Laura Snapes
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Katie Crutchfield's gorgeous sixth album affirms that real lives are lived not in clear chapters, but as a zig-zag of pitfalls and revelations one can only hope to learn from.
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The pop singer has superstar ambition and a knack for clever genre collisions. But while her new album sometimes matches intensity with innovation, it more often grinds her nuanced story to a paste.
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As a kid discovering music, you assemble a hodgepodge of other people's opinions. But there's a lot of joy to be found when the urge to agree with the critics melts away, writes critic Laura Snapes.
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In the lead single from her new, self-titled album, the folk singer addresses another person while turning inward. "If I had my way, every song would eventually lead to empathy," she says.
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For the singer, introspection became a lens that nearly ended his career. Focusing on the lives of others changed that. "In a world of mouths," Lekman sings on his new album, "I want to be an ear."
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After more than a decade on the road, the prolific punk singer (of Swearin' and p.s. eliot fame) releases her solo debut in a bold attempt to unhitch love from nostalgia.
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Fussell's cover of the Jimmy Lee Williams song marks a move into more existential territory: The maturing artist is now less a force of nature than someone keen to sync with its rhythms.
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Alynda Lee Segarra tells NPR her new song is about "people of color claiming their space and their right to exist." It's dedicated to the protesters at Standing Rock and Peñuelas, Puerto Rico.
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With her softly echoing guitar and slight strings, Byrne channels some ancient wavelength, then suddenly sticks a pin in the universal.
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Earlier this month, musicians — invited by Bon Iver and The National — gathered at a former East German radio facility for an unconventional festival that pieced its story together as it went along.