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Nada Hayek Surrender to Steely Dan
How the insufferably perfectionist duo captured the hearts of a new generation of listeners
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Matt Williams The Trap
What it takes to make it in hip-hop’s new capital
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Kelsey Dake Spotify Has Made All Music Into Background Music
Is the collapse of genre boundaries and the erosion of fervent musical loyalties a good thing?
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Illustration: Simon Montag; Netflix Goodbye to the Goodfellas
In The Irishman, Martin Scorsese offers a stunning elegy for a distinctly American figure: the gangster.
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Golden Cosmos The New Science of Building Baseball Superstars
“Sabermetrics” changed the national pastime. Now another technological revolution is transforming the game, for good or ill.
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Jack Robinson / Hulton Archive / Getty The Unknowable Joni Mitchell
Her music inspires a deep sense of intimacy, yet her fierce privacy is the key to her genius.
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The Songs Otis Redding Could Have Sung
A new singles collection highlights the staggering fact that one of the greatest singers ever likely died not in his prime, but before it.
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Bobby Bland Was 'Two Steps From the Blues'—and Ahead of Everyone Else
The extraordinary songs of the singer who died Sunday at age 83 offer reminders of how complex the blues can be, and how shockingly new it once was.
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How Kanye West's Yeezus Is Like Sgt. Pepper, or Kid A, or Riot Goin' On
It's the rare screw-the-public album the public, after some head-scratching, decides to like.
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The Anticipation for Kanye West's New Album Is Insane—and Totally Justified
Can one of today's greatest musicians top his greatest album yet?
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Why Joni Mitchell's 'Blue' Is the Greatest Relationship Album Ever
The songs are about specific romances, but the emotions apply to everyone.
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One of the Greatest 'Lost' Albums of All Time Has Been Found
Forged after a gangland truce, the Ghetto Brothers' "Power - Fuerza" finally gets reissued.
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Ray Allen's Last Stand: Is It Possible to Age Gracefully in the NBA?
The very things that once made him a precocious superstar have led fans to now see him as a cranky turncoat.
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Bob Dylan's Astonishing Latter-Day Brilliance
Yes, 'Tempest,' his 35th album, is really, really good. But didn't we expect it to be?
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What's Stopping Nas From Recording Another Classic Album?
He's still a great rapper. But as the new 'Life Is Good' shows, he needs to get back to no-frills rapping.
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Is the Rage Behind Ice Cube's Rodney-King Rap Still Burning?
A lot has changed since the L.A. riots and 'The Predator.' But not everything.
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Is a List of Greatest Guitarists Without Jimi Hendrix Worth Talking About?
Yes. Not that it'd stop anyone from talking about it if it weren't.
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MCA, Kid Forever: How the Beastie Boys United Us by Never Growing Up
The outpouring of grief when Adam Yauch died Friday showed the incredible reach of his band's music.
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Levon Helm Was Perfect
The Band's drummer and vocalist, who died Thursday, made the complex seem effortless.
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Hologram Tupac Was Inevitable
The rapper's high-tech resurrection at Coachella this past weekend embodied what Shakur has become in death.
