Tricky has always worn his bruised heart on his sleeve. His brilliantly desolate debut album, Maxinquaye, was inspired by his mother, who died when he was four years old, and a song like “Strugglin’” laid bare in excruciating detail his… Read More
The Swedish pianist, violinist, and composer David Wenngren seems to regard minimalism less as a classical tradition than as an ascetic dare. In Library Tapes, which has been his solo project with a host of revolving collaborators since the early… Read More
A pop diva is poorer without her remixes. Madonna’s dance remixes span Shep Pettibone’s kinetic “Express Yourself” rework to Stuart Price’s revitalizing overhaul of her discography on ’00s tours. Whitney Houston’s club versions brought extra oomph to a joyous NYC… Read More
The Queens-based producer Alex Dadras has cast a wide net. Working across New York’s rap and experimental scenes, he’s collaborated with everyone from A$AP Rocky to Eartheater to Show Me the Body. In the process, Dadras has developed a unique… Read More
Few artists are as adept at fusing electronic music’s warmth and coldness as Kelly Lee Owens. What makes Owens’ work so distinctive is her equal proficiency as a songwriter and producer; her vocals are as confident and captivating as her… Read More
When French provocateur Serge Gainsbourg decamped to Jamaica in 1978 to cut a reggae record, the befuddled rhythm section of drummer Sly Dunbar and bassist Robbie Shakespeare didn’t know quite what to do with the singer. “It was quite tense,”… Read More
The two Italian experimental musicians that comprise Bellows arrived at their aesthetic in a manner as oblique as their music. Giuseppe Ielasi, schooled in Derek Bailey and hardcore punk, started out as an improvising guitarist before moving into computer music,… Read More
Guy and Howard Lawrence make the kind of songs you can take anywhere: meticulously crafted and comfortably danceable, ready to serve the biggest festival slots and uppermost playlist spots with instant, PG-rated thrills. When their debut album made these two… Read More
The maverick composer and instrument builder Harry Partch once described his creative lodestar as “the actions and activities of primitive man as I imagine him.” Whether this impulse to flee modernity takes form in Constantin Brâncuși’s sculptures, Hilma af Klimt’s… Read More
If you were making a documentary about people who dye their dogs neon hues and trim their fur into the shape of the Cheshire Cat, Dan Deacon would be the first person you’d call for the score. Since his arrival… Read More