Umberto’s ‘Black Bile’ Is Full of Graceful, Minimalist Ambience
Umberto is a master of creating moods that may be unfamiliar and alien but, like the best ambient music, are eventually welcoming in their own way.
soundtrack
Hour’s ‘Ease the Work’ Is Hypnotic and Beautifully Strange
The latest release from Michael Cormier-O’Leary’s instrumental collective, Hour, is a deliberately paced work that’s peaceful and oddly disarming.
Gustavo Santaolalla on the Album That Launched His Career
Award-winning musician and producer Gustavo Santaolalla is re-releasing a personal instrumental album that was a turning point for his lauded career.
Soundtrack King Craig Wedren Is Still Dream Dreaming
Once indie-rock stalwarts Shudder to Think closed shop, Craig Wedren became the soundtrack king. With his new solo album, he gets back into electropop fun.
Exploring the Hip-Hop Vibration with Hank Shocklee
Tying in his legacy to a new short film trilogy, legendary Public Enemy/Bomb Squad producer Hank Shocklee traces the line from his classic grooves to our modern sound.
Just ‘Kids’: Lou Barlow and John Davis of the Folk Implosion Return
John Davis and Lou Barlow revisit the song, album, and soundtrack that helped make the Folk Implosion a seminal trip-hop-indebted indie-rock success story.
Courtney Barnett Goes Quiet on Ambient ‘End of the Day’
End of the Day is purposefully quiet and forms a distinct meditative contrast with Courtney Barnett’s established indie rock oeuvre.
‘Judgment Night’ Soundtrack Merged Rock and Hip-Hop 30 Years Ago
The Judgment Night soundtrack blazed the path that led the evolution of rock and roll into nu-metal of the late 1990s and early 2000s.
‘Barbie: The Album’ Is a Spotty Yet Enjoyable Sugar High
Although there are some fantastic high points and some tacky low points, Barbie: The Album pulls through with a cheeky victory.
Sufjan Stevens’ ‘Reflections’ Soundtrack Is Impressive If Vague
Composed by Sufjan Stevens, the Reflections soundtrack is virtuosic and a pleasant listen but on its own the album feels indistinct and largely forgettable.
Lutist/Composer Jozef Van Wissem Hears ‘The Call of the Deathbird’
Longtime Jim Jarmusch collaborator Jozef Van Wissem turns his attention to another film soundtrack with Nosferatu, which redefines the lute.
Jorge Drexler on Love in The Time of Coronavirus
An otolaryngologist by training, Oscar-winning, Madrid-based Jorge Drexler uses his new album to examine love through a variety of lenses.