Music Archives

Pink’s “What about Us” at its heart is a call for action; specifically, it’s a call for honesty.

So as we nod our heads, bounce our shoulders, and rap with Childish Gambino in “This is America,” we need not disregard the America he and many others perceive, nor dilute it down to sensationalized art.

Keeping with the political tenor of the times, A Perfect Circle fearlessly brings religion into the fray once again.

Scott Hutchison didn’t believe in anything beyond this life, but when I talk about light that emanates from his songs, I call it spiritual. He saw a daunting, cold world and set about doing what he could to breathe warmth into it, to strive against his pride to love unselfishly, to rage against the idea that we must accept the earth in its broken state.

With DAMN. and its accompanying Pulitzer, Kendrick Lamar has crossed a milestone, has set a precedent—has established a fresh tradition; hip-hop has entered a new phase.

Surfer Rosa, the Pixies’ debut studio album, turned 30 this year, and it still doesn’t sound a day over 18.

It takes artists like McMillan to push us off our comfortable thrones.

Drake found it more necessary to flex how much he could give away rather than show off how much he can possess.

The National’s latest, Sleep Well Beast, affirms that if heartbreak is particular to our times and places, to our own networks of relationships, then grace must be as well.

Sufjan Stevens invites us to raise the mirror this Christmas and laugh to ourselves in all our absurdity: “I’m the Christmas unicorn . . . you’re the Christmas unicorn.”

Though Sigrid’s version of “Everybody Knows” is incredibly morbid, it is only so because it is truthful.

Bazan is one of the few songwriters who reminds us that religion, as experienced in daily life, is a journey of faith.

With the grungy kicks, straightforward lyrics, melodic choruses, and subtle inversions of various instruments, Worthy compiles a wonderful album experience.

Dissect reminds us that we need critics who help us engage with art more deeply.

To an outsider looking in, Derek Webb’s latest feels more like an unintentional cautionary tale than a story that evokes sympathy.

All Things Work Together is Lecrae’s most interesting album yet and contains some of his best creative work.