The Best Hip-Hop Albums of 2011
2011 was a year of great diversity, in which rap fans were faced with enough variety to find whatever flavor of hip-hop they wanted.
Dave Heaton
The 10 Best Indie Pop Albums of 2011
The 10 best indie pop albums of 2011 prove that our most interesting musicians can express themselves within the essential pop song form while changing how we think about music.
The 10 Best Indie Pop Albums of 2020
The best indie-pop in 2020 privileged self-questioning and human connections over showy declarations of greatness. Small music with a big impact.
Prince and the New Power Generation – ‘Diamonds and Pearls’ (Between the Grooves)
"Between the Grooves" take a deep dive into Prince's Diamonds and Pearls. The album offers explorations into the mysterious/strange sexual side of Prince, his preachy/pedantic side, and also his relaxed/smooth side.
The 10 Best Country Albums of 2010
The synthesis of the past, present, and future was so much of what country music was about in 2010. Country was still fairly male-dominated in the era, although the changing winds, wherein women would create the most forward-looking music, were already beginning to blow.
The 10 Best Indie Pop Albums of 2010
2010 was a great year for indie-pop, with an assortment of new bands making an impression by putting a fresh new stamp on old sounds. Meanwhile, bands on their second, third, or fourth albums took their sound and refreshed it.
The 10 Best Indie Pop Albums of 2019
As the dominance of guitar rock has faded among indie-leaning audiences, there has also been a spreading into the mainstream of sounds that would have been easily described as indie-pop a decade ago. Indie-pop styles show up in TV commercials, Hollywood movie soundtracks, and within mainstream pop and country hits.
The 20 Best Hip-Hop Albums of 2019
Following Stormzy's run up the charts, 2019 proved to be a banner year for British hip-hop with a trio of masterpieces. America's myriad hip-hop scenes delivered the goods, and African rap gave us many stellar releases.
The 10 Best Indie Pop Albums of 2009
Indie pop in 2009 was about all young energy and autumnal melancholy, about the rush you feel when you first hear an exciting new band, and the bittersweet feeling you get when your favorite band calls it quits.
Hatchie’s ‘Keepsake’ Is Dream Pop for Our Doom
Hatchie's Keepsake contains nihilism and optimism at once.
Faye Webster Beckons Us to Join the Club
If you didn't know our current era was rife with referential genre stylings used in pursuit of a genre-less pop sensibility, listen to Faye Webster's Atlanta Millionaires Club.
The Best Indie Pop of 2018
What's here, on our 13th annual attempt to showcase and define indie pop, through celebration and exclusion, are brand-new acts, fairly new acts, and a longtime favorite or two.