Category: ESSENTIAL NEW MUSIC

Essential New Music: The Gift’s “Altar”

In its native Portugal, the decades-old the Gift is a moody marvel of alt- art-pop: an electronically induced ensemble led

Chicago’s Flatfoot 56 continues to defy odds. For 17 years, the band has thrived playing faith- based, traditional, instrument-accented Celtic

Arto Lindsay sings in a delicate, narrow range inspired by Caetano Veloso, João Gilberto and other Tropicália stars he heard

What an odd, creakily compelling record this is. Irish new-folk singer Fionn Regan, heretofore largely content to work in acoustic-guitar-and-voice

Onstage, Mac DeMarco is a goofball imp, good-natured if slightly asinine; on record, he’s a serene, sincere, soft-pop balladeer. Those

R.I.P. MAGNET Senior Writer Jonathan Valania

In 2006, Canadian Elizabeth Powell transitioned from pretty pop solo project Ele_K* to anthemic riot grrrl-tinged Land Of Talk, cranking