Olden Yolk’s ‘Living Theatre’ Is Both Vital and Dramatic
Olden Yolk's second album, Living Theatre, is phenomenally impressive and powerful, while it explores small moments with great concision and ambition.
Rod Waterman
Full-time apparatchik for Big Education, occasional poetry instructor, amateur painter, all-the-time seeker of new music.
A Certain Ratio’s Legacy Is Immense, and Impressive
A Certain Ratio's acr:box is a comprehensive and often stunning collection that charts the Manchester band's fascinating career.
A.A. Bondy’s ‘Enderness’ Is a Soundtrack for Our Current Moment
A.A. Bondy makes a dead-eyed and deadpan assessment of the ways in which we are amusing ourselves to death with his new album, Enderness.
Big Thief’s ‘U.F.O.F.’ Embraces the Unknown and the Unknowable
Big Thief's third album U.F.O.F. is a sublime odyssey where the journey blithely overshadows the destination. U.F.O.F. is an almost perfect album.
Reigning Sound’s ‘Abdication… For Your Love’ Gets a Welcome Reissue
Reigning Sound's 2011 album, Abdication... For Your Love, reissued on Merge, is a tour de force of grassroots rock and soul.
SOAK’s ‘Grim Town’ Is Surprisingly Cheerful
SOAK's second album, Grim Town, belies its pessimistic title with some jaunty and bracing anthems of escape and liberation.
Apparat’s LP5 Asks a Lot of Questions and Provides Some Answers
Apparat's LP5 asks questions of genre while providing a guided tour of some contemporary electronic trends.
Kevin Morby Speaks in the Tongues of His Forebears on ‘Oh My God’
Kevin Morby's Oh My God is a stunning high-wire act of high-concept and deep-rooted rock and roll at the same time.
Fennesz Reimagines Space and Time on ’Agora’
Electronic composer Christian Fennesz provides a feast of food for thought on his new four-part suite, Agora.
Laurel Halo’s ‘DJ Kicks’ Set Is Immaculately Balanced and Curated
Laurel Halo's DJ Kicks is a perfectly controlled and sequenced set, looking occasionally backward but mostly forward, and always very much in the present moment.
Sleaford Mods Kick Out the Jams and So Much More
Sleaford Mods' astonishing and deceptively subtle Eton Alive provides plenty of food for thought to counter the bread and circuses on offer during a time of political austerity.
Hand Habits’ ’placeholder’ Is Nothing of the Sort
Meg Duffy's second Hand Habits album offers some of the most insightful commentary you are likely to hear on the tumults and vicissitudes of the human heart.