New Reviews for March 29, 2024

Cowboy Carter
Columbia / Parkwood Entertainment
Melding country and that assert her Southern roots and challenge genre boundaries, Cowboy Carter spotlights Black female artists and makes a powerful statement on reclamation and legacy.
Evolution
Valory
A bright, cheerful revival of the poppier aspects of the 2023 inductee to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
- Stephen Thomas Erlewine
GripEditor's choice
Secretly Canadian
R&B
The singer/songwriter's breezy, tender third album explores the powerful physical and emotional hold of new love within the gay Black club scene.
- Heather Phares
Heaven :x: HellEditor's choice
Rise Records
The eighth and final album from the Canadian crew merges their pop-punk and metal-leaning sides onto a sprawling double LP.
- Neil Z. Yeung
Interplay
Wichita / Wichita Recordings
The seventh album from these shoegaze giants (and third since reuniting) explores synth pop, spacy electronics, and other territory new to them.
- Fred Thomas
Hey Panda
Drag City
Adding R&B and pop flourishes while stripping the long-established sound of the group down to the studs, the album is a low-key, late-career triumph.
- Tim Sendra
Switched On, Vols. 1-5Editor's choice
Duophonic / Warp
A comprehensive box set of the band's singles and rarities collections that completes their fascinating, innovative body of work.
- Heather Phares
Echo Dancing
Yep Roc
One of America's great songwriters re-records 14 songs from his back catalog in radical, lo-fi electronic form.
- Mark Deming
The Hoople
AllMusic Staff Pick - March 29, 2024
1974
Released 50 years ago today, Mott the Hoople's first album without guitarist and sounding board Mick Ralphs still delivers glammy punchy rock with Ian Hunter virtually alone at the helm. The hits hit hard, including the piano driven rave-up "The Golden Age of Rock & Roll" featuring a throwback '50s horn section, and the undeniable orgiastic strut of "Roll Away the Stone."
- Zac Johnson