Artists
The artists' studio rituals that shape great records
Studio rituals turn out to be decisions in disguise. The documented ones, from constraint cards to bedroom four-tracks, shaped records the critics quoted here never forgot.
Artists
Musicians covered through their work: how a record was made, what changed between albums, and the influences audible in the arrangements.
Artists
Artists covering other artists: what makes a great cover
A cover earns its place when it argues with the original — not when it copies it.
Artists
The artists whose careers started on community radio
Before the charts and the arenas, R.E.M., Nirvana and the Pixies all had the same first stop: a low-power signal and a programmer who took a chance.
Artists
When artists switched instruments — and defined an era instead
Paul McCartney took the bass because someone had to; Dave Grohl stepped out from the drums to front Foo Fighters; Stevie Wonder traded standards for synthesizers and rebuilt funk.
Artists
Independent artists building audiences without labels — the documented playbook
Radiohead's pay-what-you-want experiment, Macklemore's distribution deal, Chance the Rapper's Grammy without a label — the real history of artists going direct.
Artists
The producers behind the signature sounds that defined decades
Phil Spector's Wall of Sound, Quincy Jones'sThriller, Dr. Dre's G-funk — a handful of producers built sonic identities so distinct you can name them in four bars.