Oliver Wang
Oliver Wang is an culture writer, scholar, and DJ based in Los Angeles. He's the author of Legions of Boom: Filipino American Mobile DJ Crews of the San Francisco Bay Area and a professor of sociology at CSU-Long Beach. He's the creator of the audioblog soul-sides.com and co-host of the album appreciation podcast, Heat Rocks.
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In 1972, Gaye began work on a follow-up to his classic album, What's Going On. He laid down over a dozen new tracks, but the project stalled and most of the songs were not released until now. -
This German group delivers steel drum covers of Mary J. Blige, Mobb Deep, Gang Starr and more. -
After embarking on solo projects and a three-year break, The Internet has come back together to produce an album of low-key songs of summer. -
Listening to Cut Chemist's latest album is like looking under a microscope at a drop of ocean water. The longer you examine, the more life you find. -
The first Dr. Octagon project to reunite Kool Keith with Dan the Automator in 22 years picks up right where they left off, as weird and warped as ever. -
Featuring Shannon Wise's mesmerizing wisp of a voice, The Shacks' debut album mixes R&B, dreamy indie-pop and '60s British rock in woozy sheets of reverb. -
Throughout their career together, Jones and her band gave listeners something to feel with every recording and every performance. That's still true on their final album. -
If To Pimp a Butterfly, Lamar's ornate jazz-funk experiment, played like billiard balls scattering after the break, then DAMN. wraps its focus inward: tight and layered, like a bundle of rubber bands. -
The Los Angeles band's distinct sound includes touches of Rio de Janeiro's tropicalia, Lima's cumbia, and American soul and funk.
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Steven Ellison has built an impressive reputation among critics and fans in the know for mixing hip hop, jazz and electronica into something original. But even for the aforementioned followers, the new album from Ellison — better-known as Flying Lotus — is a surprise. It's all about death, not as something to be mourned but as a journey to be anticipated.
