It’s been obscured now by all the twerking and Wayne Coyne collaborations, but Miley Cyrus’ origins lie in country music. On her new Younger Now, the best cuts are the ones where she clings to those still-strong Tennessee roots. Here she even duets with godmother Dolly Parton—preceded by a voicemail from Parton, so we…

Wolf Alice’s Ellie Rowsell has an ethereal voice akin to Cocteau Twins’ Liz Fraser, one that would be in danger of drifting away were it not tethered to the might of her band. That lacy dreaminess is balanced by a ferociously heavy sonic wall, making for a sound that defies easy categorization. It’s made even more…

Primus is three decades deep into its career of absurdist funk-rock, and if you don’t “get” the band by now, you never will. That said, Les Claypool and Co. have only grown easier to digest with age. Primus’ last album, 2014’s Primus & The Chocolate Factory With The Fungi Ensemble, was an absurdist reworking of the Wil…

The first solo LP by Metric frontwoman Emily Haines, 2006’s Knives Don’t Have Your Back, is one of my desert-island records, a collection of autumnal chamber-pop that’s not only suited to my favorite time of year, but which was also a key ice-breaker in the relationship that eventually became my marriage. So I was…

On one hand, Phoebe Bridgers’ debut album features desperately downcast lyrics like “Jesus Christ, I’m so blue all the time / And that’s just how I feel / Always have and always will.” On the other, the singer-songwriter’s website resides at phoebefuckingbridgers.com, and the title of Stranger In The Alps is a nod to t…

During the final, meditative track of Torres’ third album, Three Futures, Mackenzie Scott sings, “To be given a body is the greatest gift.” That sentence by itself could be the thesis statement for all that comes before it: Three Futures is radically sensual, exploring vividly lush, expansive realms of atmosphere.…

Welcome back to AVC Sessions, our series where we bring in an artist, band, musician, singer, rapper, etc. to perform three of their own tracks. This round, we welcomed English folk singer-songwriter Marika Hackman into the studio. Accompanied by a four-piece band The Big Moon, Hackman performed “My Lover Cindy” from…

I know Insecure is a good show, but I’ve got this thing about all these mostly sad sometimes-funny comedy shows set in L.A., and so I’ve mostly caught the show in bits and pieces as my wife has kept up with it. But it’s clear that its concern with music is more than merely the narrative touch of Issa Rae’s bathroom…

In a recent Rolling Stone interview, The Killers make the case for their first new album in five years, offering a series of quotes that could have hailed directly from a press release: “The best way to put it is that I wanted to inhabit my age, so it’s a snapshot—a true representation of where we’re at,” says singer…

Thrice Woven might be the most straightforward collection of ragers Wolves In The Throne Room have yet pulled from the misty wilderness of the Pacific Northwest. That’s a relative distinction, of course. Like most of black metal’s less traditional American practitioners—think divisive Brooklyn bands like Krallice and…

If Macklemore does something good, and no one is around to see it, did it even happen? The performatively woke Seattle rapper has expressed his support for same-sex marriage and Black Lives Matter via treacly, interminable pop-rap tracks. He apologized to Kendrick Lamar after winning a Grammy over him—“It’s weird and…

The union of ferocious post-hardcore band Metz and cantankerous producer Steve Albini seems foretold in The Great Book Of Rock ’N’ Roll Inevitabilities. The Canadian trio specializes in a sound that’s both cutting and pummeling, and Albini famously has a knack for capturing bands at their grittiest. Not to mention…