Music Reviews

Composer Julius Eastman's music is slowly moving from neglected to championed.

Music & Culture

Julius Eastman, A Misunderstood Composer, Returns To The Light

10:17pm June 21, 2021

by Tom Huizenga

A visionary who died young and alone in 1990, Eastman is making a slow but richly deserved comeback thanks to a curious younger generation. A new interpretation of his 1974 work Femenine is out now.

Music & Culture

Allison Russell Displays A Bursting Range Of Music On 'Outside Child'

1:43pm June 02, 2021

by Ken Tucker

Russell cut her new album in a scant four days, pouring a lifetime of experiences into it. Outside Child is the confession of a woman who's faced hellish experiences and emerged with uncommon grace.

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Music & Culture

Shabaka Hutchings' 'Black To The Future' Is A Showcase For Black British Music

1:22pm May 31, 2021

by Kevin Whitehead

Bandleader and reed player Hutchings was born in London, but partly raised in Barbados. His new album with Sons of Kemet highlights the criss-crossing trajectories of African musical diasporas.

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Music & Culture

Olivia Rodrigo Bridges Generations On Her Debut Album 'Sour'

4:27pm May 24, 2021

With her debut album Sour, released May 21, Olivia Rodrigo ushers in a new, grungier era for the Disney-to-pop-star pipeline.

Megan Thee Stallion kicked off Saturday Night Live's 46th season in style — and with substance.

Music & Culture

'SNL' Musical Guests, Ranked From No. 1 To Morgan Wallen

10:47am May 24, 2021

by Stephen Thompson

Every year, Saturday Night Live showcases some of the biggest stars in pop, rock, hip-hop and more. At the end of each season, we rank them with cold-hearted precision.

Olivia Rodrigo's debut album, Sour, is out May 21, less than six months after she shattered streaming records with the breakthrough single "drivers license."

Music & Culture

On 'Sour,' Olivia Rodrigo Is A Lowercase Girl With Caps-Lock Feelings

8:40pm May 21, 2021

by Lindsay Zoladz

The debut album by the "drivers license" phenom plays like one bottled-up soliloquy after another, bursting from a quiet observer who has been paying closer attention than you think.

Music & Culture

Sophia Kennedy's 'Monsters' Showcases The Method Of A Restless Experimenter

1:27pm May 19, 2021

by Ken Tucker

For her second solo album, Kennedy's array of diverse songs — from thumping electronica to full-throated crooning — shows us she won't be pinned down

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Daddy's Home (out May 14), Annie Clark's sixth album as St. Vincent, takes the sounds and sleaze of early-1970s New York as its aesthetic backdrop.

Music & Culture

St. Vincent, Builder Of Rock Futures, Takes Shelter In The Past

2:55pm May 14, 2021

by Sasha Geffen

Fourteen years after her first album as St. Vincent, Annie Clark makes a sharp turn in time with Daddy's Home, a '70s rock revue that nails the sound, if not the spirit, of its influences.

Music & Culture

Vincent Herring Infuses Jazz With Bold Strokes And Swagger On 'Minor Swing'

10:16am May 13, 2021

by Kevin Whitehead

Herring is an alto saxophonist with a dynamic sound and aggressive attitude. His new album features jazz with a big dollop of swing rhythm and blues feeling.

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Music & Culture

Composer Bernard Herrmann Showcases His Range On 'PostClassical Ensemble'

2:41pm May 04, 2021

by Lloyd Schwartz

Herrmann composed some of the best-known film music ever written — especially the scores he wrote for Alfred Hitchcock. Now a new CD shows another side of Herrmann that's equally memorable.

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