LSD can make the environment seem more vibrant; vivid colors throb and pulsate, and sounds take on new contortions. A band long associated with mystical voyaging, The Flaming Lips performed their legendary 1999 album, The Soft Bulletin, with the 68-member Colorado Symphony and a 57-voice choir for a very lucky audience…

“I’ll bet Billy Corgan would sound great singing bluegrass tunes!” Cotillions William Patrick Corgan Martha’s Music, Nov. 22 That’s not a sentence that has been uttered out loud by many—even diehard fans of the Smashing Pumpkins. And yet, here we are. Cotillions is the second solo album released under Corgan’s…

The synthetic meditations of 2014’s Ghost Stories and the vibrant alt-pop anthems of 2015’s Head Full of Dreams saw Coldplay ruminate on its embrace of pop music. Granted, Chris Martin and co. have always remained rock more in name than in execution. The palatable timbre and sticky hooks span from…

Sleep Token distinguishes itself with more than anonymity. Run by a mysterious mastermind known as “Vessel,” the project plays a combination of contemporary indie pop, tech-metal and post-rock as a form of worship. The object of worship is an ancient deity crudely dubbed “Sleep.” As the entity’s potency relegated…

Three years after his death, Leonard Cohen remains a touchstone in popular music. Referenced with knowing glances among musicians, his singular style inhabits a gray world rife with disappointment, longing and resignation. A tenured and substantial fixture in folk music and poetry, Cohen speaks from beyond the grave with Thanks For The…

During deathcore’s infancy in the early 2000s, Despised Icon helped pioneer some of its key traits. “Pig squeal” vocals, Roland TR-808 drum machine drops and flat-brimmed hats are scene hallmarks at this point, but the Canadian sextet further distinguishes itself with the dual vocal assault of Alex Erian and…

Under that moniker DJ Shadow, Joshua Paul Davis in 1996 gave sample-based music one of its first hit albums with Endtroducing. He transcended the established norms of ‘90s hip-hop by incorporating elements of ambient music, electronica and “sampledelia.” Davis found more common ground with U.K. trip-hop than West Coast G-funk—which might…

Back in the mid-2000s, there was a distinct, wondrous synergy that often surrounded Nashville. That’s where Hillary Scott, Charles Kelley and Dave Haywood came together to form Lady Antebellum. It didn’t take too long for the trio’s mix of melodic pop and classic country to be heard everywhere. The band…

Since the ’80s, Canadian artist Celine Dion has sold more than 250 million albums worldwide, making her the best-selling female artist of all time. The five-time Grammy winner (and 20-time Juno Award winner) is still best known, however, for the melodramatic “Titanic” ballad “My Heart Will Go On.” But as…

Camae Ayewa rose from Philadelphia’s DIY music scene under the moniker Moor Mother, delivering a unique combination of industrial noise, abstract hip-hop and slam poetry. Her 2016 debut, Fetish Bones, proved a disturbing commentary on the era started by that year’s presidential election. In the midst of societal chaos and…