Arlo Parks — ‘Collapsed in Sunbeams,’ 4/5
For each new musical form, there will be those who embody it and those who pick up whatever scraps are left. Every supernova lets a…
music
Whitney K — ‘Two Years,’ 4/5
Whitney K, the drifter alter ego of Whitehorse, Yukon songwriter Konner Whitney, is a keen interpreter of rock music’s dingier corners. His debut record, the…
Grimes — ‘Miss Anthropocene (Rave Edition),’ 3/5
Claire “Grimes” Boucher is no longer a person. She is a pile of money, a series of angry articles, a class traitor, a problem and…
Julien’s Daughter — ‘The Static That Carries Over,’ 4.5/5
There are some bands that spring to life fully formed, like Athena from the head of Zeus or one of those sweet tents that just…
PETRIC — ‘Flashbacks,’ 3/5
PETRIC’s Flashbacks is airtight nearly to the point of airlessness, the dusty corners of country music sandblasted until even the shadows are gone, every instrument…
’Toban tracks
In a year that felt like an endless series of rugs being pulled out from under us, the one thing you could always rely on…
JR Charron — ‘Impression,’ 3/5
What do you say about a record like JR Charron’s Impression? Its instant familiarity and country-radio soundalike style is part of the appeal, its lack…
Vagina Witchcraft — ‘Vagina Witchcraft,’ 4/5
Vagina Witchcraft’s debut record doesn’t open with a scream or sludgy riff, but a missive, spoken with such raw feeling as to make the hair…
Odario — ‘Good Morning Hunter,’ 4.5/5
There is a notion that times of political and social turmoil create incendiary music, the kind of essential, galvanizing work that inspires and unites people….
Creativity in a climate of constant change
As we plunge headfirst into another wave of tightening restrictions, it’s hard not to look back at the pandemic’s tentative beginnings in March, when it…