Tag Archives: music-features

Glen Hansard once received a nickname from his friend Nico Muhly: Earnest Strum. The name was a way for Muhly, a contemporary composer, to poke fun at the type of exceedingly sincere, traditionally-rooted folk that Hansard has mostly been making for the past dozen years, ever since he rose to …

The creative process that would eventually lead to the critically acclaimed Atlanta began, inadvertently, with a former child actor, porn star and viral rapper. In 2013, Abella Anderson was the center of adult entertainment, Danielle Fishel was years removed from playing Topanga on Boy Meets World, and Trinidad James was …

Solange, When I Get Home Solange carries her history like a talisman. It’s there to remind her — and us — how to remain grounded while moving forward. WithWhen I Get Home, she pays tribute to her roots in Houston by presenting a therapeutic and transfixing scrapbook that seamlessly brings …

On the morning of October 31st, 1991, Kurt Cobain received some good news: His band Nirvana‘s new album, Nevermind, had just turned gold. The record had only been out for a little more than a month, but it had already sold half a million copies. On tour in support of …

Cher had been performing since the mid-Sixties, but before 1994, she had never written her own music. That changed when she heard the news of Kurt Cobain‘s death in April of that year. “You know, I don’t know any of his music,” she toldRolling Stone in 2000. “And I don’t …

Heading into their seventh LP, and third for a major label, Pantera were bigger than ever. Their prior album, 1992’s Vulgar Display of Power, had gone gold, and expectations were high for what would come next. Some at their label felt it was the right time for the band to …

It’s standard rock-history practice not to rank the Beatles, as a live band, at the level of more obvious titans like the Who, Cream, the Jimi Hendrix Experience or Dylan once he paired with the Band. Their symbiotic relationship with the studio perhaps dulls what ought to be a clear …

Deerhunter’s excellent new album, Why Hasn’t Everything Already Disappeared?, is the closest the long-running Atlanta band has ever come to an outright pop LP. Highlights like “What Happens To People?” and “Futurism” revel in their smooth edges and sophisticated arrangements, and the album as a whole has an appealing sleekness, …

Last August, a business-school-101 discount technique sparked a fight between rap royalty. With help from a generous assortment of album-merchandise bundles — sell a fan a T-shirt, hat or hoodie, throw in an album download — Travis Scott‘s Astroworld beat Nicki Minaj‘s Queen to Number One. Minaj wasted little time …