“Rowell loves her characters, and they drive the narrative instead of being dragged along by it. Because of this attention to character, to their personal traumas and explorations of identity, she’s created a truly subversive version of the “Chosen One” literary trope […] A goofy, subversive, and fantastical treat.”
Music Staff Picks: The Best Releases of April
billy woods – Aethiopes On Aethiopes, billy woods reestablishes his strengths as a storyteller, with help from producer Preservation’s experimentally jazzy beats. By now, woods has cemented himself as one of hip hop’s greatest writers, and his brooding yet clever introspection sounds especially powerful over Preservation’s musical backdropping. Samples of pianos will twinkle across some tracks, and pound discordantly on others, while electric guitars ring and horns blow. By the time the harmonica enters the equation, the beats here are unparalleled. It is an enveloping atmosphere completed by excellent percussion, which moves between hand drums, full kits, and shuffling jangles … Continued
