Gil Scott-Heron

How To Break Tries to Pop a Bit Too Hard

Here goes hip-hop

NEW NO LONGER

Jamie XX gets behind 
the boards at LPR

'Paradizo' w/ Karizma

Bobby Womack

Live: Bill Callahan Brings The Countryside To Lincoln Center

​Bill Callahan American Songbook @ Lincoln Center Wednesday, February 8 Better than: Trying to catch a cab outside of Lincoln Center. First, a confession: I had never been to Lincoln Center in my four and a half years living in New York City. I was not prepared for seeing this show with a ba ... More >>

Live: Jay-Z Takes Over Carnegie Hall

Jay-Z Carnegie Hall Monday, February 6 Better than: Slacking off. The age-old question about how one might get to Carnegie Hall rattled in my brain as I headed uptown last night, en route to Jay-Z's first of two performances at the hallowed Midtown space. "Practice" is the cheeky answer that peo ... More >>

Radio Hits One: Flo Rida's Accidental Posthumous Tribute To Etta James

The late Etta James remained an active recording artist right up to the end, releasing her final album, The Dreamer, just two months before her death on January 20. But she hadn't been on a Billboard singles chart since the '70s, when a cover of Erma Franklin's "Piece of My Heart" from her 1978 come ... More >>

Pazz & Jop Comments 2011: The Personals

Feelings, whoa-whoa-whoa

Drake and The Weeknd Wallow in their Misery

Riding the Bummer

Roy Ayers

53 More Great Songs From 2011

Earlier today, Maura offered a list of the 47 songs on her "2011 Awesomeness" Spotify playlist; to complement that, here are the 53 songs from my less cleverly named playlist, "2011." As is the usually the case with these mega-lists, I compiled mine a bit haphazardly, throwing together a substantial ... More >>

People Who Died 2011: The Year In Obituaries

Amy Winehouse passed away on July 23. ​In memory of the people, places, and things that passed away in 2011, here's a collection of links and streaming-video artifacts.

Live: My Morning Jacket Build A Better Classic Rock At Madison Square Garden

My Morning Jacket w/Band of Horses Madison Square Garden Wednesday, December 14 Better than: The other bands on the Bonnaroo roots-jam circuit. I sometimes imagine the young Kentucky rock fan who would one day name himself Jim James surfing the internet in the late '90s (we called it surfing bac ... More >>

Why Is Sarah Silverman Quoted On the Back of Gil Scott-Heron's Memoir?

We often receive advance copies of forthcoming books here at the office. Today we got The Last Holiday, memoir of recently deceased Gil Scott-Heron, which is coming out in January 2012. These are the people quoted on the back: Chuck D, Eminem, and...Sarah Silverman. Yes, Sarah Silverman. Nick Mu ... More >>

"The Black Power Mixtape" + Christopher D'Arcangelo + Fluxus

Revolution! Anarchy! Retrospectives! Three shows look back at politics in art

The Struggle: Black Power Mixtape and Bobby Fischer

Archers of Loaf vs. The Greatest

A brief history of indie rock's best worst-named band

Q&A: Oberhofer's Brad Oberhofer On His Favorite "Summer" Songs, Being Afraid Of Sharks, And His Youth

via OberhoferCrowdsurfing can be dangerous business.​Brad Oberhofer is the main man in the bedroom-pop-gone-full-fledged-band Oberhofer, one of the acts playing Saturday's 4Knots Music Festival. In advance of his band's set—during which he'll likely play to the biggest audience of his ca ... More >>

Listen To Two New Songs From Jamie xx

​Jamie Smith—a.k.a. Jamie xx, of The xx and of collaborations with the late Gil Scott-Heron—has released his first single, "Far Nearer," in both limited-edition vinyl and download form. The B-side, "Beat For," is a chilly, downtempo track that could very easily soundtrack a spell o ... More >>

Free MetroCards; Gil Scott-Heron Dead at 62; Brooklyn Boy Mauled By Pit Bull

​Free MetroCards at Prospect Park and the Red Hook Park baseball fields today! Free shitty single rides, that is. Call me when someone will pay for my monthly unlimited. Oh, and a bunch of subway lines will be all messed up this weekend. [Gothamist] Spoken-word artist, poet, and musician Gil Scot ... More >>

Q&A: Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. On Detroit, Mike Love's Yacht, And Their Google Juice

​At first glance, Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. might seem like a gimmick--two guys in racing suits capitalizing on a name-brand stock-car-racing dynasty. Upon listening, however, it's clear their particular type of indie pop is anything but a stunt; the Detroit duo of Josh Epstein and Daniel Zott co ... More >>

Live: Jamie xx Thrills Cool And Uncool Kids Alike At Le Poisson Rouge

Not trying hard because he doesn't have to. CRED.​Jamie xx Le Poisson Rouge Tuesday, February 22 Better Than: Spending my night surrounded by twenty-somethings making out to "Islands." Here's who we expected to show up for last night's Jamie xx show at Le Poisson Rouge: black-shrouded scenes ... More >>

Download All The Songs Sampled On Kanye West's My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

​Given Kanye West's total ubiquity these past few weeks/months/years, it's jarring to realize that his profoundly unraveled My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy is not even officially out yet. And yet the Internet dissection is well under way -- just as Girl Talk's All Day (which we can't exactly ... More >>

Kanye West, Finally Unraveled

Plumbing the gorgeous nightmares of My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

Video Premiere: Lia Ices, "Grown Unknown"

Yes In My Backyard is a semiweekly column showcasing MP3s from new and emerging local talent. Eric Ogden​Uplifting in a Kate Bush way, uneasy in a Cat Power way, the 2008 debut from Brooklyn dreamcatcher Lia Ices was a slept-on slow-burner full of haunting crooning, minimalist pianos, and shi ... More >>

The Hip-Hop/Jazz Crossover Strategy Guide

Revive Da Live brings in both crowds . . . very, very carefully

This Weekend! Toro Y Moi, Ruby Suns, Holy Ghost!, Bear Hands, Gil Scott-Heron, Talib Kweli, Spoon, Deerhunter, Basseko Kouyate, Miike Snow, Crystal Stilts, Love Is All, Lymbyc System, Glass Ghost, And The Big Pink

Making up for last week's paucity of shows thanks to SXSW and MtyMx, the city has an overstuffed dance card this weekend. First, chilllwave maestro Toro Y Moi will be playing with Tropicalia breakbeat-borrowers the Ruby Suns at Brooklyn Bowl. To quote one of the latter's tunes, "Kenya dig it?" Hol ... More >>

This Week's Voice: Yeasayer, Gil Scott-Heron, Sade, Hot Chip, Speak Onion, and More

Yeasayer' Chris Keating, looking sharp. Photo by Santiago Felipe.​In this week's Village Voice, Rob Harvilla recounts the charms of Odd Blood, Yeasayer's latest fretless-bass campfire dance party, Stacey Anderson watches Obama's State of the Union with Gil Scott-Heron, Drew Hinshaw on the retu ... More >>

Stream Gil Scott-Heron's I'm New Here

​By most accounts, the last decade wasn't one of the easiest for Gil Scott-Heron, who spent much of the aughts in and out of New York prisons and drug rehab facilities. But credit to XL for getting him back into the studio--I'm New Here, out next week, is a real, serious record, affecting far ... More >>

Coachella 2010 Lineup Announced: Jay-Z, LCD Soundsystem, Vampire Weekend, Thom Yorke????, Pavement, Etc

​Lot of New York bands representing: LCD Soundsystem, Vampire Weekend, Grizzly Bear, Yeasayer, Lucero, Sleigh Bells, Dirty Projectors, De La Soul, Julian Casablancas, Matt & Kim, Gil Scott-Heron, etc. Pretty fucking good show. Some other big ones--Public Image Limited, Grace Jones, Gorillaz, P ... More >>

HERON CALL

Pre-hip-hop's poet laureate

Tonight! Gil, Elvis, and, If You Must, the Decemberists

The poetry of Gil Scott-Heron spoke for the wretched of the earth-- his concocted third-world revolution was fearsome enough to stand in for the real thing. Since denying the addictive properties of cocaine in 2001, the spoken-word artist has been in and out of prison on drug-related charges, resu ... More >>

Gil Scott-Heron

Ladies and Gentlemen, the "Losing My Edge" Blog

This here Tumblr will evidently post a track from every band mentioned in LCD Soundsystem's "Losing My Edge." One per day. Can and Suicide thus far. Feel free to start speculating on which Gil Scott-Heron track gets the nod. (I would suspect our good buddy Whiney Weingarten's hand in this, but he ... More >>

Live: Mos Def and Gil Scott-Heron at Carnegie Hall

The 'Other' R&B

Sophistipop at summer's end, remembering the global fusion of the '70s

Go Ape

Oversize cartoon primates sit still and answer questions

Roger C. Jeffrey's Message to the Messengers Is Far From Subtle

Got Your Sex Raps Here

Nevertheless, Nas still sounds like a man who's thinking even when he'd rather not be

Film

Music

Send Mascara

Deliciously debauched Duran fans not glam enough live

Gentle Steel

Idiosyncratic disco artist rides train, mourns canine, accepts loss, and sticks to his guns

Don't Jump

These five words we swear to you: They only wanted a Pepsi

Music

Gil Scott-Heron’s Rap

Probable Cause and a Poet’s Problems

An Interview With Gil Scott-Heron

The Performer Talks About Addiction, Taxes, and Privacy

Film Forum

The Academy Award Nominations Were Announced Last Week. Do You Have Oscar Fever?

Black and White and Read All Over

In the Clear