When Jazmine Sullivan decided she wanted to confess, she invited her closest friends to the pulpit and asked them to perform emotional exorcisms in the form of interludes. She told them they could retreat into a closet if they needed…
Japanese Breakfast Is Working the Pain Away
In the spring of 2014, after learning that a cancerous tumor was growing in her mom’s stomach, Zauner moved back to Eugene. She helped her 56-year-old mother through chemotherapy for stage IV pancreatic cancer, learning how to cook easily-digestible Korean…
Cassandra Jenkins’ Hypnotic Folk Music Turns Everyday Moments Into Monuments
In October 2019, she booked time in the studio with producer, multi-instrumentalist, and songwriter Josh Kaufman, whose resume includes work with the Hold Steady and the National, as well as with Taylor Swift on her two recent folk-leaning albums. Jenkins…
The Endless Life Cycle of Japanese City Pop
In the waning weeks of 2020, a Japanese pop tune from 1979 shot to No. 1 on Spotify’s viral charts. Titled “Mayonaka no Door / Stay With Me” and performed by a then-19-year-old Miki Matsubara, the song is as breezy…
The Dream-Pop Transcendence of IAN SWEET
One of the methods Medford learned in therapy—and continues to practice—is the emotional freedom technique. “Basically, you tap the pressure points on your body and repeat mantras,” she explains, lightly patting her fingers around her eyes, under her nose, on…
From Bad Boy to Merge Records, Dawn Richard Reflects on Her One-of-a-Kind Career
Once my art is polished, I still have to run the four miles, still have to make sure I sing live, still have to make sure I’m giving you a visual that is on par with mainstream artists. Because if…
How SOPHIE’s Music Inspired a Generation of Underground Artists
From the earliest singles, SOPHIE’s music had an electric pull. Luminescent, visceral, and delivered with impeccable comic timing, songs like “BIPP” and “HARD” cleaved open an irresistible niche within electronic music and avant-pop. In collaboration with vocalists like Charli XCX,…
The Weather Station Battles Climate-Change Anxiety, One Song at a Time
“In the beginning of performing [music], I needed to keep things very small, because that was the only thing that felt fully honest,” she explains. “Now I understand that there is a role of a performer that isn’t just completely…
Sample Snitching: How Online Fan Chatter Can Create Legal Trouble for Rap Producers
By the late ’80s, new technology made it possible for producers to take “the original hip-hop DJ concept and apply it to making hip-hop records,” by making “cut and paste collages using older obscure records and electronic samplers,” Manak explained.…
The 41 Most Anticipated Albums of 2021: Kendrick, Rihanna, Adele, and More
Preorder: Bandcamp Lorde TBD About six months after she told fans that the death of her dog Pearl had disrupted the timeline for a new album, Lorde returned with brighter news in May, sharing that she’d been working on new…