Paste Magazine

In our first digital cover story of 2026, Dry Cleaning (@drycleaningband) talks about celebrating the mundane in the face of global regression on their Cate Le Bon-produced album, Secret Love. 🔗: pastemagazine.com/music/dry-clea… 📸: Max Miechowski

This week's best new songs roundup features Blood Sucking Maniacs’ postcard paean, heavensouls’ Afrobeat collage, and My New Band Believe’s meal-prep romance. pastemagazine.com/?p=422036

The new underscores album hits all the beats of a classic pop record—a choreo-primed single, a power ballad, a post-breakup closure anthem—without overstaying its welcome. pastemagazine.com/?p=422022

Music like Robert Lester Folsom’s, brackish and mystical, is always going to be sought after. It’s naïve, lo-fi, and needfully sincere—a compelling part of the Great American Songbook, whether recognized or not. pastemagazine.com/?p=421970

Paul McCartney is set to perform intimate shows for 1,200 people at The Fonda in Los Angeles on March 27 and 28. pastemagazine.com/?p=421960

35 years ago, R.E.M. took a leap of faith that a folkish, baroque album with hip-hop, mandolins, and shiny, happy bubblegum pop wouldn’t effectively end their careers as a mainstream rock band. pastemagazine.com/?p=421956

Smashing Pumpkins, Charli XCX, Tate McRae, Lorde, Olivia Dean, John Summit, JENNIE, and The xx have been tapped to headline this year's Lollapalooza. pastemagazine.com/?p=421920

The Wallflowers will play both their 1996 breakthrough and Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers’ Long After Dark in full at 80 shows across the U.S. and Europe. pastemagazine.com/?p=421916

In @grantsharpies' newest Audio Books column, music journalist Andy Beta talks about spirituality, jazz, and 'Cosmic Music: The Life, Art, and Transcendence of Alice Coltrane.' pastemagazine.com/?p=421900

In our newest feature, @andrejgee writes about Infinite Coles, whose current musical chapter is a byproduct of self-love and self-acceptance. pastemagazine.com/music/infinite…

At this year's Oscars, Diane Warren broke an infamous record, Barbra Streisand sang for Robert Redford, and Kpop Demon Hunters won big. pastemagazine.com/?p=421861

Whether it’s in Halloween, Longlegs, or Weapons, the horror genre’s most effective musical moments take songs audiences already know and twist them into something that’s permanently unsettling. pastemagazine.com/?p=421849

With the Oscars ceremony happening tonight, here are 15 Best Original Song winners that transcend the films they were made for. pastemagazine.com/?p=421819

When we categorize the KPop Demon Hunters soundtrack as K-pop, we simultaneously downplay diaspora storytelling and allow American-made media to take up space it shouldn’t have claim to. pastemagazine.com/?p=421812

In 1996, the nerdy prince of popular music parodies turned to gangsta rap and alternative rock to prove that his silly shtick was as relevant as ever. pastemagazine.com/?p=421793

The new albums from Kim Gordon, Cut Worms, and ELUCID should be at the top of your queue today. Tap in and find a new obsession. pastemagazine.com/?p=421759

Cameron Crowe’s Almost Famous plays as an entertaining, poignant testament to the value of criticism that still endures a quarter of a century later. pastemagazine.com/?p=421746

James Blake's first independent studio album is a scattershot splintering of ideas that gel together as often as they drift apart. pastemagazine.com/?p=421739

25 years ago, the maximalist and pristine aspirations of Daft Punk's second album was a watershed moment for the world of digital music production. pastemagazine.com/?p=421717

This week's best new songs roundup features Iceage’s erotic, blood-red drama, DJ Sabrina The Teenage DJ’s techno maximalism, and Thomas Dollbaum’s ragged guitar seance. pastemagazine.com/?p=421705

For about five years, Disney and Nickelodeon taught a generation of kids to crave the fantasy of being discovered through music. But streaming and internet algorithms ruined the business model. pastemagazine.com/?p=421692