Music

Subterms

    More stories

    • 88 Shares189 Views

      in Music

      A Musical Tour of Tim Walz’s Minnesota

      by

      The state is a hotbed of corrosive underground rock, birthplace of two acclaimed icons, home to a lively hip-hop scene and a bedrock of ’80s pop and funk.Minnesota royalty: Prince.Chris Pizzello/R-PIZZELLO, via Associated PressDear listeners,On Tuesday, Vice President Kamala Harris announced that she had chosen a running mate: Tim Walz, governor of Minnesota. The news cast a spotlight not only on Walz, but on Minnesota’s culture — and in particular its rich, varied musical history.Walz is an avowed music fan himself, with a special appreciation for local record stores and artists who hail from the state. My colleague Marc Tracy delves into this side of Walz in a piece published this morning, in which he suggests that the Gen X governor’s fandom of Twin Cities indie-rock legends like the Replacements and Hüsker Dü has “signaled a changing of the generational guard.” Adds Michael Azerrad, author of the ’80s rock tome “Our Band Could Be Your Life,” “It makes sense that our post-Boomer politicians would be into indie rock.”But Minnesota, of course, is more than just a hotbed of corrosive underground rock. It’s also the birthplace of two of the greatest American musicians of the last century (Duluth’s Bob Dylan and Minneapolis’s Prince), home to a lively hip-hop scene that produced a recent superstar (the Detroit expat Lizzo), and the locus of the wildly influential “Minneapolis sound” (practiced by groups like the Time) that reverberated throughout ’80s pop and funk.Today’s playlist is a celebration of the many sounds of Minnesota, and it features all the aforementioned artists plus the heartland revivalists the Hold Steady, the grunge hell-raisers Babes in Toyland and the alt-country mainstays the Jayhawks. To quote Prince — in whose honor Walz renamed a stretch of Minnesota highway last year — “Rock ’n’ roll is alive! (And it lives in Minneapolis).”Sure as the Land of a Thousand Lakes is sometimes made of snow,LindsayListen along while you read.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

    • 138 Shares179 Views

      in Music

      Shawn Mendes Returns Full of Questions, and 8 More New Songs

      by

      Hear tracks by Leon Bridges, Ravyn Lenae, Kelsea Ballerini and others.Every Friday, pop critics for The New York Times weigh in on the week’s most notable new tracks. Listen to the Playlist on Spotify here (or find our profile: nytimes) and at Apple Music here, and sign up for The Amplifier, a twice-weekly guide to new and old songs.Shawn Mendes, ‘Why Why Why’“I stepped off the stage with nothing left,” Shawn Mendes sings, referencing his headline-generating 2022 decision to cancel a scheduled world tour and focus on his mental health. The stomping, acoustic-guitar driven “Why Why Why,” from his forthcoming album “Shawn,” represents a new level of candor and pathos from the 26-year-old pop star, who has returned to the spotlight but admits he still doesn’t have all the answers: “I don’t know why, why, why, why,” he croons as the instrumentation builds around him, offering fleeting catharsis in the form of a folksy, singalong chorus. LINDSAY ZOLADZLeon Bridges, ‘Peaceful Place’Leon Bridges, the singer and songwriter based in Texas, sets aside past troubles to enjoy unexpected contentment in “Peaceful Place.” His recent collaborations with Khruangbin have moved him away from soul revivalism toward hybrid, open-ended grooves. “Peaceful Place” hints at funk and Nigerian Afrobeat, with a steady-ticking beat and a hopping bass line as he reassures everyone, “I found something no one can take away.” JON PARELESRavyn Lenae, ‘Genius’We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

    • 163 Shares99 Views

      in Music

      Facing Turmoil at Home, Young Artists Find a Musical Haven in New York

      by

      As the tour boat in New York Harbor approached the Statue of Liberty, Miranda Marín, a 12-year-old violinist from Venezuela, turned to a group of friends gathered near the bow and jumped up and down.“We’re here!” she shouted, taking pictures of the statue’s crown. “Can you believe it?”Marín, along with more than 160 members of the National Children’s Symphony of Venezuela, had come to New York for a weeklong festival that ended on Wednesday at Carnegie Hall. The festival, known as World Orchestra Week, featured more than 700 student musicians from 38 countries, including China, Nigeria, Germany, Afghanistan, Israel, Ukraine and the United States.When they were not practicing Beethoven, Ginastera or folk music, the young artists toured New York by boat, bus and subway, venturing out for pizza and ice cream. The Venezuelans held a dance party and played a card game called caída on a Circle Line cruise. The Afghan students toured the Juilliard School and the United Nations and visited the top of Rockefeller Center.The National Children’s Symphony of Venezuela.Graham Dickie/The New York TimesGraham Dickie/The New York TimesGustavo Dudamel, the renowned conductor from Venezuela, led the National Children’s Symphony. “This is the Venezuela that we want,” he said from the podium.Graham Dickie/The New York TimesWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

    • 138 Shares199 Views

      in Music

      Travis Scott Is Accused of Assaulting a Security Guard in Paris

      by

      The rapper, who was in France for the Olympics, was taken into police custody at the George V hotel, the Paris prosecutor’s office said.The star rapper Travis Scott was detained on Friday in Paris, where he was visiting for the Summer Olympics, after a conflict with a security guard at a luxury hotel, the Paris prosecutor’s office said.The prosecutor’s office said Mr. Scott, 33, whose real name is Jacques Bermon Webster II, had assaulted a security guard at the George V hotel, in the city’s Eighth Arrondissement.“The security guard had intervened to separate the rapper from his bodyguard,” the office said in a statement.There are no known charges against Mr. Scott. It was unclear later Friday whether he was still in custody. The Paris prosecutor’s office said it had referred the case to the judicial police.Representatives for Mr. Scott said in a statement, “We are in direct communication with the local Parisian authorities to swiftly resolve this matter and will provide updates when appropriate.”Mr. Scott, a multiplatinum artist in the United States with a string of No. 1 albums, was arrested this summer in Miami Beach, Fla., after what the police called a disturbance on a yacht. He was charged with trespassing and disorderly intoxication. His lawyer said at the time that he had been “briefly detained due to a misunderstanding.”On Thursday night, Mr. Scott had posted on Instagram from the crowd of the men’s basketball game between the United States and Serbia, snapping photos of the American stars LeBron James and Stephen Curry.In 2021, 10 fans died as a result of a crowd crush at Mr. Scott’s Astroworld festival in Houston, his hometown. A grand jury declined to indict Mr. Scott and others who oversaw the festival, and settlements have been reached in the lawsuits over the deaths.Aurelien Breeden More

    • 138 Shares169 Views

      in Music

      3rd Teenager Arrested Over Planned Attack on Taylor Swift’s Vienna Concerts

      by

      The authorities said the 18-year-old was connected to the main suspect and had recently sworn allegiance to the Islamic State.The authorities in Vienna have arrested a third teenager in connection with a foiled terrorist attack on a Taylor Swift concert in the city this week. They say they believe that the man, an 18-year-old connected to the main suspect, was not part of the plan but had been in touch with the plotters and had recently sworn allegiance to the Islamic State.Ms. Swift was scheduled to stage three concerts in Vienna starting Thursday through Saturday, but all three performances were canceled after the authorities arrested two teenagers over a plan to attack the sold-out, 50,000-seat stadium. Chancellor Karl Nehammer of Austria said the plot had been designed to leave a “trail of blood.”Since arresting two other teenagers on Wednesday, the authorities have been racing to investigate the planned attack, although after what the police said was a full confession by the main suspect, they said there was no longer an imminent danger.The police are looking into a network of people around the main suspect, a 19-year-old Austrian citizen of North Macedonian descent who they said had radicalized himself online and sworn allegiance to the Islamic State. Citing privacy rules, the authorities have declined to publicly name the suspects, but they said that both teenagers arrested on Wednesday were born in Austria and held Austrian citizenship.During a raid on the main suspect’s house on Wednesday, the police said, officers found chemicals used to make bombs, as well as explosives, timers, machetes, knives and a functioning police siren, which investigators believe he planned to use to gain access to or move around the area around the stadium.The concert cancellations affected about 200,000 Taylor Swift fans, some of whom had traveled to Europe from other continents to see her perform as part of her Eras Tour. Ms. Swift has not commented publicly on the cancellations.A 15-year-old boy who was held for questioning on Wednesday about the plot has been released and is being treated as a witness, the police said. They said that they had determined he was not part of the plot but that he knew many of its details and had helped corroborate some key elements of the main suspect’s confession. More

    • 125 Shares119 Views

      in Music

      How ‘Head Hunters’ Shook Up Jazz (and Herbie Hancock’s World)

      by

      Herbie Hancock still vividly recalls the night, 51 years ago, when the Pointer Sisters skated circles around him.“We came up and played our weird stuff, and when they came out, they were wearing roller skates,” he said in a video interview in June, recalling a show at the Troubadour in Los Angeles. “The audience went insane.”That humbling experience in the spring of 1973 sparked a major change in Hancock’s thinking. After establishing himself as one of the leading jazz pianists of the ’60s, he had embraced electric keyboards and homed in on the so-called weird stuff with the Mwandishi band, a sextet that was both fearlessly exploratory and largely oblivious to the tastes of the average listener.“We need to learn from them,” he remembered thinking of the Pointers. “Maybe there’s something that can emerge from us that would work for a young audience.”By the early fall, he had disbanded Mwandishi and was busy writing and recording with a new quintet, informed as much by contemporary funk leaders like Sly and the Family Stone as cutting-edge jazz. When the group ventured to clubs around the Bay Area to test out its in-progress material, “People went nuts,” Hancock said, beaming at the memory. “They were all dancing, and they loved it, and it just blew our minds.”The resulting album, “Head Hunters,” released in October 1973, would be pivotal both for Hancock and for jazz. Peaking at No. 13 on the Billboard 200, it later went platinum, yielded a Top 20 R&B hit in the monstrously grooving “Chameleon” and leveled up Hancock’s concerts into arenas, proving definitively that jazz could make a significant impact on the modern pop mainstream. No instrumental jazz release since has made a bigger bang.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

    • 138 Shares159 Views

      in Music

      2 Teenagers Planned Attacks on Taylor Swift’s Vienna Concerts, Authorities Say

      by

      A suspect confessed to a plot using explosives and other weapons to kill as many attendees as possible, security officials said. The singer’s three-concert Vienna run was canceled.Less than 24 hours after the arrest of two teenagers who the Austrian authorities say planned to attack a Taylor Swift concert in Vienna, security officials outlined a picture of an Islamic State-inspired assault designed to kill as many people as possible.Barracuda Music, the promoter for the singer’s three-concert Vienna run, canceled the gigs on Wednesday night. The events, which were scheduled to start Thursday, had been expected to draw more than 200,000 fans from across the world.The main suspect is a 19-year-old man who was radicalized online and swore an oath of allegiance to the Islamic State, Franz Ruf, the head of public safety in Austria, told a news conference on Thursday. Mr. Ruf said the suspect had confessed to the plans shortly after being arrested, giving the police a detailed insight into his intended acts, which included using explosives and weapons to kill as many concert attendees as possible.Searching the man’s home, where he lived with his parents, the police found explosives, timers, machetes and knives, Mr. Ruf said.A 17-year-old suspected of being an accomplice was known to the police and had recently started a job for a events service provider that was working at the Ernst Happel Stadium, where Ms. Swift was scheduled to play. He was arrested on Wednesday at the stadium, Mr. Ruf said.A 15-year-old boy who was also brought in for questioning confirmed many details of the main suspect’s confession, Mr. Ruf said, adding that the police believed that the boy was not an active participant in the plot, but knew of its details.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

    • 125 Shares139 Views

      in Music

      John Mayer on Being the Watch World’s Celebrity ‘Go-To Guy’

      by

      When the guitarist John Mayer takes the stage this week in Las Vegas, to cap Dead & Company’s 10-week residence at the Sphere arena, his wristwatch is bound to loom large on the venue’s massive LED screen.“I happen to have a job where my wrist is naturally looked at,” Mr. Mayer, 46, said last month on a video call from his home in Los Angeles.That suits the longtime watch collector (and downright watch nerd) just fine.“The number of people who come up to me and ask me what I’m wearing is far greater than the number of people who come up to me and say, ‘Love your music, or how’d you write that song?’” he said. “People want to know about watches more than anything. They’ll say, ‘Gotta ask: What do you have on?’ It’s such a great entree to conversation.”One of Mr. Mayer’s favorite talking points is his new collaboration with the Swiss watchmaker Audemars Piguet (A.P.). After three years of development, in March the brand introduced a Royal Oak perpetual calendar wristwatch designed by Mr. Mayer.Limited to 200 pieces, the $180,700 timepiece, encased in 18-karat white gold, featured a blue metallic dial inspired by the night sky as well as some subtle aesthetic details that Mr. Mayer conceived.“When you look at this perpetual calendar, the first thing you should see is the time,” he said. “You shouldn’t see the vastness of the universe when it comes to timekeeping if you’ve got 15 minutes to get to a meeting.”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More