Some #longreads as you contemplate what happened to February…

Not a lot happened this week, but this Pitchfork exploration of the little-known connection between M.I.A. and 90’s punk rockers Elastica was an interesting piece and a highlight of the week.

The music press community has been buzzing these past few weeks about the release of legendary critic Robert Christgau’s memoir, on which Deadspin provides some commentary while Rolling Stone interviews the “Dean” himself.  Personally, I understand his importance to the field of music criticism, and appreciate the fact that he championed some worthy acts over the years, but I often found his writing itself as too clever by half.

Consequence of Sound interviews Wayne Coyne and the Flaming Lips frontman focuses their discussion on love.  I would assume that the site’s editor was disappointed that they ran this piece two weeks after Valentine’s Day.

The AV Club takes a look at Nas’s follow-up to his legendary Illmatic, which gave him his first taste of commercial success even if it didn’t measure up artistically to his debut, as well as providing its readers with a Primer on 80’s UK Synth-Pop for some reason.  One of these pieces is more essential than the other.

And finally, for those of you who are the sort of people who plan things, Consequence of Sound ranks the summer festivals so you can adjust your schedules accordingly.