Christine and the Queens, “Chris.’ French alt-pop superstar Christine and the Queens, born Héloïse Letissier, has returned with a sophomore debut album, reinventing herself as simply “Chris.” Chris Christine and the Queens Sept. 21 Even when she was first making waves in the U.S. three years ago (Christine and…

  Coming up on its 20th anniversary, Canada’s veteran electronic pop band Metric takes a sharp turn with its seventh album, Art of Doubt. Emily Haines, Jimmy Shaw and co. trade in their trademark atmospheric keyboards for the fuzzed-out tones of garage rock guitars. The album bursts out of the…

Enigmatic dance pop has proven a strong suit of South African New Yorker Jean-Phillip Grobler. The St. Lucia frontman built up his classical chops singing in the Drakensberg Boys’ Choir. His training coincided with an ardent side-affinity for ‘80s legends like Phil Collins and Michael Jackson. Hyperion St. Lucia Sept. 21…

In the three years since Beta Radio’s last album, the band has begun creating a name for itself in the alt-folk realm. Having recorded their first two records at  home, Ben Mabry and Brent Holloman moved into a proper studio in 2016 and started work on what would become Ancient…

England’s Pale Waves are having a big year. Riding the success of breakout single “There’s a Honey,” the Manchester quartet released its debut EP, All The Things I Never Said, along with a slew of singles in advance of full-length record My Mind Makes Noises. The band owes some of its…

To call Richard Thompson’s newest album “highly anticipated” would be a gross understatement. In his tenured career spanning more than half a century, he has achieved critical acclaim as an influential soloist and a frontman alike in the British Folk movement. With the release of his 19th solo album, 13…

Willie Nelson, “My Way.” Someone needs to change the saying from “as American as baseball and apple pie,” to “as American as baseball, apple pie and Willie Nelson.” After all, things sound better in threes, and Willie Nelson has been an American institution since he penned “Crazy” for Patsy…

Anyone with a guitar and YouTube channel can contribute to the rising tide of forgettable singer-songwriter projects. New artists need to immediately pull in listeners to have a lasting impact. Northwest Washington’s Katherine Paul certainly stands out as Black Belt Eagle Scout—exploring culture and personal struggle from a “radical indigenous…

R&B’s ever-increasing popularity stems partly from the movement’s rejection of its past. The likes of Frank Ocean and Blood Orange have pushed far beyond what anyone could have expected during previous decades. Such generational disparities contextualize Jerry Williams, Jr.’s 22nd LP under his Swamp Dogg moniker. Love, Loss, and Auto-Tune Swamp…

You know the story: Blind ambition leads a plucky small-town protagonist out of the pious pews and to the big city, where he makes a splash until the cocaine disco inferno seduces and then consumes him. It hollows him out and leaves him isolated and alone amid the trappings…