Charles Bradley: Victim of Love

By Ryan Bort at 9:57 AM on April 2, 2013

Charles Bradley's life story has been well-documented since he burst onto the scene at the tender age of 62 after releasing his 2011 debut album, No Time For Dreaming.  read more

Kacey Musgraves: Same Trailer, Different Park

By Holly Gleason at 5:21 PM on March 26, 2013

Kacey Musgraves, 23, sings unvarnished truths about being hooked on “Mary Kay, Mary Jane and Mary down the block,” but she’s maintained the sunniness that is the right of the young.  read more

Shout Out Louds: Optica

By Ryan Reed at 5:15 PM on March 26, 2013

With 2010's Work, Sweden's Shout Out Louds attempted a ballsy move: Working with it-producer Phil Ek, the quintet stripped back their swooning, bells-and-whistles indie-pop in favor of a drier, starker, less romantic sound.  read more

CHVRCHES: Recover EP

By Ryan Reed at 4:24 PM on March 26, 2013

"Recover," the title-track on this Scottish trio's debut EP, is the "Midnight City" of 2013: a simple electro-pop song that feels anything but simple.  read more

Brandt Brauer Frick: Miami

By Nathan Huffstutter at 3:45 PM on March 26, 2013

Concept. Sounds cold. An idea, isolated. A mechanism in motion. Art as thought; execution follows.  read more

Thalia Zedek: Via

By Mark Lore at 2:30 PM on March 26, 2013

There’s plenty to parse through and examine in Thalia Zedek’s musical past alone.  read more

Warm Soda: Someone for You

By Ryan Reed at 1:28 PM on March 26, 2013

Like Ariel Pink or the chillwave folks, Oakland's Warm Soda use nostalgia as an instrument.  read more

Wavves: Afraid of Heights

By Philip Cosores at 12:13 PM on March 26, 2013

Some artists might mature, but you never really want them to grow up. Alternative radio is practically held together by these human hinges—eternal adolescents like Billie Joe Armstrong, who incorporates a t-shirt cannon into performances and has penned a broadway musical, or Dave Grohl, who seems to seek out opportunities where he can dress like a woman for laughs and also gave the SXSW keynote address.  read more

The Strokes: Comedown Machine

By Ryan Reed at 11:43 AM on March 26, 2013

A decade ago, in that vulnerable post-9/11 age filled skinny jeans and retro garage-rock, The Strokes were rock royalty.   read more

Purling Hiss: Water on Mars

By Evan Rytlewski at 5:00 PM on March 19, 2013

An even more classic-rock-minded product of the same Philadelphia scene that spawned Kurt Vile and The War on Drugs, Purling Hiss began as a solo project for Mike Polizze, whose crude, fuzz-addled self-recordings disguised some truly magnificent guitar work.  read more

Low: The Invisible Way

By Evan Rytlewski at 4:24 PM on March 19, 2013

Having cemented their signature sound around the turn of the century, Low has spent the last decade branching out from it.  read more

Marnie Stern: The Chronicles of Marnia

By Evan Rytlewski at 3:24 PM on March 19, 2013

Where Marnie Stern’s deeply wistful self-titled 2010 album was inspired by the death of a beloved ex-boyfriend, whose ghost hung over even the songs that weren’t explicitly about him, Stern’s follow-up is marked by a different kind of absence.  read more

Phosphorescent: Muchacho

By Nathan Huffstutter at 2:35 PM on March 19, 2013

Sitting down to listen to the latest from Phosphorescent, I armed myself with a blank notepad and a stack of CDs: Richard Buckner and Bonnie Prince Billy, American Music Club’s California and some early Chris Whitley. By the last reverberations of Muchacho’s closing hymn, my scribbled notes were buried beneath books by Malcolm Lowry and Barry Hannah and I’d pulled an entirely different pile of discs off the shelf: Blood On The Tracks, Joshua Tree, Grievous Angel and Robbie Robertson.  read more

Justin Timberlake: The 20/20 Experience

By Ryan Reed at 12:28 PM on March 19, 2013

From Mouseketeer to boy band heartthrob to MJ disciple to Timbaland sidekick to "Dick in a Box" crooner, Justin Timberlake has crammed more unpredictable brilliance into his career than any other pop star on the planet.  read more

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club: Specter at the Feast

By Philip Cosores at 10:19 AM on March 19, 2013

On their 2001 debut, B.R.M.C., Black Rebel Motorcycle Club offered a song titled “Whatever Happened to my Rock and Roll (Punk Song);” an energetic and attitude-driven paradigm for what the band thought rock and roll should sound like, or at least the attitude that rock bands should possess.  read more

Ashley Monroe: Like A Rose

By Holly Gleason at 5:14 PM on March 12, 2013

To look at the pretty girl in the sundress under the parasol, Ashley Monroe could be one more Southern belle looking for her place in the Easter Parade. So placid and pastoral, this girl from East Tennessee who likes her girlie hippie things—just don’t judge the recording by its cover.  read more

Caitlin Rose: The Stand-In

By Justin Cober-Lake at 4:42 PM on March 12, 2013

Caitlin Rose immediately proved she was someone to pay attention to with her debut EP in 2008.  read more

Waxahatchee: Cerulean Salt

By Dan Weiss at 3:12 PM on March 12, 2013

The should-be legendary P.S. Eliot had one of those oil-and-water breakups like At the Drive-In splitting into prog-rollercoaster Mars Volta and radio-combed Sparta.  read more

David Bowie: The Next Day

By Douglas Heselgrave at 1:17 PM on March 12, 2013

For the first time in a long time—exactly how long is a matter of debate—one can say with complete honesty that every song on the newest Bowie album is worthy of a concentrated listen and a deeper look.  read more

Chelsea Light Moving: Chelsea Light Moving

By Dan Weiss at 12:35 PM on March 12, 2013

Not a Sonic Youth record, but let’s say someone unfamiliar asks you anyway: Nirvana or no Nirvana, Sonic Youth might’ve flirted with grunge, but Chelsea Light Moving gives doom metal a sloppy kiss.  read more