Frank Ocean Finally Played a U.S. Show. Was It Worth the Wait?
Frank Ocean has canceled festival appearance after festival appearance with little explanation. At FYF, he showed up but stayed true to his mysterious ways.
“Insecure,” “The Young Pope,” and Music Supervision as Character Development
Issa Rae’s semi-autobiographical comedy and Paolo Sorrentino’s religious drama use music to show not just who their protagonists are, but the shape they take over time.
Zola Jesus Turns Tragedy into a Torrential Sound on Her New Album
“I needed to write these songs,” she tells us, “and I can’t say that about every song I’ve written.”
Flying Lotus’ Kuso Is the Most Vile Body Horror Film Ever Made
A visual orgy of pus and perversion that you probably couldn’t sit through even if you wanted to.
TNT’s Ridiculous “Will” and the Problem With Reframing History as Punk
You can’t just dress Shakespeare up in black eyeliner and refashion him as the 16th century’s Malcolm McLaren.
Is Lana Del Rey the American Morrissey?
It’s there in the melancholia, the vintage trappings, and the fervent cults of personality.
PSY’s “Gangnam Style” Changed Pop Music, Whether You Like It Or Not
It’s still not a good song, but five years later, there’s no denying that PSY’s pony dance rewrote the rules of both viral success and K-pop around the world.
Making a Serious Case for Prog Rock
We talk to Washington Post political reporter turned author David Weigel about humanizing prog’s virtuosic excess in his new book.
OG Hip-Hop Director Allen Hughes on Cracking Dre in “The Defiant Ones”
The Menace II Society director’s newest project, the four-part HBO documentary about Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine’s partnership, finds him encountering ghosts of his rap past.
6 Nina Simone Songs Brilliantly Sampled by Rappers
JAY-Z built an entire track around “Four Women” on 4:44, but he’s far from the first hip-hop iconoclast to borrow Nina’s political insight.
What’s Up With Kanye West and Tidal?
Kanye West’s dispute with JAY-Z’s streaming service may be less about money and more about the trend away from windowed album exclusives
LCD Soundsystem’s Gavin Russom Comes Out as Transgender: “Now It’s Time to Become a Whole Person”
DFA Records' longtime synth expert shares her story for the first time