Pop Spotlight

10 Tours That Changed the World Butthole Surfers – Psychic… Powerless… Another Man’s Sac/Live PCPPEP/Rembrandt PussyhorseMatador Butthole Surfers weren’t originally called Butthole Surfers. As the story goes: Back in the very early 1980s, when the […]

Sierra Ferrell’s Americana Rollercoaster Sierra Ferrell – Trail of FlowersRounder “I’ve been American dreaming, but I never seem to get no rest,” Sierra Ferrell sings on the opener from her fourth album, Trail of Flowers, […]

Mannequin Pussy’s Multi-Generational Anger (and Horniness) Mannequin Pussy – I Got Heaven (Epitaph) “Oh, what’s wrong with dreaming of burning it all down?” sings Marisa “Missy” Dabice on “Nothing Like,” as a heavily phased guitar […]

Review: Cakes da Killa’s Hedonism Brings Lust and Rage to the Dance Floor For over a decade, Cakes da Killa has pioneered New York’s queer rap spaces, pairing hip-house beats that grind and grate with […]

The 101 Best Albums of the 2010s Tierra Whack – World Wide Whack (Interscope)Philadelphia rhymesayer Tierra Whack can still pack a cheeky punch via bite-sized songs. She showcased that skill on her 2018 debut mixtape, […]

The 50 Best Songs of 2002 Justin Timberlake – Everything I Thought It Was (RCA)  When did Justin Timberlake lose his mojo? Was it during that six-month stretch between The 20/20 Experience (a first-class prestige-pop […]

50 More Great Albums of the Year Not many artists have scored a booking at Coachella before ever having set foot inside the United States, but that’s the enviable position in which the eclectic eight-piece […]

Stream The Messthetics’ Self-Titled Debut Album The Messthetics and James Brandon Lewis – The Messthetics and James Brandon Lewis (Impulse!) Brendan Canty and Joe Lally, better known as the rhythm section of ‘90s post-hardcore legends […]

Nathalie Joachim Ponders Identity on Vividly Sculpted Ki moun ou ye Nathalie Joachim – Ki moun ou ye (New Amsterdam/Nonesuch) A swirl of questions opens Ki moun ou ye, the second solo album by Nathalie […]

Burial – “State Forest” Burial – Dreamfear/Boy Sent From Above EP (XL) If Burial’s sudden switch to XL from his longtime home of Hyperdub is the first step in joining Four Tet in an implausible […]

Liquid Mike Plays Pitch-Perfect Power Pop on Paul Bunyan’s Slingshot Liquid Mike – Paul Bunyan’s Slingshot (Self-released) Hello, world! Meet Mike Maple, AKA Liquid Mike, AKA the latest in a long line of songwriters with […]

SPIN SETS Presents: Dombresky Coming off of his 2023 Coachella performance and an Electronic Dance Music Award for Best Radio Show (Process Radio), French DJ and producer Dombresky has continued his momentum into 2024 with […]

Jazz-Guitar Phenom Julian Lage Forges His Own Paths on Speak to Me Julian Lage – Speak to Me (Blue Note) The album’s title—and the fact that it’s produced by Joe Henry (Rhiannon Giddens, Loudon Wainwright […]

5 Albums I Can’t Live Without: David Ellefson of Megadeth/DIETH Ace Frehley – 10,000 VoltsMNRK Heavy Rock lives! Reports of its death are, apparently, premature (although they were pretty convincing). Ace Frehley, founding member and lead guitarist […]

Cergio Prudencio’s Antología 1 Showcases Daring Bolivian Composer Cergio Prudencio – Antología 1: Obras para la Orquesta Experimental de Instrumentos Nativos (Buh Records) Cergio Prudencio was born in La Paz, a city at the feet […]

Stream Sheer Mag’s New Album A Distant Call Sheer Mag – Playing Favorites (Third Man) Even at capacity, there’s room for joy at the dive bar. On Playing Favorites, the third full-length release from Philadelphia […]

Faye Webster Announces New EP, Listen to ‘Car Therapy’ Faye Webster – Underdressed at the Symphony (Secretly Canadian) Faye Webster’s “Lifetime,” the second single off her fifth album, Underdressed at the Symphony, is the kind […]

Friko Follow Big Indie-Rock Footprints on Debut Album Friko – Where we’ve been, Where we go from here (ATO) Chicago’s vaunted teen/DIY scene has already launched a bunch of interesting bands, including ‘90s-inspired post-punk trio […]