“People say I’m the life of the party just because I say a joke or two,” Smokey Robinson sang when the 2019 Grammy Awards came back from commercials, as he and Alica Keys duetted on his “Tracks of My Tears.” Motown founder Berry Gordy smiled from ear to ear and …
Read More »Some Albums Take Years. Ariana Grande Made 'Thank U, Next' in 2 Weeks
Two weeks ago, the singer-songwriter Victoria Monét made a trip to Disneyland with her friend and longtime collaborator Ariana Grande. “We go often, and there are always fans,” Monét says. “But this particular time, she was [like] Michael Jackson. Security was like, ‘no pictures please, thank you,’ and a fan …
Read More »Watch Chucky Come to Life in 'Child's Play' Trailer
Murderous doll Chucky is returning to screens this year in a remake of the 1988 horror classic Child’s Play. The first trailer for the movie offers fans a glimpse of the new version, which stars Aubrey Plaza, Gabriel Bateman and Brian Tyree Henry, although it doesn’t give us much of …
Read More »Bob Mould on His Surprisingly Upbeat New LP, Remembering Grant Hart
“I’ve always been a write-what-you-know kind of guy,” Bob Mould says on what he describes as a rainy San Francisco morning. “So this time, I was trying to consciously create a little bit of a different world to work in.” He ended up changing his world in two ways. On …
Read More »Journey to Antarctica: How Does One Navigate the Wildest Waves in the Southern Ocean?
This is the third dispatch in a series from Jeff Goodell, who will be investigatingthe effect of climate change on Thwaites glacier. This morning, from the top deck of the Nathaniel B. Palmer on our way to Antarctica, I notice a wandering albatross soaring beside the ship. Albatrosses are remarkable …
Read More »Cassadee Pope on New Album 'Stages,' Emo Country and Third Eye Blind
In 2017, Cassadee Pope made the tough decision to part ways with the label that had been her home since she won Season 3 of The Voice. Republic Records, in conjunction with Big Machine, had released the former Hey Monday singer’s solo debut Frame by Frame in 2013, but, other …
Read More »Gavin McInnes Sues Southern Poverty Law Center for Defamation
Far-right commentator and Proud Boys founder Gavin McInnes is suing the Southern Poverty Law Center for unspecified damages, claiming that the civil rights organization destroyed his reputation and cost him business opportunities by designating his pro-Trump men’s club as a hate group. Filed on February 4th in Alabama, the lawsuit …
Read More »Out to Lunch With Desus and Mero, Comedy's Bronx Bombers
Desus Nice and the Kid Mero have just sat down for lunch at an upscale Manhattan bistro when they notice the birdlike gentleman in the slate-blue sweater a few tables over. Desus sees him first: “Is that John Oliver?” It certainly looks a lot like the star of HBO’s Last …
Read More »Fricke's Picks: Murray A. Lightburn, Halfway and Trimdon Grange Explosion
You go around the world in roots and melodrama on these three albums, all from experienced specialists in forensic romanticism and all at new peaks in their searching. Murray A. Lightburn, Hear Me Out (Dangerbird) With his plaintive, swooning voice and the luxuriant sweep of his records with the Canadian …
Read More »Hear Patty Griffin's Vivid New Song 'Where I Come From'
Patty Griffin offers a stark view of life in a “fading little town” with “Where I Come From,” the latest track from the singer-songwriter’s forthcoming self-titled album, due March 8th. Driven by acoustic guitars and Griffin’s achingly expressive vocal, the tune’s lyrics detail a picturesque town that’s beset with unemployment …
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