B y the time you figure out where a song by New York rapper and producer Xaviersobased is coming from, it’s usually already over. On 2021’s “115 & LSD,” which the 20-year-old cites as a creative breakthrough in his music, he builds up a cacophony of exotic-bird whistles, overlapping hums, …
Read More »Journey's Bassist Ross Valory Opens Up About the Band's Saga — And His Adventurous Solo Album
Ross Valory has dreamed of making a solo album ever since he started gigging around San Francisco in the late Sixties, but other projects kept getting in the way. He was in the process of amassing original songs in 1971 when the Steve Miller Band brought him into the fold …
Read More »Tyla Wants To Show America How To Really Party
When Tyla was making her hit single “Water,” she had a simple goal in mind. “I just wanted a summer song that everybody could vibe to and have fun to,” the South African singer told Rolling Stone last year. “The meaning of the song is frisky: It’s me letting a …
Read More »Todo el mundo ama a Young Miko
Read in English Traducción de E.R. Pulgar Young Miko me está llevando a Piñones, un hotspot en el noreste de Puerto Rico conocido por su hipnotizante vista al mar y su larga historia como un bastión de cultura afro-caribeña. “Sabía que te tenía que traer pa’ ‘ca”, me dice. Tiene …
Read More »How the Rising Rapper MIKE Became More Boundless Than Fan Expectations
I speak to Brooklyn’s MIKE while he’s lounging in the Netherlands before another show on his ongoing Somebody Fine Me Trouble Tour, on which he’ll traverse Europe and then the United States through May. He tells me that he’s enjoying his time overseas so far. “We hit a lot of …
Read More »How Ariana Grande Turned Divorce and Heartbreak Into Pop Perfection
One of the biggest influences on Ariana Grande‘s new album, Eternal Sunshine, turns out be the Beatles’ Rubber Soul. That inspiration isn’t exactly instantly evident within the album’s sleek production and Max Martin-assisted songwriting, but Grande said in an advance listening session for journalists that she had John, Paul, George, …
Read More »Everybody Loves Young Miko
Leer en español Young Miko is taking me for a drive to Piñones, the northeastern Puerto Rico hot spot known for its mesmerizing ocean views and long history as a stronghold of Afro-Caribbean culture. “I knew I had to bring you here,” she tells me. And she was right: A …
Read More »How a Beatles Classic Helped Inspire Ariana Grande's 'Eternal Sunshine'
Ariana Grande has a whole new era—or should we say, it has her? Her excellent new Eternal Sunshine is a bold personal statement, with her most inventive, pained, reflective songs. “It’s kind of a concept album,” the pop queen said in February. “‘Cause it’s all different heightened pieces of the …
Read More »Teezo Touchdown: Birth of a Rock Star
Y ou’re too old for this. It should have happened for you already. It takes no small amount of bravado to call yourself Teezo Touchdown, to walk around with metal nails dangling from your hair, to tap an aggro rap-rock vein few others are mining, to croon like a mutant …
Read More »Eric Church Previews 19-Show Residency at His New Nashville Bar: 'I'm Going to Engage'
Eric Church says fans can expect never-before-heard songs and personal stories when he debuts his new one-man live show, “Eric Church: To Beat the Devil,” next month at Chief’s, his Nashville bar and live venue. “It’ll be a unique show where I’m going to engage. There’s some funny stuff. There’s …
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