Quit Mumbling

Julia Holter’s last album, Tragedy, attempted to mediate Greek drama into unsettling chamber pop eccentricity. Her elliptical method resulted in pop so disintegrated and dissolving that it was at once utterly like and unlike anything else. The obvious touchstones can be listed easily enough – Laurie Anderson, Gillian Welch, and a slightly more outré Kate [...]

On summer nights the air in Barcelona is thick, densely warm. Carnival sounds dart around alley corners, the unlit alleys are dark with shadows. There is a sense of the jungle. Talabot’s debut album, fin, emerges out of the jungle with oozing tropicalia and cicadas behind the opening track, at once inviting dance and hinting [...]

February 29th only comes around every 4 years, making it significant in its own special way. An album as intriguing, original and compelling as Black Radio by the Robert Glasper Experiment surfaces even less often, and what better way to enjoy your extra day then with some brand new genre-defying music? Black Radio combines the [...]

Oakland legend Del the Funkee Homosapien swept in this week with a new tape, which he promises is the first in a trilogy of free tapes to be released this year. Entirely self-produced, and entirely dependent on P-Funk samples, West Coast Avengers finds Del doing lots of what he’s always done: shouting out wack rappers, [...]

Imagine seeing a beautiful girl in a bar…lets call her Harriet.  Sure the fact that Harriet is easy on the eyes, with shimmering keys and anthemic vocals, is reason enough to go and talk to her.  She sings about sleeping with your mom, and you realize…you’re starting to fall for her.  But than you discover [...]

  After the excitement and commotion in the newness of the year passes, it’s a dreaded few weeks of purgatory; a period of reconciling the lingering effects of the year barely passed with the swirling sweet nothings from the year to come, as you wait for it to finally take off one way or the [...]

Albumin is the 2011 full length debut of Atlanta electro producer heRobust alias: Hayden Kramer. In forty five minutes of track time lush synth patches and red-lining, gooey beats take you through a stunning range of jams that are both completely unorthodox and wholly addictive. And there all certainty ends. heRobust’s self-labeled genre is “wonky” [...]

Critic Jon Carroll once said Levon Helm was “the only drummer who can make you cry.” I can only forgive Carroll for leaving out so many great drummers because at the time of this remark, Questlove had not been around yet to give Carroll a tutorial in the expressive potential of a simple, repetitive groove. [...]

The 11/11/11 release of Alabama duo G-Side’s stellar fifth album iSLAND was quickly overshadowed by lots of folks thinking deeply about Drake’s Take Care. It’s a shame, because since their second album, Starshipz and Rocketz, G-Side have produced polished, engaging albums. Each successive release feels like they are on the precipice of greater recognition and [...]