Blu & Exile True & Livin

Published May 27, 2019

NASCAR isn't a typical touchstone in hip-hop lyrics, to say the least. But leave it to Blu to boldly go outside the box and name-check drive...

Aquasocks Holos

Published May 23, 2019

We all know the worst hip-hop glamorizes materialism and excess. But some of the best rap elevates such desires into fantasies that can insp...

Logic Confessions of a Dangerous Mind

Published May 13, 2019

Hate Logic all you want — you're only giving him more ammunition.   He spits quicker than an automatic rifle on "Homicide" (the smash sing...

Carlton Jumel Smith 1634 Lexington Avenue

Published May 13, 2019

In the tradition of Curtis Mayfield's "Miss Black America" and Sam Cooke's "You're Always On My Mind," Carlton Jumel Smith's "Woman You Made...

Donovan Woods The Other Way

Published May 03, 2019

By stripping down the songs from his masterful 2018 LP Both Ways on the newly released The Other Way, Donovan Woods has put a fresh spin on...

ScHoolboy Q CrasH Talk

Published May 01, 2019

Good news, ScHoolboy Q fans: he's still as menacing, off-kilter and creative as ever, maybe more so. But this time, he makes all those compe...

Supa Bwe Just Say Thank You

Published Apr 17, 2019

Getting Chance the Rapper on your album is a tall order indeed. But to then steal the show from the esteemed Chicago MC? Why that would be a...

Tim Baker Forever Overhead

Published Apr 16, 2019

When you pack East coast venues with fans that holler your orchestral indie rock anthems to the rafters, how do you up the ante from there?...

Tim Baker's New Album 'Forever Overhead' Started in Living Rooms and Laundromats

Published Apr 15, 2019

"I felt detached from everything that was natural and good," says Tim Baker, frontman of the in-hiatus indie rock band Hey Rosetta!, of the...

Quelle Chris Has Always Been Great; Now He's Bringing Out the Big 'Guns'

Published Apr 06, 2019

Racially charged accusations; viral social media videos; heated comment section debates. These are but a few of the muses that Detroit MC an...

Quelle Chris Guns

Published Apr 05, 2019

Sure, Quelle Chris raps like the rewind button was invented just for him. But even as you scramble to back up the track to that last intrica...

Matt Andersen Halfway Home By Morning

Published Mar 21, 2019

There are hopeless romantics, and then there's Matt Andersen, who is romantic enough to make you feel hopeful. Just try not to be swept up b...

Ibibio Sound Machine Doko Mien

Published Mar 19, 2019

Sure, British Afrobeat band Ibibio Sound Machine's new LP, Doko Mien, has boisterous tracks that'll compel you to move. But it's the quietes...

Ibibio Sound Machine Turn Nigerian Folk Stories Into New Album 'Doko Mien'

Published Mar 19, 2019

Poised and self-assured as Eno Williams might seem onstage and on wax, the front person for British Afrobeat band Ibibio Sound Machine somet...

Quebecois Funk-Punk Quartet Fet.Nat Might Lack Ambition, But Their New 'Le Mal' Doesn't

Published Mar 11, 2019

Fet.Nat's boundary-pushing new album Le Mal may sound ambitious — it was created with outdated vintage MIDI technology; it juxtaposes catchy...

FET.NAT Le Mal

Published Mar 06, 2019

FET.NAT are here to make the avant-garde groove. The Hull, QC four-piece certainly know how to lay down irresistible earworms on their new a...

Ben Rogers Wildfire

Published Mar 04, 2019

From the flaming piano on the cover art, which resembles a dumpster fire, to his lyrics goading President Trump to go ahead and build his wa...

Digawolf Yellowstone

Published Feb 26, 2019

Digawolf's voice will all but give you frostbite. He sounds like Tom Waits howling against the raw, unforgiving winds of his Yellowknife hom...

Offset Father of 4

Published Feb 25, 2019

If you doubted Offset could pull off his own 4:44, then prepare to eat your words. That's right: the Migos MC, often parodied for his and hi...

Amanda Rheaume The Skin I'm In

Published Feb 19, 2019

It's not until the very last track on Amanda Rheaume's new LP, The Skin I'm In, that the promising songsmith truly lives up to the potential...