Lana Del Rey

How to Best Spend the Money Our Band Earns? Press Photos? A Video? Gas Money? Recording?

Are you a musician? Is your group having issues? Ask Fan Landers! Critic Jessica Hopper has played in and managed bands, toured internationally, booked shows, produced records, worked as a publicist, and is the author of The Girls' Guide to Rocking, a how-to for teen ladies. She is here to help you ... More >>

Jay-Z's Great Gatsby Soundtrack is a Failure

When the first trailer for Baz Luhrmann's The Great Gatsby was released a year ago, it was set to the music of Jay-Z and Kanye West's "No Church in the Wild," from the sometimes duo's incredibly self-important Watch the Throne album. On the surface it made sense. Jay-Z -- who retired as a rapper in ... More >>

We Should Be Less Cynical About Albums That (Want to) Change The World

One of the most talked about songs on Taylor Swift's Speak Now was a ditty called "Mean," which my BFF Theon Weber focused on in-depth in his review for this paper. "It's chipper and funny, because the narrator is predicting escape from someone she dislikes: 'Some day, I'll be living in a big ol' ... More >>

Ten Potential X-Factor Replacement Judges

The list of former judges on FOX's The X-Factor reads like the attendance list at a Passages Malibu: Addiction Cure Center for celebrities obsessed with proving their talent (Nicole Scherzinger, 2011 and Demi Lovato, 2012), relevancy (Cheryl Cole, 2011 and LA. Reid, 2011-12), sanity (Britney Spears, ... More >>

Lil Wayne: Human After All

Friends. Romans. Martians. I stand before you not to bury Lil Wayne and I Am Not A Human Being II, nor do I intend to praise it. Instead, I implore you to marvel at this album's sheer existence, because yet again, Lil Wayne has managed to accomplish something only great artists can: he's made someth ... More >>

An Exclusive First Look At Some of Taylor Swift's Trashed Fan Mail

Of the many things that Taylor Swift is known for, her extremely dedicated fan-base has to be the most notorious (Haha it's totally not, and you know what is, but let's just go with it). Unfortunately for them, it was revealed earlier this week that instead of their fan mail reaching her beautiful b ... More >>

No One Trusts the Tastes of Teenage Girls, But Should: Why Justin Bieber Is the Next Beatles

At what point did teen girls suddenly just become wrong? "Serious" music fans seem to have universally accepted a critique of quality that befalls any artist who willingly sells to the rabid teen girl market and stigmatized the fans who dare to sometimes be male or at least above the age of 18. It's ... More >>

The A$AP Rocky Drinking Game

This month buzzier-than-thou rapper A$AP Rocky released his major label debut, Long.Live.A$AP. You may have heard. We've thought long and hard about the album, and want you to have the optimal Rocky listening experience. Among its tracks you'll find several tropes and repetitive aspects. A$AP Rocky ... More >>

A$AP Rocky Lights Up The City

Harlem's crack-slinging bad boy cleans up, puts New York rap back on the map

Pazz & Jop: Taylor Swift, Grimes, and Lana Del Rey: The Year in Blond Ambition

How dare they have an image

Should My Band Hire a Publicist?

Are you a musician? Is your group having issues? Ask Fan Landers! Critic Jessica Hopper has played in and managed bands, toured internationally, booked shows, produced records, worked as a publicist, and is the author of The Girls' Guide to Rocking, a how-to for teen ladies. She is here to help you ... More >>

Frank Ocean Is Boring: The Year Lifeless Music Found Critical Praise

In 2012, nothing was as popular as being massively boring. Frank Ocean drained the sexiness and excitement out of r&b, to widespread critical acclaim. Lana Del Rey sighed listlessly over string arrangements in a tight dress, like some kind of Kristen Wiig character who stumbled out of the Holodeck a ... More >>

Our 20 Most Popular Posts of 2012

We covered a lot of music ground in 2012. You loved all of it. But some stories were more read than others. Here now, our 20 most popular posts of the year. Thanks for reading. The Ten Best Reissues of 2012 The Ten Best Noise Tracks of 2012 The Ten Best Metal Albums of 2012 The Ten Best Country Alb ... More >>

F U 2012!

UCB mocks the year’s worst

Our 20 Most Popular Stories of 2012, 10 - 1

We've covered a lot of music ground in 2012. And you loved all of it. But you read some stories more than others. Here now, our 20 most popular posts of the year, from 10 - 1. (20 - 11 here.) The Ten Best Reissues of 2012 The Ten Best Noise Tracks of 2012 The Ten Best Metal Albums of 2012 The Ten B ... More >>

The Best Albums Pitchfork Hated This Year

Since Purity Ring, Death Grips and Tame Impala didn't exactly take off this year like Arcade Fire or Animal Collective, Pitchfork's cultural influence might be cooling off, which is bittersweet since their writer stable is probably better now than it ever was (some of us don't miss those novelty rev ... More >>

Tube: Analog Antics From Digital Doin's

Van Cougar's new piece at Incubator Arts takes online offline

The Least Likely Music Headlines of 2013

For the last six months, the Sound of the City Supercomputer (a 1998 Compaq Presario) has been analyzing the structure and content of every pop news headline in the world in order to create a highly detailed predictive model of the music industry. While this project has important practical uses, suc ... More >>

Fan Landers: How Can I Bootstrap My Way To Pop Stardom?

Are you a musician? Is your band having issues? Our advice columnist Fan Landers (a.k.a. Jessica Hopper) is ready to give you Real Talk about any problems your musical outfit might be having—whether professional, practical, or sartorial. Send your problems to sotc at villagevoice dot com; conf ... More >>

Live: The Cops Shut Down Fool's Gold Day Off; DJ A-Trak Throws Out More T-Shirts

Check out our slideshow from the party. Fool's Gold Day Off: French Montana, Danny Brown, Brothers Macklovitch, Just Blaze, Flosstradamus, Flatbush Zombies, Nick Catchdubs, Ricky Blaze, Party Supplies, #BEEN #TRILL, Telephoned, and more City Winery Monday, September 3 Better than: Rain. Last yea ... More >>

Meet The A$AP Mob: Talking To Ant, Ferg, J. Scott, Nast, Twelvy, And Yams

No city in the world can assemble a musical motley crew of disorderly young gents like New York, although simply forming a quartet isn't enough. Wu Tang Clan, Boot Camp Clik, The Diplomats—we're talking wolf pack numbers. The A$AP Mob's A$AP Rocky has been getting worldwide attention this ye ... More >>

Fan Landers: "Helpful" Yet Sexist Fans; When To Hire A Manager

Are you a musician? Is your band having issues? Our new advice columnist, who we're going to call Fan Landers (a.k.a. Jessica Hopper), is ready to give you Real Talk about any problems your musical outfit might be having—whether professional, practical, or sartorial. Send your problems to sotc ... More >>

Live: AraabMuzik Bridges The Gap Between Old And New At East River Park

Araabmuzik w/Flosstradamus, Teengirl Fantasy, Nick Hook East River Park Monday, August 20 Better than: Drinking Red Bull to get through just about anything else. Watching the Manhattan-by-night sightseeing cruises pass behind East River Park's Summerstage during last night's Araabmuzik-headlined s ... More >>

Will Marina And The Diamonds Make The American Pop Charts Sparkle Once More?

As far as pop princesses go, Marina Diamandis—stage name, Marina and the Diamonds—dazzles because she turns the archetype on its nose. The title of Marina's latest album, Electra Heart, evokes images of a Cinderella-type character throwing her glass slippers to the wind and crying mascar ... More >>

Fan Landers: "I've DIY'ed Myself Into Oblivion. How Do I Climb Out Of It?"

Are you a musician? Is your band having issues? Our new advice columnist, who we're going to call Fan Landers (a.k.a. Jessica Hopper), is ready to give you Real Talk about any problems your musical outfit might be having—whether professional, practical, or sartorial. Send your problems to sotc ... More >>

Bobby Womack

Lana Del Rey's Top Six Hip-Hop Connections

She's no longer an Internet phenomenon, but the moody singer Lana Del Rey has turned into something of an infatuation for rappers, who are more than eager to collaborate and canoodle with her. In honor of her headlining a series of shows at Irving Plaza this week, here's a short list of her notable ... More >>

OFF TO THE RACES

Lana Del Rey moves from 
YouTube to Irving Plaza

Asshattery In 140 Characters Or Less: Which Musicians Are The Biggest Klouchebags?

If you're on the Internet you might have heard of Klout, a pseudo-scientific way for measuring the slippery ideal of "online influence." Taking into consideration a variety of factors, it has (despite its often being utterly gameable and as a result off the mark) turned into a way for people online ... More >>

Lana Del Rey Hides in Plain Sight

This is my confession