Tom Breihan

In The Number Ones, I’m reviewing every single #1 single in the history of the Billboard Hot 100, starting with the chart’s beginning, in 1958, and working my way up into the present. Book Bonus Beat: The Number Ones: Twenty Chart-Topping Hits That Reveal the History of Pop Music.  » Read More

Three big dogs in the realm of improvisational experimental music recently got together to make an album. Guitar virtuoso Steve Gunn has already made a few records with drummer and keyboardist John Truscinski as the Gunn-Truscinski Duo. For the new LP Glass Band, the two of them worked with Bill Nace,  » Read More

UNKLE, the long-running and collaboration-heavy project from Mo’Wax label founder James Lavelle, will probably always be best-known for Psyence Fiction, the classic 1998 album that Lavelle and DJ Shadow recorded with guests like Thom Yorke, Mike D, and Richard Ashcroft. But Lavelle has kept UNKLE going without Shadow since then,  » Read More

For years, North Carolina straight-edge warriors Magnitude have been carrying the flame of passionate, sincere full-room-singalong ’90s-style hardcore. Until this morning Magnitude haven’t released anything since their 2019 debut album To Whatever Fateful End. Usually, a hardcore band can’t keep growing if they go four years without putting out new music,  » Read More

The electronic producer George Clanton has been in the news this week for messy reasons. Clanton’s label 100% Electronica announced the lineup for its ElectroniCON festival, and the headliner was John Maus, who took part in the January 6 nonsense alongside his buddy Ariel Pink. After backlash to that booking, Clanton dropped Maus from the festival and apologized.  » Read More

The chaotic story of The Idol, the Weeknd and Sam Levinson’s HBO show, continues to unfurl in predictable-but-unpredictable ways. The latest wrinkle: This weekend’s episode, the fifth of the season, is also the finale. Since the show was originally reported to be six episodes, that got a lot of people speculating that HBO had decided to cut bait on the show,  » Read More

It’s been more than three years since A-list rap weirdo Lil Uzi Vert released Eternal Atake, their last proper studio album. But Uzi has always been present, and they’ve recorded a lot of material. Uzi continues to crank out guest-verses, headline festivals, and give attention-grabbing awards-show performances.  » Read More

Neil Young released a whole lot of music in the ‘70s, and he could’ve released more. In 1977, Young and Crazy Horse came out with their LP American Stars ’N Bars. Young also had another LP ready to go, and it never came out. The fabled solo album Chrome Dreams has built up a reputation,  » Read More

YouTube legend Nardwuar The Human Serviette has come a long way since 1991, when Sonic Youth treated him like dogshit. This past weekend, Narduar made the pilgrimage to Summer Smash, the rap festival in Chicago. There, he interviewed Florida rap energy-bomb Ski Mask The Slump God. Since Nardwuar and Ski Mask’s last encounter,  » Read More