Arca’s Rebellion Against Music and Life Arca’s Rebellion Against Music and Life
How the experimental artist made one of the year’s most defiant pop records.
Aug 5, 2020 / Books & the Arts / Julyssa Lopez
Run the Jewels’ Wake-up Call Run the Jewels’ Wake-up Call
While other mainstream rappers might create one song or one album dedicated to the unrest, Killer Mike and El-P have carried that torch for six years.
Jun 29, 2020 / Books & the Arts / Marcus J. Moore
Charli XCX’s Experiment In Radical Transparency Charli XCX’s Experiment In Radical Transparency
During the first months of quarantine, she crafted an album in real time—and, in the process, celebrated how online connection changed the way we live and create.
Jun 17, 2020 / Olivia Horn
This Is the Sound of Gentrification This Is the Sound of Gentrification
Ted Hearne and Saul Williams’s Place captures the volatile energies of a changing city beset by the forces of late capitalism.
Jun 5, 2020 / David Hajdu
How the CIA Learned to Rock How the CIA Learned to Rock
A new podcast illuminates why the spy agency preferred pop music in the cultural Cold War.
May 29, 2020 / Jeet Heer
A Thrilling Snapshot of the New Pop Avant-Garde A Thrilling Snapshot of the New Pop Avant-Garde
Recent albums from Perfume Genius and Yves Tumor restore the power of genre-bending music
May 28, 2020 / Books & the Arts / Julyssa Lopez
The Coronavirus Means Curtains for Artists The Coronavirus Means Curtains for Artists
The loss of revenue from live events is only the start of this particular disaster.
May 7, 2020 / William Deresiewicz
If Woody Guthrie Were Singing Now About the Postal Service If Woody Guthrie Were Singing Now About the Postal Service
I think he’d chime in on Joe Troop’s “A Plea to the US Government to Fully Fund the Postal Service.”
Apr 30, 2020 / John Nichols
The Coronavirus Has Imposed a Fermata on the Music World The Coronavirus Has Imposed a Fermata on the Music World
What can musicians do now? We can play to wash away some of the pain and grief.
Apr 24, 2020 / Christian McBride
What’s the Deal With Grimes? What’s the Deal With Grimes?
Her climate change pop album Miss Anthropocene is riven with contradictions.
Apr 21, 2020 / Books & the Arts / Julyssa Lopez