Dec. 15 marked several major releases as finals week started in Madison. Eminem and N.E.R.D. released their first albums in four and seven years, respectively, and BROCKHAMPTON closed their SATURATION trilogy with SATURATION III, their third album in six months.
Our music columnists list their top albums of the year.
As the year approaches its finale, we’re thrown into a blitzkrieg of artists releasing highly anticipated — and sometimes unexpected — albums. Björk, Fabolous & Jadakiss and a slew of holiday-themed artists all released projects this weekend.
With reputation, Taylor Swift makes a transformation — one that many huge stars have attempted — into a darker, more serious version of herself. Bruno Mars did it with Unorthodox Jukebox, Michael Jackson scowled on the cover of Bad and Beyonce embraced her sexuality like never before on her self-titled album. Swift, however, had slightly different circumstances
Sometimes it can feel like a storm, gripping something between the stars and sky. In this place, we get lost like Monday morning doubts, shape shift again and never really lose sight of where we see this going.
Petit Biscuit released his debut album, Presence, this past Friday. Though he is most known for his song “Sunset Lover,” which boasts over 226 million plays on Spotify, Petit Biscuit displays an advanced sound on his new album, which features 14 tracks — almost entirely new releases. With collaborations from fellow producers Lido, SONIA and Bipolar Sunshine, Presence offers a creative mix of electronic melodies from all the featured artists.
Over the weekend, Jidenna dropped a surprise EP titled Boomerang. Some may remember the billboard-charting, electro R&B hit, “Classic Man” from 2015. Since then, Jidenna has pushed out some great work and performed at a slew of festivals, including this past summer’s Lollapalooza in Chicago. Fans of the Netflix show Luke Cage will likely remember Jidenna’s appearance with his stellar performance of the melodic single, “Long Live The Chief.”
Every Thursday night at 11 p.m., a slew of new albums pop up on music streaming services on phones across the country.
Rapper Big K.R.I.T. dropped a compelling and unapologetically southern double album that might just walk away as the best album to emerge this fall season.
It’s been almost four years since Annie Clark, better known by her stage name St. Vincent, released her self-titled album. A critical darling, St. Vincent propelled her into national prominence; numerous publications listed it as one of the best albums of the year and gave St. Vincent highest sales figures yet. With her fifth studio album, MASSEDUCTION, St. Vincent takes another bold step into her electropop psyche.
Trap music begins between zones and moves cross-country. After releasing two solo projects earlier this year, Future and Young Thug finally comes together on one project like a team line-up and brings the music industry back down south.
Radric Davis, better known by his stage name Gucci Mane, has dropped his 11th studio album titled Mr. Davis by GUWOP Enterprises and Atlantic Records.
Popular alternative band U2 has been a longtime authority in the world of rock music. They have been long rumored to be producing an album based around themes of the 2016 presidential election, expected for release by December.
The Swedish EDM duo Galantis, responsible for the feel-good hit single "Peanut Butter Jelly" and anti-bullying track "No Money," return for their sophomore album, The Aviary. Though this is only the duo's second album together, they are by no mean novices of the industry.
After gaining popularity touring the music festival circuit for the past few years, Seattle duo ODESZA has released their third album, A Moment Apart, on Sept.
You can call love a kind of weather, taking and giving new seasons like a lifecycle with repetition.
In nearly every moment of my free time, I find myself searching for the best new music. That task proves to get even more complicated when summer rolls around.
Five years ago, recent UW-Madison graduate Kristian Iliev was sitting in his high school English teacher’s homeroom. On the other side of the room rested an acoustic guitar that seemed to call out to him. On a whim, Iliev picked up the guitar and began working on a simple chord progression that would eventually become the foundation for his song, “Mrs. Supernova.” When it came time for lyrics, Iliev said the rugged progression needed something equally as raunchy. Inspired by the quirky lyrics of ZZ Top, the track was one of the first pieces put out by The Racing Pulses.
Summer returns in cycles. Whether or not we connect most with ourselves during the summer, music has always been a platform of change. Like many artists looking to reinvent their image around this time, we would only hope that their music matches the reasons we listened to them in the first place.
Atlanta, Ga. is a musical mecca. There is something about the way we find the extended idea of culture in every corner of the southern Bible Belt. A melting pot at the mouth, the Black Hollywood comes alive in more ways than one.
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Solutions by The State News
