John Hammond, Jazz Promoter
A profile of the legendary producer at the beginning of his career.
Music
Return to the World as a Thought
The legacy of late hip-hop producer Paul C.
Neil Young Comes Clean
At 66, Young sobers up.
Pink Slime
Inside the cluttered Los Angeles apartment of lo-fi auteur Ariel Pink.
A Guitar's Life
An instrument’s impact on a handful of Texans.
Jay-Z’s “99 Problems,” Verse 2: A Close Reading With Fourth Amendment Guidance for Cops and Perps
A law professor’s interpretation of the 2004 hit.
Kiss: The Pagan Beasties of Teenage Rock
On the road with the makeup-clad band.
The House That Hova Built
An essay on Jay-Z.
Punk Rock Fight Club
Inside FSU, the hardcore brotherhood where the wrong t-shirt can get you killed.
Best Article Arts Business Music
The Mogul Who Made Justin Bieber
A profile of Scooter Braun.
How Lester Bangs Taught Me to Read
The rock critic’s lasting impact.
All This Light
A profile of Chan ‘Cat Power’ Marshall adrift in Miami.
Prog Spring
The history and reception of progressive rock.
The Last Outlaw
A profile of Merle Haggard.
Aquarius Wept
When the Rolling Stones played Altamont.
We Are Alive
A profile of Bruce Springsteen.
Tracking The Biggest Star In The World
David Johnson’s unrequited correspondence with Jay-Z.
Things Behind the Sun
Meeting Nick Drake, London, 1970.
The White Negro
On jazz and the hipster psychopath.
American Communion
The spiritual union of Johnny Cash and Rick Rubin.
In Conversation: Spike Lee
The director on Obama, the state of black cinema, the Knicks, the Nets, the tragedy of public education in America, gentrified New York and why he lives on the Upper East Side.
A Month on the Town
A veteran critic reviews 32 shows in 30 days.
The Audition
On trying out for the Boston Symphony Orchestra.
Beat Boutique
On the surprising radicalism of library music – “music that has been composed and recorded for commercial purposes.”
‘It Hasn’t Been a Disaster’
An interview with Pavement’s Bob Nastanovich on his career afterlife as a “a clocker and chart-caller” and occasional breeder at an Iowa race horse track.
