RECENT ARTICLES

Argentinian songwriter and performer Nicki Nicole remembers seeing the movie Ray. The film, which starred the multi-talented actor and musician Jamie Foxx portrayed the nuanced and tumultuous life of famed soul singer Ray Charles. Foxx won the Oscar Award for Best Actor for his performance. But when the movie made its way to the city of Rosario, which is the third-largest in Argentina, Nicole realized something important that she hadn’t noticed before.

Like many, she was already a fan of Charles. First and foremost, she says, she’s loved his music. But the award-winning movie showed in detail Charles’ life story, too. It wasn’t just the hits and the big stages and vast applause. It was also the darkness, the drugs, the recovery, versatility, and the triumph. This enlightened Nicole near the outset of her own musical journey and has since helped to inspire the diverse work of the burgeoning star, who released her latest LP, Parte De Mi, on Friday.

Read More

What’s the word for someone who is an actor, singer, writer, and performer? Is it multi-hyphenate? Is it an artist? It’s unclear, really. One who sings is a singer. One who writes is a writer. But what do you call someone who has as many lanes as a roadmap? Whatever the word is, it’s what describes the Georgia-born Katelyn Tarver.

To some, it may sound appealing to have as many options at your fingertips as ideas in your head. But like Sylvia Plath’s fig tree, it can be paralyzing too. What if, on top of this hefty wealth, your past is a fractured bouquet? Rich with history, stories, opportunities, accomplishments, but also somehow competing against itself as oil and water might. It’s a lot to wrap your mind around, I know. So does Tarver, who is set to release her latest album, Subject to Change, on November 12.

Read More

Lindsey Jordan, the frontwoman for the compelling rock band, Snail Mail, is trying to figure everything out. Which is an admittedly odd thing to say for someone who has achieved so much success before they’re legally allowed to drink in a bar. Jordan, who is only now 22 years old, earned thousands of fans, prestigious media writeups, and big attention by the time she was a teenager. And all of that can be great. It can be the breeze upon which you fly even higher. But it can also create doubt. When good things happen to a person at an early age, it’s easy to wonder: well, how did that happen? And can I do it again?

These are some of the natural and important questions Jordan finds herself wrestling with these days. And despite their severity, she seems to be winning, pinning doubt on its shoulders, even if painstakingly so. For Jordan, it’s part of the road of self-discovery and success. And that road continues with Snail Mail’s forthcoming new “breakup” record, Valentine, which is out Friday (November 5).

Read More

Madison, Wisconsin-born rapper Brother Ali lives in Istanbul, Turkey. When asked, the acclaimed musician and lyricist said there are a number of reasons for his transition from where he and his wife were living in the Twin Cities region of Minnesota to the historic city in the Mediterranean, from religious to financial to personal.

Both Ali and his wife are Muslim converts and she had visited the region in 2014 to study. Upon her return, she predicted that they’d one day find themselves there but they thought it would be around retirement age. Yet, the shift happened more recently due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the restrictions it put on Ali’s career as a touring musician. They began to rethink what life could be. So, they moved. The new surroundings have given Ali the first occasion in his life to think about who he was and what he wanted from a longer-term perspective, which has both contributed to new music he released recently—like his new Brother Minutester record—and to the way he thinks about his place in the world.

Read More

Artist Thao Nguyen doesn’t mean to repeat herself, but she can’t help it. She’s happy. Or, more precisely, she’s relieved. Nguyen, who until quite recently fronted the project Thao & The Get Down Stay Down has since shed the extra words and is prepared to forge ahead as a musician under her own name. The change, which she posted about recently on social media, is both an essential subtraction and a symbol of larger shifts in Nguyen’s creative and personal life.

As much as any artist since the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Nguyen has undergone new pages and chapters in her life, which have required deep self-investigation and public acknowledgment of her identity as a queer person. Nguyen married her wife in 2019. These aspects of identity are important to identify inwardly and outwardly. They are the threads of our personal tapestry. And this is what was on Nguyen’s mind as she reimagined the extra tracks on her new release, the deluxe edition of her acclaimed 2020 album, Temple, which is out today (October 29).

Read More

Like many, Caneyville, Kentucky-born Elvie Shane grew up singing in church. But now, unlike many, Shane is singing around the world in front of thousands. The way Shane tells the story is that he was born on a Sunday and by the following week, his mother had him wrapped in a hymnal in a tiny church in his small hometown. But even before then, Shane was likely first introduced to music from the ‘90s country radio station in the car ride home from the hospital after he’d first arrived on earth.

Ever since, Shane has been singing hymns with his mother and listening to country music on the radio, especially on those occasions he’d join his dad, a professional mechanic, on jobs around the state. He remembers Steve Earle, Otis Redding, Dwight Yoakam. And it’s all this and more that binds the stories and songs on Shane’s newest LP, Backslider, which is out today (October 29).

Read More

Drag has changed the world, especially recently. The centuries-old tradition has, of late, earned a significant number of eyeballs thanks to the surging popularity of the Emmy Award-winning television show RuPaul’s Drag Race. The program has made stars of dozens of drag queens since its inception in 2009. As such, the show has not only changed the world but it’s changed the lives of its annual crop of protagonists, many of whom have become globally known with millions of social media followers.

One of those famous drag queens is Alaska Thunderfuck (born Justin Andrew Honard), who distinguished herself on the show with elegant makeup, a regal persona, and wry humor. Now, though, Alaska is making a name for herself in new formats. She has a memoir out on November 9 and a new single, “Red,” out last month. The track portends both a new LP and music tour in 2022. Indeed, Alaska is involved in much, but it’s all sewn together by her love for the art of drag.

Read More

Rahill Jamalifard, lead singer and co-founder of the New York-based band Habibi, finds it difficult to call herself a musician. While she most certainly is one, of course, the feeling is understandable.

At first, Jamalifard was brought into music by others. Initially by her parents (and father, especially) and then later by guitarist Lenaya “Lenny” Lynch. The two former Michiganders met in New York City and bonded over a shared love of music, exchanged numbers, and later co-founded Habibi together in the Big Apple. Jamalifard’s entry into participating in music began with a love of lyricism and storytelling. These days, her popular band is writing its own story, touring the country, and earning attention from prestigious media outlets. Now, Habibi is set to release a two-song, pandemic-inspired, hip-shaking EP this Friday (October 29).

Read More

For some strange reason, it’s difficult for most people to appreciate the best things in life at the moment. It’s somehow easier for us to reminisce about them well after the fact, like, Oh, wasn’t it grand 10 years ago when we were traveling Europe together? Yet, it’s likely that a decade ago, that same speaker might have been worried about their sweaty clothes, a dwindling bank account, or the difficult job waiting back in the U.S. after the excursion abroad.

This phenomenon of appreciation is something that Dave Knudson, guitarist, and co-founder of the Seattle-born rock band, Minus the Bear, knows well. Knudson has lived it, and in a way, can now live it over and over again by listening to his band’s newest album, a forthcoming live compilation comprised of songs recorded in 2018 during Minus the Bear’s final tour together. The LP, Farewell, is set for release on Friday (October 29).

Read More

Grammy-nominated songwriter and performer, Tori Amos, has learned much from fame over the years. Perhaps, first and foremost, she’s learned that it’s dangerous. But learning, itself has been integral to Amos’ life. In fact, it marks her life in each of its stages, from infancy when she heard her first songs to today as she readies herself for the release of her latest album, Ocean To Ocean, which is out Friday (October 29). For Amos, observation and practice have always been fundamental. Even when it feels difficult to do so, to undertake an examination of herself or the world at large. But that is exactly what Amos had to do to create her latest standout LP. When the COVID-19 pandemic struck in 2020, she felt trapped, personally and spatially, so, Amos says, she wrote her way out of it.

Read More

Seattle-based producer, Jake One (born Jake Dutton, aka “Snare Jordan“), is humble, the kind of guy to throw a hoodie on, stuff his hands in his pockets, and walk to the corner store for a bag of chips like any other fellow on the city boulevard. Yet, some of his closest friends and collaborators are Grammy Award-winners, platinum-selling musicians, and world-famous names. But Jake One doesn’t sweat all that. Flash isn’t his mission, it doesn’t stick to his attention. He cares about the next project and finding new, devastating inspiration.

In a way, he can trace it back to his school days. Back around 1991, he had a coveted Georgetown University Starter jacket. This was when the school’s basketball team was especially renowned with the likes of Alonzo Mourning. On the playground, he could feel his peers’ eyes on him, the heat of attention. So, the next day, he took it back to the store and exchanged it. Today, Jake One brings that same almost-anonymous comportment to his career, which has, nevertheless, garnered him millions of record sales and spins.

Read More