Queen: Death On Two Legs

Remembering Benjamin Curtis and Phil Everly, White Lies' album art, Afrika Bambaataa and more in music this week

This week’s #PrivateJam comes from London-based duo Crispin Finn, who chose Queen’s “Death On Two Legs,” which for them is “a driving and work/print harder song” full of “all these amazing backwards silenced crash symbol sounds.” The creative pair tells us that, beyond their current obsession with Brian May, they love this track because not only is it “one of the best put down/two fingered …

White Lies: Big TV

Remembering Benjamin Curtis and Phil Everly, White Lies' album art, Afrika Bambaataa and more in music this week

With vinyl sales reportedly up 33% in 2013 (according to Billboard), the increasingly popular, resurrected medium has become not only an analog way to enjoy music, but a chance for visual artists of all sorts to show off their talents to a potential new audience with enticing cover art. 2013’s Best Art Vinyl award goes to NYC-based painter Michael Kagan for “Pilot 2″—a 2010 work …

ListenUp

Remembering Benjamin Curtis and Phil Everly, White Lies' album art, Afrika Bambaataa and more in music this week

School of Seven Bells: Painting a Memory 2014 started off with the sad news of musician Benjamin Curtis passing at the young age of 35 after a battle with cancer. The distinctly talented artist began as a drummer in Dallas-based bands UFOFU and Tripping Daisy before becoming the rocking guitarist in Secret Machines and ultimately the multi-instrumentalist in NYC’s beloved indie rock band School of …