Fatoumata Diawara Creates African Pop-Soul From the Diaspora
On her strongest album yet, London Ko, Fatoumata Diawara demonstrates how music from today’s African diaspora can be “Everything Everywhere All at Once”.
soul pop
U.S. Girls ‘Bless This Mess’ Embraces Materiality, Creativity, and Dance Grooves
In Bless This Mess, U.S. Girls identify funk and R&B grooves as conduits for the very pulse of life. It’s brilliantly conceived and executed.
Kainalu Looks on the Bright Side with “Intuitions / Inhibitions” (premiere)
Kainalu’s warm style of simmering psychedelic yacht-funk powers “Intuitions / Inhibitions” with its nourishing blend of style and substance.
Brandi and the Alexanders View Present Through Past on ‘REFLECTION’
Whether the songs concern racism, family matters, or dancing, one feels the music as well as hears it in Brandi and the Alexanders’ REFLECTION.
Oliver Sim Gets Frank and Frightening on ‘Hideous Bastard’
The xx’s Oliver Sim goes solo with Hideous Bastard, which deals with deconstruction and learning to surrender to desire as a means of a resurrection.
The Heavy Heavy’s Psych Debut ‘Life and Life Only’ Shatters ’60s Conventions
The Heavy Heavy’s ‘Life and Life Only’ mashes up soul, psych, mod, and a tinge of eerie folk to create ’60s sound thrillingly at odds with today’s pop charts.
Rachel McElhiney’s ‘I Love It Here’ Belies the Heart Beneath It All
The first thing you’ll notice about Rachel McElhiney is that deceptively powerful voice, which is a beautiful vehicle for her jazz-flecked tunes.
Boy George Went Solo with ‘Sold’ in the Tumultuous Mid-’80s
Boy George is an essential figure in queer pop culture because his work strove to counter the prevailing conversation about queerness in the 1980s.
Diana Ross Explored Black Music’s Rich History on ‘Red Hot Rhythm & Blues’
Thirty-five years ago, Red Hot Rhythm & Blues saw Diana Ross ambitiously and affectionately placing herself within the history of Black music.
Emeli Sandé Opens Up to Her Listeners with ‘Let’s Say for Instance’
Emeli Sandé’s soulful R&B is full of love. Once again this beautiful artist warmly embraces her listeners with her coming-out album, Let’s Say for Instance.
30 Years Ago Annie Lennox Created a Pop-Soul Classic with Debut LP ‘Diva’
Thirty years ago, Annie Lennox’s Diva set a new standard for blue-eyed soul because she approached the style with depth, understanding, humility, and respect.
King Garbage’s Beautiful Mess of a Sophomore Album Is a Garage-Soul Classic
From marching band drums to gritty guitar lines to hip-hop beats, the dusty anything-goes soul-pop approach of King Garbage doesn’t have any contemporaries.