For a band comprised of a sibling pair, Cain and Abel might seem a tricky subject to tackle. But leave it to Hop Along's Frances Quinlan, purveyor of fairy tales disguised as charming indie rock, to craft a distinctly human narrative from these few opaque Biblical verses. (Mark Quinlan, Frances' brother, is Hop Along's drummer.) On “Not Abel,” the second single from the Philly indie rock band's new...

Cecil Taylor, a towering figure of free jazz and the avant-garde, died yesterday at the age of 89 in his Fort Greene, Brooklyn home, NPR confirmed this morning. A cause of death is not immediately known. Taylor, born in Corona, Queens in 1929, imagined a new language for the piano, recasting the instrument as a physical, percussive force. He began playing at the age of six, putting down roots in...

For the latest episode of his Netflix show My Next Guest Needs No Introduction, David Letterman spoke with Jay-Z about the rapper's upbringing, his past as a drug dealer, rap music, race and, yes, infidelity. My Next Guest is often a chore to watch--it's not that the topics aren't interesting but that the conversation is mostly surface-level. It's one part Inside The Actors Studio and one part...