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      Karl Wallinger, Who Sang With World Party and the Waterboys, Dies at 66

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      As a songwriter and instrumentalist as well, he blended pop and folk influences into music that helped define college radio in the 1980s and ’90s.Karl Wallinger, a Welsh singer-songwriter who helped define college radio in the 1980s and ’90s as a member of the Waterboys and the founder of World Party, died on Sunday at his home in Hastings, England. He was 66.His daughter, Nancy Zamit, confirmed the death but did not provide a cause. Mr. Wallinger suffered a brain aneurysm in 2001 that forced him to stop performing for several years.Following on the heels of the post-punk, new wave and new romantic movements of the early 1980s, Mr. Wallinger embodied something of a throwback to the classical pop and folk styles of an earlier era, with music and lyrics influenced by the Beatles and Bob Dylan.Though he rejected the label “retro,” onstage he looked like a stylish hippie, with long stringy hair and tinted round glasses that would have fit in at Woodstock.Mr. Wallinger was widely admired for his instrumental skills. He primarily played keyboards for the Waterboys, an influential folk-rock band founded by the Scottish musician Mike Scott, but on his own he usually played a guitar — which, though he was right-handed, he played upside down, with his left hand.After two albums with the Waterboys, Mr. Wallinger left in 1985 to form World Party, which was at first a one-man act: He wrote all the music and recorded all the parts in the studio. Only when he began to tour did he add members and make it a true band.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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      Eric Carmen, Raspberries Frontman and ‘All By Myself’ Singer, Dies at 74

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      He sang on the power-pop pioneers’ 1972 breakout hit, “Go All the Way,” before launching a successful solo career as a soft rock crooner.Eric Carmen, whose plaintive vocals soared above the crunching guitars of the 1970s power-pop pioneers the Raspberries before his soft rock crooning made him a mainstay of 1980s music, has died. He was 74.His death was announced on his website by his wife, Amy Carmen. She did not give a cause and said only that he died “in his sleep, over the weekend.”The Raspberries, which formed in Cleveland, burst onto the American rock scene in 1972 with their self-titled debut album, featuring a raspberry-scented scratch-and-sniff sticker and their biggest hit: “Go All the Way,” a provocative song for its day, sung from the point of view of a young woman.Dave Swanson of the website Ultimate Classic Rock called it “the definitive power pop song of all time,” as the emerging style, known for grafting bright ’60s-era vocal harmonies onto the heavy guitar riffs of the ’70s, would come to be called.“The opening Who-like blast leads into a very Beatles-esque verse, before landing in some forgotten Beach Boys chorus,” he wrote. “Thus was the magic of the Raspberries song craft. They were able to take the best parts and ideas from the previous decade, and morph them into something new, yet familiar.”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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      Adrianne Lenker Isn’t Scared of Sadness

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      When the singer and songwriter Adrianne Lenker was 21, she was involved in a bike accident that knocked out one of her incisors. For a while, she walked around with a fake, gold-colored cap in her mouth. But after she was able to invest in a porcelain tooth, Lenker realized she actually didn’t want to forget about the injury.“After all that time with just a gap, it kind of felt strange to not see the scar,” she said in a recent interview.Today, Lenker’s grin twinkles with a permanent gold replacement. And over the past several years, she has earned a reputation as a songwriter who sees the scars, and turns them into something beautiful. Much of this acclaim has come through her work in the band Big Thief, which since 2016 has released five albums of folk-indebted rock music that’s both stylistically adventurous and totally unguarded — like Fleetwood Mac, if it went to group therapy. Though Big Thief is a band of four equals, Lenker — who sings, writes and plays guitar — is the engine powering its sound.The music producer Philip Weinrobe, who has known Lenker for nearly a decade, described her unadorned, crisp singing as “so honest and so true.” “She’s willing to go to the edges of her skill without fear or embarrassment,” he said.In person, Lenker, 32, is disarmingly sincere and attentive. “I still like looking at the world around me with softness and an open heart,” she said at a Manhattan diner in late January, where she’d met to discuss “Bright Future,” her fifth solo record, over coffee and eggs. The night before, she’d stayed out late at the Alphabet City jazz club Mona’s, and hadn’t slept much. She pulled off a beanie to reveal a tousle of brown hair.“There’s so many opportunities to numb out, and go on autopilot — and that numbness, to me, is the enemy of songwriting.”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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      Ryan Gosling Performs ‘Just Ken’ at the Oscars With a Cameo By Slash

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      In one of the most anticipated and surely one of the most exuberant moments of Oscar night, Ryan Gosling took the stage to perform “I’m Just Ken,” the nominated song from “Barbie” by Mark Ronson and Andrew Wyatt.Wearing a sparkling pink suit and a cowboy hat, Gosling started out in the audience serenading his “Barbie” co-star Margot Robbie, who couldn’t contain her giggles. He then took the stage surrounded by an army of besuited Ken dancers, including fellow movie Kens Simu Liu, Kingsley Ben-Adir, Ncuti Gatwa and Scott Evans. Mark Ronson joined him onstage but Slash of Guns N’ Roses did the true shredding, showing up midway through for a cameo. In a Ken-like demonstration of (minimal) strength he punched through a pink board with his hand, wearing a pink glove.” At one point, Gosling returned to the crowd leading a singalong that included Robbie, director Greta Gerwig, “Barbie” actress America Ferrera and Emma Stone. (Stone was not in “Barbie,” however, she sang with Gosling in “La La Land.”)On the red carpet, Ronson promised an “absolutely bananas spectacle” in an interview with E!, and he delivered on that promise, complete with cut outs of Barbie heads and a “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes” aesthetic.“Doing any sort of live TV is nerve-racking, and then to do it in that room? There’s not many rooms that are more intimidating,” Simu Liu told The Times at the Governors Ball following the telecast. “Nerves were running high and there was such a moment of elation when we were done: ‘Yes!’ I think we pulled it off,” he said. In another life, Gosling might have gone the pop star route. He got his start on “The All New Mickey Mouse Club,” the revival of the classic Disney variety show, which also launched the careers of Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera and Justin Timberlake. Before that, Gosling was a child dancer. His early routines, including one in which he wears “Hammer pants,” have received tens of millions of views online.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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      Vanessa Hudgens Reveals Her Pregnancy on Oscars Red Carpet

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      The actress Vanessa Hudgens, one of the hosts of ABC’s Oscars pre-show, included a subtle pregnancy announcement in her coverage of the red carpet on Sunday evening.“I clearly have a lot to be excited for,” she said at the beginning of the broadcast, positioning her hands on her stomach.Ms. Hudgens, 35, wore a fitted black Vera Wang gown with long sleeves and a turtleneck. She did not explicitly discuss her pregnancy during the broadcast, instead keeping her attention on the stars she was interviewing.A representative for Ms. Hudgens did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Sunday.This is the third consecutive year that Ms. Hudgens, who became a household name with her role in “High School Musical” in 2006, has hosted “The Oscars Red Carpet Show” on ABC.Ms. Hudgens married Cole Tucker, a baseball player, in Mexico in December. (For that occasion, she also wore a streamlined Vera Wang gown.) This will be the couple’s first child.During the broadcast, Ms. Hudgens traded off interviews with her co-host, Julianne Hough, and acknowledged that the ceremony was taking place on Indigenous land. Her interview subjects included Emma Stone, Simu Liu, Ariana Grande and America Ferrera.When her coverage shift concluded, she held a microphone in one bejeweled hand and beamed into the camera. “That was a lot of fun,” she said. More

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      9 Musicians Who Play a Role in This Year’s Oscars

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      Hear songs by Dua Lipa, Jarvis Cocker and yes, Bradley Cooper.Dua Lipa striking a “Barbie” pose.Justin Tallis/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesDear listeners,Only two days until the Academy Awards! In Tuesday’s newsletter, we looked back at Oscar history and heard some tracks that won best original song. Today, we’re focusing on this year’s contenders — and the many musicians who make appearances in Oscar-nominated movies.I first had the idea for this playlist months ago, when I noticed how many musicians have roles in Martin Scorsese’s epic American tragedy “Killers of the Flower Moon.” The Americana icon Jason Isbell has a surprisingly major part, holding his own in scenes with Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert DeNiro; the country crooner Sturgill Simpson also makes a memorable cameo.But then, as I caught up on the year’s most acclaimed films, I kept seeing — and hearing — musicians everywhere. That bowl-cutted court monitor who comes to assess a young boy’s safety in “Anatomy of a Fall”? That’s Jehnny Beth, a brooding solo artist and leader of the spiky rock band Savages. Is that guy sitting at the hotel desk for a fleeting moment in Wes Anderson’s whimsical “The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar” actually … Jarvis Cocker? (Yep, it was.)Consider today’s playlist a who’s who of musicians with connections to this year’s Oscar nominees. Some show off their acting chops; others, like Mica Levi and Jon Batiste, contributed indelible music to the recognized films. This marks the first time, though perhaps not the last, I have bemoaned the fact that Paul Giamatti (my personal best actor choice) was never in a band.You can’t make an entrance if you keep missing your cue,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

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      Kamasi Washington’s Ecstatic Return, and 9 More New Songs

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      Hear tracks by 4batz featuring Drake, Salt Cathedral, Swamp Dogg 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.Kamasi Washington, ‘Prologue’“Prologue” is actually the final track on Kamasi Washington’s coming album, “Fearless Movement,” and it’s dense and bustling. Double time drumming, frenetic percussion and hyperactive keyboard counterpoint roil around a melody that rises resolutely over descending chords, while breakneck solos from Dontae Winslow on trumpet and Washington on saxophone exult in sheer agility and emotional peaks. JON PARELESShabazz Palaces and Lavarr the Starr, ‘Take Me to Your Leader’Shabazz Palaces — Ishmael Butler from Digable Planets — sets up a sci-fi scenario in “Take Me to Your Leader” from his album due March 29, “Exotic Birds of Prey.” He and a guest rapper, Lavarr the Starr, have to convince a powerful, mysterious queen that “our race deserves to survive.” Amid blipping electronics and slow-pulsing bass, with voices warped by echoes and effects, they set out a strategy of gifts, philosophizing, seduction and “a steady-bumping beat she can freak with.” PARELESSalt Cathedral, ‘Off the Walls’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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      Ariana Grande’s Album ‘Eternal Sunshine’ Spins Heartbreak Into Gold

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      The pop star sets the end of a romance and the start of a new one to a soundtrack awash in lavish atmosphere and adventurous melodies, with help from Max Martin.In 2019, the altitudinous-voiced pop star Ariana Grande released an exquisitely unbothered breakup song titled “Thank U, Next” — a light, chiming smash that mentioned several of her famous exes by name and then blithely banished them from her heart forever with a wink and a smile.But the heartache that fuels her seventh album, “Eternal Sunshine,” is of a considerably deeper variety; it even takes its name from Michel Gondry’s 2004 movie about the impossible fantasy of purging a past relationship from memory. “I try to wipe my mind, just so I feel less insane,” Grande, 30, sings on its skittering, mid-tempo title track. The potent melancholy that suffuses the song, and much of the album, tells you about how well that went.“Eternal Sunshine” is Grande’s first album in over three years, which is a considerable pause after a prolific stretch where she put out a hit LP nearly annually. She followed the poised, polished “Sweetener” in 2018 with two quickly produced albums that felt more off-the-cuff and conversational: the intimate and revelatory “Thank U, Next” and the love-struck but less consistent “Positions.”Since then, she got divorced from her husband of two years, Dalton Gomez, and started a romance with Ethan Slater, her co-star in the upcoming movie version of the hit musical “Wicked.” An overall narrative arc of heartbreak and new love unfolds on “Eternal Sunshine.” But, in a departure from her last several albums — one of which featured a song named for Pete Davidson, the comedian to whom she was then engaged — Grande stops short of explicit nods to autobiography and lets sweeping, wholehearted emotion tell the story.“Eternal Sunshine” is Grande’s most sustained collaboration with pop’s own Wizard of Oz, the Swedish hitmaker Max Martin, with whom she wrote or produced 11 of its 13 tracks. (Ilya Salmanzadeh, a longtime collaborator of both Grande and Martin, also helped write and produce much of the album.) Unsurprisingly, this is one of Grande’s most meticulously crafted and texturally consistent releases — it sounds as expensive as the gleaming treasures she sang about on “7 Rings” — though it lacks the whispered asides, rough edges and irreverent humor that made those last two albums so fun. Still, “Eternal Sunshine” is awash in lavish atmosphere, adventurous melodies and an emotional weight that brings a new sophistication to Grande’s songcraft.On a brief introduction subtitled “End of the World,” Grande expresses doubts about a relationship and pops a burning question in the glowing lower depths of her register: “If it all ended tomorrow, would I be the one on your mind?” The answer lies in the title of the following song: “Bye.”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