Oliver Wang

These songs take on some of the ugliest stories in our history and reflect the commitment of Black musicians to telling the truth of how Black people have been wronged, and survived, and fought back.

What began as little more than a glorified metronome has worked its way into bedroom studios and state-of-the-art recording facilities alike. A new book chronicles the history and influence of the drum machine in all its wood- and plastic-paneled glory.

In a vintage photo, a solitary man with a Cab Calloway mustache grabs his hat with two hands and lets out a yell. Off the page and across 30 years, you can still hear the holler. Oliver Wang reviews a collection of music and photos from Chicago's 1970s soul scene.

Many critics are calling The Reminder by Feist, the new recording by the Canadian songwriter and singer, her best yet... and this may be her moment. She was the subject of an extensive New York Times profile. The record came out this week.

In the mid-'60s, Bob & Gene began to record sweet, harmony-drenched soul tunes for a small New York label. However, despite amassing a dozen or so tracks by the early '70s, the duo's album never made it to market. Now, more than three decades later, it's finally been released.

Antibalas' nearly 13-minute Afrobeat epic "Sanctuary" unwinds with a graceful, unhurried pace that ever-so-slowly builds steam with each rhythmic reiteration. Though the bassline anchors the song, Antibalas works in a marvelously subtle mix of other elements.

Migrant workers came from around the world to build Panama's transportation systems. They brought, among other things, music with them. Dozens of bands that came to be known collectively as Combos Nacionales married musical styles as distinct and distant as New York boogaloo, Cuban descarga and Trinidadian Calypso. Panama: Latin, Calypso and Funk at the Isthmus charts this uniquely Panamanian hybrid.

The Coup realizes what the best blues and soul artists always knew: Focus on everyday people, and you'll never run out of stories. For nearly 15 years, the duo has provided one of the lone voices speaking to the trials and tribulations of working-class, inner-city black life.

Soul singer King Floyd died on March 6 at the age of 61, but his passing barely merited mention in the media — an oversight that seems at odds with his brash style. What most know about Floyd begins and ends with his massive and enduring 1971 R&B hit "Groove Me."

William Darondo Pulliam (a.k.a. "Double D" or "Dynamite D") worked in the San Francisco Bay Area from the 1960s through the early '80s, but he'd also been a teenage musician. After cutting some tracks in a studio, Darondo walked away from music.