Albums
2023 in Review
The Best Music of 2023
Strange, beautiful records by Lana Del Rey, Noname, Sufjan Stevens, and more.
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PinkPantheress Is a Hopeless Romantic
On her new album, “Heaven Knows,” the Gen Z songstress displays a yearning quality that’s surprisingly difficult to locate in today’s splintered, chaotic pop world.
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Sinéad O’Connor Was Always Herself
The world owed the Irish musician more than it gave, but her best music turned away from the masses and instead looked inward.
Postscript
The Unapologetic Brilliance of Sinéad O’Connor
I think what O’Connor sought in her music was anguish, laid bare, and then a gorgeous moment of communion.
Culture Desk
A Newly Discovered Realm of Accomplishment for John Coltrane
A recently released live recording is of equal importance to aficionados and newbies alike.
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Kara Jackson’s Plaintive, Playful Folk Songs
On her début LP, “Why Does the Earth Give Us People to Love?,” the poet and singer-songwriter makes music that is spare yet expansive and able to surprise.
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Lana Del Rey’s New Album Searches for Transcendence
On “Did you know that there’s a tunnel under Ocean Blvd,” the artist asks lofty questions with an earnestness that’s sometimes sublime and sometimes a bit dippy.
2022 in Review
The Best Music of 2022
Rosalía, Beach House, Tokischa, Beyoncé, and other standout musicians and tastemakers.
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In Taylor Swift’s “Midnights,” the Easter Eggs Aren’t the Point
Fans treat her every song as a decoder ring, but it’s Swift’s vocal technique that gives her new album its power.
Culture Desk
How Fleet Foxes Songs Shiver and Breathe
There is always more to say about the music that means the most to us.
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Marlon Williams Finds a Sunnier Mood
On “My Boy,” the New Zealand singer-songwriter experiments with electronic flourishes in search of a lighthearted groove.
Cultural Comment
Jens Lekman Revises His Old Songs
What does it mean that recorded music has become easy to change and revamp?
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Post Malone’s Languid Songs of Self-Loathing
On “Twelve Carat Toothache,” the artist assesses the toll of being ensnared by fame.
Onward and Upward with the Arts
Angel Olsen Sees Your Pain
On her new album, “Big Time,” the musician transfigures harrowing grief—and an unexpected new love—into songs of survival.
Pandemic Project
Jeff Tweedy Gets His Hat Back
After some mostly bareheaded years, the Wilco front man hits a vaquero haberdashery in Chicago to buy a new Stetson to wear when he rolls out “Cruel Country,” an album that grew out of a group chat with George Saunders and Nick Offerman.
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Kehlani’s Songs of Self-Improvement
The artist’s soothing new record, “blue water road,” is their most considered work yet.
Pop Music
Arcade Fire Goes Back to an Old Sound for Its New Record
On “WE,” the band returns to the exhilarating anthems that once made its live shows resemble tent revivals.
Pop Music
Orville Peck’s Lonesome Country
On his new record, “Bronco,” the singer grapples with heartache, depression, and restlessness.
Culture Desk
Rosalía Levels Up as a Global Pop Superstar
Her new album, “Motomami,” jolts us out of a prescribed comfort zone and transforms the avant-garde into something populist.
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WurlD’s Understated Global Sound
Sashaying Afrobeats rhythms meet cruising, mellow balladry on the Nigerian singer’s new album.