D’Angelo – Voodoo [Virgin 2000] Context-wise it was situated as the apotheosis of the Soulquarian movement, which was a group of some thirty-ish genius stars and session players who injected their revered 70’s funk and soul with modern digital rhythm, mostly dusty hip hop and stitched together samples. As for the progression of the work, …
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Anguine De Poitrine – Vol II [Self Released 2026] Prog revival with visual flair for the era of aura farming edits. It’s more Frank Zappa than Tool thank God, it means there’s a sense of humor. And it’s more Daft Punk than GWAR which thank God, means the mask schtick isn’t tied to subject matter. …
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Ka – Grief Pedigree [Iron Works Records 2012] Local Brownsville man is a boom bap classicist. 3.5/5 (“No Downtime”, “Born King N.Y.”) Ratboys – Singin’ to an Empty Chair [New West 2026] Will they grow to be the saviors of indie rock? One can hope not if all they can dish out is country fried …
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Lambrini Girls – Who Let The Dogs Out [City Slag 2025] Bristol-based (British version of Provincetown, MA) two piece zoomer riotgrrrl punk pulling from the UK’s rich tradition of anticapitalist Oi sing and scream and joke about the queerness and neurodivergence that make them up with just as much joy and rage as they write …
Danny Brown – Stardust [Warp 2025] The real radical shift is not the hyperpop production crafted by mostly young trans artists, though it’s reflective of his fierce love of outsiders despite his apolitical stance. Nor is it the honesty with which he documents and confesses his substance abuse excesses which landed him in rehab, a …
Dijon – Baby [R&R/Warner 2025] R&B new dad has a lot of experimentalism in his sound – Prince plus Bon Iver – but melodically underwhelms. 3.5/5 (“Yamaha”, “Rewind”, “Automatic”) https://open.spotify.com/album/3hKlec1wgYVJcI0YvwCFJB?si=yOe7hyoFQKeHDyfXFa2tDQ Water From Your Eyes – Everyone’s Crushed [Matador 2023] Album three from the duo of Nate Amos and Rachel Brown – these two are art …
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Having sat on my hard drive now for almost 6 months it’s probably good that these compendium follow up pieces see the light of day. This (the Jay-Z stuff) was approximately 3 years in the making, starting at the end of ’22 and following me through a move, an engagement, and a promotion. Jay’s own …
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Chance the Rapper – Star Line [Self Released 2025] This 32-year-old divorcee seems to be posturing for “return to form” hosannas, but he sounds tired. Reflecting on his Obama-era work there was always a youthfulness to it, even in its mature moments; a boundless feeling that anything was possible, the peaceful-yet-poignant ways that life can …
Billy Woods – History Will Absolve Me [Backwoodz 2012] If you couldn’t tell by the album title and cover art, Woods is the son of a Zimbabwean Marxist, based in NYC. As such he’s got stories about being the foreign kid in school, colonialism and post colonialism as metaphors for the music industry, and a …
Bob Vylan – We Live Here (Deluxe) [Independent 2021] Very British, very Black, very left, very willing to settle on rage as a solution. Which, under the COVID-Era Johnson administration is short sighted, but enough. 3.8/5 https://open.spotify.com/album/6mciOh2YVlEdXdmHDmphz5?si=biJjItaWTbuQyY3CSnf5XA Lifeguard – Ripped and Torn [Matador 2025] Freshly out of their teenager years, three Chicago mascs make art-punk …
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