Photo Credit: Nasty Little Man Gorillaz began more than two decades ago, originally a form of collaboration that was unique, to say the least, between a musician (in this case, Blur vocalist Damon Albarn) and an illustrator (Jaime Hewlett, creator of the British comic book series Tank Girl) with the purpose of creating a soundtrack… Read more
Photo Credit: Gunner Stahl Not since Tyler, the Creator reinvented himself with soul-inspired records like Flower Boy and IGOR has a rapper reinvented himself as 25-year-old Lil Yachty does on Let’s Start Here. So, what in the world happened? The viral hit “Poland,” released earlier this winter, hinted that Lil Yachty was about to climb… Read more
Photo Credit: Zackery Michael On their seventh studio album The Car, the Arctic Monkeys continue the musical road trip that they set out on with their previous release, Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino (2018). The Sheffield, England quartet which became known (and renowned) for their brand of fast, kinetic, mile-a-minute Britpop delivered with a punk… Read more
Photo Credit: Roberto Ricciuti/Redferns Following up on an album like Sometimes I Might Be Introvert is an unenviable task by anyone’s standard. Little Simz Mercury Prize-winning fourth album was an orchestral, genre-mashing masterpiece filled with expert story-telling – upon release, it was widely compared to the likes of Lauryn Hill’s Miseducation and Kendrick Lamar’s To… Read more
Photo Credit: David Levene Steve Lacy had a Grammy nomination before he had even finished high school, so the fact that he released two critically acclaimed albums before turning 25 years old is hardly surprising. Following up his funky, nostalgic coming-out debut Apollo XII with Gemini Rights, Steve here seeks unconditional love as he finds… Read more
Photo Credit: Press via Calvin Harris Calvin Harris first broke out in the UK a little over 15 years ago, with the now-Gold certified “Acceptable in the 80s” – an intriguing and singular, if anachronistic, cut of electro-funk. Four years later, he broke out worldwide as a featured artist on Rihanna’s “We Found Love.” The… Read more
Photo Credit: AB+DM Every generation needs an artist who is unafraid to write cheesy, feel-good, uplifting anthems; an artist who would rather risk being saccharine than sour. Natasha Bedingfield (“Unwritten”), Kelly Clarkson (“Stronger”), and Katy Perry (“Firework”) have all alternately held this title and fulfilled their role dutifully. It would be unfair to dismiss Lizzo’s music… Read more
Photo Credit: Harper Smith After Silk Sonic (the super-duo of Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak) released their debut album earlier this month, a Tweet went viral saying “Marvin Gaye’s family [are] listening to this silk sonic album looking for just one chord [to sue the duo for] ”. The tweet spoke, yes, to the infamous… Read more
Every now and then you might wonder what the ten biggest-selling albums of all time might be. As it turns out, it’s not an exact science: while we’re pretty sure a couple of people did buy Michael Jackson’s Thriller, different outlets have different ways of measuring overall album sales, say nothing of the fact that with the… Read more
Photo Credit: Carlijn Jacobs Reinvention is a difficult game to play. One of the greatest artistic struggles a creator experiences is the profound desire to move their art forward (whatever “forward” means for them) without being swept up in a trend. British vocalist Jessie Ware has reinvented her act steadily through the years by inching… Read more