Albums

Alela Diane's new album Who's Keeping Time? finds the singer-songwriter and her ample band moving with a newfound sense of vigour and confidence. Hearty and headstrong, her music possesses a brisk or firm stomp and also swoons easily. Growing up in her own words among the 'winding rivers and golden hillsides' of Nevada City, on the western slopes of the...

Jeff Parker and his ETA IVtet can shake a groove in any direction, falling into it with an air of ease and inevitability then riding it out to its farthest extent before twisting and turning once more, as though they were affording us a view through their own shared kaleidoscope or laying out an undifferentiated mass of iron filings...

The sound world that Loraine James creates often seems pinched by a certain sadness or psychological strain. That pervasive quality as well as a mottled and vaporous sound palette can make her feel like a somewhat difficult or uneasy artist to approach. Yet time and again whenever I take the plunge, what I find and come away with is music...