Everything’s a Dollar in This Box: Tom Waits’ ‘Swordfishtrombones’ at 40
Tom Waits’ 1983 album Swordfishtrombones signified a seismic shift in the singer-songwriter’s sound. His music would never be the same again.
experimental rock
Public Image Ltd Skirt Between Success and Failure on ‘End of World’
Public Image Ltd’s End of World, their first in eight years, marks some of John Lydon’s best work in decades and a half that should have never left band practice.
Black Duck Move Us on Their Intuitive and Fluid Debut
Black Duck’s debut is an instrumental tour de force sweeping the American landscape from the southern breeze and the northern chill to the majestic ocean.
Squid’s ‘O Monolith’ Is a Paranoid Post-Genre Maelstrom
Squid follow up 2020’s Bright Green Field with a tighter, leaner, more refined version of their signature melding of sonic chaos and compositional ambition.
Water From Your Eyes Glance at Stardom with ‘Everyone’s Crushed’
Water From Your Eyes traffic between experimental music of the krautrock period of the late 1960s and early 1970s and today’s feminine pop sensibility.
Gregory Uhlmann’s ‘Again and Again’ Is Quirky, Sophisticated Pop
Again and Again sees Gregory Uhlmann in a constant state of growth and maturity, finding ways to put it all into a coherent, beautiful artistic statement.
Deerhoof Reach a New Miracle-Level By Daring Themselves
The always-brazen Deerhoof challenged their process for their new album, giving themselves tight deadlines, tough decisions, and singing it all in Japanese.
Deerhoof Endorse Collective Dreaming on ‘Miracle-Level’
Deerhoof’s Miracle-Level explores music’s humanitarian capabilities, expressing a longing for the miraculous and a rejection of the mundane.
Liturgy’s ‘93696’ Delivers Ecstasy, Physicality, and Intellectual Endeavor
Already noted for their determination to challenge themselves and their listeners, Liturgy’s 93696 shows them refusing to settle for less when more is possible.
Filling Hearts With Diamonds: An Interview with Ravenna Hunt-Hendrix of Liturgy
Exemplified by the new album 93696, Liturgy have moved ever further out into space all their own, tethered only by a slender cable to their sonic point of origin.
John Cale Collaborates with Contemporary Artists on ‘MERCY’
John Cale enlists Weyes Blood, Sylvan Esso, and Animal Collective to create a dark, unsettling new LP, MERCY, combining darkness with beauty on a knife edge.
The Alchemy of the Velvet Underground’s Art
In The Velvet Underground documentary, Todd Haynes shows the music catapulting across time and space to Andy Warhol’s Factory, where the alchemy worked its magic.