Mark Linkous from Sparklehorse died this weekend, and initial reports gave his age only as being "in his forties." Caryn Ganz, who broke the news late Saturday for Rolling Stone, told me that Linkous' publicist/manager, Shelby Meade, told her his age "wasn't released."
Entertainment Weekly went with a very similar formulation to Ganz's: "Linkous, who [...]

What kind of megastar makes her own tech support calls? The kind that aggressively keeps shit real, apparently. In an interview with Rolling Stone, M.I.A. explains how a three-hour phone call with Verizon led to "I'm Down Like Your Internet Connection," a track from her forthcoming follow-up to Kala. And in a very Nicholas Kristof [...]

Hello and happy Tweetup day! Last time I checked, it's still December, which is every music critic's favorite month—doubly so this year since the decade is ending. It's true: List-making makes less and less sense as our tastes fragment. That's kinda what Simon Reynolds argues in an essay in the Guardian, which he concludes, I [...]

Last week All Songs Considered invited its listeners to vote for their favorite tracks and albums of the year (s0 far).
The results?
"In the end, Animal Collective edged out every other artist for both Best Album and Best Song. Artists like Grizzly Bear, The Decemberists and Neko Case weren't far behind. One thing was clear: that [...]

With the new year comes not-so-new traditions: purging your closet of heinous holiday sweaters, resolving to dissolve your waistline and, if you're Rolling Stone , looking to Top 40 lists and tired-and-true troubadours to compile your list of the 50 "Best" Albums of the Year.

A belated answer key to our Rolling Stone: Parse that Platitude contest!

There is a difference between people who sing and those who take that voice to another, otherworldly place, who create a euphoria within themselves. PLATITUDE REFERS TO: Elvis Presley

You know a force from heaven. You know something that God made. And [blank] is [...]

This week, Rolling Stone fronts a totally definitive list of the 100 greatest singers of all time. (Previous totally definitive lists include the 100 greatest guitarists of all time, the 500 greatest songs of all time, and THE 100 IMMORTALS. But that's just scratching the surface.)
Besides the inherent arbitrariness of the exercise and [...]