Music Brittany Howard’s ‘Jaime’ is a Personal, Political Soul ExplorationRolling Stone - Jon Dolan Brittany Howard is a Southern rock & roll radical with a centuries-deep sense of history and some inspiring ideas about how to reshape it to fit our …
Music Pixies Embrace the Darkness on ‘Beneath the Eyrie’Rolling Stone - Kory Grow Quirky, catchy melodies have always been Pixies’ calling card and on Beneath the Eyrie, their third post-reunion album, the alt-rock icons indulge …
Charli XCX Charli XCX, With Friends, Maps Pop’s Future on ‘Charli’Rolling Stone - Will Hermes There are two basic brands of sad when your relationship craters: One’s when your lover turns out to be a lying asshole. Worse, arguably, is when you …
Music Post-Malone Keeps His Unstoppable Roll Going on ‘Hollywood’s Bleeding’Rolling Stone - Nick Catucci The culture wasn’t demanding a James-Franco-in-Spring-Breakers-esque rapper-crooner in summer 2015, when “White Iverson” quietly started its …
Music Frankie Cosmos’ ‘Close It Quietly’ is a Tour de Force Songwriting BingeRolling Stone - Jon Dolan “The world is crumbling and I don’t have much to say,” sings Greta Kline, leader of the band Frankie Cosmos, on the band’s new album. It’s a striking …
Iggy Pop Iggy Pop Finds a New Swagger on ‘Free’Rolling Stone - Kory Grow Iggy Pop is 72 and in some alternate universe, he’s living in a suburban Detroit trailer park collecting pension checks, proudly wearing a shirt. But …
Music MUNA’s ‘Saves the World’ Is a Synth-Rock Course In Deep California BluesRolling Stone - Jonathan Bernstein “I must be some great feeler,” Katie Gavin sings with a wink on MUNA’s latest record. “I must be really deep.” On Saves the World, MUNA’s second …
Music Bat for Lashes Finds Beauty in a Burning World on ‘Lost Girls’Rolling Stone - Kory Grow “Everything is on fire,” Bat for Lashes’ Natasha Khan sings on “Kids in the Dark,” the lead track of her fifth album, Lost Girls, but you might not …
Lucinda Williams Jesse Malin and Lucinda Williams Celebrate Hard-Fought Survival on ‘Sunset Kids’Rolling Stone - Joseph Hudak Jesse Malin had a shit year in 2018. His father, former guitarist, and producer all died. So his new album Sunset Kids, his first in four years, could …
Music Tool Return From a Long Hiatus With ‘Fear Inoculum’Rolling Stone - Will Hermes Tool’s first album in 13 years opens like a grievous European symphony drawn in electronic tones; what sounds like the chiming of a hammered dulcimer …
Music Joan Shelley’s ‘Like the River Loves the Sea’ is an Intimate Study in Beauty and SorrowRolling Stone - Jon Freeman Over the course of her six full-length albums, Kentucky singer-songwriter Joan Shelley has trafficked in the strain of intimate, earthy folk and …
Play buttonMissy Elliott Missy Elliott’s ‘Iconology’ Reminds Us Why She’s One of the All-Time GreatsRolling Stone - Rob Sheffield When Missy Elliott walks back into the room, nearly 15 years after her last album, every knee must bow. She’s the kind of genius who can work on her …
Music Velvet Negroni Bares a Trippy, Trap-Soul Heart on ‘Neon Brown’Rolling Stone - Will Hermes It’s hard to get a bead on exactly what Minneapolis-based Jeremy Nutzman is up to with Neon Brown, his second LP as Velvet Negroni, which is part of …
Lana Del Rey Lana Del Rey Builds Her Most Elaborate Fantasies Yet on ‘Norman F-cking Rockwell’Rolling Stone - Rob Sheffield Lana Del Rey has always been a pop classicist at heart — but she’s finally made her pop classic. The long-awaited Norman Fucking Rockwell is even more …
Music Rapsody’s ‘Eve’ is a Masterpiece of Hip-Hop FeminismRolling Stone - Stephen Kearse For most of her career, North Carolina rapper Rapsody has been in quarantine. Neither individual virtuosity, nor cosigns from Jay-Z, Black Thought, …
Sheryl Crow Sheryl Crow Hosts a Wide Range of Collaborators on the Star-Studded ‘Threads’Rolling Stone - Jonathan Bernstein Sheryl Crow has enjoyed a quietly consistent third decade as a singer-songwriter, earning a Top Ten for her 2013 country debut Feels Like Home and a …
Music The Highwomen Write Their Own History on Superb Debut AlbumRolling Stone - Will Hermes The Highwomen come steeped in history — a history they rewrite, literally and figuratively. Their name, and the title track of their terrific …
Brockhampton (band) Brockhampton’s ‘Ginger’ is the Omnivorous, Vaguely Alienated Work of a Group That’s Perfectly Built for the InernetRolling Stone - Christopher R. Weingarten The 13-member Brockhampton collective are usually described as a pan-racial, non-heteronormative, self-proclaimed “boy band,” a rap group born on the …
Music Jay Som Keeps Expanding Her Inner World on Her Sweet New Album ‘Anak Ko’Rolling Stone - Jon Dolan Melina Duterte (a.k.a. Jay Som) makes music that often gets lumped in with that intimately delicate, richly interior kind of indie-rock called …
Taylor Swift Taylor Swift Reaches For New Heights of Personal and Musical Liberation on ‘Lover’Rolling Stone - Nick Catucci By the time “It’s Nice to Have a Friend” arrives on Lover, her seventh and most epic album, Taylor Swift has entered uncharted territory. For one …
Midland Midland’s ‘Let it Roll’ is an Immaculately Disheveled SuccessRolling Stone - Jon Freeman Country trio Midland sparked a lot of unnecessarily heated debates back when they first arrived back in 2017. Their throwback aesthetic and sound — a …
Music Quality Control Music’s ‘Control the Streets Vol. 2’ Could’ve Used a Little More Quality ControlRolling Stone - Danny Schwartz What’s the point of a label compilation? Ideally, it’s a showcase that communicates depth and shines a light on the lesser-known artists on a roster …
Music Tanya Tucker Bolsters Her Country Legacy With the Powerful ‘While I’m Livin”Rolling Stone - Jonathan Bernstein “Now, a woman’s life ain’t just a list of the worst things she has done,” sings Tanya Tucker on While I’m Livin’. The line arrives during “Mustang …
Music Sheer Mag Unite the Personal and Political on Bold Concept Album ‘A Distant Call’Rolling Stone - Hank Shteamer A Sheer Mag concept album? A few years ago, when the Philly quintet was stirring up well-deserved buzz with its bite-sized punk-meets–hard-rock gems, …
Music Young Thug Has a Good Time Without Taking Any Risks on ‘So Much Fun’Rolling Stone - Danny Schwartz Young Thug’s often-imitated, never-duplicated mush-mouthed warble has become one of the most innovative and influential instrument to grace rap music …
NF’s ‘The Search’ is a One-Note Depression SymphonyRolling Stone - Danny Schwartz The last week of July produced an inadvertent first-week sales clash between Chance the Rapper and NF, a Michigan rapper with a significant cult …
The Hold Steady Get Back to Big Riffs and Boozy Storytelling on ‘Thrashing Thru the Passion’Rolling Stone - Jonathan Bernstein Craig Finn has characterized his last two albums with the Hold Steady–2010’s Heaven is Whenever and 2014’s Teeth Dreams–as creative low-points. Despite …
Sleater-Kinney’s ‘The Center Won’t Hold’ is a Vital Response to a Disconnected WorldRolling Stone - Will Hermes Sleater-Kinney deliver the goods almost immediately on their new LP, on a title track that begins with industrial clangs, then explodes into rock …
Bon Iver’s ‘i, i’ is About Getting In Touch With Your Human SideRolling Stone - Will Hermes For his first LP since 22, A Million, Justin Vernon dials back the avant-pop extremes a bit, giving human larynxes and other acoustic instruments more …
