First Listen: Martha Wainwright, 'Goodnight City'
Wainwright's singing shows a deep awareness of the multiple meanings that can merge and overflow — even within utterances as direct as a lover's whisper or a lullaby.
Music Reviews
First Listen: Ronnie Dunn, 'Tattooed Heart'
Three albums after wrapping his run with one of the most successful country duos of the '90s and early '00s, Dunn deftly carves out a role for himself amid the genre's current youthful landscape.
First Listen: Hart Valley Drifters, 'Folk Time'
These recordings, made three years before the Grateful Dead formed, capture the beginning of Jerry Garcia's musical quest to explore every aspect of what makes American music so rich.
First Listen: Daniel Bachman, 'Daniel Bachman'
At 26, Bachman is already an established voice in the solo guitar music scene, but he knows that evolution comes in steps, not leaps. Here, he presents the most rounded version of himself.
Lebanese Composer Marcel Khalife's Urgent Reminder That Peace Is Possible
For over four decades, Khalife has made music amid political turmoil and social upheaval. His latest album, Andalusia Of Love, is brooding and wistfully optimistic.
Leonard Cohen Explores The Fragility Of Life In 'You Want It Darker'
The 82-year-old songwriter mixes serious contemplation with mordant humor on his new album. Critic Ken Tucker says You Want It Darker features some of Cohen's simplest, most effective lyrics.
First Listen: Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions, 'Until The Hunter'
Nearly 30 years into her career, Mazzy Star's singer still takes her time in the pursuit of beauty. Here, she works with My Bloody Valentine's Colm O'Ciosoig, as well as guests like Kurt Vile.
First Listen: Jim James, 'Eternally Even'
The My Morning Jacket frontman adopts the role of gravel-voiced doomsayer in a new solo album that takes grim foreboding and makes it funky.
First Listen: Kristin Hersh, 'Wyatt At The Coyote Palace'
In an album named for her teenage son, the singer-songwriter and punk mystic reflects upon some of her life's most perception-altering junctures.
First Listen: Lambchop, 'FLOTUS'
Kurt Wagner's ambition has taken a hard left on the Nashville group's new album, which ditches Lambchop's typical organic feel for something far more progressive.