Music

Five albums into their career, the band exudes a cocky confidence in its ability to use rock songs as vehicles for both social commentary and personal angst.

Whether you're anxiously awaiting Christmas or already wishing the holidays would be over, here's a selection of music that lets you know you're not alone.

These love songs — Neko Case's "Oh, Neglect...," Valerie June's "Runnin' and Searchin'" and Olivia Dean's "Man I Need" — each express a refreshingly realistic ambivalence toward romance.

Smith's debut album ushered in a new era of rock and roll. Critic Ken Tucker reviews the new anniversary edition of Horses, plus we listen back to Terry Gross' 1996 and 2010 interviews with Smith.

Critic Lloyd Schwartz tells a story about Lezhneva, a Russian singer he "discovered" a few months ago — without realizing he already owned a 2015 recording of her rendition of Handel's early oratorio.

Swift's previous albums focused on the love she yearned for. The dozen songs on her latest release combine to form a picture of true love found, tested and proven strong.

Enter In 1973, Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham, then struggling musicians, released an album that inspired Mick Fleetwood to invite them to join his band. Buckingham Nicks has just been remastered.

Big Thief has a new album, as does Zach Top, a young country singer with roots in old country. And the Icelandic-Chinese singer Laufey brings a classical-music and jazz influence to her pop songs.

Clinton is the leader of two important funk bands, Parliament and Funkadelic. In 1975, Parliament released Mothership Connection, a loose concept album about funk musicians as galactic invaders.

The three-sister band HAIM and pop singer and TikTok star Addison Rae are practicing "emotional passive resistance" this summer — and it sounds great.