Gil Scott-Heron: your favorite rapper’s favorite poet.
Before there was rap, there was Gil Scott-Heron. He was a jazz artist, poet, and spoken word performer active in New York City from the 1970s until his death in 2011. You might not know him yet, but the words he wrote continue to influence rap artists to this day.
Looking back on anger: famously bitter splits.
How does infamy contribute to longevity?
The Controversies that made Jungle Massive.
No, not the band, the genre! No, not drum and bass either!!
Who are Rock & Roll’s greatest shredders?
These are the riff-slinging, solo-searing legends who didn’t just play guitar—they rewrote the rules of rock and roll.
Mirages: distinguishing Ravel and Debussy.
Ravel is NOT a second-rate Debussy.
America’s heart and soul: why the blues is still king.
The blues has been around longer, rocks harder, hits deeper, and means more to America than country ever could.
The bizarre story behind Stevie Wonder’s plant album.
Unpacking the history and legacy of his most misunderstood project.
What do you know about UK Garage?
Celebrating the history of some of the UK’s most underrated but pivotal genres.
Rock & Roll’s invincible guitar god.
How Slash has proven he’s a force to be reckoned with over his rocky 35-year-long career.
Celebrating fifty years of hip-hop.
Let's pay some respect to some of the greatest MC’s to ever pick up a mic.
Who mothered Brian Eno? The earliest electronic pop music I could find.
From Dr. Who to underground psychedelia, here are some of the earliest pioneers of electronic pop music.
Dreamy documentaries: how the Beatles, the French New Wave, and LSD invented the music video
To understand the origins of dreamy documentary music videos, we must travel back in time to 1964, the year when French New Wave and Beatlemania trends converged.
The shape of dreams: a journey through the history of shoegaze.
Explore the dreamy, atmospheric world of shoegaze music.
Tokyo’s New Stereophonic Sound Spectacular
How Pizzicato Five created their unique, adventurous style from the environment of 90’s Japan.
Meeting the Dancing Devils
How Vik Sohonie discovered and recorded the first internationally-released Djiboutian albums
Monteverdi’s Venetian Years: The “Real Sun” of Opera
Josquin des Prez: musical brand name.
The life and career of superstar Franco-Flemish composer, Josquin des Prez.
All that glitters is gold: “All Star”and the fading glory of 1990s America.
The PMRC vs. Music: How the “Parental Advisory” Sticker Came to Be, and Why it’s Still Important
Rock and the Regime: The Life, Death, and Rebirth of a Cambodian Subculture
In the mid-1950s, violin-backed syrupy ballads like “Violon Sneha” made a young Sinn Sisamouth a household name across westernizing Cambodia. By the late 1970s, he was dead.