Receiving his Video Vanguard Award at this year’s MTV VMAs, Kanye West gave one of the most deeply ambiguous (not to say confusing) acceptance speeches at any awards show in recent memory. Among the many topics Kanye touched on — including his supposedly planned Presidential run — was the contrived injustice of awards shows generally.…

“Lionel and Adele…that’s the best pairing you could have!” So declares Lionel Richie, who’s an Adele fan and is happy that her smash hit “Hello” has drawn renewed attention to his signature ballad from 1984. “We are going to be doing something together,” he says — but acknowledges that it may have to wait for her tour…

Dan Israel: Dan Back for his 13th studio album, Dan Israel is releasing Dan this Friday at the 331 Club. This introspective man of folk sometimes flies beneath the radar, but you can find him in Northeast Minneapolis on Friday. Dan’s influence seems to sit between Bob Dylan and another Minnesota favorite, Craig Finn. His…

“Prince is so mysterious,” says Brittany Howard of Alabama Shakes. “He’ll summon you, and you’ll go meet him, and you don’t know what to talk about, and you’re just trying not to freak out.” Howard tells Rolling Stone it took Prince only 15 minutes to learn the band’s song “Gimme All Your Love,” which he took a solo…

Update: Thank you for listening to our 2015 Prince A-to-Z marathon. Follow all of our ongoing Prince coverage here. It’s that moment you’ve been waiting for: we’ve pulled the purple lever! MPR News weather guru Paul Huttner has officially certified that one inch of snow has accumulated in Chanhassen, Minn. — home of Prince’s famous…

Festival Palomino, Trampled By Turtles‘ Americana festival at Canterbury Park, has announced that it will return for a third year: the 2016 date is Saturday, Sept. 17. Early-bird tickets are now on sale. The lineup won’t be announced until early next year, but it’s a pretty safe bet that a certain quick-strumming band from Duluth will…

Vice has released the full video of its recent interview with Eagles of Death Metal, who describe their harrowing and horrifying experiences during the Paris attacks — and pledge to carry on as a band. “I want to be the first band that plays in the Bataclan when it opens back up,” says frontman Jesse Hughes. Meanwhile,…

After Saturday’s show in the Mainroom at First Avenue, I no longer have any qualms about calling Hippo Campus a boy band — and I mean that as high praise. Boy bands rule – they were the first music I became a fan of, back when the Backstreet Boys and *NSYNC were selling zillions of…

On the very best of days, the biggest decision that I have to make is what album to listen to when I get home. These moments are rare, mind you, but there are times when immersing yourself in a record from start to finish can change the course and the mood of your entire day.…

Cynthia Robinson of Sly and the Family Stone has died of cancer at age 69. Robinson, a co-founder of the group, was a trumpeter and vocalist who provided some of the group’s most memorable moments — that’s her voice singing “get up and dance to the music” in the band’s 1968 hit. (Billboard) Adele has smashed sales records…