In his new opera, Blur’s Damon Albarn channels Queen Elizabeth’s angel whisperer.

Music fandom gets rewired.

Don’t be frightened, says the Icelandic singer turned professor of science and musicology. Even that gravity harp won’t kill you.

Noisy Brooklyn duo Sleigh Bells return with a dreamy, speaker-blowing second album.

Away from the reinvigorated mainstream charts, icy chanteuses, avant-garde rappers, and old-school punks made exotic sounds.

The triumph of the mainstream.

Carrying the torch for old-fashioned hitmaking.

Rihanna keeps making music so you’ll not stop thinking about her; Drake, because he can’t stop thinking about himself.

Lou Reed and Metallica grunt, grind, and bellow out an album.

Are Wilco and Feist our adult contemporary music?