Greg Kot – Page 3 –

This cover image released by Elektra shows "Sound & Fury" by Sturgill Simpson.

Best rock-pop-rap albums of 2019: Fierceness from Jamila Woods, blast furnace sounds from Sturgill Simpson

December 18, 2019 at 8:56 a.m.

Of the thousands of albums released each year, I get to spend quality time with a few hundred. Here are my favorites from 2019: 1. Jamila Woods, "Legacy! Legacy!" (Jagjaguwar):...

Album review: FKA Twigs’ soul-baring ‘Magdalene’ subverts pop, patriarchy

November 27, 2019 at 2:20 p.m.

Tahliah Barnett, aka FKA Twigs, happens to be an accomplished dancer, performance artist and multimedia creative who has now made two albums. Like "LP1," FKA Twigs' 2014 debut, "Magdalene" (Young...

Album review: Leonard Cohen’s last ‘Dance’ feels unfinished, falls far short of the late songwriter’s best

November 22, 2019 at 9:15 a.m.

If you're new to Leonard Cohen's music, the posthumously released "Thanks for the Dance" (Columbia) isn't the place to start investigating his lengthy discography, which stretches back to the '60s...

Taylor Swift performs at Amazon Music's Prime Day concert in New York July 10, 2019.

Grammy nominations: Newcomers Lizzo, Billie Eilish, Lil Nas X rule

November 21, 2019 at 1:47 p.m.

It was a good day for the newcomers at the Grammy nominations. Lizzo, Billie Eilish and Lil Nas X dominated the prelude to the 62nd annual awards ceremony. Lizzo, who...

Album review: Prince’s ‘1999’ keeps on giving in 2019

November 19, 2019 at 2:20 p.m.

Prince may have died in 2016, but 2019 is turning out to be a great year for new Prince music. In the last five months, more than four dozen previously...

DJ Shadow, aka Josh Davis, is releasing a new double album, "Our Pathetic Age."

Album review: DJ Shadow dives into the sounds of dystopia in ‘Our Pathetic Age’

November 15, 2019 at 1:13 p.m.

As DJ Shadow's latest album winds down, one of his numerous accomplices offers a tidy summing up of the agitated music within: "A few different perspectives to reinforce the notion...

Lucy Dacus opens for Lana Del Rey at the Byline Bank Aragon Ballroom in Chicago on Friday.

Concert review: Lana Del Rey luxuriates in turmoil at the Aragon

November 9, 2019 at 2:48 p.m.

Lana Del Rey breezed through her 90 minutes on stage Friday at the sold-out Aragon Ballroom, a former church singer-turned-pop star with a languid, unhurried tone. Her gauzy songs usually...

Jon Langford, part of the Bloodshot Records 25th anniversary compilation.

Album review: Bloodshot Records celebrates 25 years of subversive country-punk

November 8, 2019 at 1:31 p.m.

After drawing up a business plan on cocktail napkins at various drinking establishments in Chicago, three dedicated roots-music disciples started Bloodshot Records in 1993 with the seemingly foolish mission of...

Lead singer Michael Stipe of R.E.M., right, (with bandmates Mike Mills, Bill Berry, Peter Buck) accepts the award for Best Group Video as his bandmates look on during the MTV Video Music Awards at New York's Radio Cit Music Hall Thursday night, Sept. 8, 1994. The band won for the video "Everybody Hurts."

R.E.M., the Replacements and the albums that nearly broke them

November 6, 2019 at 4:42 p.m.

For a few years in the late '80s, R.E.M. and the Replacements were running neck-and-neck as the most lauded bands to emerge from the American underground. The two groups shaped...

Concert review: Tool fires up head-banging and hand-wringing at United Center

November 4, 2019 at 5:18 p.m.

No matter how long Tool disappears from the public eye – and its two most recent studio albums were released 13 years apart – the quartet endures. It's almost as...

All Stories