The band's first new record in nine years confronts environmental ruin and pandemic-era isolation, but ends at a vantage of hope — one that sounds like it took all the intervening time to reach.
(Image credit: Jason Al-Taan/Courtesy of the artist)
Reed died in 2013. A new collection, recorded in 1965, captures the earliest-known versions of some of the Velvet Underground's best known songs, including "Heroin" and "Pale Blue Eyes."
Kurt Wagner's Nashville collective has always been an expression of absolute possibility. The Bible, his best album in a decade, points that instinct at life's most inescapable truth.
(Image credit: Erik Westra/Courtesy of the artist)
On Blount's new concept album, the singer, scholar and multi-instrumentalist reimagines field recordings of spirituals to tell a story about a time after the climate crisis has destroyed the earth.
(Image credit: Tadin Brown /Courtesy of the artist)
On his new album the drummer, composer and self-described "beat scientist" makes music by way of an elaborate hybrid method combining improvisation with careful editing. It sounds like magic.
(Image credit: Sulyiman Stokes/Courtesy of the artist)
The Space Force has released their new anthem, "Semper Supra." NPR's Ari Shapiro speaks with Stephen Thompson from NPR Music to review it.
Scrapped and shelved until now, Dessau mirrors a particularly fraught moment for the slowcore band.
(Image credit: Mike Galinsky/Courtesy of Numero Group)
As a songwriter, Alex Giannascoli has long taken a mutating, playfully distorted approach. But on his new album, full of songs about morality, he astutely focuses every magic trick in his discography.
(Image credit: Chris Maggio)
Laura Snapes, music editor for The Guardian, reviews Sawayama's "Hold the Girl."
On his debut solo album, Sim — best known as a member of The xx — takes inspiration from horror movie villains on songs that look for humanity in the aspects of our identity that society rejects.
(Image credit: Casper Sejersen/Courtesy of the artist)
On Write Your Name In Pink, the Alaskan singer-songwriter turns a compassionate eye towards his memories, threading together small moments to reveal moving stories about love, addiction and growth.
(Image credit: Emma Sheffer/Courtesy of the artist)
The pop singer has superstar ambition and a knack for clever genre collisions. But while her new album sometimes matches intensity with innovation, it more often grinds her nuanced story to a paste.
(Image credit: Thurstan Redding/Courtesy of the artist)
The self-taught violinist, producer, and songwriter doesn't just experience or consume global sounds; she interacts with them. Natural Brown Prom Queen feels like a world tour of her brain.
(Image credit: Edwig Henson)
Holed up on opposite coasts, Roc Marciano and the Alchemist, two key figures in underground rap, have been gradually moving toward a shared sonic goal, reaching an apex with their new album.
(Image credit: Castro Clifton)
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