It would be easy for a band to ask for a mulligan, if not forgiveness, as they shake off the rust from nearly 18 months away from performing in front of a live audience. But, Bon Iver isn’t your average band. Opening up Los Angeles’ YouTube Theater (which sits adjacent to the massive SoFi Stadium […]
Blue has always been Lana Del Rey’s color. Since her 2012 debut Born to Die, it’s been the singer’s blanket descriptor for the literal (jeans, pills, skies and oceans) and the emotive: serenity, joy, melancholy and vulnerability. On Blue Banisters, Del Rey’s candid and captivating eighth studio LP — and her second album in seven […]
The controversy that surrounds the album Let It Be down the years makes it the most intriguing release by The Beatles. Many observers consider it ill-conceived, a slapdash affair and a sad ending to a great legacy. It is doubtful any band (of any longevity) had as much influence as The Beatles in their seven-year […]
There’s a line in Almost Famous where Stillwater’s manager (played by Jimmy Fallon) proclaimed: “If you think Mick Jagger will still be out there trying to be a rock star at age 50, then you are sadly, sadly mistaken.” I couldn’t help thinking about how unbelievably wrong that character’s prediction was last night, watching the three […]
A weary voice actor steps into a Hollywood studio soundbooth. Maybe it’s Will Arnett. It’s probably Will Arnett. Will Arnett sips his coffee, slides his headphones on and speaks into the microphone, addressing his producer: “Alright, Frankie, what are we hawking today? More Reese’s cups?” “No, Will, we’ve got something new for ya. It’s, it’s […]
On her fifth album, Black Encyclopedia of the Air, Camae Ayewa (better known as Moor Mother) paints a world where time is broken, a shifting wasteland where she explores issues of violence and identity on a generational scale. This catastrophe is a familiar setting for the Philadelphia artist, who blends her poetry and music in […]
Perhaps no artist was better equipped to withstand quarantine, at least from a logistical perspective, than Brandi Carlile. The singer lives on a farm in rural Washington state, about 45 minutes outside Seattle (and 10 minutes from her tiny hometown of Ravensdale). Her core bandmates Phil and Tim Hanseroth are her neighbors, and their families […]
Eddie Vedder was slated to pull headlining double duty at his Ohana Festival this weekend with a solo set on Saturday and bringing Pearl Jam back to Southern California for the first time since 2013. However, following Kings of Leon’s sudden withdrawal on Thursday to tend to a family matter, Vedder sprung into action. The […]
On a windy rooftop above Pier 17 of New York’s South Street Seaport—and approximately three and a half hours after the show’s advertised start time—the Fugees performed together for the first time in 15 years, presenting a colossal show taped to be aired as part of this weekend’s Global Citizen Festival. Billed as a pop-up […]
On his breakout mixtape, 2019’s Die for My Bitch, rapper-producer Baby Keem chants “I am 50 Cent” over and over in an almost-monotone fashion, bringing in the disorienting beat-switch on “MOSHPIT.” Though he claims to have been “just randomly saying it,” in a Complex interview after the mixtape’s release, his references and similarities to the […]