Still Into You
As festival season returns in full for the first time since the pandemic started, promoters and artists see that the way forward may be to look backward
The Oral History of ‘PCU’, the Culture Wars Cult Classic
The 1990s comedy skewered campus politics, featured John Favreau in dreadlocks, and got George Clinton to cover Prince. Obviously, we had questions.
Sasami Wanted to Appropriate White, Male Music. She Landed on Metal.
The 31-year-old Los Angeles musician’s first album was filled with electro-inflected indie rock. Its follow-up, “Squeeze,” has harder music filtered through her unique lens.
J Dilla Was a Revered Rap Producer. A New Book Deepens His Legacy.
The Detroit musician wasn’t known to give many interviews, and his influence has grown exponentially since his 2006 death. “Dilla Time” by Dan Charnas explores what drove him.
How DMX’s First Tour Helped Usher in a New Era of Hip-hop
The Survival of the Illest Tour came just as DMX’s popularity exploded. Not only did it capture a young artist on the rise, it also paved the way for massive rap tours that followed.
The War on Drugs Uncover the Infinite
Like the War on Drugs’ previous work, I Don’t Live Here Anymore is constructed with a reverence to the glossy moments of rock ’n’ roll’s past while staying a little frayed around the edges. The passage of time has always been of interest to Granduciel, and I Don’t Live Here Anymore feels especially fixated on remembering, returning, and thinking back to what once was.
Remi Wolf Turns Bedroom Pop Into Hypercolored Explosions
The 25-year-old Los Angeles musician’s debut album, “Juno,” is a collage of sounds, emotions and cultural detritus filtered through her own unique energy.
The Comical, Sincere Tenderpunk of Illuminati Hotties
Illuminati Hotties is the project of Sarah Tudzin. Her latest album, Let Me Do One More, feels like a cannonball off of the roof and into the deep end of her mind. She calls it “tenderpunk,” which works too.
Meditation Apps Want Us to Chill Out. Musicians Are Happy to Help.
There's an ever-expanding swirl of music and mindfulness that’s only grown stronger during the pandemic. With no dance floors or concert halls to fill, many listeners turned toward gentler, unobtrusive music to help quiet their restless minds. In response, artists who might not have publicly ventured into this sometimes esoteric terrain now feel emboldened to do so.
The Long Tail of Aphex Twin’s ‘Avril 14th’
A song released 20 years ago continues to inspire curiosity and covers by classical, experimental and pop artists.
The Welles of Inspiration: Before There Was ‘Mank,’ There Was ‘The Simpsons’
David Fincher’s take on the legacy of Orson Welles is up for 10 Academy Awards, but will it be remembered better than the ‘Simpsons’ classic “Rosebud”? The team behind the episode discuss how it came together and why ‘Citizen Kane’ still looms large 80 years later.
The Surprising Appeal of Believing You're Living in The Matrix
In conversation with Rodney Ascher, the director of a trippy new documentary about simulation theory.
How Four Tet Helped Madlib Make Something Totally New: A Solo Album
For decades, the producer and rapper Madlib had no interest in synthesizing his disparate works into a single statement. So the electronic music producer Four Tet took matters, and Madlib's beats, into his own hands.
A Plague of Madness
Arriving in select theaters at the end of 1995, 12 Monkeys was an immediate commercial success. Directed by Terry Gilliam, it was the middle installment of the three movies the iconoclastic filmmaker made for major American studios during the ’90s. But audiences quickly began to see 12 Monkeys differently.
It’s the Jacket: A Mini Oral History of A.J. Soprano’s Slipknot Windbreaker, Its Online Resurrection, and the Style of ‘The Sopranos’
The third season of HBO’s The Sopranos first aired in the spring of 2001. It’s best remembered for “Pine Barrens” and the introduction of Ralph Cifaretto, a quintessential prick portrayed by Joe Pantoliano. But it also brought a smaller moment that eventually turned into an obsession in some corners of the internet.