FLOOD

Daptone’s inaugural reggae release is freighted with a tragic backstory.

The Chicago rapper and singer delivers an album filled with psalms of lament and hymns to hope through hard times.

When presented with a collection of songs that’s explicitly billed as mood music, the correct question is: what sort of mood?

All together now: “We make fire! With our bare hands! We catch fish from the stream like a bear can!”

Past ScHoolboy Q records have shown a similar grasp for introspection, but “Blank Face LP” is all immersion.

Rhymin’ Simon’s still vital at seventy-four.

On “Everything’s Beautiful,” the jazz pianist deconstructs Miles’s old recordings, then reassembles them with help from Stevie Wonder, Erykah Badu, KING, Bilal, and more. Here, he talks about how the legend’s legacy extends far beyond jazz.

Like Miles and Monk, Julianna Barwick understands the importance of space; each resonant note and each distinct sound is chosen judiciously, allowing each one to echo with even greater power.

The psychedelic outlaw’s third album album doesn’t hold a lot of easy answers, necessarily, but it does have plenty of right ones.

The breakout star of the FX show’s second season talks about his character’s rise to the top of the show’s hierarchy of violence and what it means to be the sole black actor in a snow-white world.

The National Book Award winner returns with a collection of short stories and a novella.