Scott Morrow

FKA Twigs is a singular force in ethereal, otherworldly trip-hop and avant-pop. Born Tahliah Debrett Barnett in Gloucestershire, England, the British singer, songwriter, dancer, producer, and director seems nearly unparalleled in her creative drive—and that’s illustrated by her current tour.

The fourth Run the Jewels full-length, RTJ4, is the hardcore rap duo’s first since Donald Trump’s inauguration. Not at all by coincidence, it’s also the most sociopolitically outspoken album they’ve released to date. On their third, released at the end of 2016, rapper-activist Killer Mike and rapper-producer El-P let poignant, sober lyrics about war, religion, love, and redemption shine through the cracks in their armor of car-bombing braggadocio. Their fuck-the-power attitude and rap-battle ...

In the tradition of heavy-music genre splicers such as Mr. Bungle, Secret Chiefs 3, and Estradasphere, French act Igorrr hybridizes industrial death metal, breakcore, chiptune, and other genres using a dizzying array of seemingly unrelated styles and instruments.

Oslo’s Aiming for Enrike accomplish a lot with a little: though they’re just a duo, armed with guitar, drums, and a small infantry of effects and loop pedals, they craft detailed, propulsive, dancy math-rock instrumentals.

“Weird Al” Yankovic . . . with a symphony? That’s right—the paragon of parody has added orchestral accompaniment for his current Strings Attached tour. At each stop, local musicians will juxtapose their symphonic grandeur with Yankovic’s musical goofiness.

Drawing from Jamaican rocksteady and reggae, Wild Belle constructs a tropical pop sound that channels dub, dancehall, and West African music. Natalie’s smoky, sultry voice links the eclectic mix, twisting around Elliot’s baritone saxophone and electrified kalimba melodies.

Twenty-one years after releasing their debut album, Such Blinding Stars for Starving Eyes, emotional post-hardcore sextet Cursive resurfaced in 2018 with their first LP in six years. Vitriola (15 Passenger), which came out in October, isn’t just a collection of their catchiest and most cutting songs in a decade; it’s a callback to the sound of the band’s 2003 breakout, The Ugly Organ, on which they paired discordant but infectious melodies with strings, keyboard, brass, and more.

When he released his 2009 LP Never Better (Rhymesayers), Minneapolis MC and rock musician P.O.S (born Stefon Alexander) had already made a name for himself on his own and with Doomtree, his seven-member hip-hop collective and record label. But Never Better announced a new P.O.S—one who had taken his production and lyricism to another level. Its aggressive beats, huge hooks, dexterous flow, and fully articulated punk-rock attitude made it one of the best and most unique rap albums of the year....

Capping off a year in which she self-released her critically acclaimed sophomore LP, Room 25, Chicago rapper and poet Noname is set to close out 2018 with three consecutive hometown performances.

Two of Europe’s extreme-metal influencers, Poland’s Behemoth and Sweden’s At the Gates, represent a relative rarity in heavy music: beloved '90s veterans who are churning out some of their best work nearly 30 years after they formed.

Hardcore band Turnstile takes inspiration from some unlikely places.

The first album in five years from the Taiwanese extreme-metal band

Seven years after releasing their sixth studio album, 2011’s 100 Lovers (Anti-), folksy Gypsy rockers Devotchka have returned with their most orchestrated and gorgeous full-length yet, This Night Falls Forever (Concord). Devotchka always have made dense, multifaceted music, but on this record, singer and multi-instrumentalist Nick Urata’s film-scoring influence is most evident (not that fellow multi-instrumentalists Tom Hagerman and Jeanie Schroder make any less impact than usual). An accompl...

“What if American slaves had embraced Satan instead of Jesus?” That’s the question used to describe the style of Zeal & Ardor, an audacious mix of black metal, Negro spirituals, electronic accents, and synth interludes created by Swiss-American singer and multi-instrumentalist Manuel Gagneux. The closest analog might be the soulful, political, gospel-infused postpunk of Algiers, but Zeal & Ardor ratchets up the sonic animosity by an order of magnitude. It’s a genuinely moving amalgamation tha...