The French Queen of Pop Still Dazzles at 74.
Looking for news you can trust?Subscribe to our free newsletters. Françoise HardyPersonne d’autreParolphone France/Arts Music Since vaulting to international stardom as a teenager in the pre-Beatles ’60s, Françoise Hardy has been France’s leading female pop singer. Amazingly, she continues to cast a spell today. On her 24th album, and her first longplayer in six years,…
Hinds’ Noisier, Messier Second Album Is Punk Perfection
Looking for news you can trust?Subscribe to our free newsletters. HindsI Don’t RunMom + Pop While lots of young bands struggle to record a strong followup to a promising debut, the women of the Spanish quartet Hinds take a big leap forward on I Don’t Run. Although the recipe is essentially the same as before—jangly,…
Chance the Rapper’s Commencement Speech Is Exactly What We Needed This Weekend
Fair Dillard/YouTube Looking for news you can trust?Subscribe to our free newsletters. Chance the Rapper had a lasting message to the graduates of Dillard University: Surpass your heroes and achieve greatness, just like Beyoncé did at Coachella. On Saturday, Chance took time during his 22-minute speech to praise the lessons learned from Beyoncé’s legendary performance…
Eels Are Not Afraid of the Dark
EelsThe DeconstructionE Works/PIAS Mark Oliver Everett, who records as Eels, could be mistaken for a modern-day Job, recounting tales of extreme psychic distress in a weary rasp of a voice that suggests he’s perilously close to the breaking point. On his first studio outing in four years, Everett mixes up the grooves with his usual…
Wye Oak’s New Album Is Thoughtful and Haunting
Looking for news you can trust?Subscribe to our free newsletters. Wye OakThe Louder I Call, The Faster It RunsMerge Singer Jenn Wasner has made music under various guises, including Flock of Dimes and Dungeonesse, but her most enduring and productive project is her partnership with fellow multi-instrumentalist Andy Stack in the duo Wye Oak. The…
Remembering When the Ramones Were Young, Raw, and Couldn’t Take a Bad Photo
Looking for news you can trust?Subscribe to our free newsletters. Danny Fields discovered and signed the Stooges and MC5. He worked with the Doors and rubbed elbows with the Velvet Underground. That famous John Lennon quote about the Beatles being bigger than Jesus? That was largely Danny’s doing, running Lennon’s quote in the teen magazine…