The squirmy synth line that opens “House of Lies,” the latest single from ARO‘s upcoming Vacare Adamare LP, worms its way in slowly. “Picked you like a rose that wasn’t blooming,” sings ARO, “’cause everything I do is of my choosing.” That couplet perfectly sets up her whole perspective — …
Read More »Alessia Cara on Amy Winehouse's 'Back to Black': 'She Just Laid It All Out'
This piece is part of our ongoing coverage of Rolling Stone’s newly updated500 Greatest Albums of All Time list. Amy Winehouse‘sBack to Black topped Alessia Cara‘s personal ballot and landed at number 33 on the overall list. Here, Cara reflects on how the album comforted and inspired her during a …
Read More »These Days, Even Drake Sounds Like Drake Featuring Drake
Halfway through Drake’s “Laugh Now Cry Later” — the first single off the Toronto’s rapper’s upcoming album, Certified Lover Boy — Lil Durk raps, “Bring Drake to the hood, surround Drake around Dracs.” He pronounces “Dracs” like “Drakes,” but he means “dracos,” the firearm du jour featured in so many …
Read More »Chrissie Hynde on Her Bob Dylan Obsession, Flummoxing 'Dylanologists'
When Chrissie Hynde heard Bob Dylan’s “Murder Most Foul,” the 17-minute elegy he had recorded about John F. Kennedy and surprise-released in late March, she was caught by surprise. “It really knocked me sideways,” she tells Rolling Stone. “It’s so magnificent.” Like everyone, she was in what she describes as …
Read More »Song You Need to Know: Sym Fera, 'Little Things'
Overexposure and oversharing have been accepted as default settings in the modern era, so any glimmer of cryptic mystery are welcome anomalies. Sym Fera are a new duo that reside in Los Angeles and…. well, that’s about all anyone knows so far. Their social media platforms extol moody aesthetics over …
Read More »Bootsy Collins on Togetherness in the Time of Quarantine
Bootsy Collins feels a lot of different ways about the way the coronavirus pandemic has put the world on pause, but mostly he’s hopeful that people will take a moment to think about their place in the big picture. “I think [the pandemic] is a tragic thing and a deep …
Read More »Remembering Little Richard's Kind Heart and One-of-a-Kind Soul
The first time I met Little Richard, I had just gotten back from his hometown (and Otis Redding’s, and, more or less, James Brown’s) of Macon, Georgia. It was 1984, and I was working on my book Sweet Soul Music (which wouldn’t be published for a couple of years), while …
Read More »Song You Need to Know: Elephant Castle, 'Cool to Be Unhappy'
Alt-rock musician Phil Danyew spent the last six years touring and playing keys with Foster the People. “Now, I’m off in a cave making my own music again,” the multi-instrumentalist said on March 2nd. About a month later, he released “Cool to Be Unhappy,” the debut single from his new …
Read More »Glenn Danzig Talks 'Labor of Love' Elvis Tribute Album and His History With the King
Glenn Danzig is well aware that his fans sometimes call him “Evil Elvis.” “That’s fine,” he says with a laugh. “Anytime someone mentions my name and Elvis’ name in the same sentence, that’s great. It doesn’t get better than that.” Danzig’s love for the King has been well documented over …
Read More »Revisiting John Prine's Last Moment on Record
When Swamp Dogg released his album Sorry You Couldn’t Make It last month, no one could have predicted that the record — which features John Prine on several songs — would be the last Prine recording to ever be released during the singer’s lifetime. The cult soul singer Swamp Dogg …
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