My Bloody Valentine had already been a band for five years by the time guitarist Kevin Shields found his secret weapon. After years of hopping between knockoffs of popular Fenders and Gibsons, a friend loaned him a 1964 Fender Jazzmaster – a melty, hotrod-shaped instrument with a bevy of switches …
Read More »Wayne Coyne Looks Back on the Flaming Lips' Beautifully Amateurish Early Years
TheFlaming Lipshave conducted boombox and car-stereo orchestras, constructed a single album across four separate CDs, composed a 24-hour song, and issued music on gummy fetuses and skulls. So for the long-running psych-rock crew, releasing a conventional best-of package and early-era box set might be their strangest experiments to date. The …
Read More »Alessia Cara Talks 'Growing Pains,' Self-Care and New Music
In the three years since Alessia Cara released her Isaac Hayes-sampling anti-party anthem “Here,” the Canadian singer-songwriter has released a debut album; appeared on two Top 10 hits in collaboration with other stars (Zedd’s “Stay” and Logic’s “1-800-273-8255”); sung the pop radio version of a the latest Disney princess classic …
Read More »Hinds Are Living Their Rock & Roll Dream
As a young rock fan in Madrid, Carlotta Cosials once made a scrapbook full of Arctic Monkeys lyrics. “When [2011’s] Suck it and See had just come out and nobody had a printer, I handmade this book,” recalls the singer-guitarist, 27. “Our obsession with lyrics began with Alex Turner.” Cosials’ …
Read More »The Outlier: Why Jason Isbell Won't Stop Speaking His Mind
At this year’s Grammys, where he was up for several awards, Jason Isbell didn’t exactly tear the place up. “We weren’t on the televised part of the show, so we didn’t get the good seats,” he says with a good-natured laugh. “We wound up eating chicken fingers from the concession …
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