Hey, remember when politicians and candidates could engage in sketch-comedy hijinks on TV talk shows? When the world didn't feel like it was constantly at war, and it was just fun to see the charming people we'd elected be charming on TV? Yeah, me neither. Any politicians' attempt to use mass media to seem friendly…

Three years ago, leathery immortal Iggy Pop reaffirmed his rock-god bona fides, teaming up with Queens Of The Stone Age leader Josh Homme to release the tense, sweaty comeback Post Pop Depression. But last week, Pop released Free, a new album that veers off into a completely different direction. Pop recorded Free with Sarah Lipstate,…

In all the '90s retrospectives that have been going around lately, not too many people have been talking about 10,000 Maniacs, the hugely popular early-'90s college rockers, or about frontwoman Natalie Merchant, who launched a big solo career with the release of her 1995 debut album Tigerlily. (Check out Stephen Deusner's Stereogum piece on Merc...

YBN Cordae, one of the more exciting young rappers on the rise, is releasing his debut album The Lost Boy this Friday. Yesterday he followed up early previews "Have Mercy" and "Bad Idea" with the project's best single yet, "RNP," which features Anderson .Paak and was produced by J. Cole. (Cole's involvement was especially notable…

The Tom Petty estate and Steve Earle are two others suing the record label giant.Soundgarden and Hole are two of the acts suing Universal Music Group.Several artists have filed class-action lawsuits against Universal Music Group over allegations that it failed to report the full extent of damage caused by a 2008 warehouse fire. Read more: Hole...