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Music Features

Tuesday March 31, 2015

Jay Z's Music Service, Tidal, Arrives With A Splash, And Questions Follow

Madonna, Deadmau5, Kanye West and Jay Z onstage at the Tidal launch event. Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images hide caption

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Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images

Jay Z's Music Service, Tidal, Arrives With A Splash, And Questions Follow

March 31, 2015 • The premium streaming service, which will be owned in part by musicians, was unveiled in a star-packed ceremony. The first question it needs to answer: Can it attract listeners?

Jay Z's Music Service, Tidal, Arrives With A Splash, And Questions Follow

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Thursday March 19, 2015

A Rational Conversation: Colleen Green And Going Hi(gher)-Fi In 2015

Colleen Green. Courtesy of the artist hide caption

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Courtesy of the artist

A Rational Conversation: Colleen Green And Going Hi(gher)-Fi In 2015

March 19, 2015 • What type of signal does it send when a musician moves from the bedroom to the studio?

Tuesday March 17, 2015

Winning In Country Music, With No Help From Nashville

Aaron Watson on stage during the National Finals Rodeo Cowboy Fanfest in Las Vegas in 2014. Mindy Small/Getty Images hide caption

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Mindy Small/Getty Images

Winning In Country Music, With No Help From Nashville

March 17, 2015 • Traditional country musicians, the kind who never get airplay on mainstream country radio stations, are thriving in regional scenes supported by devoted live audiences.

Winning In Country Music, With No Help From Nashville

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Thursday March 12, 2015

Assassin poses New York in 2006. Kristy Leibowitz/Getty Images hide caption

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Kristy Leibowitz/Getty Images

Assassin: Rap's Best Kept Secret Weapon

March 12, 2015 • Call it weaponized wordplay. When rappers want to make a statement, they call this Jamaican dancehall star — but they don't call his name.

Wednesday March 11, 2015

David Goldman/Courtesy of the artist

Benjamin Booker Faces The Past

March 11, 2015 • In a double-length video for two songs from his debut album, the punk-influenced blues singer struggles with civil rights issues that we can't seem to settle.

Thursday March 5, 2015

Courtesy of Warp Records

Planet Of Sound: The Long, Unmistakable Orbit Of Aphex Twin

March 5, 2015 • A flood of music — official and semi-secret, after years of silence — puts the career of the electronic musician Richard D. James, best known as Aphex Twin, into new and revealing perspective.

Saturday February 28, 2015

Josh Tillman's latest album as Father John Misty, I Love You, Honeybear, is a sincere and shocking catalog of the main character's adventures in sex and love. Emma Tillman/Courtesy of the artist hide caption

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Emma Tillman/Courtesy of the artist

The Record

Sympathy For The Devils

February 28, 2015 • From Lana Del Rey to Father John Misty, musicians in the current pop moment who expose themselves, warts and all, do so in isolation, without support or challenge from a like-minded community.

Tuesday February 10, 2015

D'Angelo At The Apollo: We Were All Here Before

D'Angelo. Gregory Harris/Courtesy of RCA Records hide caption

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Gregory Harris/Courtesy of RCA Records

The Record

D'Angelo At The Apollo: We Were All Here Before

February 10, 2015 • The concert, like Black Messiah, was bulwark: it was a reminder that music's ability to bring people together to celebrate soulful feeling is, as Fela once remarked, a weapon of the future.

Sunday February 8, 2015

Sam Smith Wins 4 Grammy Awards, Including Song Of The Year

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The Record

Sam Smith Wins 4 Grammy Awards, Including Song Of The Year

February 8, 2015 • The British singer also won Best New Artist and Record of the Year, for "Stay With Me." Beck won Album of the Year for his subdued, folky Morning Phase.

Sam Smith Wins 4 Grammy Awards, Including Song Of The Year

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Saturday February 7, 2015

Radio, Radio: How Formats Shaped, Splintered And Remade Pop Music

Colin Davey/Getty Images

The Record

Radio, Radio: How Formats Shaped, Splintered And Remade Pop Music

February 7, 2015 • Over the second half of the 20th century, radio gave music its deepest connection to Americans. By splitting the dial into different formats, it produced a pop scene of striking diversity.

Friday February 6, 2015

On The Grammy Stage, Collaborations Will Rule

Nile Rodgers (left) and Pharrell Williams (right) on stage with Stevie Wonder during a performance of Daft Punk's "Get Lucky" during the 2014 Grammy Awards. Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images hide caption

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Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images

The Record

On The Grammy Stage, Collaborations Will Rule

February 6, 2015 • During a Grammy telecast that's over three hours, only a dozen or so awards are handed out — but there will be a boatload of performances, most with more than one marquee musician on stage at a time.

On The Grammy Stage, Collaborations Will Rule

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Tuesday February 3, 2015

Frank Black (right) and Joey Santiago of the Pixies perform at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in 2004, the year the band reunited after more than a decade apart. Tim Mosenfelder/Getty Images hide caption

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Tim Mosenfelder/Getty Images

The Record

Unfinished Business

February 3, 2015 • Bands like Pixies, Pavement and Sleater-Kinney might reunite for money, unfulfilled glory or a renewed creative spark. But can album sales help us measure how much they have been missed?

Thursday January 29, 2015

Pop's New Old Sound: Retro Without Rules

Bruno Mars (left) and Mark Ronson, whose song, "Uptown Funk!," has been the No. 1 song in the country for four weeks in a row. Vevo/Courtesy of the artist hide caption

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Vevo/Courtesy of the artist

The Record

Pop's New Old Sound: Retro Without Rules

January 29, 2015 • From Sam Smith to Meghan Trainor, to Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars, many of the biggest hits on today's charts pilfer from the past, but not all borrowing works the same way.

Pop's New Old Sound: Retro Without Rules

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Wednesday January 28, 2015

Some of A$AP Mob at BET's 106 & Park Studios in July 2013. Standing, from left to right, ASAP Bari, ASAP Yams and ASAP Illz. In front, from left to right, ASAP Ferg, ASAP Twelvyy and ASAP Rocky. John Ricard/Getty Images hide caption

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John Ricard/Getty Images

The Record

A Rational Conversation With ASAP Yams

January 28, 2015 • A posthumously published interview reveals the New York rap impresario's insights, directness and humor that made him so beloved in the music community.

Tuesday January 27, 2015

From The Isleys To Aaliyah To Frank Ocean, The Evolution Of 'Love'

Frank Ocean released an Aaliyah tribute, "At Your Best (You Are Love)," on the late R&B singer's birthday. Courtesy of the artist hide caption

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The Record

From The Isleys To Aaliyah To Frank Ocean, The Evolution Of 'Love'

January 27, 2015 • Frank Ocean's cover of The Isley Brothers' "At Your Best (You Are Love)" shows how the singer is re-imagining R&B for the future by exploding stereotypes about gender.