Music Features

Leela James is one of the few southern soul singers who can still achieve a hit today. Her most recent example, “Don’t Want You Back,” is an exercise in classic form — a handsome, raspy “good riddance” with a guitar that studiously recreates the sound of Hi Records. But the …

Jordan Dreyer doesn’t have a good name for what he does. Midway through a recent conversation with Rolling Stone, the affable, unassuming 31-year-old — who fronts the beloved post-hardcore band La Dispute in a style that ranges from measured spoken word to an arresting half-scream, half-sob — explained why he …

“If you look at the first five years of CBGBs and Cuba, there might be an analogy to be drawn,” Blondie guitarist Chris Stein tells Rolling Stone. “Both were very isolated. One of the strong points of the CBGB scene and the New York rock scene was that it was …

It’s been six years since we heard from Vampire Weekend. So how are they feeling these days? Judging by the lead single from their upcoming Father of the Bride, the answer is pretty, pretty good. On “Harmony Hall,” Ezra Koenig and his bandmates spend a joyful five minutes and nine …

Last summer, Phoebe Bridgers had an idea for a song. “I wanted to talk about how stupid music is,” says Bridgers, 24. “I wanted to talk about how awesome music is, and how depressing it is, and why we all make music if it doesn’t last forever.” She had been …

Pedro Winter managed Daft Punk as they became international dancefloor stars in the late Nineties and early 2000s. But when he started his own label, Ed Banger Records, in 2003, it was as if his resume had been erased. “If I called someone on behalf of Daft Punk, then people …

Troye Sivan had launched his entertainment career as an actor, but once his music took off over the past few years, he wasn’t sure when he would have time to return to acting. He did know, however, the role that would get him back onscreen would have to be something …

The week Paul McCartney released his new album Egypt Station, his single “Come On to Me” reached roughly 1.5 million radio listeners thanks to the combined support of two formats, Adult Contemporary and Adult Album Alternative, plus major promotional endorsements from iHeartRadio, YouTube, Spotify and Amazon Music. These were impressive …

“I know I’m an African-American, and I know I play the saxophone, but I’m not a jazz musician,” Anthony Braxton told me in 2007. “I’m not a classical musician, either. My music is like my life: It’s in between these areas.” Born in 1945 on Chicago’s South Side, the brilliant …

To anyone who watched the first season of VH1’s Love & Hip Hop: Miami this year, Amara La Negra – bold, mahogany-skinned and Afro’d – is a newly minted icon. To Spanish-language TV viewers, she’s been a star for years: as a child, she made regular appearances on Univision’s Sábado …