Khalid graduated from the same high school as Madonna and used to live with a Jamaican Queen, but he has always and will forever worship at the church of Björk.
When you think of the intersection of music and technology, your mind may immediately jump to such cutting-edge artists as Björk, Brian Eno, or Radiohead. But even a traditionalist like Jack White can exploit our brave new world’s possibilities. After all, even though the Detroit rock icon launched a book publishing wing for his Third Man…
The Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences announced the nominations for the 2015 Grammy Awards yesterday, and among the contenders were three Detroit artists. Rocker Jack White scored four nominations, rapper Eminem landed three, and R&B singer Kem earned one nod. Although none of these artists earned a nomination in one of the four…
Thanksgiving Eve is known colloquially as “the biggest bar night of the year,” as travelers across the nation return to their hometowns and reunite with friends before a day of football and Butterball. The evening before Turkey Day was occasion for another homecoming, though, as Danny Brown and his rap group Bruiser Brigade…
Detroit’s hip-hop community is seeing renewed attention of late, owing in no small part to Eminem’s “Detroit Vs. Everybody,” which features Danny Brown, Big Sean, Royce da 5’9”, Trick Trick, and Dej Loaf repping their hometown on a track with all-star, chart-conquering force. Dej Loaf’s deadeyed delivery is minimized, however, to a catchy hook…
A city can evoke so many sensory impressions: the welcoming sight of New York’s Statue of Liberty, the delicate taste of thinly sliced sashimi in Tokyo, and the intoxicating aroma of freshly baked croissants at a pâtisserie in Paris. When it comes to Detroit, perhaps the most salient impression the Motor City has left on the world is…
Jimmy Lee Ruffin, a staple of the Motown roster and elder brother to David Ruffin of The Temptations, passed away at a Las Vegas hospital late Monday night at the age of 78. His death was confirmed in a statement yesterday by his children, Philicia Ruffin and Jimmy Ruffin Jr. Ruffin’s first hit record for…
Popular wisdom holds that electroclash was supposed to have crashed and burned about a decade ago, at least as a going concern for most sonic connoisseurs. But Detroit has always hewn to its own rules, and as recently as last year, acts the likes of ADULT. were releasing work that reveled in turn-of-the-millennium dance-punk tropes…
Next weekend will be one of many firsts for Maestro Leonard Slatkin and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra (DSO), as the conductor and music director will lead the world premiere of his own Endgames and the Detroit premiere of his wife Cindy McTee’s Solstice featuring DSO Principal Trombonist Kenneth Thompkins. The concerts will take place at Orchestra Hall and…
The celebrated Detroit techno duo Drexciya will have their 2002 LP Harnessed the Storm reissued by the prolific Berlin label Tresor. The album was composed as the first of seven conceptually connected works (referred to by the act as “storms”) that James Stinson and Gerald Donald wrote over the duration of a single year. However, Harnessed the Storm is…
The Motor City’s favorite rap-rockin’ cowboy, Kid Rock, announced today that his new album, First Kiss, will be released on February 24 through Warner Bros Records — his first for the label. The record is largely produced by Kid Rock, with co-production by Dann Huff on two songs, and recorded at the artist’s studio in Michigan….