Hardcore veterans Converge play to their strengths on The Dusk In Us, while Shamir’s Revelations is earnest and rewarding, if not as effervescent as Ratchet. These, plus Big K.R.I.T. and Sam Smith in the week’s notable new releases.

At this year’s Riot Fest in Chicago, The A.V. Club asked bands to play a game we call Punk Or Not Punk, in which they rate random things on an arbitrary, dichotomic scale. This round, we see whether or not the Wu-Tang Clan sees itself as punk.

At this year’s Riot Fest in Chicago, The A.V. Club asked bands to play a game we call Punk Or Not Punk, in which they rate random things on an arbitrary, dichotomic scale. This round, Peaches rates Steve Bannon, Gwen Stefani, and Blade Runner.

As 2017 winds to a close, after a year that’s seen the release of thousands of albums—an unusually large number of which are quite good!—it seems almost unthinkable that November would still have more to give. But with new records from the likes of Björk, Angel Olsen, Shamir, Sharon Jones, and more still in the…

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. For this round we’re joined by Chicago native Zeshan Bagewadi, better known as Zeshan B. Bagewadi’s music is heavily influence by the Indo-Pakistani music of his childhood…

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. For this round we’re joined by Chicago native Zeshan Bagewadi. Bagewadi’s music is heavily influence by the Indo-Pakistani music of his childhood and black soul artists like…

One of the prevailing themes of The Knife’s unwieldy, unruly 2013 album Shaking The Habitual is right there in the title: breaking from norms and destroying expectations. Influenced by the writings of feminist and queer theory scholars, the Swedish sister-brother duo fixated on questioning the strict, pointless rules…

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. For this round we’re joined by Chicago native Zeshan Bagewadi. Bagewadi’s music is heavily influence by the Indo-Pakistani music of his childhood and black soul artists like…

Three staffers, three unabashed recommendations.

Julien Baker’s crushingly intimate songs get more breathing room on Turn Out The Lights, Weezer feels caught in an endless summer, and John Maus’ hypnotic Screen Memories is either genius or a joke. These plus Ty Dolla Sign in the week’s notable releases.

Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” music video was inspired by John Landis’ movie An American Werewolf In London. Jackson, according to Landis, loved the visual effects from the film and wanted to turn into a monster onscreen. The resulting video ended up sparking change across the media landscape, breaking down MTV’s color…

Few could have predicted the comeback the Insane Clown Posse and its fans are enjoying in 2017. Juggalos have mostly been punchlines for more than two decades, but thanks in large part to September’s Juggalo March, they seem to have captured America’s heart. So we’re celebrating the unlikely resurgence of Insane Clown…

Julien Baker is unfailingly polite. After the release of her 2015 debut album Sprained Ankle, several profiles made mention of her manners, along with the fact that she addresses interviewers with “ma’am” or “sir .” And when I meet her at her Chicago hotel to discuss her new album Turn Out The Lights, while I don’t…

It happens every year: Some indie rock band whose name or general press descriptors convince me it will be another boring garage-rock revival sneaks into my ears months later and I become a very late-to-the-party acolyte. This year, it was King Krule, which got recommended to me casually last week, and which I had…