During the last two decades, much of what wasn't rock - and even plenty of rock itself - had something to do with hip-hop. Pop tempos drifted to the middle, lyrics got more aggressive, melody narrowed and simplified, and gender lines stopped blurring. In Europe and much of the world, dance music radicalized pop with the synth sounds of the future, but upbeat club sounds rarely reached US radio beyond Madonna and Janet Jackson. We… more »
It used to be easier to pretend that an album was its own perfectly self-contained artifact. The great records certainly feel that way. But albums are more permeable than solid, their motivations, executions and inspirations informed by, and often stolen from, their peers and forbearers. It all sounds awfully formal, but it's not. It's the very nature of music — of art, even. The Six Degrees features examine the relationships between classic records and five… more »