Music Top 5: May 2023
Living legends, musical mavericks and inspiring innovators are on tap in this month’s can’t-miss concerts.
Hymn to Possibility: A Review of Spektral Quartet and Julia Holter’s “Behind the Wallpaper”
Composer Alex Temple wrote this suite about her experiences during her transition, but makes those experiences unforgettably accessible to pretty much anyone.
Delayed Gratification: A Review of MIIRRORS’ “Motion and Picture”
Frontman Brian McSweeney’s voice is a marvel, purring intimately over a phrase, then launching into a stratospheric keening.
What is Lingua Ignota? Challenging Music For Challenging Times Played by Challenging People for Challenging Audiences
Lingua Ignota has evolved from screaming and shrieking to channeling a chanting trope, but her themes are similar, and her anger has clearly not dissipated.
Music Top 5: April 2023
Some venerable names and some bold younger acts comprise the must-see gigs as we breeze into spring.
A Look Bach: Dame Jane Glover Reflects on Fifty Years of Music of the Baroque
From the beginning, the boundaries of what is considered Baroque has broadened. “We have played Beethoven, we have even played Mendelssohn,” says Jane Glover.
Choosing Sides: A Review of Poi Dog Pondering’s “Keep On Loving Each Other”
The band seems to have figured out that free spirits don’t need to fit into a brand; “free spirits” is a brand.
Renaissance Reunion: Paul Hillier Returns for Bella Voce’s Fortieth Anniversary
Hillier made recordings with His Majestie’s Clerkes throughout the 1990s. Of Bella Voce, he says, “It took a while to realize that this was the same group!”
Music Top 5: March 2023
The artists—and the performances—you can’t let yourself miss this month.
The Eloquence of Spareness: A Review of Half Gringa’s “Ancestral Home”
As gifted as she is both as a composer and singer, it’s Half Gringa’s lyrics that launch her into the stratosphere.
