Toronto alt-R&B musician Rhye‘s newest album, Home, takes the ambient trends of today’s most popular acts like Joji and blends them together with the stylings of ’70s funk and disco, a la young Michael Jackson. Songwriter Mike Milosh leans hard into the sound, with an array of funky bass lines and Roland…

Introspection continues to be the name of the game on The Space Between, the newest album by Melbourne rapper Illy, which took him three years to make, not including a pandemic delay. The Space Between Illy Sony Music Australia, Jan. 15 7/10 Illy has described the theme of the…

Folk-pop sensation Passenger (Michael David Rosenberg) follows up his 2020 quarantine baby, Patchwork, with a solemn examination of dissatisfaction on his latest release, Songs for the Drunk and Broken Hearted. As Passenger is best known for sleeper hit “Let Her Go,” one might get the sense that the album is chock-full of wistful…

MF DOOM performs during the Pitchfork Music Festival at Union Park on July 18, 2009 in Chicago. Courtesy: Roger Kisby/Getty Images. The wife of underground hip-hop icon MF DOOM on Thursday announced that he died on Oct. 31. The rapper, whose name was Daniel Dumile, was 49. “Thank you…

Kid Cudi, “Man on the Moon III: The Chosen.” On his last Man on the Moon album, released 10 years ago, Kid Cudi explored the darker recesses of his mind, primarily, his substance abuse and depression around the time. Originally envisioned semi-autobiographical trilogy, it popularized discussions of mental health awareness in…

Our list of the 20 best hip-hop albums of 2020 includes Megan Thee Stallion, Big Sean, Backxwash, Dizzee Rascal, Busta Rhymes, Aminé, Bambu, Nas, Public Enemy, R.A. the Rugged Man, Benny the Butcher, Eminem, Logic, Homeboy Sandman, Royce da 5’9″, Aesop Rock, clipping., Black Thought, Run the Jewels and…

Despite a wide array of similarities and having come up around similar times, punk and hip-hop have seen crossovers here and there with only a select few musical acts ever managing maintain a level of longevity or relevancy. Obvious examples that come to mind include The Beastie Boys and…

Sigur Rós‘ newest album, Odin’s Raven Magic, is both the long-anticipated release since 2013’s Kveikur as well as being almost 18 years in the making. Originally developed in 2002 and performed for the Reykjavík (Iceland) Arts Festival, the songs on Odin’s Raven Magic have remained in obscurity—finally receiving a proper recording…

Jazz, as the cornerstone of practically all modern American music, doesn’t always get critical acknowledgment—particularly in an era where people are increasingly listening to eclectic and peculiar genres like folktronica or vaporwave. Hip-hop producer legends Madlib and Karriem Riggins, who teamed up once again as Jahari Massamba Unit on Pardon My French,…

Megan Thee Stallion, “Good News.” Megan Thee Stallion comes bearing Good News amid her chaotic year. Between legal issues with her record label, being shot and dropping the monumentally viral “WAP” with Cardi B, she seems to be burning the candle at both ends. Her artistic vision with this album was…