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The late-night performance has become a rite of passage in recent years for up-and-coming bands. For more established acts, it is a chance to play some songs from a new record. There is no denying that the moves made in 2014 in the late-night realm affected the quality of the performances. David Letterman is retiring in May, so he has just been enjoying it all — he really dug Ryan Adams. Jimmy Fallon took over "The Tonight Show," which meant The Roots adding their Philly funk to acts like Bobby Shmurda. And Stephen Colbert ended his tenure on "The Colbert Report" recently, wisely booking Kendrick Lamar for his final week.The last year was filled with great performances that may have been on past your bedtime. Here are a few of our favorites. -
Music Times 25 Best Songs of 2014: Taylor Swift, Kendrick Lamar, Hozier, St. Vincent & More
2014 was the year of a thousand controversies: Taylor Swift pulled all of her music from Spotify, Sun Kil Moon started a feud with The War On Drugs, Jack White accused The Black Keys of ripping him off (again), and almost nobody went platinum. When you put all of that aside, however, what you're left with is a bunch of incredible songs, which is really what it's all about. Here are the 25 best songs from 2014, as determined by Music Times writers Ryan Book, Caitlin Carter, Joey DeGroot, Kyle Dowling, and Carolyn Menyes. -
One Direction, Jimmy Fallon & The Roots Get Festive with "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" on Classroom Instruments [WATCH]
One Direction may not be coming to your town until 2015, but Santa Claus' worldwide tour is later this week (Dec. 25). To help make Directioners and fans of The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon aware that Santa is, in fact, coming to town, the "Night Changes" band teamed up with Fallon and The Roots last night (Dec. 22) to play, you guessed it, "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" on classroom instruments. -
[ALBUM STREAM] D'Angelo 'Black Messiah' Is Available Now: Singer Dropped First Album Since 2000's 'Voodoo' [LISTEN]
After a 14-year recording hiatus, soul singer D'Angelo finally put out another album. "Black Messiah" became available yesterday, Dec. 14, for fans on iTunes. Expectations are heavy for the performer's new album, "Billboard" notes, especially considering his 2000 release, "Voodoo," was a huge success.Although the release date was never formally announced, "Black Messiah" was a hotly anticipated effort. D'Angelo has been dropping hints over the past year, debuting new songs live and letting Questlove of The Roots host a listening party. He recently dropped the first single, "Sugah Daddy," as well — see the tracklist and stream the record below.As "Pitchfork" points out, the CD sleeve contains a message that promises that some of the album's tunes are political:"Not every song on this album is politically charged (though many are), but calling this album "Black Messiah" creates a landscape where these songs can live to the fullest. "Black MessiahÆ is not one man. It's a feeling that, collectively, we are all that leader.""Black Messiah" is only D'Angelo's third album. His debut, "Brown Sugar," came out in 1995. It was "Voodoo," though, that catapulted him to stardom. The album dominated the charts and, with the help of the music video for "Untitled (How Does It Feel)," made the singer a sex symbol. -
David Bowie, Bing Crosby, Jimmy Fallon, The Pogues: 8 Best Holiday Duets [LISTEN]
Duets are special. They tend to carve out little moments in time when two artists link up and compliment their talents to the delight of listeners. There are tons of holiday duets out there, but we decided to put a list together of some classic, some silly and some forgotten team efforts. Bing Crosby, David Bowie, Jimmy Fallon and The Pogues all made the cut. -
Music for The New York Times '100 Notable Books': The Roots, The Smiths, Charles Mingus and More
Unfortunately, as music writers, we can't dabble too often in the fairer art of writing (ha, ironic) but we can suggest some albums to accompany you as you tackle the titles from the Times' favorites. Below are ten published works and an album to pair it with. -
10 Best Album Covers Of 2014: FKA Twigs, St. Vincent, The Roots, And More
Music lovers often experience album covers before hearing the album itself, so it's pretty appropriate that we're publishing our list of the best album covers of 2014 before our list of best albums of 2014 (stay tuned for that one in a few weeks, by the way). Here are the year's top 10 album covers. -
Iggy Azalea and The Roots Play 'Beg for It' on 'The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon' [WATCH]
Iggy Azalea is on a hot streak as of late. Recently she won Favorite Artist and Favorite Album for rap/hip-hop at the American Music Awards, beating out the likes of Eminem and Drake. The rapper also put out a reissue of her debut album, The New Classic, called Reclassified. Last night (Nov. 28), she capped off an impressive run of TV appearences with The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon to perform "Beg for It" with The Roots. -
Jimmy Fallon, The Roots Fill In For U2 With "Desire" On 'The Tonight Show'
Bono's recent cycling accident meant Fallon and his house band could do their best U2 impression, and they killed it Monday night with "Desire." -
U2 To Perform Weeklong Residency on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon
Jimmy Fallon has announced that U2 will be taking on a weeklong residency at The Tonight Show starting Monday, Nov.17. This appears to be a recent trend on late night shows, considering those very same days, Metallica will be performing a weeklong residency on The Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson and just last month Foo Fighters ran through a weeklong residency on Late Show With Daivd Lettterman. Luckily for U2 and Fallon, the Metallica performances won't overlap as Ferguson's show has a different timeslot. -
The Roots Give 'Halloween' Theme Music a Makeover [LISTEN]
Jimmy Fallon welcomed an especially scary guest to The Tonight Show on Halloween (Oct. 31) recently. -
The Roots Perform Taylor Swift's "Shake It Off" As 'Black Simon And Garfunkel' [WATCH]
While Taylor Swift is riding the success of her hit "Shake It Off" to the top of the charts, ?uestlove and Kirk Douglas of The Roots are using it for comedy gold.
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