For centuries, street singing was considered the lowest form of a musical career. Street musicians — buskers — were looked on as glorified beggars. But cities that once outlawed busking have come to embrace it — as a way to renew foot traffic in the age of Amazon. While street singers used to depend on […]
“‘Dark Star’ is always playing somewhere. All we do is tap into it,” Grateful Dead bassist Phil Lesh supposedly said. Grayfolded, John Oswald’s epic collage of the Dead’s hallmark longform jam, assembled from fragments of more than 100 different performances spanning the band’s 30-year career, could be seen as an attempt to simultaneously channel every […]
Lucero keeps Ben Nichols busy. The Memphis-based collective has been going strong since 1998, touring constantly and releasing acclaimed albums, such as their 12th LP Should’ve Learned by Now (2023). Earlier this year, Nichols and Rick Steff put out Lucero Unplugged, a collection of stripped-down favorites from the band’s vast discography. It’s no wonder that […]
Though the final Talking Heads album came out in 1988, the band never really went away. Unlike defunct groups trapped in a cycle of rediscovery every generation or so, Talking Heads have remained indelible, hip with both the folks old enough to remember and art-damaged youngsters seeing David Byrne in an oversized suit for the […]
“I’ve seen, like, Drew Barrymore and Paris Hilton post my shit on TikTok,” says Idris Vicuña, better known as Eyedress, over the phone from North Hollywood while he’s enjoying lunch at a Mexican seafood restaurant in North Hollywood. “I try to just stay humble, I try not to gas myself up with that stuff.” Vicuña […]
OK Go released their new album, And the Adjacent Possible, a first in 10 years, April 11. The first track, “A Stone Only Rolls Downhill,” came out on January 16, accompanied by one of their trademark, surreal and brilliant videos. And this year they head out across the States on tour, starting in South Bend […]
More from Spin: In a World On Fire, Jesse Ahern Brings Us ‘Sunshine’ Tell Me About Your Childhood, Letdown… Wand Cast Quieter ‘Vertigo,’ Meander With Curiosity “Everyone always lies about sex. If you haven’t lied about it, it isn’t sex,” Carrie Fisher wrote in The Guardian, a response to a plea for advice from a woman […]