Latest Article|September 3, 2020|Free
::Making Grown Men Cry Since 1992
Alibi
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6 min read
Get comfortable with the more joyous mom DiFranco, because "edgy" doesn’t always mean "better," and there’s plenty left once all that twisty suffering dissipates. (MD)
On The Flood, part two of The Big Rain Trilogy, trumpeter/composer Cohen takes you on a swim through a Noah-like event, buoyed by his poetic spirit, lyrical playing and emotional intensity. (MM)
Experimental folk with a Dylan fetish. (SM)
Psychedelic twee at its most adorable. (SM)
Cheesy but classy dance-rock from Brazil. (SM)
Leading a transcendent sextet, the Cuban-born jazz drummer and composer gives eloquent expression to exile’s internal life—equal parts angst and exhilaration. (MM)
Both you and your grandpa might like this album. (MD)
Tenorist McCaslin does a high-wire saxophone trio act of stunning musicality, blowing the bejesus out of his horn on nine originals and Billy Strayhorn’s “Isfahan,” with the superior assistance of bassist Hans Glawischnig and drummer Jonathan Blake. (MM)
The good doctor brings the healing powers of funk to the still-raw wounds of Katrina, offering a jazz funeral for the storm’s victims and excoriating the inept bureaucrats and greedy speculators who deepened the crisis. (MM)
"Nothing is crueler than children who come from good homes," may be the best first line in a song this year. (MD)
A glass of Southern Comfort that sweats testosterone and genteel sleaze. (MD)
Bright, guitar-heavy melodies juxtaposed with death-obsessed lyrics. (SM)
Synthesizer gives Keane’s alt.piano tunes a cheeky swagger. (SM)
Nerd hip-hop duo that likes new wave and grimy electro as much as it reveres rap’s legends. (SM)
Delicate and masterful, Shara Worden’s arrangements sweep into the vast spaces between stars. (MD)
The genius of jazz pianist/composer Omar Sosa centers in his understanding that music, at bottom, is a doorway to another world, and on Afreecanos, as he did on 2004’s Mulatos, he takes us on an evocative journey through the oldest and newest sounds on the planet. (MM)
Luscious prog-rock melodies and falsetto vocals. (SM)
Tinted in the muted tones of evening, these guys know the maturity of a slow boil. (MD)
It’s dance-rock the kid in you craves. (SM)
Trad jazz is not only alive and well but evolving still, as evidenced by this happy pairing of two superior New Orleans players—pianist Tom McDermott and cornetist Connie Jones, neither of whom knows how to play a false note. (MM)
The apocalypse’s Afro-pop after-party. (MD)