The War on Drugs has always been indebted to the sounds of rock’s yesteryear, but here only recall the better works in their own discography. Despite the out-of-time quality of their music, the origins of The War on Drugs — the studio project of…
A Beginner’s Mind is an impressive collaborative work, one that beautifully reclaims the sounds and emotional heft of Stevens’ mid-aughts folk efforts. As our collective nostalgia cycle trudges forward past the cultural touchstones of the ’90s towards those of the early-to-mid-2000s, once-derided or since-forgotten trends…
The House is Burning finds Rashad asserting personhood over persona, to mostly career-stabilizing effect. The frequency and speed with which musicians are now expected to release art and content makes sore thumbs of artists whose releases are fewer and further between. These absences can take…
If Spiral doesn’t quite strike the same welcome murkiness as Psychic, it still suggests future destinations worth following Darkside to. Darkside, the musical duo composed of electronic producer Nicolas Jaar and jazz guitarist Dave Harrington, arrived as an unexpectedly exuberant affair following the meditative focus of each…
Sweet Trip’s first album in over a decade builds upon the band’s typical aesthetic while blending that sound to produce the group’s most coherent release to date. In certain corners of the music-listening internet, the release of the first new Sweet Trip album in over a…
Ultrapop finds The Armed in peak form, cohering an onslaught of sound and influence into something of a new package for the mysterious group. Detroit hardcore punk collective The Armed are something of a contradiction in terms, crafting intensely physical music that conveys its…
This new release from Godspeed You! Black Emperor signals a return to the ideological and politically-fueled sounds of their earlier ventures. Godspeed You! Black Emperor, the seminal, politically-agitative Canadian post-rock collective, make urgent music for urgent times. Over their 25-year run, the band has…
Haram reflects an impressive collab between the disparate sonics of Armand Hammer and The Alchemist, even if it’s not a peak for either party. In the musical and cultural ecosystems of rap, in which the perception of authenticity is often an asset, Armand Hammer…
Lana’s latest seems destined to be lost among grander statements, but is nonetheless another worthy work of self-exploration from one of music’s most introspective stars. Few pop artists in recent years have oscillated between mass adoration and mass infamy as regularly as Lana Del…
Vertigo Days is more of the same from The Notwist, which should be taken as a compliment: the album offers a welcomingly updated take on the band’s classic sound. For a band whose blend of processed instrumentation and glitchy production might scan as experimental, to…