A confession, to start off my first music review of the year: I was resistant to folk music—even just listening to it, as a means of expanding my musical horizons, for a long time. I used to be...
2017 was not a fun year. Here are some albums that made us feel better, despite the wall of excrement that was most of this year. St. Vincent, MASSEDUCTION: With a guitar-playing style that recalls...
Few singer-songwriters working today have the enormous back catalog and loyal fanbase that Tori Amos does. In a recent interview with Vulture’s David Marchese, Amos mentioned that touring has been...
If there is one thing that distinguishes Tori Amos from many of her fellow ‘90s-era rock stars, it is that she is still making excellent music. Her 15th studio album Native Invader—released on...
Before I begin this review, a spoiler alert: Arcade Fire’s new album Everything Now is disappointing for a plethora of reasons. My main issue with Everything Now—as a fan of the band and...
If there’s one word that could be used to describe the music of Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, it would be intense. The Australian band has been enchanting fans and collecting worldwide...
It can be difficult to describe singer-songwriter Beth Ditto’s voice without lapsing into hyperbole; her wonderfully versatile voice can impart anger, pride and tenderness, often within the...
There are two ways for me to begin this piece: I discovered the music of Perfume Genius late, or I discovered the music of Perfume Genius at exactly the right time. I was working in a job...
“Mu isamaa on minu arm.” The unofficial national anthem of Estonia translates as “Land of my fathers, land that I love.” It began as a poem written by Estonian poet, Lydia Koidula,...
If the “Great American songbook” is by now a cliché, and musicians making standards albums is even more so, then Diamanda Galas’s two new albums are a metaphorical tearing up—and...
