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      Drake Returns With Reinforcements at Wireless Fest in London

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      At the end of the first night of Wireless Festival on Friday, after Drake had been hoisted out over the tens of thousands of fans who had taken over the bottom half of London’s Finsbury Park while Whitney Houston’s “I Will Always Love You” blared over the speakers and fireworks brightened the night sky, he asked the audience, and also festival organizers, for a little indulgence. Curfew was firm, but art has its own clock.This year’s three-day Wireless Festival, at Finsbury Park in London, was given over to Drake and his many spheres of influence.Emli Bendixen for The New York TimesBoom, there was Lauryn Hill, suddenly onstage performing the feisty Fugees classic “Ready or Not.” Drake had dropped down into the pit below the stage, and was looking up at Hill with joyful awe. He popped back onstage while Hill performed her biting kiss-off “Ex-Factor,” which formed the base for one of his breeziest songs, “Nice for What,” which he performed alongside her until the festival cut their mics off.This year’s Wireless Festival was a three-day affair given over to Drake and his many spheres of influence, and in a weekend full of collaborations and guest appearances spotlighting various corners of his very broad reach, this was perhaps the most telling. During her career, Hill has been a ferocious rapper, a gifted singer, a bridge between hip-hop and pop from around the globe. She is the musician who, apart from Kanye West (now Ye), provided perhaps the clearest antecedent for Drake and the kind of star he wished to be: eclectic, hot-button, versatile, transformative.Drake on night three with the British rap star Central Cee, one of many guests who shared the stage.Emli Bendixen for The New York TimesApart from a few dates on an Australian tour earlier this year that got cut short, this was Drake’s first high-profile live outing in over a year. That public retreat came in the wake of last year’s grim and accusation-filled battle with Kendrick Lamar — in which Lamar’s Not Like Us,” which suggested Drake had a preference for too-young women, became a pop anthem, a Grammy winner and a Super Bowl halftime showstopper, as well as the focus of a lawsuit by Drake against Universal Music Group, the parent company both rappers share.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

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      Billy Jones, Baby’s All Right Owner and NYC Nightlife Impresario, Dies at 45

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      He opened Baby’s All Right and three other nightclubs, a restaurant and a record store in a dozen years, helping the city maintain its cultural verve.As a recent college graduate in the early 2000s, Billy Jones lived with his parents in Richmond, Va., but his fantasy life was elsewhere: in Williamsburg, the Brooklyn neighborhood that had become the world capital of indie rock. The closest he could get was visiting his local Barnes & Noble, where he would read magazines covering New York’s music scene.Then one day in 2002, he made the leap: He was leaving home, he told his father. He and the high school friends who made up his band, Other Passengers, had decided to try to make it big in New York.In Williamsburg, Mr. Jones began working as a barista, with dreams of indie-rock stardom. It wasn’t so far-fetched. At a cafe down the block, another barista, Kyp Malone, would soon gain renown as a singer and guitarist with the group TV on the Radio.There was passion in the moans of Mr. Jones’s singing, but he did not become a rock star. In time, the Williamsburg concert venues that had launched some of his peers — clubs like 285 Kent, Glasslands, Death by Audio — all closed. Rents in the neighborhood had skyrocketed. Aspiring young musicians left.And instead of achieving his own dreams, Mr. Jones wound up doing something else: He made it possible for other people to keep dreaming.In 2013, he and a friend, Zachary Mexico, opened Baby’s All Right, a club at 146 Broadway in Williamsburg. It became, as The New York Times wrote in 2015, the “nightlife preserver” of the neighborhood. It was a small enough venue to offer major acts an indie spirit that they could no longer find elsewhere in New York City, yet big enough to make unproven musicians feel that they had made it.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

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      Songs for the Heat of Peak Summer: Welcome to Lizard Season

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      Hear 10 songs from yeule, Momma, Four Tet and more.yeulePatrick LeDear listeners,A week ago, I went to two backyard barbecues and two rooftop hangs in the span of 24 hours. This past weekend, I crisscrossed from a block party to the beach to an outdoor concert to a different block party.In general, it has been a gray and mild summer in New York City, which has felt like treachery. We’re not supposed to do mild here. So I’ve relished the occasions this month when days of unfettered sun have trailed one after the other. Endorphins from UV rays gallop through my bloodstream. Blue skies hypnotize me out of my inhibitions. Agendas slip away like steam from a hot spring. At last, Lizard Season.Lizard Season, to borrow a term from my friend Morgan, is that stretch of mid-July and August when summer is at full force. Those of us who celebrate feel our moods soar along with the sun’s highest and longest route across the sky. Embracing Lizard Season means welcoming its sweet, hot sting against your skin; leaning into the melt; basking in the too-muchness, knowing that one day soon there won’t be nearly enough.This week, as guest host filling in for my culture desk colleague Lindsay Zoladz, I’ve made a playlist of 10 new songs that channel the spirit of peak summer. Tracks by Fade Evare, Wishy and yeule shimmer with the languorous luxury of an afternoon picnic. It closes out with more up-tempo jams by Georgie & Joe, Deki Alem and deBasement — music for dancing on a rooftop under a 9 p.m. sunset.Find me outside,ReggieListen 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

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      Bob Geldof Reflects on Live Aid, 40 Years Later

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      On Oct. 23, 1984, Bob Geldof, the lead singer of the Irish rock band the Boomtown Rats, sat down at home in London to watch the evening news. It changed his life — and saved the lives of millions more.The BBC ran a report on what it called a “biblical famine” in Ethiopia caused by drought and exacerbated by civil war. Searing images of emaciated and naked children were beamed for the first time into homes across Britain, and then around the world.Geldof was incensed and horrified. How could this be happening in the 20th century? And what could he — an angry pop star — do about it?On Sunday, it’s 40 years since Live Aid, two epic concerts held in London and Philadelphia that he helped organize in response to that question. They were arguably the most successful charity events in history, and have a claim to be among the best gigs ever, too.Geldof persuaded many of the world’s most top artists at the time to play for free, including Queen, David Bowie, Madonna, the Who, Elton John, Tina Turner and Paul McCartney. The shows were seen by about 1.5 billion people in more than 150 countries and would go on to raise more than $140 million.Stars including George Michael, left; Paul McCartney, fourth from left; and Freddie Mercury, second from right, during the Live Aid Concert at Wembley Stadium in London on July 13, 1985.Joe Schaber/Associated PressWe 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

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      Justin Bieber’s Surprise Album ‘Swag,’ and 10 More New Songs

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      Hear tracks by Tyla, Kassa Overall, Syd, Jay Som 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.Justin Bieber, ‘Daisies’Justin Bieber has surprise-released a 21-song album, “Swag,” full of lo-fi experiments and unexpected collaborators. The singer has always been a savvy talent scout, and he concocted “Daisies” with the quick-fingered guitarist Mk.gee and the producer Dijon. “Daisies” is a bare-bones track: a lone electric guitar, drums and Bieber’s vocals, mostly using a vintage doo-wop chord progression (I-VI-IV-V) and juxtaposing vulnerability and strength. Bieber sounds needy but sure of his legitimacy: “Whatever it is,” he sings, “You know I can take it.”Syd, ‘Die for This’Syd (formerly Syd tha Kid from the band the Internet) ardently embraces the pleasures of the moment in “Die for This.” A drum machine and plush vocal harmonies buoy her through sentiments like “We can have forever tonight” and “It feels like heaven with you tonight.” She’s absolutely all in; has she convinced her partner?Tyla, ‘Is It’“Am I coming on a little strong?” Tyla teases in “Is It,” a dance-floor flirtation that’s both a come-on and an assertion of power. “Is it the idea that I like, or do I really wanna make you mine?” Tyla asks herself, then advances further. The beat is spartan — often just percussion and a few distorted bass notes — but a chorus of male voices joins her as she takes charge.Flo and Kaytranada, ‘The Mood’The British R&B trio Flo juggles a tricky situation in “The Mood”: saying no for one night, promising future sensual kicks and soothing a partner’s perhaps fragile ego. With a purring bass line and a subdued four-on-the-floor beat provided by Kaytranada’s production, they apologize, “It’s just that I ain’t in the mood tonight.” But they hasten to add, “I swear you’re the only one who does it right.” They also slyly pay homage to their R&B role models by slipping some old song titles into the lyrics.Danny L Harle featuring PinkPantheress, ‘Starlight’The hyperpop producer Danny L Harle has kept busy as a collaborator, but “Starlight” is his first song since 2021 to claim top billing, and it’s just swarming with ideas. With her piping voice run through all sorts of gizmos, PinkPantheress sings about misplaced longings: “I’ve met someone like you / They don’t love me back.” Around her, Harle’s production accelerates from wistful electronic lament to manic, pounding electro-pop, strewing countermelodies all over the place.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

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      Dave ‘Baby’ Cortez, Hitmaker Who Seemed to Vanish, Is Dead at 83

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      His “The Happy Organ” reached No. 1 in 1959, but his pop stardom was short-lived, and his death in 2022, with an anonymous burial, remains a source of mystery.It’s not that Dave “Baby” Cortez was forgotten. A keyboardist, singer and songwriter, he emerged from the thriving Detroit doo-wop scene of the 1950s to score two Top 10 hits, one of which, “The Happy Organ,” an aural Tilt-a-Whirl of an instrumental, soared to No. 1 in March 1959 and sold more than a million copies.But he rarely granted interviews, particularly after largely abandoning the business, with a trace of bitterness, in the early 1970s. The few available online biographies provide almost no details of his life beyond his recording history and chart success.Taryn Sheffield, his daughter, said in an interview that she had not heard from him since 2009. “He’s been a recluse for many, many years,” she said.At times, he appeared to serve as a church organist in Cincinnati, said Miriam Linna, a founder of Norton Records, an independent New York label that in 2011 persuaded Mr. Cortez to record his first album since 1972. At other times, he appeared to be living in the Bronx, doing who knows what.It was only in recent weeks that Ms. Linna learned that he had been dead for three years.According to city records, Mr. Cortez — whose real name was David Cortez Clowney — died on May 31, 2022, at his home on Westchester Avenue in the Bronx. He was 83. His body lies in Plot 434 on Hart Island, the potter’s field off the coast of the Bronx, where some one million bodies are buried in unmarked graves.It was an ignominious end for an artist whose career was curious enough to begin with.Mr. Cortez was born on Aug. 13, 1938, in Detroit, one of two sons of David and Lillian Mae Clowney. His father played piano and encouraged David to follow suit.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

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      Does Lorde Still Want to Be a Star?

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      Subscribe to Popcast!Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | YouTubeLorde’s fourth album, “Virgin,” recently debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard album chart, a reflection of the fan enthusiasm she’s held tight to for the decade-plus since she shook up pop’s insider-outsider balance with her breakthrough single, “Royals.”But on this album — and really, each album since her debut — she’s implicitly pondered whether being famous is all it’s cracked up to be, in terms of what the musical and personal expectations are. “Virgin” is maybe the most musically scattered of her albums, but in moments, she accesses an emotional directness that manages to turn this sometimes confused music into something direct and appealing.On this week’s Popcast, a conversation about how “Virgin” figures into the Lorde lore; whether making hits is a worthwhile endeavor; and whether knowing the circumstances of an album’s creation can enhance someone’s listening experience of it.Guests:Joe Coscarelli, The New York Times’s pop music reporterHazel Cills, an editor at NPR MusicConnect With Popcast. Become a part of the Popcast community: Join the show’s Facebook group and Discord channel. We want to hear from you! Tune in, and tell us what you think at popcast@nytimes.com. Follow our host, Jon Caramanica, on Twitter: @joncaramanica.Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. More

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      Henry Mount Charles, Whose Castle Was a Mecca for Rock, Dies at 74

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      To preserve his Irish manor, he staged concerts on its grounds, drawing the likes of U2, Bob Dylan, Madonna and the Rolling Stones as well as tens of thousands of fans.In 1976, Henry Mount Charles was 25 and living happily in London when his father summoned him home to Ireland to save the family castle from bankruptcy.Taking over the property, Slane Castle, with its vast expenses and minimal income, Lord Mount Charles first opened a restaurant there, the ancestral home of his aristocratic family. Then he contemplated the possibilities of the front lawn: a natural amphitheater sloping down to the Boyne River.He hit on the idea of open-air rock concerts. The first, in 1981, featured a young Irish band named U2. The next year, the Rolling Stones played for 70,000 ecstatic fans, and Mick Jagger stayed for dinner.Slane Castle in County Meath, north of Dublin.Julien Behal/PA Images, via Getty ImagesSlane Castle went through a decade-long restoration after a devastating fire in 1991.Nomos Productions, via Failte IrelandSlane Castle, some 35 miles north of Dublin, in County Meath, became internationally known as a rock destination. Bruce Springsteen, Guns N’ Roses, Bob Dylan, David Bowie, Queen, Madonna, Foo Fighters, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Bryan Adams, Eminem, 50 Cent, R.E.M. and Oasis all performed there, while V.I.P. concertgoers wandered in an out of the owner’s 18th-century hilltop Georgian pile, resembling Downton Abbey.Lord Mount Charles, an Anglo-Irish peer turned rock ’n’ roll promoter, died on June 18 in a hospital in Dublin at 74. His family said the cause was cancer.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