#The Beatles

Massive 50th Anniversary Reissue of Plastic Ono Band Sessions Positions Yoko Ono as Musical Maverick

Yoko Ono portrait by Iain Macmillan at the St. Regis Hotel, New York, September 1971. © Yoko Ono Lennon On October 10, 1970, John Lennon was busy working on his first solo album at EMI Recording Studios (not yet rechristened “Abbey Road,” after the Beatles’ album of the same name). The sessions had...

Gillian G. Gaar

PREMIERELisa Ramey Preaches Unity With a Cover of The Beatles' "Come Together"

The trajectory of NYC-based vocalist Lisa Ramey's career reflects an exceptional adaptability and versatility - she started off doing musical theater in St. Louis, moved over to Broadway, then began recording her own music shortly before Cirque du Soleil recruited her to tour as a singer in their...

Annie White

NEWS ROUNDUPKesha Vs. Dr. Luke, New Music, and MORE

New Motions Filed in Kesha / Dr. Luke Legal Battle Kesha's ongoing legal battle with Lukasz “Dr. Luke” Gottwald rages on, with a few new developments this week. Though a New York judge sided with Dr. Luke and Sony music following Kesha's 2014 allegations that the producer had drugged and assaulted...

Lindsey Rhoades

ONLY NOISEOn Loving the Beatles As a Black Woman

ONLY NOISE explores music fandom with poignant personal essays that examine the ways we’re shaped by our chosen soundtrack. This week, Stephanie Phillips finds a way to relate to the Beatles - even though, as a black woman, their version of Britishness didn't reflect her own experience. Whether it...

Stephanie Phillips

HIGH NOTES7 Songs That Were Inspired by Acid Trips

For decades, musicians have been known to experiment with LSD to stimulate their creative process. Because of the drug's effects on the serotonergic system, people tripping on it not only experience warped sounds and images that might inspire music and lyrics but also become more open to...

Annie White

NEWS ROUNDUPNew Releases, Quincy Jones, Festival Updates and More

Unknown Mortal Orchestra New Tours and Upcoming Releases Members of long missed DC band Fugazi are coming out with an album in this spring. A self-titled debut fromThe Messthetics, featuring Brendan Canty and Joe Lally, is out March 23 via Dischord. Johnny Cash’s family will release a music version...

Jasmine Williams

HIGH NOTESHow LSD Changed Music as We Know It

In 1965, at 2 Strathearn Place in London, John and Cynthia Lennon, George Harrison, and Pattie Boyd sat at their dentist John Riley’s dinner table sipping coffee. A few minutes prior, Riley’s girlfriend Cindy Bury had placed sugar cubes laced with LSD in their cups. Back then, the drug was just...

Annie White

ONLY NOISEBeautiful Losers

Repeat after me: Loser. Double loser. Whatever. Moron. If you were a certain age in the late 1990s, this insult – when paired with the correct hand motions – was the ultimate dis to peers, siblings, and losers of every stripe. The term “loser” in the nineties and early ‘00s was plastered all over...

Madison Bloom

NEWS ROUNDUPChanges at MTV, Rodents + Rush and More

MTV Ends Its "Era" Of Longform Journalism The site has laid off a sizable portion of their editorial staff in a (possibly misguided?) effort to give millennials what they really want, a.k.a. "short-form video content." An in-depth article by Spin breaks down this shift, and reveals MTV News'...

Emily Daly

NEWS ROUNDUPGeorge Martin, Tiny Desk, and Iggy Pop

George Martin Dies Let's get the bad news out of the way first: George Martin, famed Beatles producer, has died at age 90. Martin spent seven years working with the Fab Four, helping them arrange and shape their sound. His closeness with the band earned him the nickname “the fifth Beatle,” though...

Emily Daly

ALBUM REVIEWDestroyer "Poison Season"

“You could follow a rose wherever it grows/You could fall in love in Times Square,” Dan Bejar, aka Destroyer sings on the track “Times Square.” His latest album, Poison Season, constantly references itself, both musically and lyrically, but matter where one track takes you, another always leads you...

Emily Daly

APPROVAL MATRIX2/9/14 thru 2/15/14

Here's our take on the best and worst in music this week. HIGHBROW ^^^^^^^^ [box type="shadow"] Fifty years of this whole "without The Beatles, music would have long ago ceased to exist" mentality is getting stale. CBS's trite attempt to foster Beatles-Mania 2.0 proved once again that the folks...

Megan Huffman