What Wild Up unearths on Julius Eastman, Vol. 2: Joy Boy is more than just music, it's a set of relations and modes of comporting in the world that risk trading fleeting, worldly praise to regain the eternal soul. Ron Hammond hide caption
Music Reviews Music reviews of new albums in pop, rock, folk, jazz, blues, classical, world, and hip-hop.
Music Reviews
Renaissance, Beyoncé's seventh full-length solo album, mines a liberating history of dance music, from Donna Summer-sampling disco to modern Chicago house. Carlijn Jacobs/Via Parkwood Entertainment hide caption
singer, rapper, dancer, flutist, and actress Lizzo. AB+DM hide caption
On Laura Veirs' 12th studio album, Found Light, her command never falters. Shelby Brakken/Courtesy of the artist hide caption
Norah Jones in a 2002 portrait to promote Come Away With Me. Lourdes Delgado hide caption
On Joan Shelley's The Spur, even home's sparest comforts feel hard-won. Mickie Winters/Courtesy of the artist hide caption
Composer Carlos Simon's Requiem for the Enslaved, commissioned by Georgetown University, is a reckoning with the school's troubled history. Toko Shiik/Courtesy of the artist hide caption
'Requiem for the Enslaved' holds a major university's truths up to the light
Vadim Neselovskyi. Courtesy of the artist hide caption
For pianist Vadim Neselovskyi, Ukraine war adds urgency to his most personal work
Angel Olsen's Big Time is on NPR Music's shortlist of the best albums out on June 3. Angela Ricciardi hide caption
Angel Olsen's Big Time is big-hearted record that achieves thrilling grandiosity and cheek-warming intimacy. Angela Ricciardi/Courtesy of the artist hide caption
Heaven and hell are places on Earth in Ethel Cain's discography. Helen Kirbo hide caption
On Harry's House, Harry Styles' moods shuffle from one bassline to the next; the album feels marked by an uncanny collision of influences. Lillie Eiger/Courtesy of the artist hide caption
Taylor Swift. NBC/Will Heath/NBC hide caption
Porridge Radio's new album, Waterslide, Diving Board, Ladder To The Sky, is an intense record in pursuit of uncomfortable truths. Matilda Hill Jenkins/Courtesy of the artist hide caption
Jack Harlow is a rising star in the hip-hop world, someone that legends praise and peers envy. Urban Wyatt hide caption
Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers is the first album from Kendrick Lamar since DAMN., the 2017 release that made him the first rapper to win a Pulitzer Prize. Renell Medrano/Courtesy of the artist hide caption
On his new album Un Verano Sin Ti, Bad Bunny opts for personal intimacy and cultural specificity, anchoring his music in the Caribbean. Eric Rojas hide caption
Third Coast Percussion's new album, Perspectives, is the group's most accessible. Saverio Truglia/Courtesy of the artists hide caption
Third Coast Percussion's borderless music finds inspiration in fleet-footed beats
Sharon Van Etten's latest album, We've Been Going About This All Wrong, is tribute to how impossible and necessary it feels to care for each other. Michael Schmelling/Courtesy of the artist hide caption
Both Girlpool and Let's Eat Grandma make music that pushes against the boundaries of indie rock and pop. Alexis Gross/El Hardwick/Courtesy of the artist hide caption
Albert Ayler performing under a geodesic dome on July 25, 1970. Revelations contains the full recordings from the saxophonist's two-night stint at Fondation Maeght outside Nice, France. Philippe Gras/Courtesy of the artist hide caption
Miranda Lambert's Palomino includes contributions from many Music Row mainstays, but also a playful assist from The B-52s. Robert Ascroft/Courtesy of the artist hide caption