Popular Music

Folk Album Review: “Swingin’ Live at the Church in Tulsa” — Taj Mahal Ascendent

March 14, 2024
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“Swingin’ Live at the Church in Tulsa” is a snapshot of a vibrant octogenarian artist who is still moving forward.

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Concert Review: Brittany Howard — A Determined Musical Evolution

February 15, 2024
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The set impressed in its diversity, boosted by the cohesive breadth of “What Now,” even as its homages grew overt in the second half.

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Album Review: Lou Reed’s “Hudson River Wind Meditations” — Meditative Loop-De-Loops

January 10, 2024
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It may not be one of ambient music’s masterworks, but this 2007 album deserved far better treatment than utter neglect from Lou Reed fans.

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Arts Feature: The Best in Popular Music 2023

December 23, 2023
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Our music critics pick some of the standout albums and performances of 2023.

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Music Commentary: Nanci Griffith vs. the “New Yorker”

December 19, 2023
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It was the sniping tone that made the article perplexing. I would almost call it perverse. Why treat so cavalierly — even shabbily — a deceased, highly esteemed, Grammy-winning artist?

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Album Review: “More Than a Whisper: Celebrating the Music of Nanci Griffith” — A Flawless Tribute

December 11, 2023
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Love for Nanci Griffith has empowered a hell of a record.

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Concert Review: Indie-Folk Sensation Anjimile at the ICA

December 11, 2023
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The heart of Friday’s performance came in stark impressions borne through Anjimile’s vulnerable voice — along with a little help from his friends.

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Album Review: Mr. Joe Jackson Presents: Max Champion in “What a Racket!”

November 26, 2023
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If you’re brave enough to dip your toes into a musical unknown, there are pleasures a-plenty to be had in this recording, in which Joe Jackson takes us on what purports to be a musicological excavation of the works of a long-forgotten figure of the English Music Hall era.

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Book Review: “Lena Horne — Goddess Reclaimed”

October 27, 2023
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One might conjecture that  Lena Horne’s career was something like a mink-lined minefield: the promise of wealth and fame went hand-in-hand with the possibility of annihilation.

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Punk Rock Album Review: The Replacements — “Tim” Redux

October 23, 2023
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These new mixes and remixes of the source material, outtakes, and scintillating live cuts show how The Replacements were one of the greatest bands to ever not care much about being one.

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