Consumer Guide: February, 2026

One of the great interpretive singers of our epoch takes on Lou Reed, abstract and impressive amapiano, the most explicitly leftist album in far too long, and a reliable Nashvillian with 11 winners

Thomas Anderson: Letters From the Hermit Kingdom (Out There) By my count (and I may have missed a few), this is the 13th album by the Oklahoman proprietor of Angry Young Grad Student Music, not one of which lacks at least a song or two worth hearing again and some half of which are much better than that. On this one he follows his honey all the way to Paris, not exactly the world’s most Anglophilic metropolis, especially if the Anglo at hand comes up with the line “I say merci beaucoup, she says don’t you get pretentious.” Have I missed an NYC gig of his? I hope not, because I’d be happy to not just see his show but shake has hand even if I haven’t made him any kind of star. A MINUS