The singer throws up lyrics about pursuit and desertion. A snare drum lightly skips across a series of bass pinpoints, an organic foundation unthinkable before…

This review first ran in the April 1997 issue of Spin. To mark the 20th anniversary of U2's Pop—originally released March 3, 1997—we're republishing it here.

Sixteen years have passed since these Athens, Georgia natives last pondered love, sex, and outer space over untamed dance beats. Here, they refresh all their…

For the past few years, minimal German dance music, with its fierce emptiness and slim rhythms, has been a scene with untapped crossover potential. And…

New York didn't invent self-consciously witty and theatrical dance music. But in the early '80s, producers in the city did spotlight intersections of comedy (Gichy…

"All of my people think I look strange," confesses singer/songwriter/ guitarist/producer Jerry DeCicca with an inscrutable weariness, on "New Face," one of 12 unhurried folk…

French pop rockers tend to have an effortless melodic gift, and that's the case with Xavier Boyer, leader of Parisian group Tahiti 80. Examining love…

The Berlin-based duo of Arno Kammermeier and Walter Merziger up the sonic intrigue on tracks by Heaven 17, Aphex Twin, Carl Craig, the Tubes (!),…

These Los Angelenos approach their hometown's timeless decadence with a bummed-out but exhilarating rigor: Digitized romantic obsession ("I Want You"), swaggering degradation ("Innocent Eyes"), country-rock…

With her classical training and background performing with the Boston University Symphony Orchestra, violinist Joan Wasser has a tight grip on the harmonies, rhythms, and…

Since 1999, this Brooklyn-via-Cincinnati quintet has been trying to fuse poetic lyrics, cinematic pull, and nervy, restless rock in a singular way. And on their…

Contemporary tinkerers such as the Flaming Lips, Peaches, and Cat Power overhaul original Yoko Ono tracks on this hybrid tribute album; and while the results…

Simon is a Parisian songwriter with a demure, crackly voice whose music is rooted in Björk-esque notions of how technology and nature stream together. And…

Introspection and noise are infrequent bedfellows, but they get fully tangled up in the work of singer/songwriter Damien Rice. Following his lauded 2003 debut O…

This singer/songwriter's second album combines subtle notions of folk and electronics, and the result is fleetingly pop-oriented music that sounds transmitted from a bedroom on…