Music Features

From vocal delivery to melodic hooks, from lyrics to production: Kevin Parker has elevated his craft on The Slow Rush.

Music & Culture

Review: On 'The Slow Rush,' Tame Impala Masks Inner Turmoil With Sonic Euphoria

12:00pm February 12, 2020

by Tom Moon

Kevin Parker's fourth album as the leader of Australian rock band Tame Impala comes after a five-year gap. It's music that comes wrapped in its own bubble, far from the cascading miseries on the news.

Roberta Flack in 1975. Flack's impact as a performer in the pop music space in the 1970s was sudden and massive. Over the next four decades, Flack built a legacy on a quiet belief in limitlessness.

Music & Culture

The Virtuoso

11:35am February 10, 2020

by Ann Powers

Roberta Flack is only solo artist to win two consecutive Record of the Year Grammys and she helped usher in an enduring style of R&B. Could she be pop music's most under-appreciated influence?

Yasiin Bey at Paris Fashion Week in January 2019.

Music & Culture

The Paradox Of Yasiin Bey's 'Negus,' A Rap Album Trapped In An Art Museum

11:31am February 05, 2020

by Mano Sundaresan

The latest album by the rapper formerly known as Mos Def will be heard by very few people — a fact that represents everything fascinating and frustrating about his last decade.

Bobby Gillespie onstage with Primal Scream, circa 2000.

Music & Culture

Pills, Police And Endless War: 20 Years Ago, Primal Scream Saw Our Future

1:46pm January 31, 2020

by Matthew Perpetua

The Scottish band's 2000 album XTRMNTR isn't as well remembered as its thematic twin, Radiohead's Kid A. But its dark premonition of a world in socioeconomic crisis looks startlingly accurate today.

Four of the most-nominated artists at the 62nd annual Grammy Awards — (from left to right) Billie Eilish, Lizzo, Lil Nas X, and Finneas O'Connell — pose in the audience during the broadcast.

Music & Culture

The 2020 Grammys: How Much Weight Can One Awards Show Carry?

1:50pm January 27, 2020

In a ceremony that front-loaded performances by women and black artists, mixed messages sparked both cynicism and cautious hope.

Music & Culture

20 Years Later, How Does It Feel?

1:27pm January 24, 2020

by Sam Sanders

Hailed as a neo-soul smash in 2000, D'Angelo's Voodoo now feels decades more lived-in than its peers. The album's engineer, Russell Elevado, says sounding "old" became the key to sounding timeless.

Music & Culture

Torres Explains The Fear And Desire Behind Her Most Self-Determined Record Yet

7:00am January 23, 2020

by Marissa Lorusso

Mackenzie Scott's fourth record, which came after a period of self-reflection and romantic pursuit, is fixated on desire. "I want people to understand that women can burn for each other," she says.

David Olney, performing in Denver, Co. on Apr. 23, 2015.

Music & Culture

The Experience In, And Of, David Olney's Beloved Songs

5:27pm January 22, 2020

by Jewly Hight

Olney had a gift for character — creating them in his lyrics, inhabiting them in his performances — and that literarily bent musical talent made him a fixture in Nashville for decades.

Two competing data firms, BuzzAngle and Nielsen Music, released reports in early Jan. 2020 detailing the many changes in listening over the past decade.

Music & Culture

The Past Year, And Decade, In Music Listening: Video Rules, The Boy's Club Remains

9:43am January 14, 2020

by Cherie Hu

Two reports released recently shine a light on the decade-long trends shaping our relationships to listening, from the dominance of video to the vinyl "boom" that isn't quite.

Neil Peart, of Rush, photographed in Cleveland on Dec. 17, 1977. The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee died Jan. 7, aged 67.

Music & Culture

Remembering Neil Peart, A Monster Drummer With A Poet's Heart

12:37pm January 11, 2020

by Annie Zaleski

"We're only immortal for a limited time." Peart, who died on Jan. 7, guided Rush through the decades with a pen, a massive drum kit and an openness towards life's many shades.