Hip-Hop Matters: The Best Hip-Hop of February 2022
Another packed month in hip-hop sees Saba drop a future classic, Cities Aviv create a psychedelic fantasia, and Willow Kayne make a compelling bid for stardom.
Tom Morgan
Tom Morgan is a BA English graduate based in South Wales, UK. Besides PopMatters he also writes for BrooklynVegan's Invisible Oranges, Wales' main culture magazine Buzz and numerous other websites, often focusing on heavy music. His day job is running a record store.
‘Ants From Up There’ Sees Black Country, New Road Thrillingly Solidify Their Unique Vision
The bold sophomore album from the London experimentalists is a singular work rife with ambitious songwriting and sincere, sharply-observed emotions.
Hip-Hop Matters: The Best Hip-Hop of January 2022
January’s best hip-hop features two old masters on a bold new work, the thrilling return of a UK drill star, and a mysterious collective project that unnervingly invokes the terror of social unrest.
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The 20 Best Hip-Hop Albums of 2021
Hip-hop and myriad mutations of electronic music are the critical contemporary cultural lenses through which we view the creation of new ideas and aesthetics.
Converge Embrace the Power of Collaboration on the Brilliant ‘Bloodmoon: 1’
Metalcore pioneers Converge unite with Chelsea Wolfe and Cave In’s Stephen Brodsky to craft a brooding work of goth-inflected metal with Bloodmoon: I.
Hip-Hop Matters: The Best Hip-Hop of October 2021
October’s best new hip-hop includes JPEGMAFIA, Headie One, Wiki, and The Alchemist. This eclectic bunch comprises singular, ambitious, and thrilling works.
BadBadNotGood Spead Their Wings on the Ambitious ‘Talk Memory’
Canadian jazz/hip-hop band BadBadNotGood’s Talk Memory sees them ascend towards more bold and elaborate heights than ever before.
Hip-Hop Matters: The Best Hip-Hop of September 2021
These are the best hip-hop albums released this September, including new records from Little Simz, Injury Reserve, Moor Mother, and Blu.
The Body and BIG|BRAVE Conjure Dark Folk Magic on Captivating ‘Leaving None But Small Birds’
The Body and BIG|BRAVE’s Leaving None But Small Birds is a rich, elemental, and engrossing slice of doom-laden American folk music.
Hip-Hop Matters: The Best Hip-Hop Albums of August 2021
The ten best hip-hop albums of August 2021 reveal truths about our strange, alarming but often exciting contemporary socio-cultural landscape.
Manic Street Preachers Reckon with an Uncertain World on ‘The Ultra Vivid Lament’
Manic Street Preachers’ The Ultra Vivid Lament is as rich, melancholic, and intelligent as ever, but also riddled with doubts and anxieties.
The Bug’s ‘Fire’ Is an Incendiary Reflection of a World Ablaze
Legendary bass-worshipper, the Bug crafts 14 earth-shaking tracks reflecting the volatility of our current socio-political landscape for his latest album, Fire.