By late 2021, the odds of a Porcupine Tree reunion seemed beyond slim. It had been 12 years since the alt-prog band’s 10th LP (and apparent swan song), 2009’s The Incident, and singer-songwriter Steven Wilson realized his rabid audience wasn’t counting on a follow-up. “Fans had probably given up on [us] ever making another record,” he tells SPIN, his polite […]
In 2020, Jack Johnson’s teenage son came to him with some unexpected news: “Upside Down,” Johnson’s 2009 song off the Curious George soundtrack, went viral. The groovy tune, it turned out, had been used by a TikToker to soundtrack a comical video involving a stolen TV from Arby’s. The video quickly amassed 3.5 million likes […]
It’s release week for Giveon, and just as he jokes, things feel theatrical. As he sits in a director’s chair on Zoom like a movie star, he’s surrounded by white flowers and an enormous cardboard image of his album cover for Give or Take. “It’s feeling like a film rollout,” he laughs. His observation is […]
On the other end of the phone, I heard the gravel-toned voice belonging to 72-year-old beloved, legendary actor, musician, and philanthropist Jeff Bridges. All it took was his “Good morning!” to conjure the image of him behind the wheel of a well-worn country pick-up truck, waving, as he ambles up my make-believe driveway toward my […]
At one point during my Zoom call with Coheed and Cambria’s Claudio Sanchez, I fumble my words so heavily that our conversation grinds to a halt. Not because of awkwardness. The Coheed and Cambria mastermind remains one of the world’s most reliably affable rock stars: smiling widely, entertaining my nerdy questions about his synth-stacked home studio, […]
At the old Mayan Theatre in downtown Los Angeles, fans are wound up for a smoldering night of jagged, turbocharged punk and deep blues. The Kills have come to reignite the present and reflect on their past amid the room’s angular, pre-Columbian temple decor and packed dance floor. At stage left is singer Alison Mosshart, […]
Some forms of self-expression are inherently collaborative, and others are clearly a solo effort. How many photographs or paintings were made by more than one person? But music is usually, to a greater or lesser degree, a team effort. Even artists who compose and arrange alone usually then work with a producer and engineer, or […]
Dave Stewart still vividly recalls the day he found out Eurythmics went to No. 1 in the U.S. with their 1983 single “Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This).” He and Annie Lennox were in a hotel room in San Francisco, preparing to play a show, and received a phone call from their record label rep […]
After a 17-year hiatus from making records, British-born singer-songwriter Leona Naess, recently released her highly anticipated fourth record, Brood X, produced by Max Cooke (Ellie Goulding/Winona Oak). Recorded in several countries including Italy, Switzerland and England, Brood X, despite its international landscape, comprises an intimate, personal and sweetly tuneful collection of synth-infused alternative-indie-pop songs. As […]
MTV Unplugged performances, at least during its 1989-2001 heyday, were among the most watched and influential events in music programming. If you were on Unplugged, you made it. Though its influence has waned as artists have moved away from traditional television as a whole, the show’s legacy remains firmly intact. Now a quarterly event, MTV […]