In the mid-2000s, Be Your Own Pet's frenetic punk sneered at the trappings of adulthood. The group returns after a 15-year hiatus with Mommy, an album that builds on its oppositional beginnings.
For the first time, the band members, their crew and their fans tell the story of a landmark moment they didn't realize was happening. Sonic Youth's new album, Live in Brooklyn 2011, is out this week.
Hip-hop may have originated in New York, but the genre now finds many of its current hitmakers in Georgia. And there are at least 50 important moments in hip-hop involving the state's artists, record labels or just events that happened here.
There may be no better case for the power of hip-hop's geographic diversity than Los Angeles, whose sprawl of distinct creative microclimates is a genre unto itself.
In 1989, 2 Live Crew's As Nasty As They Wanna Be became the first album declared legally obscene, and the group's legal battles set a precedent for the rappers that followed.
Ahead of Beyoncé's three concerts at Mercedes-Benz Stadium this weekend, a producer of her Renaissance album gives the inside story on some of her biggest hits.
Though the vibrant Bay Area rap community lit the fuse on many of the stars, styles and innovations that have blown up across the map, the region might still be best known for being underestimated.
United more by strategy than sound, the city's stars are fans-first nonconformists, who have often succeeded by doing the opposite of what the industry deems bankable.
The 305's hedonistic reputation is not unearned, but there is artistry in its debauchery, and a young generation reinvesting the rewards of their predecessors' battles against censorship.
The synth-pop band just finished its first tour in nearly 20 years. After a recent show in Brooklyn, two longtime fans reflect on why this music still hasn't lost its power.
O'Connor committed to a lifetime program of dissent, discontent and refusal against establishment evils. She carried all that swirling vehemence in her body and exorcised it through her howling music.
Isolated at the bottom of the map, the Bayou City had to build its scene from scratch, and its influence inched ever outward. Today you can hear its pulse everywhere, beating slow and low.
The grassroots country star, whose fan base crosses lines of identity and politics, is releasing a song called "In Your Love," from a new album. Its video tells a queer, Appalachian love story.