Music
Praise LordeMelodrama is the best pop album of the year so far—and suggests “pop” isn’t what the singer-songwriter should be making at all.
Music
The Mountain Goats’ Goths Is Great Even if You Don’t Care About the Mountain Goats or GothsThe new album is a leap forward both lyrically and musically.
Music
The Return of the KingOn his quietly eclectic new album, Chris Stapleton refuses to be pegged as country music’s savior—or anything else.
Music
Bob Dylan Is a Great SingerThe Nobel laureate thinks we should laud his singing as much as his “poetry.” He’s right.
Music
Cry Me a River (of White Male Tears)Dirty Projectors’ first release in five years is a one-man breakup album that can’t count on listeners’ sympathies. And it doesn’t.
Music
If You Miss Leonard Cohen, Then You Need to Meet Mark EitzelThe former frontman for American Music Club is just reaching his own middle-aged bardic stride.
The Music Club
The Music Club, 2016Here’s an eight-hour, 125-song playlist for listening back on the year.
Music
Guilty Feet Ain’t Got No RhythmHow I found faith in the pop elation of George Michael—and why I wish I’d found it sooner.
Music
A Starboy, Not Yet a StarmanThe Weeknd’s sure-to-be-blockbuster new album suggests it’s time for his self-destructive persona to finally kill itself off.
Music
Hey, That’s No Way to Say GoodbyeRemembering the profane prophet Leonard Cohen, gone at the moment we need him most.
Music
The Drive-By Truckers’ American Band Is the Perfect Album for the Year of TrumpWith songs about racism, police shootings, and immigration, the Southern group is making rock great again.
Music
Can She Get a Witness?Katy Perry’s hot mess of a new album finds her lonely and lost. Did we help put her in this position?
Music
Wrong DirectionHarry Styles once teased a homoerotic pop future. So why does his debut album sound like hetero classic rock?
Music
All Fire, No BrimstoneKendrick Lamar’s scorcher of a new album is an urgent sermon for a troubling time.
Music
Stephin Merritt Comes Out—as HumanThe reticent Magnetic Fields impresario returns to the jumbo-sized concept-album format he pioneered with 69 Love Songs, with a surprising new theme: himself.
Music
Grammys, Don’t Hurt YourselfIf you won’t fix yourself for Beyoncé, please fix yourself for Adele.
Music
The Mood-Swing VoteHow Twenty One Pilots channeled Trump-state anxieties and became the biggest new rock band (if they are a rock band) in America.
The Music Club
The Music Club, 2016The best shows I saw in 2016—and a defense of “best of” lists in a year of worsts.
Music
Why We Need Miranda LambertThe country singer’s new two-disc album could help our two Americas understand each other.
Music
The Woman Behind the Meat DressOn her new album Joanne, Lady Gaga grapples with where her stage persona ends and Stefani Germanotta begins.
Books
Bruce Springsteen’s Brilliant DisguiseThe Boss discusses his depression, the E Street Band’s misogyny, and rock ’n’ roll’s racial difficulties in his new memoir.