14,000 people converged at Rock the Garden on Saturday, prepared for a line-up that bridged genres and age brackets. Some had bought the ticket for veteran party rockers the Flaming Lips; some went for young indie-rock sensations Hippo Campus; many jumped on the opportunity to see the boundary-breaking Chance the Rapper. All day long, fans…

Haley Bonar, “Kismet Kill” Haley Bonar‘s new video, directed by Nicole Brending, tells the story of a prom queen grown old. Pale pink, black, and metallic shades suit this song perfectly, teasing Bonar’s new album Impossible Dream, due August 5. The Counterfactuals, “Every Turn You Take Is Right” “I didn’t set out to write a song…

Art in tribute to Prince is planned for Glastonbury — and, reportedly, Chanhassen. The Glastonbury grounds next week will feature a 13-foot sculpture of “a giant glittery hand carrying a purple crown with a white dove flying from the top”; Alexis Taylor (Hot Chip) will also play a DJ set in honor of Prince. Sculptural tributes to David…

In the wake of Christina Grimmie’s death — which happened when the singer was shot this past weekend during a meet-and-greet — musicians are opening up about their fears of potentially dangerous fans. As the New York Times notes, “Music history is dotted with stories of stalkers and dangerous fanatics, like those that killed John…

As much as I’d enjoyed their music to date, I couldn’t have predicted how happy I’d be at GRRRL PRTY’s First Avenue concert last summer. I danced; I watched from the front row; I caught (and still have) one of the Jeremy Nutzman masks-on-a-popsicle-stick that GRRRL PRTY wore. Andrea Swensson described the show like this: “To call the evening…

I’ve always enjoyed the Lumineers’ music, but I wondered whether their pleasant songs could captivate thousands of people in a live setting. I am happy to report, after Tuesday night’s show at Roy Wilkins Auditorium, that indeed they can. As a black curtain dropped to reveal a kaleidoscope of colored lights and silver organ pipes, the…

Prince was inducted to the Apollo Theater Walk of Fame on Monday in Harlem. The New Power Generation and Maceo Parker were among the music luminaries on hand for the induction, which preceded the historic theater’s annual fundraising gala. During the induction, theater president Jonelle Procope said, “Prince was one of a kind. Bold. Prolific. A musical genius, rule breaker,…

Thom Yorke grabbed a guitar on Sunday and strolled over to a garden party his neighbor was throwing on the day that Queen Elizabeth II was being honored in England for turning 90. Yorke played a 30-minute solo acoustic set that a Reddit user posted about after getting a text from his dad: “in Oxford at garden party with Suzie’s…

Jackie Perman is a recent graduate of Macalester College, where this report was originally written as a class paper. It’s republished here with the permission of the writer and her sources. In 2015, rapper Kanye West released the song “All Day,” which was nominated in two categories at the 58th Grammy Awards. The song has…

It is a truth universally acknowledged that music has the power to open hearts, and as many in the singer/songwriter scene know, few artists wield that power like folk-rocker Brandi Carlile. She’s humble, gracious, and kind, and her music reflects those traits. Genre-benders the Avett Brothers touch crowds, too, especially through their poignant lyrics. They’re…