Ken Tucker
Ken Tucker reviews rock, country, hip-hop and pop music for Fresh Air. He is a cultural critic who has been the editor-at-large at Entertainment Weekly, and a film critic for New York Magazine. His work has won two National Magazine Awards and two ASCAP-Deems Taylor Awards. He has written book reviews for The New York Times Book Review and other publications.
Tucker is the author of Scarface Nation: The Ultimate Gangster Movie and Kissing Bill O'Reilly, Roasting Miss Piggy: 100 Things to Love and Hate About Television.
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Swift brings together pulsing drumbeats, surging keyboards and multi-tracked vocals on her new album. The result is a record that mixes passion and emotion with careful control.
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A new nine-disc set chronicles the music Dylan made between 1979 and 1981 during his so-called "born again" period, which saw him turn to evangelical Christianity as a theme.
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The Nashville-based singer-songwriter has a new album that explores the joys of long-term commitment. Rock critic Ken Tucker says the collection is her most personal and accessible to date.
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Aiko created some of the music on Trip as a response to losing her brother to cancer. Critic Ken Tucker says the album features sorrow and grief — as well as an attempt to escape from sadness.
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The Rhode Island quartet is back with two new albums, titled Deer Tick Vol. 1 and Deer Tick Vol. 2. Critic Ken Tucker says first is largely acoustic, while the second features a louder electric sound.
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Sweet recalls the time just before rock 'n' roll became self-consciously "rock" on his first album of new songs in six years. Critic Ken Tucker calls the music on Tomorrow Forever"wholly unironic."
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The singer-songwriter mostly recorded this album in a cabin in Sweden. You can hear that intensity and obsessiveness in his attractive, eccentric pieces, which sometimes sound like works-in-progress.
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Six albums the British songwriter recorded between 1982 and 1990 are being reissued in remastered versions. Critic Ken Tucker singles out Party of One as being among Lowe's finest works.
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Newman mixes cynicism and romanticism on his first studio album of new material since 2008. Rock critic Ken Tucker says Dark Matter offers a fresh recording of songs both new and old.
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Katie Crutchfield, who performs under the name Waxahatchee, releases energy and emotion with pinpoint precision on her new album. Critic Ken Tucker has a review.