Menneskekollektivet is a heady, carefully-calibrated study of and gorgeous exercise in the act of creation. “In the beginning, there is no word, and no ‘I’ / In the beginning, there is sound / In the beginning, we create with our mouths” prolific Norwegian singer…
For the time time is a singular, thrilling (re)birth for Black Country, New Road. Duh-dum, go the bass and the drums, starting in unison on “Instrumental” — the opening track off Black Country, New Road’s debut album, For the first time — and so, in…
Róisín Machine is both a reflective and future-facing album of pure electro-pop, dance-party dynamism. “I feel my story’s still untold, but I’ll make my own happy ending,” Róisín Murphy begins, sexily, huskily speaking against strings on “Simulation.” It’s a striking, honest statement from an…
DISCO is a breezy, light album that revels in the familiar, sticky hooks that have made Kylie’s career. Kylie Minogue, a trusted spokesperson of the dance floor, heard the disco call and answered it — again. After her divisive foray into country-pop with 2018’s Golden,…
Cruelly and ironically, 2020 marked a grand return of disco: legends, Kylie and Róisín, and newcomers, Dua and Jessie, all donned their diva regalia in a best effort to get us on the dance floor. Only Jessie Ware’s What’s Your Pleasure? really makes much…
Phil Elverum continues to write his sonic autobiography with Microphones in 2020, a delicate, Proustian journey through his memories. The unfolding biography of Phil Elverum’s life — which he has for years been telling under his Mount Eerie moniker, most exceptionally in a trilogy…
Inner Song reflects a continued evolution for Owens and a further distillation of a sound that’s becoming recognizably her own. Kelly Lee Owens wears a lot of hats on her stylish, sleek second album Inner Song, an inviting tech house-pop record connected by a vibe:…
Ungodly Hour is a bawdy, welcomingly weird, and fitting breakout for the immensely talented Chloe x Halle. Sisters and R&B chanteuses, Chloe and Halle Bailey have kept it lowkey despite their entanglements with the Beyonce, ABC, and Disney brand (Oh, how these have all amalgamated…
While most of us have turned inward this year, Fleet Foxes have opened back up. Shore, the follow-up to their impenetrable, depressive third album, the long-awaited Crack-Up, cut the incubation period in half and delivered the most drastic departure from the trajectory of their…
During their ten-year stint as a recording band, Pavement showcased a talent for evolutionary steps with markedly small adjustments. On paper, there are a lot of commonalities between Slanted & Enchanted — their lo-fi, noisy 1992 debut album, plenty canon-worthy in its own right —…
