The 50 Best Beatles Covers of All Time

Few songwriters have been so thoroughly covered as Lennon/McCartney, and the diversity of Beatles covers is a tribute to the Fab Four's unmatched mark on pop music.  read more

Brad Mehldau Taps Jon Brion to Produce Forthcoming Double Album

Highway Rider, the upcoming two-disc release from jazz pianist and composer Brad Mehldau, is not your everyday jazz. That much is clear from the first few seconds of a video of the Highway Rider recording sessions, when producer Jon Brion quips, “We gotta, in the words of Buddy Rich, sit down and play some fuckin’ music… Unless, of course, you’re standing.”...  read more

A Very Personal, Highly Idiosyncratic Musical Overview of the Aughts

This is not about American Idol, Kenny Chesney, Radiohead, Sufjan Stevens, Beyonce, Wilco, or The Arcade Fire. If, for the past ten years, you’ve followed popular music beyond the narrow confines of Top 40 radio, you already know the big albums and the major musical trends of the decade. This is not about that. The Aughts were ushered in by a cavalcade of short-lived (sometimes all too literally) rap stars, pre-fab boy bands, and pop divas, and they will be ushered out by a cavalcade of rap stars and pre-fab artists who made their names by covering classic rock and...  read more