Music Reviews

A new documentary by the hip-hop historian and critic dream hampton, culled from her own never-before-seen footage of rap's golden age, illustrates the hard labor for women who love the music.

David Bazan's multi-part memoirs have blurred memories of his adolescence, but with the goal of being honest and accountable. NPR Music critic Ann Powers sees connections between Pedro the Lion's Santa Cruz and Jane Schoenbrun’s new film, I Saw the TV Glow.

Released in a span of three months, the new albums by Ayra Starr, Tems and Tyla are not merely career-making for the artists, but ground-shifting for the pop music of the continent.

Staples has always lived in a few worlds: art-rap hero, hall-of-fame interviewee, and a homebody whose inner life is none of our business. On Dark Times, his worlds finally converge.

One of the best albums of 2024, Diamond Jubilee, isn't on streaming services. The artist who released it, Cindy Lee, has rejected the streaming era's demands to create something entirely their own.

Thirty years after Portishead's debut, Gibbons' first solo album is the testament of an uncanny singer simply making it through each day.

The rapper slipped free from the legal mess that swallowed his label and his mentor Young Thug — but on his new album, he's still in the grip of an unending image crisis.

The 86-year-old Kyiv native, living in exile in Berlin, has a new album of symphonic works that explores the idea of reminiscence.