Kirsten Dunst: Turning Japanese

The historic Nelson Mandela anthem, Kirsten Dunst in anime costume, a lot of NTS radio and more in our look at music this week

This past Wednesday, we hit Parisian club Silencio’s pop-up at Art Basel Miami Beach, where Pharrell and Takashi Murakami curated a set of the Japanese visual artist’s films from his most recent “Jellyfish Eyes” to 2009’s “Akihabara Majokko Princess.” The latter—which exhibited at London’s Tate Modern museum—is the pop artist’s attempt to blend highbrow and lowbrow art. Directed by Hollywood-famous McG, it features Kirsten Dunst …

The Special AKA: Nelson Mandela

The historic Nelson Mandela anthem, Kirsten Dunst in anime costume, a lot of NTS radio and more in our look at music this week

As the world mourns the passing of Nelson Mandela this week, we remember his profound spirit through the UK band The Special AKA’s 1984 catchy anthem, “Nelson Mandela“—released as “(Free) Nelson Mandela” stateside. Produced by Elvis Costello, the song fuses the band’s characteristic ska beats and brass with African harmonies, propelled by Stan Campbell’s persuasive voice. Differing from most political protest songs, it is upbeat, …

ListenUp: Record Store Day

Our look at the special releases and limited editions stemming from the vinyl-focused biannual holiday

The Replacements: All Shook Down Forming in the final year of the ’70s in Minneapolis, Minnesota, The Replacements ushered in the ’80s with their critically-acclaimed (if commercially unsuccessful) American indie rock sound. In 1990, a year before disbanding, they released the stripped-down album All Shook Down, which, likely due to the band’s cassette-tape obsessed fan base at the time, was never pressed on vinyl. For …