Popstar Benny once said his music is “the soundtrack to a video game that doesn’t exist.” On the surface, that description only applies to the chirpy plugg beats and sound effects the Atlanta-based producer is […]
King Tuff: Smalltown Stardust
Smalltown Stardust reveals the sensitive side to King Tuff, the garage-rock persona Vermont eccentric Kyle Thomas adopted in the late 2000s. Those early King Tuff records—delivered just after Thomas spent some time playing in Witch, the stoner […]
The Men: New York City
The Men: Now there’s a band that knows how to self-mythologize. You might associate the punk four-piece with the Brooklyn music scene of the early 2010s, a world of 285 Kent gigs, Northside showcases, and the BrooklynVegan […]
The Waeve: The Waeve
Centuries of obscure folk tradition and a mistrust of isolated rural communities have helped birth a rich vein of pastoral horror in British music and film, from Incredible String Band and The Wicker Man in the late ’60s […]
Dryad: The Abyssal Plain
The opening guitar riffs of “Counterillumination” slither like a predator stalking prey. Named after the camouflaging ability of animals in the mesopelagic zone—the ocean layer where light becomes increasingly scarce—the track sets a foreboding tone […]
Kassem Mosse: workshop 32
Long before “lo-fi house” was blowing up play counts on YouTube, Kassem Mosse, aka Gunnar Wendel, was making hazy, low-visibility house jams that seemed to creep through a sooty midnight fog. Tarnished and corroded, betraying hints […]
Various Artists: Anthology of American Folk Music, Vol. 1-3
But the money—as always with Smith—wasn’t enough, whether for the drugs he loved or the films he loved to make with them. So Smith sought out a record label head by the name of Moses […]
Popcaan: Great Is He
Popcaan’s music is slathered in sweetness. Andrae Sutherland has a gift for shiny, elastic flows, making him a singjay—a reggae or dancehall artist with an ultra-melodic style—in the purest form. His indelible 2014 anthem “Everything […]
Shania Twain: Queen of Me
By the time the new millennium rolled over, Shania Twain’s legacy was secure. With her 1997 blockbuster Come On Over, the Canadian singer established a fresh mold for modern women in country and pop music, […]
Tha God Fahim: Chess Moves
Rap music is no stranger to the world of chess. RZA and GZA of Wu-Tang Clan are the most recognizable chess players in the movement and have crafted entire songs dedicated to the world’s most […]
Jonah Yano: Portrait of a Dog
In 2022, upon noticing that his grandparents were beginning to forget his name, Jonah Yano traveled to their home in Port Coquitlam, British Columbia, hoping to archive any and all memories of them. Tirelessly recording […]
Reuben Vincent: Love Is War
While an underclassman at Charlotte’s Myers Park High School, Reuben Vincent managed to squeeze a full-fledged rap triumph into his courseload. With production from North Carolina fixtures 9th Wonder and Khrysis, 2017’s Myers Park was the sort of go-for-broke […]