New York Times 19 July 2020

To some he's the godfather, to others he's the king. Long before bedroom recording became an aesthetic choice, R Stevie Moore built a legend of pop experimentalism, home recording, and mystic curmudgeonry. Equal parts songwriter, improviser, composer, producer, filmmaker, artist, and comedy writer, the self-taught Tennessean polymath has released hundreds of homemade albums since the '60s–and inspired a thousand times more. Rather than pose and slither in the music biz, Moore opted for a more genuine life and a spot on the staff at legendary indie radio station WFMU, sharing Bedroom Radio with the world. His independent streak extends to his record releases, the R. Stevie Moore Cassette Club successful and long-lasting enough that it became the R. Stevie Moore CD-R Club.

When Rateliff began writing for the new album, the songs initially centered on the pain of his unraveling relationship, but the theme of the album took a different direction when Richard Swift, his longtime friend and producer of Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats’ two acclaimed albums, passed away in July 2018. Across the 10 tracks on And It’s Still Alright, you can feel Rateliff faltering but never losing hope—hope that it’s all part of a bigger plan. While the songs are quieter and more reflective than the exuberant soul The Night Sweats have become famous for, they are no less urgent and indelible, as he pushes the boundaries and finds new depths in his songwriting—a singular voice embarking on a personal exploration of love, loss and perseverance.

Bruce Liu, winner of the 2021 International Chopin Piano Competition and famous for his distinctive mix of "feline agility and lightness of touch" (New York Times), breaks new ground with the supposedly well known. Following his enormous success with WAVES, a tribute to French composers and nature themes, The Seasons now focuses on Tchaikovsky's and Liu's relationship with music. "For me, this is a moment to explore some personal emotion," the pianist says of his latest album, which envelops the Russian composer's intimate and profoundly poetic language with musical breathing space.

Bruce Springsteen once said he intended to make an album with words like Bob Dylan that sounded like Phil Spector where he sang like Roy Orbison, a nifty summary of many, but not all, of his artistic ambitions and a key to his appeal.

The Doors mark the moment when the American rock underground of the 1960s came crashing into the mainstream.
The group's massive influence on the course of rock music may been overshadowed by decades of lionization of their late lead singer Jim Morrison, whose early death wound up being a pivotal part of their legacy.