Abel Tesfaye — the mysterious pop innovator who records as the Weeknd — set a weird new standard for gloomy self-indulgence in R&B when he came out of Canada a few years back. He was like Drake with the soul of an art-school goth, singing vaguely creepy things like “It’s gonna… Source: RollingStone Link: Beauty Behind […]

Jack White put on a drumming clinic and delved into the style and technique he uses as drummer of the Dead Weather in the first video of a four-part series exploring the nitty gritty of the band’s instrumental makeup. Directed by White, the 10-minute video premiered on Modern Drummer, and opens with White… Source: RollingStone Link: Jack […]

More than four decades after Frank Zappa and the Mothers filmed their three-night residency at Hollywood’s 500-person-capacity Roxy Theatre, Roxy: The Movie will finally be released. A trailer for the film shows the mustachioed bandleader coaxing polyrhythms, paradiddles and plenty of puns, as he shreds furiously on his guitar. The… Source: RollingStone Link: See Frank […]

Forty years after the recording of his hugely influential and career-changing Modern Sounds in Country & Western Music LP in 1962, Ray Charles revisited country music via the popular CMT Crossroads series. The special, taped in Nashville on September 10th, 2002, paired Charles with another Georgia native, soulful country singer… Source: RollingStone Link: Flashback: Ray […]

Outkast’s Big Boi raps about how he’s extraterrestrial and extraordinary over big, spacey, cinematic synth soundscapes on “Fell in the Sun,” the first track to come off Big Grams, the self-titled debut EP by his upcoming collaboration with indie-pop duo Phantogram. The tune features upbeat horns, fuzzy keyboard, clattering drums… Source: RollingStone Link: Hear Big […]

Kurt Vile embarks on his own space odyssey in the trippy, half-animated video for “Life Like This,” off the Philadelphia rocker’s upcoming LP, B’lieve I’m Goin Down. Directed and animated by Adam Avilla, the clip opens with Vile idly passing time in a recording studio, playing a guitar or piano or simply… Source: RollingStone Link: Kurt […]

Just like the Wu-Tang Clan, Jack White and Third Man Records are for the children: The label has teamed up with Light in the Attic to release a children’s music compilation, This Record Belongs to ____, as well as a child-friendly turntable. The compilation features songs by Harry Nilsson, Woody Guthrie, Nina… Source: RollingStone Link: Jack […]

Taking in one of the Legendary Shack Shakers’ thrilling, sometimes terrifying, live performances is akin to witnessing a gospel revival or even a snake-handling ceremony. And for good reason: the Kentucky band’s magnetic leader, vocalist and harmonica maven J.D. Wilkes spent his formative years at a charismatic religious school, where… Source: RollingStone Link: Hear the […]

While enjoying a short break from Depeche Mode, singer Dave Gahan reunited with production crew Soulsavers for a second collaboration album, Angels & Ghosts, due out this fall. “All of This and Nothing,” the first track to be released from the record, finds them dwelling in cinematic strings and gospel organ… Source: RollingStone Link: Hear Dave […]

Midway through every Rolling Stones show, Mick Jagger leaves the stage for Keith Richards to deliver two songs. Each time, Richards proves he’s a formidable frontman himself. In addition to his crucial contributions as a guitarist and songwriter, Richards is responsible for delivering some peak moments in the Stones discography, from wired rockers (1972’s “Happy,”… Source: RollingStone Link: Keith Richards' […]