June 2024

Novelty or not? That was the question people asked of Katy Perry during her breakthrough. “I Kissed A Girl” is the sort of song that,...

Jerry Lee Lewis’ arrival on Mercury Records continued his exploration of the country sound that had always been part of his musical make-up. He had...

On Wednesday, June 17, 1964, pianist Herbie Hancock went into Van Gelder Studio, in New Jersey, to record what became Empyrean Isles, his fourth album...

Exploitative, unconscionable, and usually divorced from conventional notions of taste, so-called death discs (or “splatter platters”) can be hard to defend: but for discerning ghouls...

When Herbie Hancock recorded “Cantaloupe Island” in June 1964, he was already on his way to becoming the jazz superstar that we know today. Besides...

David Banner’s introduction to a mainstream audience might have been as a producer, as the slick beatsmith behind the boards on T.I.’s “Rubber Band Man.”...