The New Yorker is welcoming people back to the office with an introduction of brand-new album 'Now, That’s What We Call . . . an Office!' comprised of eight one-hour songs. The funny album includes song titles such as 'Water-Cooler Chatter', 'Loud Work Call' and 'Printer Percussion'.
Britney Spears’ father Jamie Spears has filed a petition to end his daughter’s conservatorship after more than a decade in charge of it. Jamie Spears’ attorney Vivian Thoreen offered an explanation for the petition in the filing: "Ms. Spears has told this Court that she wants control of her life back without the safety rails of a conservatorship. She wants to be able to make decisions regarding her own medical care, deciding when, where and how often to get therapy. She wants to control the money she has made from her career and spend it without supervision or oversight. She wants to be able to get married and have a baby, if she so chooses. In short, she wants to live her life as she chooses without the constraints of a conservator or court proceeding. As Mr. Spears has said again and again, all he wants is what is best for his daughter. If Ms. Spears wants to terminate the conservatorship and believes that she can handle her own life, Mr. Spears believes that she should get that chance". In a statement to Rolling Stone, Britney Spears’ attorney Mathew S. Rosengart said that Jamie Spears’ new filing “represents a massive legal victory for Britney Spears, as well as vindication”.
Lil Uzi Vert had his $24 million diamond implant ripped right off his forehead after he jumped into the crowd at Miami’s Rolling Loud Festival, CNN reports. He was fortunately able to hold onto the diamond and still has it in his possession. The pink diamond is reportedly worth $24 million and was surgically implanted in the rapper's face earlier this year.
Massive Attack have released their climate plan aiming to restructure the music industry, in order to combat the climate crisis, Guardian reports. Years in the making, the findings of their partnership with the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, the plan is proposing a course of action for the “urgent and significant reassembly” of the music industry. Required actions include the immediate elimination of private jet use, a switch to electric transportation for concerts and festivals, and, by 2025, phasing out diesel generators at festivals.
Kanye West’s 'Donda' has debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 in the biggest week for any album released this year with 309,000 equivalent album units, Billboard reports. With 'Donda', Kanye West has once again tied Eminem for the record of most No. 1 debuts in a row on the albums chart, too. Eminem broke the tie in early 2020 with 'Music to Be Murdered By'. West has become one of only seven artists in chart history to release 10 chart-topping albums, alongside the Beatles, JAY-Z, Bruce Springsteen, Barbra Streisand, Eminem, and Elvis Presley.
Shortly after the military coup in Myanmar at the beginning of the year, four musicians recorded a protest song 'Headshot' about security forces shooting to kill. Within hours of releasing the song, the rockers scattered. Three of them were later placed on a wanted list for sedition, their names and photos shown on the military-run TV channel. By June, they’d be irreparably separated. Kyar Pauk has since fled the country. Han Nay Tar, lead singer of Eternal Gosh, an alternative and pop rock band established in 2013, has gone deep into hiding and couldn’t be reached. Novem Htoo, among the country’s most famous metal vocalists, has sought shelter with an ethnic armed organization. Raymond, lead singer of the band The Idiots and among Myanmar’s most influential rock musicians of this generation, had been staying in the jungle with Novem Htoo, but on June 23rd, the 32-year-old, who had long suffered from gastrointestinal problems, was found dead. Rolling Stone tells the story in full.
English rap meets afrobeat with a touch of Balkan brass sound on Che Lingo’s ‘Eyes on the Prize’; Bobby Shmurda has put out his first single since being released from prison, a big song 'No Time For Sleep'; Jerry Cantrell goes country-grunge on ‘Atone’; Madi Diaz is fully emotional on 'Think of Me'.
Anghami is a music streaming service based in the Middle East, namely Abu Dhabi, serving mostly the Middle East. "It has 70 million registered users and nearly 60 million songs in its library. It’s also set to be the first Arab tech startup to go public on New York’s Nasdaq stock exchange. Anghami’s trajectory has also been something of a case study in how the global music industry is being slowly transformed from outside its core centers of New York, Los Angeles, and London". Rest of the World brings the whole story.
ABBA have released two songs, their first new music in 40 years - 'I Still Have Faith In You' is a big nostalgic ballad, whereas 'Don't Shot Me Down' is a dancey song. Both of these will be released on their new album 'Voyage' on November 5, NPR reports. ABBA has also announced a virtual tour Abba Voyage, which will open next year in a specially-built arena in east London. Playing six nights a week, it will feature digital versions of Abba's band members, accompanied by a 10-piece live band performing 22 of their greatest hits. The digital Abba show will initially be staged in London, but could tour the world. The so-called "Abba-tars" were designed by Industrial Light and Magic - the visual effects company founded by Star Wars creator George Lucas. More than 850 people worked on recreating Abba "in their prime" using motion capture technology to scan "every mannerism and every motion" of the musicians, who are now in their 70s, as they performed.
Dogpatch is a podcast with two funny hosts Dante Carfagna and Jon Kirby talking about music, and playing music on a theme in each episode. The last episode was about music recorded in prison, by prisoners, the big chunk of it from the 1970s. Maximum Security Prism episode features music by Location Service, Walls, Reality Index, Public-Use Guitar, Pando, Cashbox Directory, All-State Band, Bids, Culture Gaps, Concrete Reflection, Cupcake, Winston Moore, Studio Guns, Isolated Not Isolation, Rodeos, Stateville Merch Booth, and Heartsongs.
