Christine and the Queens: Freedom (George Michael Cover)

Christine and the Queens (aka singer-songwriter and producer Héloïse Adélaïde Letissier) released the two-track EP Joseph recently, which comprises covers of Michel Fugain’s 1972 song “Fais comme l’oiseau” and George Michael’s 1990 hit “Freedom.” The latter (an iconic ode to the  liberation that comes from self-exploration) has been reimagined into a downtempo tune, abandoning the original’s jangly and funky bass line, but remaining mostly faithful …

Cruza: Groove Therapy

Orlando-based three-piece Cruza (Adam Kain, Charity Joy Brown and AJ Roth) combines R&B, psych and rock on the chopped and screwed “Groove Therapy.” The tune features soulful, slightly raspy vocals by Kain that work perfectly with the languid, woozy beat.

The Magnetic Fields’ Stephin Merritt on Brevity, Dread + Writing Songs in Bars

We speak with the prolific singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist ahead of his seven-city tour

Beloved for creating songs that are simultaneously tender and witty, sweet and subversive, uncluttered and rich, laconic and entrancing, The Magnetic Fields’ Stephin Merritt—whose mellifluous baritone is immediately recognizable—stopped writing at the onset of the pandemic. “I gave up,” he tells us. “I started doing a lot more photography.” He gave up because Merritt’s ritual is writing exclusively in bars, an impossibility in NYC for …