of electropop hits in Croatia, 2009-2018. We survey the group's music.

A hazy, hip-hop inspired album for the early hours that features moments of deep introspection from the impressive Joel Wästberg.

Despite some exciting and vital moments, The False Foundation struggles to cohere into a cogent statement befitting of a legitimately scary political moment.

Transcendent electronic musician Jon Hopkins reflects on two decades of composition and collaboration and hints at what’s on the horizon.

They broke on Soundcloud and are being hailed as a successor to the sound of trip-hop greats like Massive Attack. But HÆLOS are out to craft a legacy all their own.

Poliça's third full-length is an understated take on their singularly dark synthpop sound.

Her narrators miss their lovers, they're sad about them, they're filled with longing.

With Midnight Features Vol. 1: Shower Scene, the sample-heavy duo of Lilacs and Champagne prove that their one-of-a-kind sonic can function beyond the realms of the recording studio.

Snow Ghosts return with their And The World Was Gone EP,- a brilliantly moody slice of modern trip hop.

Trying to adopt a more consistent sound throughout the record is a double-edged sword. It means that you can concentrate on what you do best, but, at the end of the day, it also means that’s all you have to play with.

The Cynic EP tends to fire on all cylinders when it’s more musically upbeat and veers away from certain trip hop genre trappings.

The band's star has risen thanks to their unique blend of cumbia-powered jams, electro-shimmering layers of sound and catchy riffs from the guitars and synths.

Concept album by trip/underground hip and downtempo, hop. Leave that button alone, it works.

Neneh comes full circle by returning, and embracing, her roots on this vital album.

These 11 songs are the stuff that sitting outside on a blanket staring at a starry sky are made of, winding their way into your cranium in beleaguering and subtle ways.

On this promising debut, the Minneapolis quartet (with the help of Gayngs producer Ryan Olson) puts singer Channy Leaneagh's emotional turmoil in the spotlight, then artfully blurs it.

Lilacs & Champagne have crafted what will likely stand out as one of 2012's best debut albums with their self-titled LP, mixing trip-hop beats, absurd samples, and an intriguing spy film atmosphere.

From this time, unchained, we’re all looking at a different picture. But we’re also looking at the 70th most acclaimed album of all time. Trip-hop fun, 1994-style, is next on Counterbalance.