Pop Spotlight

The 10 Best Reissues of September: Billy Gibbons, Factory Records, and the Most Important Cassette of the CD Era A Certain Ratio – It All Comes Down to ThisMute Eclectic post-punkers A Certain Ratio have […]

Fat Dog’s Chaos Mode Fat Dog are kind of a wreck. After being “tied up with something,” frontman and Fat Dog mastermind Joe Love finally beams in on his girlfriend’s phone, because he apparently has […]

The SPIN Interview: Pearl Jam Dark Matter Producer Andrew Watt Pearl Jam – Dark MatterMonkeywrench Records/Republic Records The ninth track on Pearl Jam’s 12th studio album, Dark Matter, is called “Something Special,” and it’s by […]

Jordan Groggs, Injury Reserve Rapper, Dies at 32 RiTchie – Triple Digits [112]Self-Released On his debut solo album under the new moniker RiTchie, the Injury Reserve/By Storm rapper offers up a charcuterie board of sprawling […]

Jazz Legend Charles Lloyd Is Still Making Fresh Music Charles Lloyd – The Sky Will Still Be There Tomorrow Blue Note The opening piece on Charles Lloyd’s first album as a leader, 60 years ago, was […]

Mount Kimbie and King Krule Get Psych-Rap Makeover From Oneman and Jeremiah Jae Mount Kimbie – The Sunset ViolentWarp It’s a remarkably confounding experience when nature’s beauty becomes warped by the context of personal life […]

Shabaka’s Flute Fantasias Shabaka – Perceive its Beauty, Acknowledge its GraceImpulse! When tomorrow’s jazz historians are pondering our current era in their rent-controlled spaceships, they’ll see a state of the music divided into two schools, […]

Lana Del Rey, Maggie Rogers, boygenius Team for All Things Go Festival Maggie Rogers – Don’t Forget MeCapitol Records It would have been easy for Maggie Rogers to embrace the fully-formed pop star trap that […]

The Enchanting Pain of Blake Rose How far would you need to be to risk total high school humiliation? For Australian native Blake Rose, it was 3,428 miles: the distance between Perth, his hometown, and […]

Leyla McCalla Explores Matters of the Heart on Sun Without the Heat Leyla McCalla – Sun Without the Heat Anti- Records Leyla McCalla, erstwhile Carolina Chocolate Drop and occasional Our Native Daughter, is on a search: […]

Phoenix Unveils New Album and Song Featuring Vampire Weekend’s Ezra Koenig Vampire Weekend – Only God Was Above Us(Columbia Records) Vampire Weekend have been thinking about mortality.  Only God Was Above Us takes its title […]

Gustaf’s Package Pt. 2 Gets Under the Skin Gustaf – Package Pt. 2Royal Mountain Records New York no-wave group Gustaf use their rowdy, thorny songs to poke and prod the irritating and ridiculous questions about […]

Vegyn Finds a Way to Cruise Around Life’s Potholes Vegyn – The Road to Hell Is Paved With Good IntentionsPLZ Make It Ruins Vegyn’s latest album, The Road to Hell Is Paved With Good Intentions, […]

Khruangbin Releasing Five Live Albums Before End of Year Khruangbin – A LA SALADead Oceans Khruangbin have given rock scholars plenty to deconstruct. A lovely, ingenious aberration, the Houston trio made reverb-soaked guitar instrumentals a […]