Alan Vega, singer in the seminal duo Suicide, has died of natural causes at age 78. The band’s 1977 self-titled debut album, with a dark and minimalist yet melodic sound, is widely considered one of the most influential releases of that decade. One of the band’s most ardent fans is Bruce Springsteen, whose classic Nebraska was influenced by Suicide…

Musician Will Toledo, the singer/songwriter/visionary of Car Seat Headrest, offers up a playlist with a little food humor mixed with tunes that'll help your party coast for hours.

Twitter was launched 10 years ago today. It's hard to remember the days before these little 140-character tweets entered our lives. So for today's 9:30 Coffee Break, what songs do you want to hear that mention birds or include tweeting noises?

Inveterate collaborators John Munson and Matt Wilson (Semisonic; Trip Shakespeare; E. Brown) dropped their second Twilight Hours album, Black Beauty, today; they’ll play a sold-out Turf Club tonight and the 7th Street Entry tomorrow. To celebrate, Minneapolis mayor Betsy Hodges and St. Paul mayor Chris Coleman made Twitter declarations declaring “Only John Munson Day” and “Only Matt Wilson Day,” respectively,…

deM atlaS, “Sum-Mo” deM atlaS is at the top of his game in this new track from mF deM, a new album featuring his rhymes over previously released MF Doom beats. Distrakt directed and animated the video. mF deM drops today, with CDs, vinyl, and free digital copies available at Fifth Element. Astronomique, “Masquerade” Astronomique follow up their self-titled…

John Lennon suffered a tragic loss; Elton John got his first No. 1 album in the U.S.; Ray Davies temporarily resigned from the Kinks; Ian Curtis of Joy Division was born in Greater Manchester; and Prince gave free albums to U.K. tabloid subscribers, Today in Music History.

As Transmission celebrates its anniversary of five years on The Current, Jake Rudh shares the list of the top 50 classic Transmission tunes, as voted by you.

For a man who was so mercurial creatively, Frank Zappa was resolutely focused and consistent throughout his career when it came to his message about who he was and what he did: he was a musician, and he just wanted to be free to make the music he wanted to make for the fans who…

400 pieces of art and furniture from the private collection of David Bowie will be sold at Sotheby’s in November — but first they’re going to star in an exhibit that will visit London, Los Angeles, New York, and Hong Kong. A visual artist himself, Bowie owned pieces by towering figures including Marcel Duchamp, Damien Hirst, and Jean-Michel Basquiat.…

It's Bastille Day today - a French national holiday celebrating the Storming of the Bastille in 1789 and the Fete de la Federation which celebrated the unity of the French people in 1790. To celebrate Bastille Day, what French musicians and bands do you want to hear for today's 9:30 Coffee Break?