Charlotte Gainsbourg takes full creative control on Rest; the late Sharon Jones takes one final encore on Soul Of A Woman; and OCS reverts to its lush, reflective roots on Memory Of A Cut Off Head. These, plus The Body & Full Of Hell, Mavis Staples, and Kamaiyah in this week’s notable releases.

Morrissey hasn’t made it easy to be a Morrissey fan in recent years, delivering multiple foot-in-mouth political proclamations, a puzzling debut novel, and sporadic, underwhelming new music. 2014’s World Peace Is None Of Your Business felt like a death knell—a listless, uninspired album that veered from attempted…

Sampha, “(No One Knows Me) Like The Piano”

The definitive song of the first era of Taylor Swift’s career is 2008’s “Love Story,” a heart-in-throat Dashboard Confessional anthem that has the artistic audacity to re-envision Romeo And Juliet with a happy ending. Swift was going through a typically Swiftian tough relationship at the time, and connected, like many…

Legendary post-hardcore outfit Quicksand goes contemplative on its first album in 22 years, while the rarities collection Phases captures Angel Olsen’s lovelorn evolution. These, plus Yung Lean in the week’s notable releases.

Eventually, everyone succumbs to the desire to grab an acoustic guitar and illustrate that they, like, really like Elliott Smith. No, no, they know everyone does, but they really do. Generally this occurs sometime during late fall of freshman year, hair pulled beneath an unassuming beanie in the quad, the song…

Stop what you are doing, immediately, and watch the above video by the fraternal rap duo The Hoodies. It will be the best six minutes you’ve spent on the internet in months. The pairing of 11-year-old Young Poppa and his older brother E Class results in some of the most exuberant, funny, wise, and technically…

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 pop-rock trio Hanson. Earlier this year, the brothers embarked on the Middle Of Everywhere: 25th Anniversary Tour to commemorate 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 pop-rock trio Hanson. Earlier this year, the brothers embarked on the Middle Of Everywhere: 25th Anniversary Tour to commemorate the…

A live-wire energy and pointed politics made Exploded View’s self-titled debut one of our 2016 Albums Of The Year. Its follow-up, the four-song EP Summer Came Early, feels like both an extension of that record and a step forward, with the four-piece tightening its improvisations while retaining the chaotic tension so…