Louder: The New Face of Car Seat Headrest

April 24, 2020

By Caryn Ganz

Pop Music Editor

A large number of stories can (and do) begin like this nowadays:

[Insert name artist] was planning to do [insert thing]. Then came the coronavirus.

But for a Car Seat Headrest story, our writer Alex Pappademas couldn’t avoid the obvious: The band’s leader, Will Toledo, planned to conduct business for his entire album cycle in a modified gas mask. He planned this (you guessed it), before the pandemic. “It was supposed to be sort of an exotic alternative to reality — like a challenge, I guess, to normal life,” Toledo said. “And now it just feels a lot more pointed in a way that I wasn’t planning on and don’t really take any pleasure in.” That new album, “Making a Door Less Open,” is a very different type of record for this indie-rock band with a fervent fan base. Read and hear more here.

More rock music coming your way: Lucinda Williams has a raw, garagey new album that well captures her anger and frustration; the Rolling Stones have a new song that harks back to “Miss You”; and hospitals are blasting classic tracks like “Don’t Stop Believin’” and “Here Comes the Sun” when virus patients are finally discharged.

Plus: Giovanni Russonello on Henry Grimes and Giuseppi Logan, two jazz artists known for their disappearing acts, who both returned for late-life resurgences, and both died of the coronavirus. And a playlist of 10 women in jazz who never got their due.

And if you’re watching the Beastie Boys documentary this weekend (A.O. Scott says it’s a Critic’s Pick!), read his interview with Ad-Rock and Mike D here.

Continue reading the main story

Grant Hindsley for The New York Times

The New Face of Car Seat Headrest

Will Toledo is leaning into his ambitions and leading his band into new territory on “Making a Door Less Open,” an album that comes with a new look — and a mask.

By Alex Pappademas

PROFILES AND Q&A

Lucinda Williams Is Raw, Riled Up and Ready to Speak Her Mind

The singer and songwriter’s 14th studio album, “Good Souls Better Angels,” is stocked with fuzzy guitars and pointed political lyrics.

By Jewly Hight

Meet Zsela, a Singer Perfecting the Art of Taking It Slowly

The 25-year-old vocalist and songwriter has been tinkering with the unhurried songs on her debut EP, “Ache of Victory,” for years.

By Jon Pareles

Ryan Heffington Wants the Whole World to Dance

His choreography for Major Lazer and Marcus Mumford’s “Lay Your Head on Me” has dancers from 29 countries moving with ease and enjoyment.

By Gia Kourlas

Yale University

3,000 Interviews. 50 Years. Listen to the History of American Music.

Vivian Perlis founded Yale’s Oral History of American Music in 1968. Today, the project continues her mission to record the voices of American composers.

By William Robin

Continue reading the main story

THE CRITICS

the playlist

The Rolling Stones Still Miss You, and 13 More New Songs

Hear tracks by Juice WRLD, Evanescence, Jónsi and others.

By Jon Pareles, Jon Caramanica and Giovanni Russonello

critic’s pick

‘Beastie Boys Story’ Review: Pass the Mic, and the Memories

Ad-Rock and Mike D share stories and grief in a live documentary directed by Spike Jonze.

By A.O. Scott

Beyond ‘Trolls’ and ‘Frozen’: What Are Our Kids Listening To?

Children’s films lean heavily on pop, but the elementary school set has access to a whole universe of music now.

critic’s notebook

Pop Music Faces the Coronavirus in Prime Time

Lady Gaga, the Rolling Stones, Billie Eilish and more took over the major networks for a Global Citizen event celebrating essential workers and supporting the World Health Organization.

By Jon Pareles

JAZZ

Hiroko Masuike/The New York Times, Michelle V. Agins/The New York Times

Critic’s Notebook

Henry Grimes and Giuseppi Logan, Lost and Found Jazz Stars, Are Both Gone

The musicians were the two biggest disappearing acts on the jazz avant-garde. Now both have died of complications of the coronavirus.

By Giovanni Russonello

Popperfoto/Getty Images; Gilles Petard/Redferns, via Getty Images; Afro Newspaper/Gado, via Getty Images

Playlist

10 Women in Jazz Who Never Got Their Due

We’re often taught to think of jazz’s history as a cavalcade of great men and their bands, but from its beginnings the music was often in the hands of women. Listen to some of the greatest.

By Giovanni Russonello

Continue reading the main story

OBITUARIES

Richard Teitelbaum, Electronic Composer and Improviser, Dies at 80

Mr. Teitelbaum, whose sonic vocabulary emphasized otherworldly sounds and textures, worked with everyone from Karlheinz Stockhausen to Anthony Braxton.

By Steve Smith

those we’ve lost

Fred the Godson, Nimble New York Rapper, Dies at 41

The Bronx musician was a forceful presence on mixtapes, filling his rhymes with clever punch lines.

By Jon Caramanica

Moraes Moreira, 72, Dies; Brazilian Songwriter and ‘Cowboy of Sound’

His songs, written with a shifting assortment of lyricists, forged musical hybrids with his Bahian roots and celebrated Brazil’s multicultural vitality.

By Jon Pareles