Nova Twins, courtesy Corinne Cumming. If you’ve read this column for more than a year you don’t need a recap, but in 2018 I completed a quest to list my top five (or so) songs for every year from 1967 to the present. After that, my column kept going…

The best albums of 2022 include Carrie Underwood, Miranda Lambert, Banks, Sondre Lerche, Ghost, The Black Keys, Alice Merton, Omar Apollo, Coheed and Cambria, Pusha T, Tears for Fears, Nova Twins and Florence and the Machine. After poring over hundreds of our own album reviews and hundreds more albums…

Turnstile performs at The UC Theatre in Berkeley on Nov. 23, 2018. Joaquin Cabello/STAFF. Bad news. It’s Grammy season again. The Grammys are, famously, awful. Nobody who votes for them seems to listen to let alone enjoy music. They’re mostly handed out to the oldest, lamest option, or failing…

Michael Jackson in “Thriller.” It’s finally Halloween! Well… it’s finally Halloween weekend. The important thing is it’s happening! Last week was my 10th Halloween column in three years, and today is the 11th. I embedded a playlist of the songs from the columns at the bottom for your Halloween…

It’s not a universal opinion, but each Ghost album so far has generally been considered to be better than the one before it. The band’s doom metal debut was good but niche, and its follow-up, Infestissumam, diversified its sound with tracks like “Year Zero.” Then “Cirice” from Meliora won a…

Pictured: Either Gordon Lightfoot or editor Daniel J. Willis. Physically, the two are around the same age. Emotionally, Lightfoot is much younger. Good news! It was my birthday yesterday. That means two things: First, it means that I’m somehow even older. You’d think there would be a theoretical maximum…

“The Metallica Blacklist.” In honor of the 30th anniversary of their self-titled album, mostly referred to as the Black Album, Metallica is doing two things. The band is re-releasing the album with a lot of concert recordings and alternate versions. It’s not their first time doing so; in 2008…

You should be excited about new albums from (clockwise from top left) Kelly Clarkson, Foo Fighters, Lorde, My Bloody Valentine, Lykke Li, Tierra Whack, Modest Mouse, GZA, Ghost and The Cure. Will this be the year Zack de la Rocha releases one of his shelved solo albums? No! But…

“Danse Macabre” (1493) by Michael Wolgemut. Not pictured: Ghost’s “Dance Macabre.” OK, enough dancing around it. I’ve done three editions of my Halloween Month and basically none of them has been a legit Halloween list. I’m writing this in advance so there’s no telling what unspeakable horrors have befallen…

John Cale, Courtesy: Paul Hudson/Wikicommons. Welcome to Week No. 2 of Halloween Month. As of the time of this writing the President has returned to the White House from the hospital despite still gasping for air like a blobfish in an ill-fitting suit out of water. What will happen…