Chet “JR” White, the bassist and producer in US indie rock band Girls, has died aged 40, Pitchfork reports. As a teenager, White played in a punk group called the Willies, and in 2007 he formed Girls with Christopher Owens, releasing two critically acclaimed full-length albums - 2009’s 'Album' and 2011’s 'Father, Son, Holy Ghost'. After their split in 2012, Chet worked primarily as a producer.
Mastodon guitarist Bill Kelliher, Anthrax bassist Frank Bello, Korn drummer Ray Luzier, Men Without Hats keyboardist Ivan Doroschuk, and others have joined forces to cover Faith No More's 'We Care a Lot'. The collaboration was organized by Slaves on Dope members Jason Rockman and Kevin Jardine, who contribute vocals and guitar. Refused frontman Dennis Lyxzén handles the first verse, while other vocalists include Darryl “DMC” McDaniels of Run-DMC, Richard Patrick of Filter, Walter Schreifels of Quicksand, Kevin Sharp of Brutal Truth, rapper Esoteric of Czarface, and Raine Maida of Our Lady Peace. The performance was organized to support the Roadie Relief effort, benefitting concert crew members who have been out of work in the midst of the pandemic - buy the song via Bandcamp.
Global stars like Beyonce, Rihanna, and Nicki Minaj have spoken out against police brutality in Nigeria, which has also drawn attention of the Amnesty International who reported about - "excessive use of force occasioning deaths of protesters at Lekki toll gate in Lagos". Nigerian musicians like Burna Boy, Davido, WizKid, Tiwa Savage, and Mr. Eazi have lent their voices to the #EndSARS movement, The Fader reports. SARS, or the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, was the name of Nigeria's notoriously cruel police unit, which was reportedly dissolved earlier this month.
Sigur Rós are facing a trial in Icelandic court for tax evasion, one the current and former band members say could leave them financially ruined and even jailed, Guardian reports. The band says the trial is a breach of European double jeopardy laws, since they were already tried for the same case, and the court is likely to impose a fine of at least 200% of the tax evaded. Bassist Georg “Goggi” Holm, former keyboardist Kjartan “Kjarri” Sveinsson, and former drummer Orri Páll Dýrason all say they are thinking about leaving the country, following in the footsteps of singer and guitarist Jónsi Birgisson, now based in Los Angeles. The band says they have already paid back the money in the same case (151m Icelandic krona, £840,000).
California rapper Nuke Bizzle - real name Fontrell Antonio Baines - was arrested for unemployment fraud after rapping about - committing unemployment fraud, The New York Times reports. Baines applied for unemployment benefits using stolen identities and was issued more than $1.2 million in fraudulently obtained benefits through at least 92 different debit cards, of which he cashed in more than $704,000 of them. He obtained them through a federal program that extended unemployment benefits to workers who are self-employed or independent contractors during the pandemic. He rapped about his actions in the music video for a song featuring Fat Wizza called 'EDD' in which he bragged about getting “rich off EDD” and having “swagger for EDD”, all while holding envelopes from the Employment Development Department. He faces up to 22 years in prison.
The Quietus made a great collection of the latest French music, going from hip-hop and chansons, to French and North African folk, as well as power techno. There's also a band of children, Les Loustics, with members aged 7, 9, and 12. Listen to the October mix - here.
Chineke! Orchestra has created a composition inspired by the encouraging moment from the London Black Lives Matter protests in June when anti-racism protester Patrick Hutchinson carried to safety an injured counter-protester, BBC reports. The piece, composed by James B. Wilson and including powerful poetry by Yomi Sode, is performed by Chineke! Orchestra, the first professional orchestra in Europe to be made up of majority black, Asian and ethnically diverse musicians.
José Padilla, the Spanish DJ who created the hugely successful Café del Mar compilation series in the 1990s, has died aged 64 from colon cancer, El Pais reports. Padilla moved to Ibiza in 1976 and began DJing in the island’s clubs, making his name as resident DJ at Café del Mar, the San Antonio bar that became famous for pairing relaxed music with sunset vistas. He also made his own music.
The Welsh guitarist was the driving force behind The Spencer Davis Group, who scored transatlantic hits with 'Keep On Running' and 'Somebody Help Me'. Inspired by blues and skiffle, Spencer Davis formed a band called The Saints with Bill Wyman, later a member of the Rolling Stones; and performed folk music with Christine Perfect - who, as Christine McVie, became a core member of Fleetwood Mac's classic line-up. After line-up changes, the band changed their name to The Spencer Davis Group, featuring also a teenage Stevie Winwood. Along with a number of other early British pop groups, they helped popularise the sound of US blues and R&B in the UK. The band toured with The Who and The Rolling Stones in the 60s. Guardian reflects on his career.
Avant-garde rapper Backxwash has won the 2020 Polaris Music Prize for her album 'God Has Nothing to Do With This Leave Him Out of It'. Backxwash, the stage name of performer Ashanti Mutinta, blends gothic elements of rap and metal music with her own personal experiences with faith, family and her queer identity. Also nominated were Caribou, Junia-T, Kaytranada, nêhiyawak, Pantayo, Lido Pimienta, Jessie Reyez, U.S. Girls, and Witch Prophet.
Three 6 Mafia announced what they claim will be the first arena show in the US since the pandemic began, WTVQ reports. The Dec. 11 show at RUPP ARENA in Lexington will be reduced from a capacity of 21,017 to 15 percent, which amounts to 3,152 concert-goers and event staff. The attendees will be required to wear masks and to have their temperature checked upon entry. The audience will be located in pods of 4 people or less to ensure social distancing. Tickets go for $42 to $153.
Apart from Twitch, YouTube, Instagram, TikTok and Facebook, the Guardian presents several start-ups that are getting into live-streaming. Dice TV launched with a performance by Scottish superstar Lewis Capaldi who charged £5 per person. Live show production company We Are Sound is launching DIUO later in October - it will stream one-off concerts on a pay-per-view basis, as well as allow acts to set up their own subscription-based channels to host regular events; the first 100 bands who stream with DIUO will get 10% portion of the company. Oda is offering festival-style curated programming whereby fans enjoy live performances beamed directly to Oda’s bespoke connected speakers, sold for $299 and supplemented by a $79 (£60) subscription fee every three months.
English electronic musician the Caretaker started releasing his six-part album 'Everywhere At The End Of Time' in 2016 and finished releasing it in 2019, ending with six-and-a-half-hour album. There was a concept - each of the six parts disintegrated in sound to mirror the loss of memory and identity that comes with the progression of dementia. In 2020, the album has become an unlikely viral hit on TikTok - users of the service have been challenging each other to listen to the entire record, and documenting their response to the experience. The Quietus talked to its author. Listen to the album in full at Bandcamp.
Beastie Boys have allowed one of their songs to be used in a commercial, for the first time ever, Variety reports. They licensed their biggest hit 'Sabotage' for a new official ad for Joe Biden for President campaign. It is about the dire situation music venues in America are currently in due to COVID-19. Beastie Boys can be heard in the ad next to the Pixies and others.
Bob Biggs, who founded Los Angeles independent label Slash Records, has died aged 74, Billboard reports. The label grew out of the Slash punk fanzine, where Biggs, a painter who lived next door to its offices, was a contributor in 1977. A year later, he founded Slash Records and put up $1000 to fund The Germs' 'Lexicon Devil' 7" and then released the band's classic debut album, 'GI', the next year. Biggs kept Slash Records, and the magazine, going after the other founders left and though the publication folded in 1980, the label stayed alive. While primarily known for L.A. bands -- their roster included Fear, Faith No More, Los Lobos, Dream Syndicate The Blasters, and Rank & File -- Slash widened its scope, releasing records by Violent Femmes, Robyn Hitchcock & The Egyptians, Misfits, BoDeans, Burning Spear, The Chills, and more. Bob ran Slash, which by the mid-'80s was distributed by Warner Brothers in the U.S. and London Records in the UK, until its dissolution in 1996.
Fleetwood Mac‘s seminal 1977 album ‘Rumours’ has re-entered the top 10 of the Billboard 200 after 42 years thanks to a recent surge in popularity, due to viral video on TikTok, Billboard reports. The album jumped from #13 to #7 this week, following its newfound popularity after TikToker 420doggface208 posted his viral video of him longboarding while listening to ‘Dreams’, one of the songs from the album. ‘Rumours’ had originally spent a staggering 31 weeks at #1 on the Billboard 200 across 1977 and 1978, which remains a record for an album by a duo or a band. The top of the Billboard 200 this week is reserved for Pop Smoke’s 'Shoot for the Stars, Aim for the Moon' who returns to No. 1 for a second week with 67,000 equivalent album units earned. For the first time in over two months, there are no debuts in the top 10.
Dancer Dave Toole who appeared in the opening ceremony of the 2012 Paralympics Games in London, performing an aerial routine suspended high above the Olympic Stadium, has died at the age of 56, BBC reports. Mr Toole, who was born without the use of his legs, was a professional dancer for almost 30 years and toured the world in a number of productions. He was appointed OBE in January for services to dance and disabled people. Alan Lane, artistic director of the Slung Low theatre company, described Mr Toole as an "extraordinary talent", and his 2012 performance as "mighty, beautiful and with a grace utterly beyond the ordinary human".
Church of England now co-owns Whitney Houston's 'I'm Your Baby Tonight', Bobby Brown's 'Don't Be Cruel', Beyoncé's 'Single Ladies', and Eurythmics' 'Sweet Dreams', BBC reports. English church is one of hundreds of investors in Hipgnosis, a company that spent over $1bn buying popular songs with the aim of generating income by streaming. Hipgnosis founder Merck Mercuriadis says the music he's bought is "more valuable than gold or oil", and expects it to generate income for decades to come.
Super7 made a new ReAction figure of Judas Priest's Rob Halford - a 3 3/4" figure celebrating Priest's 50th anniversary. Action Halford comes with "his classic stage outfit, microphone, and whip". Super7 also unveiled ReAction figure of Motörhead founder Lemmy Kilmister. Lemmy stands 3 3/4" tall and comes with his bass.
Rock musician Jason Barnes started drumming at age 14, but lost his arm in an accident. He learned that he can continue drumming with drumsticks taped to his stump. With the help of Gil Weinberg, a Georgia Tech professor and inventor of musical robots, the pair utilized electromyography and ultrasound technology to make a bionic hand for Barnes. Now, the "super-able" Barnes holds the world record for most drumbeats in one minute (2400) using a drumstick prosthetic. Big Think brings the encouraging story.
Google Search announced on Thursday that users can hum or whistle a song to their mobile devices, and Google Search will find its name and artist as well as relevant search results like music videos. The search might result in several different songs, with the percentage of probability of each song. It works like this: A user can tap the mic icon in Google’s search app or the Google search widget and either tap the “search a song” button or tap the mic button and say, “What’s this song?”. If using Google Assistant, they can say, “Hey, Google, what’s this song?” Then, the user just sings, hums, or whistles the tune for 10 to 15 seconds - and voilà.
Oneohtrix Point Never pays hommage to Swiss animator Georges Schwizgebel in the video for his new synth alter-pop single, ‘Long Road Home’; Tom Morello wrote 'Marching on Ferguson' for the film 'No Justice, No Peace', marking what would have been George Floyd‘s 47th birthday; The Bug releases moody, dark and cold new song 'You' featuring Dis Fig; US pop singer Demi Lovato released a protest song 'Commander in Chief'; Daniel Pemberton released a piece of good TV music for new drama 'The Trial of the Chicago 7'; The Body released intense, heavy, dark electro song 'A Lament'.
Very successful 1995 Oasis single 'Wonderwall' has reached billion stream on Spotify, becoming thus the first 90s song to ever surpass one billion streams on that streaming service, Stereogum reports. 'Wonderwall' was originally released as a single on October 30, 1995. It was released on Oasis' '(What's the Story) Morning Glory?' album, the UK’s third best selling album of all time.
The UK government is to launch an investigation on whether the artists are paid fairly by streaming services such as Spotify and Apple Music, BBC reports. Music streaming in the UK brings in more than £1bn a year in revenue, however, artists can be paid as little as 13% of the income generated. Spotify is thought to pay between £0.002 and £0.0038 per stream, Apple Music pays about £0.0059, with YouTube paying the least - about £0.00052 per stream.
Post Malone took home nine 2020 Billboard Music Awards last night, including the top artist prize. Billie Eilish seems to have been on the scene for ages now, but it's actually last year that she came to the music world big-time, so the Best new artist award went to her. Killer Mike took the first-ever Change Maker Award. Check out all the nominees and winners here. CoS argues the telecast ceremony was a "mess", especially Post Malone's performance, who forgot how to lip-sync.
Management company Big Hit Entertainment behind the K-pop boy band BTS has scored a huge hit on the country’s stock market on their first day of trading Wednesday - the shares started life on the Seoul market at 270,000 won ($US253), compared with an initial public offering price of 135,000 won last month. The stocks have climbed 30% to 351,000 won, so the company is now valued at almost 10 trillion won ($US8.5bn), Bloomberg reports. Band members’ personal wealth will also skyrocket after they were each given more than 68,000 shares in August, which means that BTS members are multi-millionaires now, with each owning shares worth 24 billion won (US$20.94 million), SCMP reports. The rise of stock has been added by reports that South Korea’s military recruitment agency was considering allowing pop and other celebrities to defer their national service. South Korea requires all able-bodied men aged between 18 and 28 to serve in the military for almost two years to defend the country against security threats from the nuclear-armed North. BTS’s 27-year old singer Jin will have to report for duty by the end of 2021, with the other six members, born between 1993 and 1997, following suit in the coming years.
Grayceon play hard-to-define-easy-to-listen-to music on 'Diablo Wind', let's just call it psych-folk post-metal; 'Bloodrush' is an intense electro-rap song with Andrew Broder, Denzel Curry, Dua Saleh, & Haleek Maul on board; Weather Station make a u-turn from folk - 'Robber' is jazzy alter-pop; James Blake releases 'Before', a cold and dancey new song, with haunting strings; an old Elton John song, 'Regimental Sgt. Zippo', very Beatles-sounding, is out now; members of Napalm Death, Converge, Megadeth, and Nasum reactivated the Blood From The Soul project - 'Debris of Dreams'; Ahya Simone takes a harpist angle to R'n'B with 'Frostbite'; new pop-folk band Thunder Dreamer present themselves with 'Of a Million'; Weird Al shares his first non-comedy song, a Portugal. The Man collaboration 'Who's Gonna Stop Me'; Bad Religion release 'What Are We Standing For' in solidarity with athletes taking a knee; Kristeen Young has taken her 2003 David Bowie collaboration 'Savior' and reimagined it as new track 'American Landfill', an unusual song with an unusual video; horn-player CARM shares a Justin Vernon pop-classical collaboration 'Land'; Americana lady Iris DeMent had a lot to say about the world today, so she made 'Going Down To Sing In Texas'; Open Mike Eagle delivers some clever punches on 'Death Parade'.
The Flaming Lips played a show in their Oklahoma City hometown Tuesday night with both the band and the audience members in bubbles, Brooklyn Vegan reports. The show was intended both as a test for the space-bubble live-show concept and as a music video shoot. The band only played two songs at the show - 'Brother Eye' and 'Assassins Of Youth' - from their new album 'American Head', each song played twice.
Fleetwood Mac's 'Dreams' has re-entered the Billboard Hot 100 chart for the first time in four decades, following a video from TikTok user 420doggface208, who shared a clip of himself cruising on a skateboard, lip-syncing to 'Dreams'. The song jumped 54% to 13.4 million streams and saw a 197% increase in downloads at 22,000, landing at No. 21 spot, Billboard reports. The album from which the single comes, 'Rumors', jumps up the Billboard 200 from No. 27 to No. 13 with 29,000 equivalent album units earned, a 48% rise.
Busker Martin McDonnell was playing Hozier's 2014 hit 'Take Me To Church' on a street in Dublin when a masked shopper stopped by do drop some cash in busker's guitar case. The singer immediately recognizes his patron, and halts his performance - “Thank you so much, have a good one man. Wow, that was Hozier!”.
