album reviews

Britta Phillips Luck or Magic (Double Feature) Though Luck or Magic is her first album, Britta Phillips has just about done it all. After providing the singing voice of Jem […]

Eleanor Friedberger New View (Frenchkiss) Eleanor Friedberger took a step back from the overstuffed exuberance of The Fiery Furnaces with her solo debut, 2011’s Last Summer. Friedberger didn’t blanch out […]

Benji Hughes Songs in the Key of Animals (Merge) As expected, the guy who wrote “Let’s Duet” for Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story is something of a joker. In […]

The Jezabels Synthia/Self-released As much an ode to self-acceptance as it is to bearing the standard of feminism, Synthia is equal parts euphoric and cathartic in its exploration. The epic […]

Signature styles Cross Record Wabi-Sabi/Ba Da Bing Records Emily Cross’ sophomore release is equal parts creepy, beautiful and utterly haunting. From the unusual opener, “The Curtains Part”—with its orchestral flourishes, […]

Lemolo Red Right Return/self-released There is an undeniable ghostly beauty to this record from Meagan Grandall. The lush vocals on Red Right Return play off of the swelling, often moody […]

Cage the Elephant Tell Me I’m Pretty/RCA Continuing the exodus from the brash alternative rock that typified Cage the Elephant’s first few releases, Tell Me I’m Pretty continues the artistic […]

It’s been an interesting year. Between “Uptown Funk” and “Shake It Off,” the music world has been dancing up a storm, but it’s also seen some head-scratchingly bizarre releases (I’m […]

Rock steady Foo Fighters Saint Cecilia EP/RCA Records If the Saint Cecilia EP is indeed the Foos’ last recording—and Dave Grohl has hinted it could be—then it’s one final shotgun […]

Mimi Page The Ethereal Blues/self-released Mimi Page has been carving out a niche for herself in the indie electronic scene for several years, and The Ethereal Blues is her most […]