R&B
-
The Plane That We Inhabit: A Conversation with Ashley M. Jones
Ashley M. Jones discusses her new poetry collection, REPARATIONS NOW!.
-
No Pressure: Bieber, Blackness, the Cult of Perfection
Bieber is like a prism that reflects back whatever you want to see.
-
Album of the Week: Take Me Apart by Kelela
“The reality is that the way that I’m expressing myself on this record is coming from a place of vulnerability that is very much in the tradition of R&B.”
-
Swinging Modern Sounds #83: On George
There really is not a day that doesn’t go by that I don’t stop at some moment and think about George Harrison.
-
Album of the Week: Something to Tell You by HAIM
Four years after releasing their impressive debut album Days Are Gone, HAIM are back with their long-awaited sophomore project, Something to Tell You, out now via Polydor. The three Angeleno sisters Este, Danielle, and Alana have kept their distinctive, classic rock…
-
Album of the Week: Bravado by Kirin J. Callinan
“With every decision I made, I picked the least-tasteful option,” Australian singer-songwriter Kirin J. Callinan told the FADER in discussing how his newest album, Bravado (Terrible Records) came to be. A wacky yet riveting journey into the clichés of contemporary pop…
-
The Sunday Rumpus Essay: Tell Me Something Good
I need to feel that I can be a woman and be black in this present cultural climate.
-
Album of the Week: Tei Shi’s Crawl Space
Tei Shi is Valerie Teicher—born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, raised between Bogota, Colombia, and Vancouver, Canada, she now lives in New York after graduating from Boston’s Berklee College of Music. Her new album, Crawl Space, out now from Downtown Records, is her…
-
Album of the Week: Sampha’s Process
After collaborating with the likes of Beyoncè, SBTRKT, Jessie Ware, Drake, Kanye West, Frank Ocean, and Solange, 28-year-old British singer, songwriter and producer Sampha has finally released his first solo album, Process, via Young Turks. A significant and evocative title,…
-
Song of the Day: “Gin House Blues”
Today, the so-called British Invasion of the ’60s is remembered primarily for its flagship band, The Beatles. Another English group called The Animals—widely known for their international hit version of the folk song “House of the Rising Sun”—are unfortunately obscured…
-
On Self-Reliance: Frank Ocean as Emersonian Hero
As Emerson recognizes, someone who couldn’t care less about how they come across is all the more charismatic and convincing.
-
Fifteen Theories on Boys Don’t Cry
Between the mysterious live stream on Ocean’s website and the release date that came and went, no one is really sure what Frank Ocean has planned for his new album Boys Don’t Cry. But the good people at okayplayer. have some the thoughts:…