Album Reviews

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  Belle and Sebastian Sound Best When They're Themselves on 'Late Developers'

  PUBLISHED Jan 12, 2023

  Belle and Sebastian have entered the workmanlike era of their career. They haven't released a truly essential album since 2006's The Life P...

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  Julia Wolf Is in Her Bildungsroman Bag on 'Good Thing We Stayed'

  PUBLISHED Jan 12, 2023

  The year was 2010. Drake released the Kanye co-write "Find Your Love" — a very obvious leftover from the cutting room floor of 808s and Hea...

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  Rozi Plain's 'Prize' Is Full of Careful Thrills

  PUBLISHED Jan 11, 2023

  Some music is worth more than the sum of its parts. Rozi Plain's fifth album strips her synthetic folk style down to its bare essentials, r...

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  Billy Nomates Survives the Drought on Steely-Eyed 'CACTI'

  PUBLISHED Jan 11, 2023

  On the cover of her sophomore record CACTI, Tor Maries, aka Billy Nomates, postures herself as such — a cactus with limbs bent askew, off-b...

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  Toronto's poolblood Wrestles with Tenderness on the Sparkling 'mole'

  PUBLISHED Jan 10, 2023

  At a 2021 virtual showcase hosted by Toronto's Long Winter festival, poolblood's Maryam Said contributed a video of themselves playing an o...

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  Margo Price Cements Her Outlaw Status on 'Strays'

  PUBLISHED Jan 10, 2023

  Dolly Parton made history at the 2022 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony, cementing her improbable status as the ultimate crosso...

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  Obituary Are Still Obituary on 'Dying of Everything'

  PUBLISHED Jan 9, 2023

  You always sorta know what you're gonna get with a band like Obituary. One of the most successful stalwarts of Florida's '80s–'90s death me...

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  ​The Smile Highlight Their Chops with 'Live at Montreux Jazz Festival, July 2022'

  PUBLISHED Jan 3, 2023

  The Smile have been keen to emphasize that they're a live band first: they premiered most of their songs to the world through livestreams b...