Stories
When most people think about salsa, the voice tends to lead the conversation. Singers like Cheo Feliciano, Celia Cruz, and Ismael Miranda sit at the front of…
Nick Cave has been part of my musical life for so long that his songs feel less like possessions than places I return to. I first encountered him through the…
A song is made from sound, yet some of its most expressive moments happen when sound briefly disappears. The pause after a snare hit, the breath before a…
For years, I treated country music as a box I had already opened and closed. I knew the broad outlines: polished Nashville ballads, radio-friendly choruses,…
Some records meet you at the bottom of the day without pretending they can solve everything. The best hip hop albums to listen to when you're feeling down…
The opening of Paul Simon’s “Graceland” does something wonderfully disarming. Before the guitars, vocals and hand percussion establish the song’s wide…
For years, progressive rock felt like music I was supposed to admire rather than enjoy. I understood that bands such as Yes, King Crimson and Genesis were…
A great concept album asks you to hear songs as parts of a larger world. The tracks may follow a character, revisit a political idea, share a setting, or…
I had been chasing big sounds for years, layering guitars and stacking harmonies like I was building a wall, when a friend handed me a burned CD with a single…
When listeners think of Led Zeppelin, the mind usually drifts to volcanic blues riffs, thunderous drums, and Robert Plant's banshee wail on tracks like "Whole…