The Resonating Hypnotism of ‘Orange Twin Field Works Vol. 1’
Listening to Orange Twin Field Works Vol. 1 today – not as ethnography but as a fully realized composition – Jeff Mangum’s pre-Bulgaria sensibility appears.
music feature
Olé! Allez! Go! World Cup Songs That Make the Earth Move
Made for the masses, and specifically for football fans, Most World Cup songs sound like AI slop, but there are some rare gems to be found, and we’ve got them.
Jack White Is Rewiring Rock
Jack White is not saving rock ‘n’ roll in 2026: he is maintaining it; anchoring music in place instead of letting it drift through networks.
Why Tokyo Has So Many Record Stores
In a country where curation itself has long carried economic value, the identities of Tokyo’s record stores are inseparable from the owners’ personal obsessions.
Did Drake and Kendrick Lamar Kill Battle Rap?
The biggest rap battle in history between Drake and Kendrick Lamar blurred the line between victory and cultural collapse. Has hip-hop killed itself?
Nu Metal Anomalies Slipknot, System of a Down, and the Strange Math of Mass Appeal
Nu metal’s ecosystem in the 1990s allowed unexpected forms of extremity to break into mainstream success, and Slipknot and System of a Down exemplify that.
Why Is Tori Amos Thanking Rival Courtney Love?
A long-running feud stemming from a 1990s love triangle seems to have cooled off as Tori Amos name-checks Courtney Love in her new single, “Shush”.
Where Should Billy Joel Sit at the Pop Rock Table?
Inconsistent in his music and notoriously ornery, it’s difficult to figure out where, amongst his contemporaries, to seat Billy Joel at the Pop Rock table. We give it a try.
Why Steely Dan’s “Dirty Work” Is the Ultimate Screen Song
The lyrics to Steely Dan’s 1972 song “Dirty Work” are not the enigmatic stanzas that make up most of their discography, so why is it still used in films and TV to this day?
When the Door Nearly Closed on Evanescence
With the success of Evanescence’s Fallen and The Open Door, which held to Amy Lee’s vision, she should have earned Wind-Up’s trust, not its vitriol.
Detroit 1967: From Uprising to Amplification
The 1967 Detroit Uprising did not create the music that followed; it clarified it by stripping away ambiguity, making it harder to ignore what was already there.
Morrissey Returns to the Wilde
The admissions in the songs on Morrissey’s Oscar-Wilde-influenced Make-Up Is a Lie converge to create an intimate and candid portrait of the duality of self in the quagmire of celebrity.