Tag Archives: music-features

Artists these days have a new concern at the forefront of their minds when designing tours and concerts: how they look not just to live audiences — but also to millions, and potentially billions, of people at home. A chief driver of that worry is Instagram. In the last year, …

Marissa Nadler has some thoughts on the word “haunting.” “I think it does a little bit of a disservice to my music to describe it as just haunting, because there’s a lot of substance in the writing and craft,” the 37-year-old musician says over the phone from her home in …

“Wanna try a hard one?” Hop Along have been rehearsing in a windowless basement in southern New Jersey for most of a late July afternoon, and Frances Quinlan is doing her best to keep her bandmates and herself motivated. Tomorrow at 8 a.m. sharp, they’ll pile into a van for …

This spring, the Eaux Claires festival – founded by Aaron Dessner of The National and Justin Vernon of Bon Iver – made a startling announcement: It would not share any details of its lineup ahead of time. “It’s intentional as a way to get out of the headliners’ arm race,” …

Saul Austerlitz’s new book Just a Shot Away: Peace, Love, and Tragedy With the Rolling Stones at Altamont is the story of the concert that was going to be the West Coast Woodstock, and another triumph of the 1960s counterculture. Looking at the musicians, fans, filmmakers, bikers and journalists present …

The first Arctic Monkeys album in five years is lush and claustrophobic at the same time – it calls to mind a guy going a little nutty in a small room in a nice house on a hill, constructing a fantasy world in his head and setting his visions to …

In the latter half of the Sixties, British rock groups faced a daunting challenge: how to bridge the chasm between the American-inspired Mersey Beat so beloved earlier in the decade, and the kaleidoscopic psychedelia that had taken its place. Only a handful of acts pulled off the creative leap, and …

It’s been almost six years since Scissor Sisters released their fourth album, Magic Hour, and now lead singer Jake Shears has gone solo. “Creep City,” the first single from his forthcoming album, hews close to his glam-rock roots. But that’s not enough for Shears, who is currently starring as Charlie …

Kylie Minoguehas toured the world many times, but before starting work on her upcoming album Golden last summer, the veteran Australian pop superstar had never been to Nashville. “I put on a few pounds, that’s for sure,” she says of her time there, adding that she felt “so inspired” by …

Oh, wait – you think the Grammy is supposed to go to the year’s best album? That’s sweet. Stay gold, Ponyboy. This has literally never been the way the Grammys worked and never will be, so stop chewing that sock pretending it’s a cookie. Of course Bruno Mars beat Kendrick …