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Music

John Lennon and Yoko Ono Share Their Wedding With the Masses on 'Wedding Album'

The Wedding Album's "John & Yoko" is a brilliantly disquieting composition that exists unequivocally as an intentional, constructed art piece.

Music

Overloaded and Undercooked: Juice WRLD's 'Death Race for Love'

The type of personality drawn in by a hyperviolent fantasy demolition derby headed up by a killer clown is likely very similar to that which most closely identifies with Juice WRLD's unfocused emotional ramblings.

Books

Inspiring Empathy by Removing the Abstraction: Tey Meadow's 'Trans Kids'

With Trans Kids, Tey Meadow educates readers and gives them hope for societies that are just now learning to address gender beyond the strictures of presumed binary biology.

Books

Jon Morris' 'The League of Regrettable Sidekicks' Is Itself a Victim of Questionable Standards

Mere mediocrity on the part of the superhero sidekicks doesn't seem a high enough bar for inclusion in a tome such as The League of Regrettable Sidekicks.

Music

Hamell on Trial's Latest Showcases a Man, His Guitar, and a Boatload of Anger

This is how the stream-of-consciousness rantings of an angry 60-something-year-old man should sound. Even the title of the album looks like it's missing some punctuation.

Music

Ray BLK Proves She Is Ready for Her Crown on 'Empress'

Empress is brilliant. Ray BLK has earned a spot at the top of the R&B heap. Hand her the crown.

Music

Ella Mai Offers a Look at R&B's Future

Ella Mai's self-titled debut album tries to do too much, but succeeds regardless. When the sky is the limit, can you really blame an artist for throwing everything at the wall and seeing what sticks?

Music

Kero Kero Bonito's 'Time 'n' Place' Shows a Band Looking to the Future

Time 'n' Place sounds transitional as if Kero Kero Bonito are working their way into something that's more sustainable than the often wild, sometimes too-cute experiments of their past.

Reviews

Steven A. Clark's 'Where Neon Goes to Die' Offers Grime Beneath the Glitz

On Where Neon Goes to Die, Steven A. Clark gives us a look at a Miami where the shine is present, but the darkness beneath is the main attraction.

Music

St. Lucia's 'Hyperion' Finds the Sunlight Between the Clouds

We have to get to the point where we see each other as human again. On Hyperion, St. Lucia is trying to show us the way. We need to start listening.

Books

Robert Aickman's 'Compulsory Games' and the Art of the Miserably Fascinating Short Story

Aickman's ability to imbue in the mundane a hint of the supernatural pushes these stories from the utterly average into absorbing, fascinating territory.

Music

Dizzee Rascal Continues to Operate on Another Level on 'Don't Gas Me'

Dizzee Rascal offers up five brilliant new tracks on Don't Gas Me, and they confirm the artist hasn't lost his hunger. In fact, he's setting up for a blazing future.

Music

Arp's 'Zebra': Treading the Line Between Contentment and Indifference

Arp's Zebra is impeccably produced, the result of an artist living with his art, refining it, and turning it into exactly what he wants it to be, but it is a strangely sterile, emotionless experience.

Music

Lykke Li's 'so sad so sexy' Is As Advertised

On so sad so sexy, Swedish pop singer Lykke Li has created mood music that works as well as a breakup album as it does a warm-up for the club.

Music

Bernice's 'Puff LP' Finds Form in the Amorphous

Tethered to no style or genre, Bernice's Puff LP exists as its own tiny universe of sound, unassuming and intriguing, a treasure waiting to be uncovered.

Music

Jorja Smith's 'Lost & Found' Is a Revelatory Debut

Jorja Smith's Lost & Found is a first album that sounds like it came from an artist who has been doing this for years and years, an artist who already has award shows and headlining tours in her rear view mirror.

Music

CHVRCHES' 'Love Is Dead' Is an Energetic but Hollow Step Toward the Mainstream

CHVRCHES' Love Is Dead is an album whose makers are screaming "we're ready for the spotlight", whether or not the sentiment is actually true.

Books

It Doesn't Always Get Better: Patrick Nathan's 'Some Hell'

Nathan explores the hyperbolic mind of the teenager, a time bomb of unresolved emotion that can be unleashed at any perceived slight, no matter how minor.

Music

The Head Outweighs the Heart on DJ Koze's 'Knock Knock'

DJ Koze's commitment to avoiding easy four-on-the-floor dance music, his unwillingness to whack at synth pads for an hour and call Knock Knock an experimental ambient album, is commendable.

Books

Nafkote Tamirat's 'The Parking Lot Attendant' Is a Triumphant Debut

It's fairly astounding just how gracefully a very small, very personal story can turn into something much bigger, as Tamirat has done here.

Music

George Ezra Plays Blissfully Unaware on 'Staying at Tamara's'

George Ezra's Staying at Tamara's is upbeat and light to a fault, a microcosm of cheer mostly blissfully unaware of the chaotic world around it.

Music

Melvins Veer into Curio Territory with Help from a Former Butthole Surfer

In a way, Pinkus Abortion Technician is a departure for Melvins, heavily hinted at by the album's very title.


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