Bruno Major is a songwriter’s songwriter. The British guitarist knows where pop music comes from and sees where it can go. His deep study of melodic structure from classic Great American Songbook jazz standards and modern production methods of hip-hop and R&B results in songs that feel both timeless and timely. Chatting with the Northhampton […]
If you’re successful for long enough, you become less of a person and more of an idea. The name Warren Buffett is synonymous with wealth. Michael Jordan is synonymous with greatness. In 2020, after a decade of releasing albums, soundtracking memories, and breaking enough records, Drake the idea is one of variability. He’s earned Billboard […]
There’s only one degree of separation between Randy Newman’s Trouble in Paradise and Nazareth’s Malice in Wonderland. In fact, that degree separates over one thousand other albums. That degree is Paulinho da Costa. The Brazilian percussionist may not be a household name, but his credits list is one-of-a-kind; at the time of this writing, da […]
Some artists arrive when they have a fully formed vision of themselves that they are ready to share with the world. Others arrive at a key moment of transition in their lives. When Alanis Morissette began creating the record that would become Jagged Little Pill as she was turning 20, she was trying to figure […]
Before Charli XCX was the world’s No. 1 Angel, before Sophie was nominated for a Grammy, before FKA Twigs twisted onto the scene, before Grimes took us to “Oblivian,” and before Lady Gaga dropped Art Pop, Icelandic superstar Bjork stood at the edge of an avant-pop mountain and threw all kinds of little things off […]
When Megadeth unleashed their first LP, Killing Is My Business … and Business Is Good!, on June 12, 1985, they were the last of thrash metal’s Big Four — the platinum-selling pace-setters, completed by Metallica, Slayer, and Anthrax — to debut. However, unlike other late arrivals to the thrash-metal mosh pit, such as Exodus, Overkill, […]
In 1985, 17-year-old Ben Margulies found himself living in New York City and playing in a band called King Holiday. Things seemed to be going great; the group’s first show at the infamous CBGB got them signed to a development deal with Elektra Records. However, nothing ever came from the arrangement. Though King Holiday seemed […]
Vertigo was one of several major label subsidiaries launched in the late-1960s to nurture progressive rock talent, quickly developing a unique roster and brand aesthetic that are still respected — even revered — by modern-day music collectors. The History Founded in 1969 out of the London offices of Philips/Phonogram (later part of the Universal Music […]
George Floyd’s killing in the custody of the Minneapolis police happened 40 years after Bob Marley & The Wailers forecasted the civil upheaval that would follow Floyd’s death on the 1980 album Uprising. Clashes with classism, the “us vs. them” division between the people and the those in power, and the quest for liberation are […]
Talking Heads crash-landed on the new wave scene as paranoiac aliens who proceeded to hang a “no” sign on everything about Earth — buildings, food, oxygen, even electric guitars. Singer David Byrne spouted dadaist gobbledygook. They made “dance music” that was ironically inert as if Auguste Rodin’s “The Thinker” sculpture lurched from its seat and […]
