~pitchfork | Bookmarks (30)

The composer and pianist studied under La Monte Young and collaborated closely with Jon Hassell before turning to Hollywood soundtracks

The DJ born Calvin LeBrun was a Hot 97 mainstay and an early collaborator of Big Daddy Kane

The Tackhead and Little Axe member also drummed on songs for Nine Inch Nails, Tina Turner, and R.E.M.

Kain helped set the stage for rap with the Harlem collective’s beat-driven performance poetry about racism and oppression

Though never patented, Negishi’s 1967 Sparko Box was the first device to facilitate what would become a wildly popular musical pastime

A Jamaican appeals court will now decide whether the dancehall star and his co-defendants will again stand trial

The Detroit rapper worked with Jam Master Jay and Erick Sermon on her solo studio album, 1993’s Born Gangstaz

The Cleveland singer, guitarist, and songwriter was behind power-pop hits like “Hungry Eyes” and “Go All the Way”

The grindcore band issued a statement commemorating Harrison, who played samples, noise, and other sound design: “You are etched into the bedrock of our lives”

A son of the reggae singer Denroy Morgan, he started Morgan Heritage with seven of his siblings in the mid-1990s

The Japanese musician performed and recorded with the German krautrock band for a short but important period in the early 1970s

The key reggae figure played on “Could You Be Loved,” “Get Up Stand Up,” and “No Woman, No Cry,” as well as songs by Lee “Scratch” Perry and Peter Tosh, among others

As well as driving the Essex band’s striking Soviet aesthetic, Griffin shot covers for the likes of Psychedelic Furs and Echo & the Bunnymen

“Melinda was more than my wife,” the Beach Boys co-founder said of the woman who steered his psychological recovery. “She was my savior.”

Melanie Safka was a prolific singer-songwriter and one of only three solo female performers at the original 1969 Woodstock Music and Art Fair

A member of the Sandwell District collective, Juan Mendez was a prominent force in the Los Angeles techno scene