With his second album out today,
@DavidDuchovny
spoke with us about gaining confidence as a singer, how his band members put up with some of his cheesier ideas, and what it's like to have Marilyn Manson as a fan
New reviews: Norah Jones explores new sounds in a compilation of digital singles, K-pop megastars BTS expand their empire with their most accessible album to date, and stalwart Bruce Hornsby brings elements of electronica and jazz into his songwriting.
RIP Marty Balin: As a founding member of Jefferson Airplane, Balin contributed to the development of the psychedelic aesthetic of the late 60s and soundtracked the Summer of Love. He would go on to further success with Jefferson Starship and a solo career.
RIP Dennis Edwards. The R&B singer fronted the Temptations from the late '60s through most of the '70s as the group became more experimental with its sound, like on the psychedelic soul masterpiece 'Cloud Nine.'
AllMusic Staff Pick:
Lana Del Rey
Blue Banisters
With the instrumentals on every track somewhat stripped down, the focus of the album was on Lana Del Rey’s soul-crushing lyrics and evocative vocals. Like her previous work, Blue Banisters is meant to be …
New Reviews: Camila Cabello's second album finds the singer further establishing herself beyond Fifth Harmony, the Who sounds rejuvenated on the band's second record in 37 years, and Pitbull departs the majors and makes his most diverse album yet.
Embracing dancefloor anthems, lo-fi glitches and abrasive, cathartic near-noise, the electronic genre pushed boundaries in 2023. Our editors highlight groundbreaking recordings and a farewell to legend
@RyuichiSakamoto
.
Mojo Nixon, 1957-2024
One of the most outsized personalities on college radio in the '80s, Mojo Nixon won a fervent cult following with his motor-mouthed redneck persona and a gonzo brand of satire with all the subtlety of a sledgehammer.
AllMusic Staff Picks
REO Speedwagon
Ridin' the Storm Out
While the group still had elements of their bar band boogie, they began to streamline their approach on this album, released 50 years ago this month.
@kcreospeedwagon
Album eight from
@starfucker
hits a sweet spot with 17 bittersweet, grooving synth pop tracks that play out like an hour-long DJ set for the alienated.
AllMusic Staff Pick
@OfficialRunDMC
Tougher Than Leather
As groundbreaking as Run-D.M.C.'s first album was, they became a better group when they started rhyming faster and embraced dense, busy, sample-heavy production.
Leeds post-punks
@YardActBand
upstage their Mercury Prize-nominated debut with a wry, chaotic, and infectious follow-up produced by
@gorillaz
's Remi Kabaka, Jr.
AllMusic Staff Pick
28th Day
Complete Recordings
Active for only a few years in the mid-'80s, 28th Day was loosely connected to the Paisley Underground, making songs of psychedelic jangle and punky angst as filtered through Beatles-informed melody.
AllMusic Staff Pick
Jim Hall-Ron Carter Duo
Alone Together
Long considered a classic and a revelation to listeners who had taken guitarist Jim Hall for granted, this set of duets with bassist
@RonCarterBass
has near-telepathic communication.
AllMusic Staff Pick
Lime Spiders
Nine Miles High 1983-1990
This collection of 26 cuts on a single disc offers the best of the best ofthe band's Australian garage madness on one of the best reissue labels in the biz -- Raven
AllMusic Staff Pick
@CutCopy
In Ghost Colours
Mix a shimmering new wave-meets-indie pop-meets-neo-disco sound that's totaly retro, but somehow quite futuristic, with a batch of heartfelt songs with really sticky melodies and the occasional teardrop.
AllMusic Staff Pick
Ron Funches
The Funches of Us
The debut comedy album from the sweet-miened comedian/actor gracefully juggles topics including pop culture (Ludacris, Muppet Babies), past service jobs, racism, and regional U.S. cultures.
AllMusic Staff Pick
@Peaches
I Feel Cream
Funky electroclash and shiny synths collide on this neon throbber, delivering sleekness and polish without sacrificing the raw attitude of her prior albums.
Sometimes the best way to look back is to look way, way back. These are our favorite reissues, boxed sets, expanded editions, previously unreleased releases and archival albums of 2023.
AllMusic Staff Pick
Charles M. Bogart
Sounds of North American Frogs
Celebrate leap day with this unexpected runaway hit album of frog calls from legendary record label
@smithsonian
@Folkways
.
AllMusic Staff Pick
@WillieNelson
Phases and Stages
Phases and Stages, released 50 years ago today, is a wonderful set of music that resonates deeply, as deeply as the words.
AllMusic Staff Pick
The Partridge Family
The Partridge Family Album
The first LP from this Monkees-inspired TV entity yielded a pair of U.S. Top Ten hits, including the Cassidy classic "I Think I Love You," which went all the way to number one.
AllMusic Staff Pick
@QueenWillRock
Queen II
Queen II, released 50 years ago today, has a kind of insular drama is quite alluring in its own right, which makes it one of the favorites of their hardcore fans.
AllMusic Staff Pick
Johnny Costa
Plays Mister Rogers' Neighborhood
Longtime pianist for Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, Johnny Costa's warm jazz stylings helped define the show's smart but always welcoming tone.
This year, our editors chose 271 different albums on their respective lists including records by emerging artists and established acts. Peruse these individual lists to find all of these, giving AllMusic reason enough to love 2023.
AllMusic Staff Pick:
Unrest
Perfect Teeth
While not without the usual twists keeping their oblong pop a little left-of-center, it is as cohesive and uncluttered as the band got, and it includes some of their definitive sounds and songs.
@4AD_Official
Bassist Ian Hill spoke with AllMusic shortly before the release of
@judaspriest
's upcoming album Invincible Shield, discussing the record, his picks for favorite and most underrated Priest recordings, and if a 20th studio album is a possibility.
Part of the 30th anniversary celebration of
@MariahCarey
's debut, 'The Rarities' gathers prime B-sides, career-spanning outtakes, and a peak Daydream-era performance.
AllMusic Staff Pick
@AmpFiddler
Waltz of a Ghetto Fly
After a couple decades spent floating around with the likes of George Clinton, Prince, and fellow Detroiter Moodymann, keyboardist/vocalist Fiddler finally came up with his first solo album.
AllMusic Staff Pick
Nat King Cole
The Christmas Song
First issued in the early '60s, this collection of musical Christmas cheer is packed full of the smoothly sung, sentimental favorites associated as much with Nat King Cole himself as with the season.
AllMusic Staff Pick
Wilco
Summerteeth
While
@Wilco
was inarguably
@JeffTweedy
's band at this point, Summerteeth, released 25 hours ago today, was the apex of his collaboration with Jay Bennett.
AllMusic Staff Pick
@EmmylouSongbird
Red Dirt Girl
Alternately sparse and lush, it can be seen as a companion piece to 1995's Wrecking Ball. Drum loops and exotic melodies nestle in comfortably with warm guitar work and Harris' gently wavering voice.
This Week
@BTS_twt
presents a three-disc anthology and hits and rarities, Rusty pairs up
@ElvisCostello
with Allan Mayes to pay tribute to songs they loved as teenagers, and
@eltonofficial
celebrates Madman Across the Water with an expansive boxed set.
There was no shortage of notable jazz in 2023:
@alisononbanjo
reminded us that the banjo has a rich history in jazz, we got a terrific live set from
@FredHerschMusic
&
@EspeSpalding
, and hip-hop influences weighed heavily on several standout albums.
AllMusic Staff Pick
@LaurieSpiegel
The Expanding Universe
This 2012 release of computer music pioneer Laurie Spiegel's 1980 album extends its running time with 100 extra minutes of cosmic synthesizer sounds and code-derived melodies.
Former
@thesonicyouth
member
@KimletGordon
delivers knife-edged beats and hypnotic character studies that feel like the essence of her entire body of work.
Singer/songwriter Mary Timony returns to her solo career with songs about surviving grief that combine mystical folk with the rock crunch of her band Ex Hex.
@exhexband
@MaryT_Money
Several classical albums stood out to our reviewers this month including a beautiful recital of French orchestral songs by Sandrine Piau.
Discover more of our editors' selections and highlights.
Editors (
@editorsofficial
) frontman Tom Smith talked us through the creation of his band's new album (we gave it 4 1/2 stars) and its growth over the course of six records
AllMusic Staff Pick
Eddie Kendricks
Boogie Down!
Boogie Down, released 50 years ago today, is Kendricks' fifth solo album and shows that he had attained a mature and tasteful musical niche independent of his former group, The Temptations.
AllMusic Staff Pick
Popol Vuh
Einsjäger & Siebenjäger
Released 50 years ago today, Einsjäger & Siebenjäger (Earth & Sky) remains a watermark for their trademark of melding beauty and free-flowing composition.
Staff Pick
@Hoobastank
Hoobastank
Young bands: choose your name wisely. A shame because this debut is as catchy as anything released in 2001, due mostly to a surprisingly talented vocalist and sneakily proficient songwriting.
AllMusic Staff Pick
The Regrettes
Feel Your Feelings Fool!
Frank, feminist, and sung by then-high schooler Lydia Night, the
@regrettesband
first album covers every up and down of teenage girlhood from first love to unbridled rage at the world.
AllMusic Staff Pick
@ThomasDolby
The Flat Earth
The musician/innovator gets points for shrugging off formula on a sophomore album traversing the manically infectious "Hyperactive" and a cover of "I Scare Myself" that brings cocktail jazz into the chat.
Go from backroads to Music Row with our favorite country albums of 2023. Standouts include Americana psychedelia from
@RustonKelly
(pictured), a stripped-down
@TheBrandyClark
, and welcome returns from
@TanyaTucker
and
@IrisDeMent
.
.
@SadierLae
combines urgent calls for love and self-knowledge with experimental sonics that border on sacred, making for some of her most vital solo music.
AllMusic Staff Pick
A Motown Christmas
An outstanding sampler of holiday highlights all recorded during the label's late-'60s peak and infused with the same beautifully soulful vibe which defined the Sound of Young America at its best.
AllMusic Staff Pick
@theroots
Things Fall Apart
One of the cornerstone albums of alternative rap's second wave, Things Fall Apart (released 25 years ago today) was the point where the Roots' tremendous potential finally coalesced into a structured album.
AllMusic Staff Pick
Various Artists
Ultra Chilled, Vol. 1
Despite the rather unfortunate title, Ultra Chilled, Vol. 1 assembles some of the most established names in down-tempo electronica and trip-hop, mixing them with some relative unknowns.
The 50th anniversary edition of
@alicecooper
's hard rock masterwork includes remastered audio of the original album as well as live material and outtakes.
AllMusic Staff Pick
Jerry Douglas
Slide Rule
On Slide Rule,
@JerryDouglas
moves away from the jazz experiments of Plant Early, returning to the straightforward bluegrass of his early work.
The sixth album from New Jersey indie rockers
@realestateband
continues their arc of maturation while returning to the straightforward charm of their earliest days.
AllMusic Staff Pick
Old 97's
Wreck Your Life
While
@Old97s
second album continues the forlorn West Texas twang-a-billy that they pioneered with their debut, the sharp songwriting of vocalist
@RhettMiller
steps out to the forefront this time around.
Explore new voices like Bethany Cosentino and the supergroup Boygenius (pictured), or settle into new music from old favorites like Paul Simon, Natalie Merchant, and PJ Harvey in our editors' favorite Singer/Songwriter albums of 2023.
AllMusic had the chance to speak with Liberia-born, Chattanooga-based folk musician
@mon_rovia_boy
about his most recent single, "Don't Lose a Good Thing," how he holds onto his optimism, and his favorite type of tea.
AllMusic Staff Pick
@Aerosmith
Get Your Wings
Often overshadowed by the subsequent twin highlights of Toys in the Attic and Rocks, Aerosmith's 1974 second album, released 50 years ago on this date, is where Aerosmith became Aerosmith.
AllMusic Staff Pick
A Christmas Gift for You from Phil Spector
Spector believed he could produce a record for the holidays that would capture not only the essence of the Christmas spirit, but also be a pop masterpiece.