music


Songs for a Quiet Night with Jeremy Jay

After working on his darkly dreamy new album in nigh-reclusion, we asked indie synth-pop musician Jeremy Jay for songs to play at a party.


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Rosanne Cash Shares a Song with President Clinton

Rosanne Cash is a dedicated activist and fund-raiser for charitable causes and she finds herself performing at numerous benefit concerts. One such night in 2012, she performed a cover of a ballad she loves – and found out she shared her affinity for the song with a particularly famous audience member, who decided to pay […]


Playlist Episode 223

The Sea & Cake – “The Argument” Aphex Twin – “Boy/Girl Song” Tipsy – “Liquordelic” Rica Monsumoto – “Mezase Pokémon Masutā” Mobb Deep – “Shook Ones Part II” Tito Puente – “Japan Mambo” Ron Sexsmith – “Maybe This Christmas” The Silvertones – “Bling Bling Christmas” Johnnie Allan – “It’s Christmas Time in Louisiana” Nick Lowe – […]


Love You, Beyoncé, “XO”

Beyoncé's new album, released by surprise last week, is experimental, boundary-nudging pop distinguished by her most mature songwriting to date - candidly personal yet politically charged. In a year rich in statement-making releases, the record immediately inserted itself on many critics' best-of lists and has become an essential pop culture touchstone.


Sigizmund Krzhizhanovsky’s Runaway Fingers

Book critic Liesl Schillinger reads a darkly comic excerpt from a newly-published short story collection by early-20th century Russian author Sigizmund Krzhizhanovsky.