Music

Music

Even if you're just a casual jazz fan, you probably recognize "Take the A Train," Duke Ellington's swinging theme song. Or you've heard the melancholy ballad "Lush Life" sung by Nat King Cole, by Linda Ronstadt during her Great American Songbook era, or by Lady Gaga on the album she recorded with Tony Bennett. Both of those - and many other tunes - were written by a gay man, musician, composer, and arranger Billy Strayhorn.

I am extremely heartbroken for the tragic loss of our son, Nathan Smith. His mother [Nicole Smith] and I are devastated, the statement said. Lil Jon described his son as an amazingly talented young man who was a music producer, artist, engineer and New York University graduate. Thank you for all of the prayers and support in trying to locate him over the last several days. Thank you to the entire Milton police department involved, the Snap Yo Fingers rapper added.

What does Comic Sans sound like? What does it feel like? And is it actually kinda good? These were the questions ever-present in the minds of early PC Music acts like Kero Kero Bonito's Gus Bonito, who, to this day, performs DJ sets in front of a strobing projection of his moniker Kane West in the notorious font.

He sings the names of the dead haltingly, as though he is reading them off a screen-which, judging from the recording-studio footage in the song's lyric video, he probably is. The song is about the news, but it is also, perhaps unintentionally, about the moment of lag when we absorb the names and images, when we try to assimilate atrocity into narrative.

It's a true dream to put out a single on Sub Pop, and our new song 'Masks' hopefully honors the spirit of the mythical, sometimes mystical, city of Seattle. Thanks in part to the movie Hype, we have long been obsessed with Seattle, the American underground of the late '80s, and Sub Pop and their tools of world domination. Everything we learned about packaging Chat Pile, we learned from Sub Pop co-founders Jonathan Poneman and Bruce Pavitt.

She's more vocally demonstrative than some, colouring each word individually: when in Dowland's Flow, My Tears she sings of fear, and grief, and pain, we're left in no doubt that these are three different but equally terrible emotions. And yet she, Nordberg and Brinkmann hold all this in balance, maintaining a persuasive sense of line and focus so that the expressivity registers not as indulgence but as communication.

It's a true dream to put out a single on Sub Pop, and our new song 'Masks' hopefully honors the spirit of the mythical, sometimes mystical, city of Seattle,

Dee Snider has quit Twisted Sister ahead of the band's 50th-anniversary tour, a decision he says was fueled by health issues and not wanting to perform at a level he isn't proud of for fans. "I don't know of any other way to rock," he said in a statement. "The idea of slowing down is unacceptable to me. I'd rather walk away than be a shadow of my former self."

KAVARI's music sears like a controlled fire, destroying the underbrush to make room for the new. That was literally true of the Glasgow-based producer's 2025 EP Only Pleasure in Flame, a collection of slash-and-burn field recordings that sucked the air right out of your ears. The Scottish sea air has produced a number of maverick electronic musicians- Rustie, SOPHIE, Hudson Mohawke, Proc Fiskal-and in recent years, KAVARI's prolific, sound design-forward work is arguing the case for her induction into the pantheon.

Selling out a venue such as London's O2 Arena used to be considered a high point of an artist's career. Now, selling out just one night there might seem a bit underwhelming. Raye and Olivia Dean will play six nights apiece at the 20,000-capacity hall this year; Dave is playing four, Ariana Grande is playing a whopping 10. Harry Styles, never one to be outdone, last month announced a staggering 30 dates at New York's Madison Square Garden,

It is billed as Danny L Harle's debut album, which it definitely isn't his actual debut album, Harlecore, came out in 2021, although in at least one sense, Cerulean is markedly different from its predecessor. It's the weighty guestlist, featuring Clairo, Caroline Polachek, PinkPantheress, MNEK and more, a reflection of Harle's ascension into the major leagues of pop production: he's worked with Polachek before, as well as Florence + the Machine and Dua Lipa (who also features on Cerulean), among others.

"I just make stuff until it sounds right," said Norwegian experimental musician Gaute Granli in a 2021 interview, when asked about his creative intentions. His answer is both evasive-what would it mean, when crafting deliberately confrontational art, to release something you think sounds wrong?-and an accurate description of a practice shaped by enigmatic instincts. Granli's curious new album Rosacea has a nebulous atmosphere all its own.

After seven extravagant years, Broadway is getting ready to say au revoir to Moulin Rouge! The Musical. The Tony-winning adaptation of Baz Luhrmann's 2001 film will play its final performance at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre on July 26, closing one of the most commercially successful and visually maximalist runs of the modern Broadway era. Moulin Rouge! officially opened on July 25, 2019, dripping in red velvet, rhinestones and pop culture mashups.

Rock the Country isn't just a music festival; it's a movement. In 2026, as America celebrates its 250th anniversary, this is a place for hard-working, God-fearing patriots to gather as one and celebrate freedom, music, and the party of the year.

Dublin post-punks SPRINTS released their second album and first for Sub Pop, All That Is Over, in September, and they're midway through their North American tour supporting it, which hit NYC on Thursday night (2/5) for a show at Bowery Ballroom. Vocalist Karla Chubb told the crowd that it was the band's first tour since becoming full-time musicians, and she spent some time either in the middle of floor or crowdsurfing over it during the set,

J. Cole continues to be the preeminent face of a specific microgenre I like to call Podcast Rap, the general idea being that you don't have to listen to these songs more than once, but they'll give a roundtable of dinguses something to chew on for a week. "What If," off Cole's new album The Fall-Off, is an instant Podcast Rap classic.

"I applied. I auditioned for it, but I made up my own audition because I've always wanted to do it. because I love it musically, It's the best song. Musically, it's so special. I actually have always wanted to do this, and I recorded a little demo, just me singing with the Rhodes and sent it to Roc Nation. I've been told Jay-Z loved it, and it got Goodell and they all said that I could do it,"