Music Reviews

The South African icon's latest release is a live concert recording of his most powerful songs, which capture the spirit of his country's rise from apartheid to democracy.

The latest album by Berlin-based electronic artist Pantha du Prince is a collaboration built around a decidedly nondigital device: a series of large church bells.

An album recording of the guitarist from 1959 captures the thrilling sound of Midwestern jazz.

A new album of original songs from the Golden Globe-nominated TV series about Music City reflects the tastes of the show's musical producer, T-Bone Burnett, as well as the vocal talents of stars Connie Britton and Hayden Panettiere.

In the early 1960s, Joe Barry combined Cajun and country music into a whole new sound. In honor of a new anthology of Barry's music titled A Fool to Care, critic Ed Ward tells the forgotten musician's story.

Critic Milo Miles says that in this new collection of music from between the world wars, "the currents of long-ago lives come through: the drudgery of the work that demanded the release of the party, which then required the penance of prayer."

The New York MC, whose father is a gifted boxer turned community lawyer, gave up a promising career path of his own to rap full time.

The kids' music scene and the punk rock movement have a lot in common: Both have a DIY attitude and seem unconcerned with mainstream success. The bands Play Date and The Boogers have combined the genres, making kids' music using the infectious hooks of classic punk rock.

On her new album, the pop star tries to show she's not just in the business for the money. As critic Ken Tucker says, "Like pop stars ranging from Madonna on back to Chuck Berry, Ke$ha wants it both ways: mass-audience success and artistic acknowledgment."

On his second album, Unorthodox Jukebox, Mars traverses the pop landscape, pulling in far-flung influences and making them his own.