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David Bowie, Rock's Shape Shifter, Returns
Hear Ann Powers talk about David Bowie's career, and his new album, with Morning Edition's Renee Montagne by clicking the audio link above.My musical world does not exist without David Bowie's...
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Lessons From SXSW 2013: Take The Middle Road
That guy Prince has a sense of humor. His closing night show at the year's South By Southwest music conference and festival was advertised with the hashtag #thenextbigthing— as if the Purple One hadn't...
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Mark Lanegan: A Secret Rock Star Still Shines Darkly
There are unsung heroes of rock and roll, and then there are complicated cases like Mark Lanegan. The Washington State-born rocker with the voice like a shifting fog earned a spot in rock history as...
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What Nick Drake Taught Me About Art And Love
It was in Seattle's Frye Art Museum that I first found endless love with a work of art. My mother often took us there to look at the landscapes and portraits bequeathed by the culturally aspirational...
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The Beyonce Experiment: How Far Can She Go?
Last week, a new Beyonce debuted a new song, "Standing on the Sun," in an online advertisement for the clothing company H&M. In the 90-second ad, she models bikinis while staring into the camera,...
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Harry Connick, 'Idol' And The Pop Charts: Can You Define 'Good' Singing?
What defines good singing? Technique or feeling? That argument, a perennial among music lovers, roared back into the foreground last week after Harry Connick, Jr. appeared on American Idol. The...
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Robots In Ecstasy: Daft Punk's 'Memories' Embraces The Pleasure Principle
"Give life back to music," coo the robots on the first track of Daft Punk's new album, Random Access Memories, which showed up yesterday on iTunes after a long period of near-hysterical anticipation...
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The Canadian Astronaut's Accompanist
North America's newest pop star is exiting International Space Station Commander Chris Hadfield, whose truly space-age rendition of David Bowie's "Space Oddity" has racked up more than 11 million...
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Five Musicians Who Make Borrowing Sound Original
Last Friday, on Bob Dylan's birthday, I spent the morning checking out old interviews with the supreme trickster on YouTube. I came across this one, from the 1980s, in which an Australian journalist...
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Country Music's Year Of The Woman
Sometimes, it can be difficult to notice a cultural sea change. At first, there's just a little, unexpected turn in the tide. But then, whoosh! The new current takes over, and old preconceptions are...
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Don't Kill Your Idols: J. Cole Looks For His Place In Hip-Hop
"Long live the idols — may they never be your rivals!" the rapper and producer J. Cole exclaims in a key line from his second album, Born Sinner, officially released this week. It's a salute with a...
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When Pop Stars Flirt With Bad Taste
Three minutes and forty five seconds into the explicit version of the video for Robin Thicke's song "Blurred Lines," the camera lingers on the frowning face of 21-year-old model Emily Ratajkowski. Its...
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Watch The Civil Wars Live Up To Their Name In A Behind-The-Scenes Video
The Civil Wars are a duo whose interchanges, onstage and on the 2010 debut album Barton Hollow, fascinated fans with their magnetic pull and expressiveness. Joy Williams and John Paul White,...
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Sub Pop's Silver Jubilee Celebrates 25 Years Of Artisanal Music In Seattle
Last Thursday Mark Arm was on the top of the Space Needle; two days later, he was riding around in a golf car full of trash. Truth in criticism: I never actually saw the Mudhoney singer in the vehicle...
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Bruno Mars Is More Than Your Average Pop Star
Party music isn't usually meant to change the world. It's for relaxing and getting a little bit wild; it inspires kissing and booty-shaking and high-fiving, not marches up the Washington Mall. The...
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David Bowie, Rock's Shape Shifter, Returns
Hear Ann Powers talk about David Bowie's career, and his new album, with Morning Edition's Renee Montagne by clicking the audio link above.My musical world does not exist without David Bowie's...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Lessons From SXSW 2013: Take The Middle Road
That guy Prince has a sense of humor. His closing night show at the year's South By Southwest music conference and festival was advertised with the hashtag #thenextbigthing— as if the Purple One hadn't...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Mark Lanegan: A Secret Rock Star Still Shines Darkly
There are unsung heroes of rock and roll, and then there are complicated cases like Mark Lanegan. The Washington State-born rocker with the voice like a shifting fog earned a spot in rock history as...
View ArticleClik here to view.
What Nick Drake Taught Me About Art And Love
It was in Seattle's Frye Art Museum that I first found endless love with a work of art. My mother often took us there to look at the landscapes and portraits bequeathed by the culturally aspirational...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Beyonce Experiment: How Far Can She Go?
Last week, a new Beyonce debuted a new song, "Standing on the Sun," in an online advertisement for the clothing company H&M. In the 90-second ad, she models bikinis while staring into the camera,...
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