The drummer is the job in a rock band with the highest turnover rate — a cliché lampooned memorably in This is Spinal Tap. And if it takes a few albums for a group’s definitive lineup to click into place, the drummer is often the final piece of the puzzle to arrive. But it’s often […]
Name Curt Smith Best known for Here’s the thing about being in a band, normally people don’t call you by your name: “You’re that guy from Tears for Fears.” My wife was in the record industry. At MTV, they literally used to call me Mr. Pennington, because my wife is Francis Pennington, who was a […]
Gared O’Donnell, the singer of post-hardcore band Planes Mistaken for Stars, has died. He was 44. The band shared the news in a social media post. In August 2020, O’Donnell revealed he had Stage 3 esophageal cancer. “It is impossible to express the depth of sorrow in which we must announce that Gared O’Donnell, our […]
When I was growing up, every Thanksgiving there was a local TV channel that played the movie Alice’s Restaurant on a loop. That’s where it stayed until dinnertime and then resumed later that night. To this day, I can’t think of a more worthy Turkey Day tradition than commemorating the 1965 Thanksgiving that Arlo Guthrie […]
Once upon a time, Steely Dan were hipsters. As frontman Donald Fagen explained in his 2013 book, Eminent Hipsters, he and Steely Dan co-founder Walter Becker grew up as aficionados of pre-rock ’n roll cool, studying jazz and Beat Generation writers. During the band’s original 1970s run, they were fixtures in the Village Voice critics’ […]
“Songs you can dance, sweat and cry to,” is how Ariana and the Rose describes her music. We’d like to add: bold, brave and heartfelt. And, fair warning, be ready to dance, because her music will make you move. “I create music with a lot of synths and electronic beats, but a lot of music […]
As is the case with many video games published by Annapurna Interactive, there’s nothing quite like A Memoir Blue on the market. The upcoming title developed by Cloisters Interactive will undoubtedly be labeled as “games as art,” “interactive story” and a whole lot of other relatively meaningless subgenres to say that it boasts a unique […]
Blue Rojo and his sad boy album are pushing boundaries in Latin pop music. The Mexican-American singer reckons with an unrequited queer romance in his debut album, Solitario, that was released on November 17. Blue Rojo dances with the darker side of the genre through elements of emo, punk, reggaetón, trap, and trance music. “I […]
On Tuesday morning, the Recording Academy revealed the full slate of nominations for the 64th Annual Grammy Awards. Over the past few tumultuous years, the Recording Academy has overseen changes in leadership and nominating procedures, with one more twist being announced just this morning before the nominations were unveiled: the Big Four general field categories […]
Claudia Lennear has been a witness to some peak moments in rock and soul. First as a member of the Ike & Tina Turner Revue, she’s sung backup on classic recordings and toured the world, shared stages with former Beatles and Bob Dylan, and was the inspiration behind David Bowie’s torrid 1972 epic “Lady Grinning […]