Jazz’s Historical Agenda as Protest Music in the Stellar ‘Brassroots Democracy’
The excellent Brassroots Democracy details the beautiful and bleak ways that jazz music created the soundtrack of an emancipatory movement that lasts to this day.
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The 20 Best Americana Albums of 2024
Americana has never been better with the quality of music, diversity of styles, and the artists’ demographics in terms of race, gender, and wealth.
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The 10 Best Folk Albums of 2024
The year’s best folk albums transcend genre boundaries, yet each entry remains firmly grounded in the folk ethos of connection and storytelling.
Opa’s ‘Goldenwings’ Is a South American Jazz Fusion Classic
Opa’s Goldenwings is an influential Uruguayan jazz album that somehow got lost in the shuffle but is gloriously brought back to life with love and care.
Chatuye’s ‘Ahmuti’ Adds to a Garifuna Cultural Archive
The Chatuye archives offer a broader understanding of how Garifuna artists have sounded their identity in community with one another.
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The 10 Best Global Music Albums of 2024
In 2024’s best global music, celebrations of culture abound, with performers playing with sounds of home and family from the Caribbean to Tanzania and beyond.
Arthur Russell’s Underground Genius
Arthur Russell biography Travels Over Feeling is an elegy for a generation of underground artists that died too soon and a requiem for a vanished New York.
Passepartout Duo Reinterpret Synthesizer As an Intelligent Talking Machine
Experimental music is too often dismissed by many as cold and calculated. Passepartout Duo are here to tear down that myth with Argot.
Arlen Roth Plays Lively Folk Pop Acoustic Guitar Standards
Arlen Roth’s Playing Out the String is a blissful treat. The master guitarist delightfully picks and strums his way through well-known 20th-century songs.
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The 15 Best Ambient Albums of 2024
André 3000’s surprise Album of the Year nod at the Grammys was only one of the many ambient/experimental highlights to happen in a wild year like 2024.
Father John Misty Beautifully Chronicles Our Messed-Up World
Father John Misty has come as close to perfecting his artistry as anyone can. Mahashmashana is a masterpiece of exceptional songwriting and performance.
Mount Eerie’s ‘Night Palace’ Is a Beautiful Slow Burn
Mount Eerie’s new LP takes listeners on a slow journey through somber moods and reflective soundscapes, rich with poetry and imaginative storytelling.