Marissa Lorusso

Haters may say it's AutoTune, but when Caroline Polachek sings live, it's clear that the impressive range and control you're hearing is all her.

JD Samson, Kathleen Hanna and Johanna Fateman recently reformed as Le Tigre for a European and North American tour.

Le Tigre's feminist rage has always been fun

Hazel Cills

The synth-pop band just finished its first tour in nearly 20 years. After a recent show in Brooklyn, two longtime fans reflect on why this music still hasn't lost its power.

Highlight tracks from Palehound's new album

Marissa Lorusso

NPR music contributor Marissa Lorusso reviews Eye on the Bat, the latest album from indie band Palehound.

There are big rock riffs on <em>Eye on the Bat</em>, but El Kempner also stretches the sound of Palehound to new places.

You can feel Palehound's songs in your gut

Marissa Lorusso

El Kempner turns the force of their wiry indie rock toward collapse, yet the visceral palette of Eye on the Bat has an unexpectedly joyful quality.

Three songs for the perfect summer road trip playlist

Stephen Thompson

Pop Culture Happy Hour host Stephen Thompson and NPR Music contributor Marissa Lorusso suggest three songs to make your summer road trip playlist perfect.

On <em>Joy'all</em>, Lewis finds ways to balance her far-out wisdom with the reality of life on Earth and her lived experiences.

On the easy-going 'Joy'all,' Jenny Lewis defiantly preaches the pursuit of happiness

Marissa Lorusso

With a new home in Nashville, the singer-songwriter's fifth solo album is a laid-back affair full of zen-like wisdom that lands as guidance for a generation.

What does it mean to illustrate Steely Dan?

The eternal paradox, and 'Quantum Criminals,' of Steely Dan

Marissa Lorusso

What does it mean to illustrate the world of Steely Dan? NPR Music contributor Marissa Lorusso spoke with the Danfans behind the new book Quantum Criminals.

On <em>the record, </em>the members of boygenius craft songs about how we care for each other, why we choose each other and how this kind of closeness can transform us.

On 'the record,' boygenius honors how friendship shapes our very sense of self

Marissa Lorusso

The friendship shared by Julien Baker, Phoebe Bridgers and Lucy Dacus isn't just the backdrop for their album as boygenius: It's the subject of many of these songs, built into their very structures.

In their work as Fever Ray, artist Karin Dreijer has used eerie, experimental pop music to excavate love's more complicated or marginalized incarnations.

Fever Ray's 'Radical Romantics' explores love in all of its freaky, complicated forms

Marissa Lorusso

The experimental pop artist's new album is interested in love not as a destination but as an ongoing process, in all of its bravado, vulnerability and experimentation.

boygenius, '$20'

Marissa Lorusso

The magic of boygenius is the way its songs don't force the three songwriters to conform to a single vision, but synthesizes their strengths.