The More You Ignore Him, The Closer He Gets: Morrissey Returns With New Album ‘Make-Up Is a Lie’ Make-Up Is a Lie, Morrissey’s first album in six years, isn’t going to earn the former Smiths […]
Kim Gordon Is Captivating, Commanding On ‘PLAY ME’
Kim Gordon (photo: Moni Haworth). A funny thing happened on the way to reviewing Kim Gordon’s third solo record. Because of the somewhat treacherous DSP this reviewer endures, the protected stream was crippled by digital […]
Shabaka Picks Up the Sax and Drops Some Beats
Shabaka. (Credit: Joseph Ouechen) In the early days of 2023, Shabaka Hutchings announced he’d be putting down his saxophone. This meant curtains or an indefinite hiatus for his celebrated jazz bands Sons of Kemet and […]
Squeeze Tackle Teenage Rock Opera On ‘Trixies’
Squeeze (photo: Dean Chalkley). Music fans love the story of “the lost album” — the one project that got abandoned or crushed by the business. Now, more than 50 years into their career, British pub-pop […]
Bill Callahan Confronts Mortality and Legacy on ‘My Days of 58’
Bill Callahan performs live during a concert at the Admiralspalast on October 8, 2019, in Berlin, Germany. (Credit: Frank Hoensch/Redferns) In many ways, My Days of 58 feels like just another latter-day Bill Callahan album. […]
Mitski Makes Something out of ‘Nothing’
Mitski. (Credit: Lexie Alley) Typically, when a publicist sends you an advance copy of an album, it’s accompanied by anecdotes from the musician as context for your first listen. For Mitski’s latest, though, I was […]
Anushka Makes a Confident First Impression With “My Valentine”
Sixteen-year-old independent artist Anushka released her first official single on February 13, perfectly timed ahead of Valentine’s Day. The release doesn’t feel accidental. It feels considered. Rather than simply dropping a love song in February, […]
Shane Parish Unplugs Autechre
Shane Parish. (Credit: Courtney Chappell) “Beats per minute” is not a concept that fingerstyle guitarists usually have to worry about. The world of instrumental solo acoustic guitar, rooted in the blues, modernized by John Fahey […]
Hen Ogledd Makes Us Feel Off-Kilter With ‘Discombobulated’
Hen Ogledd Makes Us Feel Off-Kilter With ‘Discombobulated’ There is a fluidity to Hen Ogledd that separates them from other modern bands. A “supergroup” of niche artists, the collective has morphed in membership since its […]
Gorillaz Honor Departed Collaborators On ‘The Mountain’
Gorillaz Honor Departed Collaborators On ‘The Mountain’ Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett, the humans behind virtual group Gorillaz, don’t view death as the end, but as an excuse for a hell of a wake. Never […]
The Skin Barrier Reset Guide with Beauty Concerns
When your skin feels irritated, tight, dull, or suddenly sensitive, the problem is often deeper than dryness. A weakened skin barrier can leave your complexion vulnerable to inflammation, breakouts, and moisture loss. Restoring that protective […]
Jen Ash Steps Beyond “Heaven and Hell” Morality
On January 23, Jen Ash released “HELL,” and with it, a warning shot to anyone still clinging to the idea that obedience equals virtue. The Lebanese-born, France-raised artist opens 2026 not with subtlety, but with […]