Music Features

R&B Has a Sampling Problem

R&B is wallowing in its past: It feels like nearly every commercially successful R&B single at the moment is built on a prominent sample or a conspicuous interpolation of an old hit. It’s not the act of sampling itself that’s troubling. The sampler is one of the more extraordinary inventions …

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Unplugged: Is the Guitar Solo Finished?

About two minutes into “Outta My Head,” from the new album Free Spirit by pop-R&B star Khalid, a strange, foreign sound bubbles to the song’s shiny disco-pop surface. It’s a squiggly, pitchy thing that echoes the melody for about 15 seconds before receding into the background. Could it be … …

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Will Hollywood Biopics Save Rock?

In its earliest days, rock got a boost from the movies, starting with 1955’s Blackboard Jungle.  Now, in an era when guitar-based music has moved pretty far from the center of the culture, the movies just can’t quit the genre. In the wake of Bohemian Rhapsody, more and more rock-themed …

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When 'Nevermind' Changed Everything

When Danny Goldberg started managing Nirvana in 1991, the band was just a promising underground act from Seattle. But, as chronicled in Goldberg’s upcoming memoir, Serving the Servant: Remembering Kurt Cobain, things would change quickly and decisively. The book is a fascinating portrait of the life, music and inner workings …

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