Dion “No I.D.” Wilson has made headline-grabbing music with some of the most famous rappers in the world, but you might not know who he is, and he’s fine with that. “I’ve always shunned a lot of things in my life as far as the limelight,” he says. As a Chicago hip-hop institution, he’s worked […]
The Wrens’ Charles Bissell Announces Debut Single From New Band Car Colors
For two decades, the Wrens’ Charles Bissell has struggled to follow up The Meadowlands, the forlorn and triumphant indie rock masterpiece that just turned 20 years old. Over the course of that time, a pattern emerged: Bissell would spend months and years tinkering with the recordings at home in New Jersey. Eventually, he’d promise he […]
Loraine James Cast A Spell And Kate NV Stole The Show As Pop Montréal 2023 Kicked Into Gear
Ever since 2002, Pop Montréal has taken over venues across town one week a year for a far-ranging festival that balances established names and emerging acts. With some of the locals describing this year as feeling like the first “true” iteration of the festival since COVID, the excitement feels particularly palpable; there’s an electricity in […]
The Life And Times Of David Bowie, The Chameleon Of The Music Industry
There’s no doubt that David Bowie can be credited with changing the course of music and establishing its connection with the visual arts. He’s considered one of the most influential musicians of all time, in league with the likes of the Beatles and the Rolling Stones. During his life, he was constantly pushing the boundaries, […]
Nicki Minaj’s Husband Is Under House Arrest For Threatening Offset
Kenneth Petty, Nicki Minaj’s husband, has been ordered to serve 120 days of home detention for violating the terms of his probation. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the Central District of California ordered Petty’s house arrest yesterday, after he “was recorded on video making threatening remarks to a specific individual while in the company of […]
We’ve Got A File On You: Mark McGrath
We’ve Got A File On You features interviews in which artists share the stories behind the extracurricular activities that dot their careers: acting gigs, guest appearances, random internet ephemera, etc. Not every career musician is comfortable with the word “nostalgia.” For example, Third Eye Blind’s Stephan Jenkins is notoriously anti-nostalgia, despite most of his radio […]
We’ve Only Just Begun: The Story Of The Carpenters
In the late 1960s, Richard and Karen Carpenter formed the brother-and-sister duo the Carpenters. Richard arranged the music and played the keyboard while his younger sister Karen sang vocals and played the drums. Together, the Carpenters are still the top-selling and top-charting brother-sister group of all time. Signing their first record deal as a duo […]
Metal’s Song Of The Summer
Mean Mistreater’s debut single, “Bleeding The Night,” inspires a specific type of heavy metal feeling. I immediately sensed it when I caught the Austin, Texas, quintet performing a high-octane set of Trad Belt-contending heavy metal sweetened with a sprinkle of midnight malevolence. “This song title explains it all,” Janiece Gonzalez, Mean Mistreater’s singer, writes in […]
Reconstruction Site Turns 20
I have been trying to write this article for four months. I have never struggled so much or had so much fear about putting fingers to keys, never had an empty Google Doc stare back at me in such accusatory fashion. I have a tattoo on my right thigh of a car with a boat […]
The Life Of Susan Boyle Is Anything But Ordinary
We now know Susan Boyle as an incredible singer but until Britain’s Got Talent, she lives a difficult life. As a child, she was bullied and told she had a learning disability. As she grew up, she realized that wasn’t the case. In fact, she had a high IQ and a natural talent for singing […]