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Music Features

Thursday October 31, 2013

Lonnie Holley. Courtesy of Force Field PR hide caption

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Courtesy of Force Field PR

Lonnie Holley: Self-Made Man

October 31, 2013 • The sculptor and painter has been making music for decades, sending tapes to his friends, but only recently began releasing albums.

Wednesday October 30, 2013

Where Rock The Bells Fails, Drake's Tour Succeeds

Drake backlit at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn on Monday night. Stephen Lovekin/Getty Images hide caption

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Stephen Lovekin/Getty Images

Where Rock The Bells Fails, Drake's Tour Succeeds

October 30, 2013 • In these days of dusty, overbooked festivals run rampant, a smooth-sounding, tight bill with the promise of a good-looking, down to party hometown crowd makes that cash register sing.

Monday October 28, 2013

Street Queens Bury Competition In Brass Band Blowout

The Pinettes Brass Band parading into the judges area on Saturday. Courtesy of Matt Sakakeeny hide caption

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Courtesy of Matt Sakakeeny

Street Queens Bury Competition In Brass Band Blowout

October 28, 2013 • In New Orleans this weekend a Red Bull-sponsored battle of the bands corporatized a tradition but still hit all the right notes.

Sunday October 27, 2013

Lou Reed onstage in Amsterdam in 1975. Gijsbert Hanekroot/Redferns hide caption

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Gijsbert Hanekroot/Redferns

What Lou Reed Taught Me

October 27, 2013 • Reed made me realize that, for all of my self-stylings as a rebel in love with noise that stripped away the unnecessary, I didn't know the first thing about rock music inflicting the pain of clarity.

Lou Reed onstage in London in 1975 playing a transparent, Plexiglass guitar. Reed died Sunday. He was 71. Denis O'Regan/Getty Images hide caption

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Denis O'Regan/Getty Images

Lou Reed, Beloved Contrarian, Dies

October 27, 2013 • An American rock musician born in Freeport on Long Island, N.Y., Lou Reed epitomized New York City's artistic underbelly in the 1970s, with his songs about hookers and junkies. Reed was 71.

Lou Reed, Beloved Contrarian, Dies

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Wednesday October 23, 2013

Arcade Fire In The Throes Of Transformation

Arcade Fire on Saturday night in Bushwick. Win Butler on the left, Richard Reed Parry on the right. Courtesy of Sachyn Mital hide caption

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Courtesy of Sachyn Mital

Arcade Fire In The Throes Of Transformation

October 23, 2013 • The masquerading group that played in Brooklyn this weekend was clearly neither a set of wide-eyed naïfs dropping their first 12", nor the band that made sneaking out of your parents house feel like toppling the Berlin Wall.

Tuesday October 22, 2013

Do We Really Need Bob Dylan And Van Morrison Box Sets?

Van Morrison, Bob Dylan and The Band's Robbie Robertson (from left to right) onstage in 1976. The performance was filmed for Martin Scorsese's The Last Waltz. United Artists/Getty Images hide caption

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United Artists/Getty Images

The Record

Do We Really Need Bob Dylan And Van Morrison Box Sets?

October 22, 2013 • Recent collections of the musicians' outtakes enhance our understanding of transitional portions of monumental careers. That doesn't make them essential, though.

Monday October 21, 2013

Do Surprise Album Releases Work For Everyone?

Courtesy of Def Jam Records

The Record

Do Surprise Album Releases Work For Everyone?

October 21, 2013 • An industry vet weighs the pros and cons of musicians dropping albums with little warning.

Saturday October 19, 2013

How To Read This Year's Rock Hall Nominations

Chic in 1977. From left to right, Bernard Edwards, Norma Jean Wright, Nile Rodgers and Tony Thompson. Gilles Petard/Redferns hide caption

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Gilles Petard/Redferns

The Record

How To Read This Year's Rock Hall Nominations

October 19, 2013 • It's official: Chic cofounder and sole survivor Nile Rodgers is now the Susan Lucci of the Rock Hall.

Friday October 18, 2013

Still-Unanswered Questions In 'Untitled' Video Remake

D'Angelo in his video for "Untitled (How Does It Feel)," right, and Brendon Urie, in Panic! at the Disco's video for "Girls/Girls/Boys." Courtesy of EMI and Atlantic Records hide caption

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Courtesy of EMI and Atlantic Records

The Record

Still-Unanswered Questions In 'Untitled' Video Remake

October 18, 2013 • A frame-for-frame imitation of D'Angelo's 2000 clip by Panic! at the Disco's frontman cannily inserts race into a song about bisexuality.

Thursday October 17, 2013

The Year Onyx's 'Slam' Crashed Pop Radio

Onyx in an undated photo. From left to right, Sticky Fingaz, Fredro Starr, Suave and Big DS. Al Pereira/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images hide caption

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Al Pereira/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

The Record

The Year Onyx's 'Slam' Crashed Pop Radio

October 17, 2013 • In 1993 Onyx's raucous single became an unlikely hit on MTV and pop radio. The song was on the leading edge of a media change of heart.

The Year Onyx's 'Slam' Crashed Pop Radio

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Thursday October 10, 2013

Mala Rodriguez And The Women Of Latin Hip-Hop

Mala Rodriguez on stage at the Mulafest Festival in Madrid in June. Pedro Armestre/AFP/Getty Images hide caption

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Pedro Armestre/AFP/Getty Images

The Record

Mala Rodriguez And The Women Of Latin Hip-Hop

October 10, 2013 • The genre has some of the most creative, politically savvy, intelligent female personalities in the industry.

Mala Rodriguez And The Women Of Latin Hip-Hop

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