Music Features

It took a war for System of a Down to record new music. After seeing the country of Azerbaijan start a conflict with Armenia in September, the musicians, who are all of Armenian descent, rushed into the studio to record two new songs, “Protect the Land” and “Genocidal Humanoidz,” to …

On March 18th, 1971, Bob Dylan sat down in his Manhattan office, put his feet up on a table, strummed a guitar, and opened up like he rarely, if ever, had before. He was talking to his old friend Tony Glover, the first of four interviews they conducted that year. …

If you’re a diehard Dawes fan, you’ll notice something instantly familiar in the first verse of new song “Between the Zero and the One”: Its melody is incredibly similar to that of “Most People,” a beloved highlight from 2013’s Stories Don’t End. “Between the Zero and the One” — which …

Moments before he began filming his reaction to Phil Collins’ “In the Air Tonight,” Tim Williams had the same thought that he has before he records every video for Twins the New Trend, the YouTube channel he runs with his brother, Fred. “I always think, when we do a video, …

James Brown didn’t ride on the bus; he flew on a private plane. So when Soul Brother Number One and his right-hand man, organist Bobby Byrd, suddenly appeared on his new backing band’s bus after a Nashville gig in the spring of 1970, everyone sobered up quick. “It was like …

When asked why he wanted to record new versions of songs his band June of 44 first released more than two decades ago — on their final proper studio LP, 1999’s Anahata — guitarist-vocalist Jeff Mueller gives a simple answer: He’d never really felt like they were finished in the …

“Do you long to have your mind blown open so wide that it will take weeks for you to pick up the little, bitty pieces?” Charles Burton asked in his Rolling Stone review of the Stooges‘ second album, the 1970 proto-punk holy grail Fun House, all but daring readers to …

Billy Jones has been stuck in Los Angeles for three months. In February,the New York booker and promoter went west to break ground on a second outpost for Baby’s All Right, his beloved Brooklyn indie venue that has hosted acts like Beach House, Ariel Pink, and Girlpool. Jones was in …

Black Pumas needed one more song. At a festival in Austin a few years ago, the then-new soul-rock band had plowed through every number in its repertoire and had been called back for an encore. Desperate for anything to play, lead singer Eric Burton grabbed his guitar and began performing …

For years, Future’s music has been about chasing highs. In Nayvadius Wilburn’s world, the addictions may change, but everything else stays the same. Sometimes the drugs are the work of Big Pharma: Comethazine, Codeine, Xanax, Percocet, Adderall. Other times the substance is universal: conquering heartbreak, purging childhood scars, escaping poverty. …