Coldplay is bigger, catchier on ‘A Head Full of Dreams’
On its new album, Coldplay sounds like a band gearing up to play the Super Bowl — which it is. Everything sounds bigger, catchier, and the references to birds flying...
Home > Reviews
All Stories
Best pop music box sets of 2015: Bowie, Dylan and Little Richard
Here are some of the most notable boxed sets this year in rock and pop: David Bowie, "Five Years 1969-1973" (Parlophone, $97): Bowie had spent the five years previous to...
Best albums of 2015: Kendrick Lamar, Courtney Barnett and more
Let's face it, because nobody can listen to the thousands of albums released each year, a year-end "best of" list is really a list of "favorites," the recordings that made...
Lollapalooza to expand to 4 days in 2016
And just when you thought it couldn't get any bigger, Lollapalooza is expanding to four days next year to mark its 25th anniversary. Texas-based promoters C3 Presents will announce the...
Joanna Newsom: Conformity isn’t my thing
Joanna Newsom says she doesn't pay much attention to pop music, and yet she is one of the most popular indie artists on the planet. The Californian sells albums by...
Grimes goes pop, but on her terms
"I'm only a man, I do what I can," Grimes sings with a deceptively innocent voice on "Kill V. Maim." She's not an artist to be trifled with, as her...
Los Lobos gives heave-ho to ho-hum
Louie Perez of Los Lobos is calling from Los Angeles, and for a brief moment he turns the tables on the interviewer and starts asking questions. The band formerly known...
Review: It’s deja vu for Adele on new album, ’25’
"This is never ending, we've been here before," Adele sings on "Love in the Dark," the most traditional-sounding track on her new, tradition-bound album, "25" (Columbia). After selling 30 million...
Marrow is new life for Kids These Days alums
Two years ago, Liam Kazar, Macie Stewart and Lane Beckstrom were key members in a fast-rising septet, Kids These Days, with a major-label contract. Now they're once again starting from...
Kurt Cobain’s awful aftermath is a mess
Munchkin voices, yodeling, a meditation on sea monkeys and Paula Abdul, distracted guitar playing, a phone call for his girlfriend that interrupts a "recording session" — if that sounds compelling,...