Laura Snapes
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Katie Crutchfield's gorgeous sixth album affirms that real lives are lived not in clear chapters, but as a zig-zag of pitfalls and revelations one can only hope to learn from. -
The pop singer has superstar ambition and a knack for clever genre collisions. But while her new album sometimes matches intensity with innovation, it more often grinds her nuanced story to a paste. -
As a kid discovering music, you assemble a hodgepodge of other people's opinions. But there's a lot of joy to be found when the urge to agree with the critics melts away, writes critic Laura Snapes. -
M.C. Taylor has a rueful, weary reediness that makes the tensions in his songs pull that much harder. In a beautiful outtake from Heart Like A Levee, dreaming and reality are at odds. -
The 16-minute track manages to be concise and lean, almost speeding on an empty tank through a tireless groove that solders dusty Ohio punk to krautrock's soothing repetitions. -
Inspired by its time at an experimental Berlin festival, this single offers a cool, cryptic introduction to the Bristol-Paris folk band's kaleidoscopic new phase. -
Defiance is exhausting. Mike Hadreas' cosmically expansive, baroque declaration of love also acts as a protest song, depicting his lover as a godlike being who sustains his spirit. -
In the lead single from her new, self-titled album, the folk singer addresses another person while turning inward. "If I had my way, every song would eventually lead to empathy," she says. -
For the singer, introspection became a lens that nearly ended his career. Focusing on the lives of others changed that. "In a world of mouths," Lekman sings on his new album, "I want to be an ear." -
The Melbourne artist's Susan persona, whom she calls "a manifestation of social media metadata," gets a taste of freedom in a Butoh-inspired video.
