Pop
Stephen Carradini
Some reissues are chock-full of new bits that entice hardcore fans to go out and buy beloved albums again. Columbia’s reissues of Paul Simon’s first three albums do not fall in that category.

Indie
Stephen Carradini
I love The Postal Service. I’ve yearned for the day that their long-rumored second album comes out; I’ve pretty much resigned myself to it never appearing. In its stead, I’ve sought out other ge

Electronica
Matt Carney
Back in 2009, Ernest Greene recorded two of the year’s most widely praised EPs with cheap, airy synthesizers at his parents’ house in rural Georgia.

Hip Hop/Rap
Ryan Querbach
Rapper Kendrick Lamar recently released his long-awaited project, “Section.80,” and it seems well worth the wait.

Hip Hop/Rap
Ryan Querbach
To assign adjectives to Shabazz Palaces’ music is a difficult task, but if I had to take a stab at it, I’d call it original, often offbeat, weird and yet, still awesome.

Rock
Matt Carney
Well, yeah — the song ends with tectonic plate-splitting crashes of pre-punk circa 1976.

Documentary
Rod Lott
As soaked in neon as the city it captures, the documentary “Live from Tokyo” delves into its underground music scene — specifically, how living in such a crowded megaopolis, where citizens are bombarded with an overwhelming amount of information and stimuli, affects what musicians make. Spoiler alert: Clutter yields creative intensity.