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Mac DeMarco on His Chill New Album, This Old Dog
Mac DeMarco is back, and he’s unsurprisingly low-key about it. Yesterday, the recent-ish New York-to-Los Angeles transplant announced his third album, This Old Dog, the follow-up to 2015’s understated...
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The Month in Metal: The Hopelessness of Slayer, King Woman, and Shaarimoth
Welcome to Pitchfork's new monthly metal column, where we’ll guide you through the genre’s new music and various happenings with an eye towards a specific theme. This month, somewhat inevitably, that...
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How Pepsi Used Pop Music to Build an Empire
In 2015, young R&B phenom Jamal Lyon inked a major endorsement deal with Pepsi. He got his own primetime spot directed by “Empire” creator Lee Daniels, joining the ranks of Michael Jackson,...
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An Art Historian’s Take on Those Beyoncé Pregnancy Photos
Earlier this week, Beyoncé Knowles-Carter commandeered everyone’s Instagram feeds when she posted a now-iconic photograph announcing her pregnancy with twins. She’s seen kneeling and surrounded by an...
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Poppin’ Off: An Interview With the “Bubbleologist” Behind Grimes’ “Venus Fly”...
“Oh my gosh, you can see all my bubbles!” Teena Lemieux is watching Grimes and Janelle Monáe’s “Venus Fly” video for the first time. She is very psyched. Because, along with some cyberpunk regalia and...
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Lady Gaga’s Choose-Your-Own-Political-Subtext Halftime Show
Lady Gaga, an artist who has always expressed herself through sound bites as much as song lyrics, didn’t have much to say at last night’s Super Bowl LI Halftime Show. But midway through her...
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David Axelrod’s Hip-Hop Influence in 7 Highly Sampled Songs
David Axelrod, who passed away over the weekend at age 83, was for a while something of an unsung hero of production and arrangement. During his most active years, from 1963 to 1970, he was an A&R...
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XXXTentacion Is Blowing Up Behind Bars. Should He Be?
On January 28, while performing in Amsterdam, Drake delivered previously unheard rhymes in a ratatat cadence. “I get my dough in advance/Love is just not in my plans,” he sneered. No sooner did video...
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Television’s Punk Epic “Marquee Moon,” 40 Years Later
Invisible Hits is a column in which Tyler Wilcox scours the internet for the best (and strangest) bootlegs, rarities, outtakes, and live clips.In 1974, an unknown band namedTelevision convinced CBGB...
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8 Standards Albums Actually Worth Hearing
Last week Bob Dylanannounced the release of Triplicate, a triple album that's also his third collection of standards from the Great American Songbook. If Triplicate is seen as three bundled albums—as...
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The Promising State of the Actor-Musician
Donald Glover is having a moment. A month after his alter-ego Childish Gambino released “Awaken, My Love!” to the best reception of his musical career, Glover found himself taking home two awards at...
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Where Neo-Soul Began: 20 Years of Erykah Badu’s Baduizm
In early 1997, a 25-year-old Erykah Badu glided onto the set of BET talk show “Planet Groove” flanked by her backup singers and immediately started lighting incense. “Planet Groove” had attracted some...
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Adele Macklemored Beyoncé and 7 Other Grammy Takeaways
Kendrick Lamar lost to Daft Punk. Beyoncé lost to Beck. Kendrick Lamar lost to Taylor Swift. Beyoncé lost to Adele. The Grammys are a scripted event: a black artist releases an ambitious album that...
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Thundercat’s Love Advice for Valentine’s Day
Thundercat doesn’t remember whether he broke up with his ex-girlfriend or she broke up with him—perhaps he’s blocked it out—but what he does remember is that they broke up on February 14th....
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Grammys Boss Neil Portnow on Race, Boycotts, and Working with Washington
Every year towards the end of the Grammys, the president of the Recording Academy, Neil Portnow, gives a few wonkish remarks. It’s such a famously incongruous moment that this year’s Grammy host James...
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Who Were The KLF?
By the mid-’90s, British Invasion 2.0 had taken over American music, as Oasis, Blur, Pulp, and Radiohead cracked the rock and college radio charts. But right before those (mostly) self-serious bands...
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Meet Ann Druyan, The Woman Who Sent Chuck Berry and Beethoven Into Space
Perhaps Chuck Berry’s most curious accolade is the inclusion of “Johnny B. Goode” on humanity’s mixtape for extraterrestrials. His signature song was etched onto the Golden Record, a 12-inch...
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10 Albums That Prove 1997 Was One of UK Rock’s Best Years
Just as Britpop came to an end, so too must the 20th anniversary Britpop celebrations. After all the Blur box sets, Suede reissues, and Menswear reappraisals, the last hurrah came this past October in...
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Sly’s Stone-Cold Genius in 10 Late, Great Songs
Along with the Velvet Underground, Nina Simone, Jimmie Rodgers, and more, Sly Stone finally received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Grammys last week. It seemed an appropriate time to recognize...
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How Skepta Tried to Show the Establishment ‘This Is Grime’
Vague political statements were the norm at last night’s BRIT Awards. Katy Perry danced amid a phalanx of miniature houses (comment on... the housing crisis?) and giant skeleton puppets that were...
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