Hip-hop wise, 2009 was a big year for the Bar Mitzvah dance floor. We were gifted Sean Kingston's "Fire Burning," 3OH!3's "DONTTRUSTME," and, of course, the Black Eyed Peas' "I Gotta Feeling." Big, cartoonish, easily-danceable pop-rap hits ruled the airwaves. But few songs were bigger and more cartoonish than the Lonely Island's iconic, T-Pain-assisted single and SNL Digital Short, "I'm On A Boat." "I'm...
Things are never quiet with Ariana Grande. After a topsy-turvy 2018 that saw the release of her immaculate Sweetener, the death of her ex-boyfriend Mac Miller, an engagement to comedian Pete Davidson that went kaputt months later, and the debut of her first #1 single, she's continued to ride a wave of triumph and tumult into 2019. "I'm so successful," Grande sang on one of Sweetener's many highlights,...
Even if you've never heard a note of Mayhem's music or don't listen to black metal, the abrasive subgenre they're credited with creating, you probably know bits and pieces of the Norwegian band's brief-but-newsworthy history. They burnt churches. One member killed himself. A second member murdered a third. That second member has since become a lightning rod for modern-day white nationalism and Nazism. If...
It's that time of year again: the time when we as a culture must reckon with the insane/mundane prestige-populist fever dream that is Grammy logic. The Recording Academy will host its 61st annual ceremony at 8PM ET this Sunday, live from the Staples Center in LA. As ever, the slate of nominees in the major categories combines superstars and "tasteful" obscurities in ways that will make you say "huh"...
Zabar's -- a longstanding gourmet food emporium on Manhattan's Upper West Side specializing in smoked fish, caviar, babka, and other delicacies -- is suddenly getting a lot of exposure via prestige pop culture. Last year Melissa McCarthy and Richard E. Grant ate bread from Zabar's in the Oscar-nominated Can You Ever Forgive Me? And as West Side Rag points out, Wednesday night the company's Broadway...
Over the last two years, the Dublin post-punk/garage rock quintet Fontaines D.C. have been steadily gaining more notoriety thanks to a buzzy run of singles and the strength of their live shows. After signing to Partisan, there were rumblings of an impending debut album. And today, just a couple weeks out from the band's first Stateside gigs, Fontaines D.C. have officially announced that album. It's...
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 survey of 1998's greatest musical accomplishments is complete without a mention of...
Does Blueface know how to rap? As in: Is he even capable of it? That's been the question that's followed the 22-year-old LA rapper since he started blowing up a couple of months ago. This isn't a question of people not liking Blueface's rap style, or wondering why younger generations of rap always stick with derivative subject matters, or any of the usual complaints that people hurl at young rappers...
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.
Chris Simpson doesn’t think he’s ever met a casual Mineral fan, but the potential for millions of them briefly existed in the minds of people like Sylvia Rhone, Jimmy Iovine, and Clive Davis. Even your parents can probably name the careers shepherded by these legendary A&Rs: Santana, Bruce Springsteen, 2Pac, Eminem, Billy Joel, Aerosmith, Metallica,…
Sasami Ashworth is determined to make it. In a sense, she already has. She’s scored short films and commercials, taught in an elementary school, and collaborated in the studio with artists like Vagabon, Hand Habits, and Wild Nothing. And for two-and-a-half years she was a member of Cherry Glazerr, playing the synths that leveled out…
Tracking Down is a Stereogum franchise in which we talk to artists who have been out of the spotlight for a minute.…
Wayne Coyne is always busy. Whether working on official albums or a smattering of side projects, the Flaming Lips — the band he’s now been a part of for 35 years — never seem to stop moving. “With us, it’s always like five things at one time,” he says from his home in Oklahoma City,…
Phoebe Bridgers won a lot of people over quickly. Amidst releasing her debut Stranger In The Alps last year, she immediately made her presence known: A gifted singer-songwriter often diving into confessional, melancholic depths while maintaining a sometimes-dry, sometimes-quirky sense of humor online and elsewhere. She was gifted, and she was interesting. We wound up…
Right now, it certainly seems as if Open Mike Eagle can’t be stopped. Since he got started in earnest at the beginning of this decade, he’s never really taken a break from releasing projects in various forms. His run of albums and EPs since 2014, in particular, has shown the arc of an artist getting…