Spring is upon us and the air is losing its oppressive chill. Festival season rears its head every year when our bodies are mid-thaw, vulnerable and lonely enough to submit ourselves to days of collective debauchery and dehydration. Our raw intentions are laid bare under the unfamiliar sun as we revert to a high school-style ecosystem. The jocks are shotgunning beers, the stoners haven’t moved from...
The first rap music I ever loved was British. In 1988, when I was about to turn nine, my family moved to London for a year. (My dad, a history professor, was on sabbatical, trying to write a book that he never ended up finishing.) The UK had Top Of The Pops, which turned pop music into something linear and statistical -- easy to follow, like baseball. And this was right in the midst of the UK's Second...
The world has been waiting three and a half years for Grimes to follow up Art Angels, Stereogum's pick for the best album of 2015. It seems to be finally happening. After sharing a proper single called "We Appreciate Power" last year, last night Grimes announced a new album called Miss_Anthropocene, which she calls "a concept album about the anthropomorphic Goddess of climate Change: A psychedelic,...
Lollapalooza, the one-time alternative culture road show turned behemoth Chicago music festival, has announced its full 2019 lineup. Headlining this year's festivities will be Ariana Grande, Childish Gambino, Twenty One Pilots, the Strokes, Tame Impala, Flume, the Chainsmokers, and J Balvin. Some of the notable names below that big-font tier are Kacey Musgraves, Lil Wayne, Janelle Monáe, Meek Mill,...
In The Number Ones, I'm reviewing every single #1 single in the history of the Billboard Hot 100, starting with the chart's beginning, in 1958, and working my way up into the present. *** Stevie Wonder - "Superstition" HIT #1: January 27, 1973 STAYED AT #1: 1 week When Stevie Wonder turned 21, he took on the Motown machine, and he won. Wonder was an 11-year-old child prodigy when he signed with Motown....
To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the original 1969 Woodstock Music & Arts Fair, Woodstock 50 will take over the fields of Watkins Glen, New York from 8/16-18. Artists like Dead & Co, the Killers, the Black Keys, Jay-Z, and Chance The Rapper were confirmed to play the festival earlier this month, following a brief delay and rumors that the event was in financial trouble. Now, we see the full...
Nilüfer Yanya writes about the in-between: the slippery space between waking and dreaming, the difference between what you think you should be feeling and what you actually feel. "I like songs that have stories and situations that you can almost catch, but you can’t quite ever catch properly," she once said. The backdrop of her songs are mostly interior, occupied with mind games and paranoia and...
"7 Rings" is a big hit for Ariana Grande. It's been streamed more than a billion times around the world, and this week, the song is back up to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100, the sixth time it's topped the chart. But according to The New York Times, it's an even bigger hit for Rodgers & Hammerstein. "7 Rings" interpolates "My Favorite Things," which was written by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein...
Throughout SXSW last week, there was one question everyone invested in this year’s crop of emerging indie names seemed to be asking: “Have you seen Black Midi yet?”
Tracking Down is a Stereogum franchise in which we talk to artists who have been out of the spotlight for a minute.
The last time Dido booked a tour, it was 2003 and the soft-pop singer was riding high on the success of mid-’00s radio megahits “Thank You,” “Here With Me,” “White Flag,”
Plenty of bands have long histories, forged from bonds of friendship formed in a distant childhood past. Shared upbringings, shared surroundings — these can provide good raw material for a couple artists to come together and define their identity within and against the rest of the world. In the case of Isaac deBroux-Slone and Raina…
Ever since the Malian “desert blues” band Tinariwen began to build an international audience at the dawn of the millennium, a steady stream of Saharan guitar music has been making its way around the world. The list of renowned Tuareg rock acts has grown to include the likes of Algeria’s Imarhan, Niger’s Kel Assouf, and…
Three years ago, Johanne Swanson released her first album as Yohuna, Patientness. Its title was a mantra — a reminder to stay calm during a period of upheaval that took Swanson from her native Wisconsin to New Mexico and Berlin, before landing in New York City, where she’s been ever since.
The title…
We’ve Got A File On You is a new reboot of an old-school Stereogum franchise. Once called Annotated Media Guide, these are interviews in which artists share the stories behind the extracurricular activities that dot their careers: acting gigs, guest appearances, random internet ephemera, etc.
When an artist gets 40 years in, chances…
Mercury Rev had a pretty good 2018, mostly because they had a great 1998. Though the band hadn’t released any music in a couple of years, in 2018 they became the beneficiaries of a free promotional campaign, thanks to the 20-year nostalgia cycle that inevitably spawns think pieces and retrospective listicles. And no…
When Noah Lennox began writing his new solo album, Buoys, he started with just a guitar. Though previous Panda Bear albums have emerged this way, they’ve resulted in increasingly widescreen visions such as 2011’s Tomboy and the euphoric glow of 2015’s Panda Bear Meets The Grim Reaper. But Buoys feels different because its skeletal framework…
Playing minimal metal at maximum volume, sound wave masseurs Sunn O))) are now entering their 21st year as the ne plus ultra of suffocating drone. Still searching for the most accurate representation of their famed, body-vibrating live performances, their upcoming eighth album — Life Metal, due in April — was recorded to tape with famed…
Jon Simmons admits he’s trying to be more direct in 2019, but it doesn’t come naturally. The Balance And Composure frontman carefully admits to the one criticism he’s taken to heart over the years — that his lyrics can run a bit vague compared to the stylish, slegdehammer alt-rock of his band.
Decidedly, Cherry Glazerr’s Clementine Creevy and I are not tea connoisseurs. But on a peculiarly warm day in January, we’re learning a lot about the aromatic beverage.
Kim Gordon has long been one of our most intimidating rock stars. From her work with the legendary Sonic Youth to her side gig Free Kitten and current project Body/Head, she’s always been able to wield harsh noise, anti-patriarchal vitriol, and rock star cool with ease. But even though she can summon the feedback to…
There’s been something happening in Dublin. Across 2014 and 2015, a group called Girl Band started to generate international buzz thanks to their idiosyncratic blend of noise-rock, post-punk, and techno-inspired rhythms. Here was a new sound, one nobody associated with a specific generation or scene in Ireland. Girl Band then went silent for several years,…
We’ve Got A File On You is a new reboot of an old-school Stereogum franchise. Once called Annotated Media Guide, these are interviews in which artists share the stories behind the extracurricular activities that dot their careers: acting gigs, guest appearances, random internet ephemera, etc.
Almost 10 years ago, Sharon Van Etten released…
For someone who can be so verbose, Bradford Cox is the first person to admit he doesn’t have all the answers — at this point, he’s not even pretending to.
