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IMAX / James Turrell Crater Kanye West’s Austere Reform Church
The rapper’s IMAX movie, Jesus Is King, puts a choral Christian concert into an artist’s crater to beautiful—but cold—effect.
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Alex Waespi When Music’s Sad Boys Chase Happiness
Male angst has dominated pop history. But something feels different with artists such as Rex Orange County, Hobo Johnson, and Chris Farren.
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Mario Anzuoni What Frank Ocean’s PrEP+ Party Understood
The musician named an exclusive party after an HIV-prevention drug. Why?
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Denzel Golatt The Genre-Defying Singer Inspired by Japanese Funk
Berhana, the Atlanta musician behind 2016’s “Janet,” talks about incorporating diverse geographic influences in his debut album, HAN.
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Celeste Sloman / The New York Times / … Debbie Harry Stares Back
The Blondie singer’s memoir, Face It, wryly recounts making the most of being ogled.
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Jim Steinfeldt / Michael Ochs Archives / Getty … The Flawed Glory of the Replacements’ Don’t Tell a Soul
In 1989, the band reached for the mainstream with its sixth album. Thirty years later, the record’s stab at timelessness ironically makes it sound dated.
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Aaron Josefczyk / Reuters Five Songs That Explain the Cars’ Influence
A. C. Newman of the New Pornographers dissects how the late Ric Ocasek shaped his music.
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Stufish Madonna at War
Her 17-date Brooklyn residency forgoes many of the greatest hits and fleshes out her Madame X secret-agent character to spectacular effect.
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Mario Anzuoni / Reuters Blink-182’s Secret Seriousness
The brattiness has dimmed. Their influence is wide. Their new album is very, very catchy.
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UMG Recordings What Makes Mandy Moore’s Return to Music So Poignant
After alleging that her ex-husband, Ryan Adams, derailed her career, the singer released her first single in a decade to address the feeling of losing control.
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Simone Cecchetti / Corbis / Getty Daniel Johnston, the Folk Poet of Devil Town
While the songs of the influential musician, who died at 58, will endure, it’s hard to say that he was properly appreciated in his time.
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Bernadett Szabo / Reuters Post Malone Is the Voice of Modern Brain Fog
The ubiquitous singer/rapper’s third album, Hollywood’s Bleeding, goes darker but not deeper.
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Alysse Gafkjen The Highwomen’s Joyful Country-Music Rewrites
The supergroup puts a feminist spin on familiar traditions while still maintaining a classic feel.
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Matt Sayles / Invision / AP Why Taylor Swift Wants to Be ‘The Man’
Beyoncé’s “If I Were a Boy” trick gets repeated on Swift’s Lover, but to illustrate sexist double standards with regard to reputations rather than relationships.
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TRAVIS SHINN / RCA RECORDS / The Atlantic The Persistent Complexity of Tool
Back with new music after a 13-year hiatus, the legendary metal band is as precise and devastating as it has always been.
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Travis Shinn / RCA Records Why Tool Could Be More Relevant Today Than Ever Before
The legendary metal band is returning after a 13-year absence, and while its sound isn’t in, its disaffected embrace of spirituality is.
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Drag City / David Berman David Berman Saw the Source of American Sadness
The singer for Silver Jews and Purple Mountains brilliantly described how restlessness can curdle into isolation.
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Amazon The Revelations of Meek Mill’s Legal Limbo
Free Meek, the Amazon docuseries about the rapper’s 12-year criminal-justice saga, is an impressive but revealing production that joins other high-profile efforts to address institutional reform.
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Drag City / David Berman David Berman Sang the Truth
The singer and poet of the band Silver Jews, dead at 52, made a career out of strange, beautiful insights.
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Amy Harris / Invision / AP The Reason Musicians Speak Up About Mass Shootings
Artists are shaping the gun-violence discourse, and the fascinating reaction to their political speech has demonstrated the specific reach they can have.
