sidebyside

Florence Welch, anecdotally in the press, has made it abundantly clear her creative process is filled with self-doubt. It’s strange to think of an artist as singular and unique as Welch (who produced one of the most headstrong and fully-formed debuts of this new century in “Lungs”), as unsure of herself, but “How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful”, like sophomore record “Ceremonials” before it, suffers from there being too many voices not only in ... read more

Sincerity isn’t always easy to convey, in life and in art. Too often, a message meant to be delivered with the best intentions gets muddled in the translation from presenter to listener. It’s an astounding feat that Sufjan Stevens, who is capable of delivering both confounding and accessible songwriting from one of the widest ranging palates in modern music, can deliver a record as personal as “Carrie & Lowell”, and never have the subject matter or presentation feel ... read more

Some albums as an experience, are engrossing and engaging musically, and don’t need any context to make their message clear. While “Multi-Love” is a full of dynamic textures, phenomenal musicianship, and “bedroom music” style production, the real story on this record exists in the personal discovery (and turmoil) that UMO’s mastermind Ruben Nielsen was experiencing during the album cycle. Happily married, father-of-two Ruben, long story short, entered in to a ... read more

Jamie xx, as both a driving force behind The xx and his own electronic music career, has an instantly distinguishable tone. His music has a calming fluidity, it’s smoky and liquid, often creating tracks that in the hands of other producers could be overdriven bangers. Instead, he carves out meditative moments, dancehall music that you could dream and rave to at a high volume. It felt like a forgone conclusion that his debut solo album would be at worst a consistent effort, but now? ... read more