Will Hermes
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Music critic Will Hermes went to one of the Grateful Dead's last shows that broke all kinds of records.
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NPR music critic Will Hermes reviews an album that contains the best storytelling he's heard in a long time. It's the debut album from Courtney Barnett.
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Though she's been a popular singer since the '80s, Natalie Merchant has often worn the air of one who finds pop stardom distasteful. On her new self-titled LP, she dredges that tension to the fore.
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The 23-year-old country-rock singer's fine new album thrives on her iconoclastic vision. Along the way, the invokes the name and spirit of everyone from Steve Earle to French poet Paul Verlaine.
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On the 2010 album Scratch My Back, Gabriel covered songs by the musicians he loves. For the follow-up, he invited those artists — who include Arcade Fire, Randy Newman, David Byrne, Regina Spektor, Lou Reed, Bon Iver and more — to cover his own material.
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As the androgynous vocal half of Rhye, Michael Milosh keeps himself enshrouded in mystery. But his new solo album is more revealing, forthcoming, sexy and domestic.
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With a new record, the band Arcade Fire is trying to top their 2011 release, which won a Grammy for Album of the Year. Critic Will Hermes says that on Reflektor, they turn to dance music to try to reinvigorate their sound.
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Even the compilers of a new funk collection don't fully know who William Onyeabor is.
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The duo incorporates many genre influences to fit its hard-edged pop sound. Critic Will Hermes says the formula still works on Bitter Rivals, which finds the two musicians trying to expand their boundaries even further.
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Producer and singer-songwriter Abel Tesfaye became an Internet phenomenon in 2010, when he began self-releasing free mixtapes of woozy, haunted R&B songs. His proper major-label debut, Kiss Land, marks his official step into the limelight.