Rolling Stone July 1, 2016

MUSIC MAXWELL RETURNS The veteran soul man talks about the years of work that went into the making of his upcoming blackSUMMERS’night – his first album since 2009 – plus his new tour, the state of R&B today, and how to last for two decades in the music business. FEATURE MODERN-DAY BONNIE & CLYDE How Blake Fitzgerald and Brittany Harper’s violent crime spree (including hotel robberies and home invasions) gained a cult following and ended in a fatal hail of bullets. EXCLUSIVE DESCENDENTS ROCK AGAIN Pioneering pop punkers the Descendents, who influenced everybody from Green Day to Blink-182, tell the story of their first album in 12 years, out in late July. INTERVIEW RINGO STARR REMEMBERS Starr talks about his current tour and upcoming album, and reflects on his friendship with the late George Martin: “He was understanding of four punks…

The Contender could teach a master class in profile writing [“Oscar Isaac’s X Factor,” RS 1262]. Having only seen Isaac in last year’s unforgettable series Show Me a Hero, I realize now I was pretty unfamiliar with his body of work. Now I want to see all of it. Dan Marsh, via the Internet like Isaac, mentioning him in the same breath as Al Pacino is hyperbolic. By the time he was Isaac’s age, Pacino had starred in The Panic in Needle Park, two Godfather films and Serpico. Let’s wait until Isaac becomes synonymous with some classic films before anointing him. Pamela Lewis, via the Internet a crucial moment. At a 2013 concert celebrating the music of Inside Llewyn Davis, an almost unknown Isaac, following Jack White, walked onstage with just his guitar and made…

1. Beck “Wow” Beck’s next album will be out in the fall, and if this new single is any indication, it might be the sweetest mix of his lovingly absurdist hiphop side and his slyly gorgeous singer-songwriter side since Odelay. On “Wow,” Beck drops lyrics such as “Standing on the lawn doin’ jujitsu/Girl in a bikini with the Lamborghini Shih Tzu” over a springy surreal beat that sounds like trap music, if the lord of the trap were Willy Wonka. 2. Pusha T feat. Jay Z “Drug Dealers Anonymous” Alongside Pusha T, our coke-rap laureate, Jay gets off the La-Z-Boy to deliver his best bars in ages: “Ambidextrous/Countin’ with my right, whippin’ white with my left wrist.” Nice job, Dad. 3. The Shelters “Rebel Heart” The first band Tom Petty has ever produced, and you…

“These are songs about talking directly to someone’s spirit,” says the Heart singer, who’s touring this summer with Cheap Trick and Joan Jett. “They’re all ballads.” Peter Gabriel “Don’t Give Up” He did this as a duet with Kate Bush. It’s a pure dialogue between two people that isn’t ironic or sarcastic. It really hits me. Garbage “Beloved Freak” The message here is, “You aren’t alone, and I love you, beloved freak.” It’s a song to the 20 percent of crazy people who recognize each other. The Beatles “Across the Universe” This is pure, open-soul Lennon. He’d found his spiritual center with Yoko. It’s an amazing moment. The Rolling Stones “Fool to Cry” This one makes me melt because it’s so simple and heart-rending. Even though they were drugged-out guys, they could still be vulnerable. Led Zeppelin “The Rain Song” My favorite Led Zeppelin song.…

E future looked bright for the Red Hot Chili Peppers. After a year of writing, the band had come up with a batch of new songs that it was proud of. Guitarist Josh Klinghoffer, who joined the Chili Peppers in 2010, was taking on a bigger role in the songwriting and had developed an easy chemistry with his bandmates. Then frontman Anthony Kiedis and bassist Flea took a snowboarding trip to Montana. “We were jetting down the mountain, going, like, 50 miles an hour, when I just wiped out,” says Flea. “It was like, bam. My arm started swelling up right away. I broke my arm in five places. Big pieces of bone were shorn off.” Flea managed to snowboard down the mountain, where he was met by an ambulance. He underwent…

I Sons fulfilled a longtime dream when they traveled to South Africa to play three shows. While there, they decided to create their own souvenir: “We thought it would be amazing to go into a studio and take a sonic photograph,” says bassist Ted Dwane. “None of us are experts in African music. We didn’t know if it would work or not.” The band spent two days in a Johannesburg studio (“The gear was kind of fucked, to be honest,” says Dwane), working with Afro-electronic collaborators the Very Best and Senegalese pop star Baaba Maal. The result is Johannesburg, a fivesong EP that blends the band’s signature rousing choruses with Afrobeat guitars and rhythms. Like the Mumfords’ electrified, divisive 2015 album Wilder Mind, Johannesburg marks another step in the band’s desire…