Folk

In an exclusive interview with Blogcritics, New Zealand native and music icon Bic Runga discusses 20 years of music, her fifth LP, 'Close Your Eyes', and who she is today.

Here are my highlights in popular music from 2016. It includes records by Sophie Ellis-Bextor, Bright Light Bright Light, David Bowie, Melanie C, Hikaru Utada, Beyoncé, and many more!

If 'Blue Mountain' represents a new, more prolific era for this music legend, Weir fans of all stripes have a lot to look forward to. Even if he takes another 16 years to complete another album, listeners can take comfort in the rich tones of this mature work. Now more than ever, the world needs the comforting, self-assured songs of Bob Weir.

Coruscating Latin rhythms with a four-mallet attack, folk-jazz from a guitar-ukelele-vocal duo, and baroque-jazz crossover from the late bassoonist Daniel Smith

One could view 'In Winter' as a stylish stopgap between Melua's last recording 'Ketevan' and her next album. However, one should embrace it as an inspired seasonal concept album that ties 'The House' as her most ambitious undertaking yet.

‘The Miller Girl’ is meant to tell the story of a man who is lost but then delivered through the power of love.

Nineteen years removed from Theaudience, Bextor's catalog runs six solo albums deep with this year's 'Familia' as proof of her power. Bextor's grasp of pop music shows an awareness that the genre isn't solely beholden to four-on-the-floor ideas; this knowledge has led her to outfox predecessors and lap contemporaries. This overview acts as an introduction to one of the brightest voices in contemporary pop.

Listeners looking for music to inspire a meditation of their own would do well to give ‘The Quiet Hours’ a try.

Soulful singer Logan Metz’s ‘The Last Remaining Payphone in L.A.’ is a beautiful composed emotion-laden experience.

The pianist captures the essences of small works by Leonard Bernstein and Aaron Copland as sensitively as she does songs and pieces by Irving Berlin, Duke Ellington and Howard Arlen.