Rapper Meek Mill has earned an award for his acting debut in the highly anticipated film 'Charm City Kings' - the movie has landed U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Award for Ensemble Cast at the Sundance. 'Charm City Kings' centers around a fourteen-year-old boy who wants to join the Midnight Clique, an infamous group of Baltimore dirt-bike riders. The movie is executive produced by Will Smith.
van Král - the composer, producer, and guitarist who composed many songs with Patti Smith, most notably 'Dancing Barefoot' - has died aged 71. Král also performed on and wrote for Smith’s debut album 'Horses' (1975), 'Radio Ethiopia' (1976), 'Easter' (1978), and the live album 'Exodus' (1994), recorded in the ’70s. Král also wrote songs performed by Iggy Pop, David Bowie, Eastern Bloc, and others. In 1976, Král released a documentary of the local New York punk scene titled 'The Blank Generation' - featuring footage of Blondie, Richard Hell and the Voidoids, Talking Heads, Ramones, Wayne County, and more. Král released a string of solo albums over 26 years.
No big new albums were out last week, so "older" albums took a chance to rise to the top of Billboard 200 chart. Roddy Ricch’s 'Please Excuse Me for Being Antisocial' returned to No. 1 on the American albums chart for a third nonconsecutive week, after earning a little under 95,000 equivalent album units with vast majority of 92,000 SEA in units (streaming equivalent albums). Billie Eilish climbed to the No. 3 spot with her album 'When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?' sold in 62,000 equivalent album units, thanks to her big night at the Grammys. Eminem’s 'Music to Be Murdered By' falls to No. 2 with 89,000 equivalent album units in its second week.
Andy Gill, founding member and guitarist of the highly influential Gang of Four, has died aged 64. "Andy’s final tour in November was the only way he was ever really going to bow out; with a Stratocaster around his neck, screaming with feedback and deafening the front row" - his current band said on Facebook. The surviving members of the original Gang of Four lineup also released a statement - "we fondly remember the good times when the four of us wanted to change the world. Andy was our brother. We made a lot of great noise and art together. We had a few drinks. We traveled the world and made friends. We made people dance, and think, and laugh, and love".
A nice punky song 'M1A1' buy the Gorillaz, featuring slowthai and Slaves, with the cartoon band members showing up in the video; Nicolas Jaar revived his Against All Logic alias and has shared a song 'Alucinao', a collaboration with FKA twigs, song is tagged as "grimeton" (probably a portmanteau of "grime" and "reggaeton); Peter Bjorn And John released a jazzy pop song 'Drama King'; old school hip-hop house is full again - Method Man and Redman feature on a Gang Starr remix of 'Bad Name'; producer Daniel Avery and Nine Inch Nails synth wizard Alessandro Cortini have announced their new collaborative album with a new song 'Illusion of Time'; Royde Da 5'9'' proves he's in fine form with 'I Don't Age'; “Murderfolk” artist Amigo the Devil has released a new Tom Jones cover 'Delilah', on banjo; underground rapper Aesop Rock is back with a new single 'Rogue Wave'.
Many young rappers have died in the past few years. Mac Miller died in 2018 aged 26 of a cocaine-fentanyl overdose, Lil Peep died at 21 in 2017 of accidental fentanyl and Xanax overdose. Juice WRLD died late last year after a drug-induced seizure. XXXTentacion was killed in 2018 aged 20 in a robbery. In March 2019, Nipsey Hussle was shot dead outside his Los Angeles clothing store. What can be done to stop this?
'American Utopia' began as a David Byrne album, it was then turned into a Broadway musical, and now movie director Spike Lee is adapting a feature-length film version. “Pinch me. This couldn’t have worked out better for this project” - Byrne commented on the project. 'American Utopia', the album, came out in 2018, and the musical opened in October 2019 with Byrne joined onstage by 11-piece mobile ensemble playing songs from the album, other tracks from his solo catalog, and Talking Heads material. The movie is coming out this year.
Small venues are important not only to touring musicians and gig-goers, but also to the fabric of our culture and to the future of young talent, NME writes in a lovely article about the Independent Venue Week (being held till February 2 in the UK, and one week in July in the US). “I was playing in places like this for about 10 years” this year’s Independent Venue Week Ambassador Anna Calvi tells NME - “I wasn’t confident when I first went out and started singing in a three-piece punk band. Over those 10 years, I became much more of a singer and completely changed the style of music that I wanted to make. You have to play live to find out what turns you on”. So, long live small venues!!!
"If you want to know why everyone’s talking about New York right now, this should explain everything" - Fact magazine says representing a mix by New York DJ and producer MoMa Ready. His "FACT mix 744" is "a journey through New York City’s vibrant scene", with tracks by MoMa Ready, Gallery S., Kush Jones, P. Leone, AceMo, among others.
Rolling Stone presents eight US cities where big things are going on, this time around it's Chicago. Makaya McCraven, Angel Bat Dawid, and Nicole Mitchell are leading a major jazz renaissance - they're connecting Chicago’s long history of avant-garde innovation with inspirations ranging from hip-hop beats to Nineties post-rock. On the other side, there are hip-hop up-and-comers like Calboy, Polo G, and Lil Zay Osama, who have softened some of drill’s hard edges, pairing deeply honest lyrics with delicate melodies over lilting beats.
There are: uplifting and smooth 'Show You' by CJ Fly; a powerful punk song 'Breeze' by The Men, written on a lunch break; The National collaborator Eve Owen presented her debut album with ‘So Still For You’; These New Puritans have reworked their song 'The Mirage' adding a children's chorus; Saudade - a collective including members of Deftones, Bad Brains and Cro-Mags - shared 'Lions', a synth-pop/screamo jewel; Berlin band Hope sing about anorexia on 'Shame'; Jah Wobble and Mark Stewart (of The Pop Group) teamed for 'A Very British Coup', an anti-Brexit song
Normally, this would have been some satire, but in this case it's just - self-censorship. Indie-rockers from the not-so-unliberal Canada, the New Pornographers have released a new kids’ shirt with the censored name “The News Photographers”, as they announced on their Instagram. The shirt also features the artwork and title of their most recent album 'In the Morse Code of Brake Lights'. Well, maybe it's just a joke. Or, it's - a joke.
Jim Marshall made the photo of Hendrix burning his guitar at Woodstock, Johnny Cash playing Folsom Prison, The Beatles at their last concert, now - he is being watched. A new film, 'Show Me the Picture: The Story of Jim Marshall', captures the stories behind the images and the man himself, a complex character who fully immersed himself into the culture of the time. The documentary is coming to cinemas.
British pop singer-songwriter Tom Rosenthal, and certainly a very proud father, shared a new tune he made with his toddler daughter named Fenn, "nearly 4 year old". Her hit single, 'Dinosaurs in Love', tells the heartbreaking tale of romance coming to a tragic end: "Dinosaurs eating people/ Dinosaurs in love/ Dinosaurs having a party/ They eat fruit and cucumber", and then comes the climax - "A big bang came/ And they died/ Dinosaurs, dinosaurs fell in love/ But they didn't say goodbye".
Ozzy Osbourne is urging people not to declaw their cats in a new ad for PETA, with the explanation the procedure is actually a partial amputation. The PETA ad depicts Ozzy with his fingers amputated and bloody, and the tagline reads - “Never Declaw a Cat. It’s an Amputation, Not a Manicure”. PETA explained that when cats are declawed, their claws and part of their toes are amputated.
Every winter, three thousand metalheads cruise the Caribbean at the largest Heavy Metal cruise in the world - 70,000 Tons of Metal. The cruise takes place upon The Independence of The Seas, the theatre stages on it are converted into onboard metal venues, becoming home to more than 60 metal bands over the course of four days at sea from Florida to Mexico and back. Paper Magazine writes, lovingly, how every year, almost all Royal Caribbean staff members allegedly ask to work the cruise, saying that people they meet are considerably nicer and cause way less drama than other cruise experiences.
London-born, launched in 2011 with a £5,000 budget and a pair of CDJs from a Littlewoods catalog, NTS radio now attracts over 1.5 million monthly unique listeners, and is currently growing between 3-10% a month. Artists that play live on NTS include Blood Orange, Erykah Badu, Flying Lotus, Aphex Twin, Brian Eno, Bjork, Slowthai, Skepta, The XX, Andrew Weatherall, Kamasi Washington, The Black Madonna, Sampha, Kelela, Floating Points, Mac Demarco and many others.
Turkish authorities in Istanbul have detained Amir Tataloo, real name Amirhossein Maghsoudloo after he was flagged as a wanted person by Interpol. A popular but controversial figure in Iran, the rapper is known for his outspoken criticism of the country's government. Police said Iran's judicial authorities had made the request for Tataloo's arrest "for encouraging citizens, especially young people, to use drugs, especially psychotropic drugs, and for spreading corruption."
Wyclef Jean of the Fugees has raised $25 million in funding for his newly-launched Carnival World Music Group, a music publishing and distribution company. Fast Company reports that the funds will be used to sign songwriters and producers in parts of Africa, the Caribbean, and other underserved markets with the goal of empowering creative artists by giving them the publishing and distribution resources they need to promote their music and earn royalties.
“Incredible!!!” - Queens Of The Stone Age wrote reposting a video of remarkable drum cover of their track ‘No One Knows’ by nine-year-old girl Nandi Bushell. Last year she went viral for a cover of Nirvana’s ‘In Bloom’, and for playing with Lenny Kravitz. She has also covered The Prodigy, Billie Eilish, Rage Against The Machine, Prince, The Police and System of a Down.
When we’re dying, which songs do we want to hear? and why don’t we choose our own funeral songs? - the terminal illness charity Marie Curie will pose this definitive questions on 29 January, at the monthly Science Museum Late event in London. At the talk called What’s Your #MyLastSong? attendees will nominate their ultimate last songs; they will then be played on a vintage jukebox on stage and discussed by a duo with intimate knowledge of the subject: consultant in palliative medicine Mark Taubert and 6 Music DJ Gideon Coe. However, Marie Curie research showed that 82% of people would be comfortable talking about their own end-of-life wishes. Last year, some of the most popular funeral songs were AC/DC’s 'Highway to Hell', Billie Eilish’s 'When the Party’s Over', and Robbie Williams’ 'Angels'.
Instead of making a song about bras, Queen guitarist Brian May is selling sports bras - with little guitars on it. The underwear, designed by May himself, is on sale for £35 through his Brian May Guitars website.
American queer rapper Zebra Katz has released 'ISH', the latest single from his debut album 'Less is Moor', coming out in March. 'Ish' is a dark and industrial hip-hop, whereas his first single 'IN IN IN' was a dark ballroom anthem. Apart from the two, Zebra Katz also released the song 'Lousy', the moodiest of the three. The album expands on themes around sexuality. It features an array of collaborators including Shygirl, S. Ruston, Sega Bodega, Tony Quattro, and Torus.
Reed Mullin founded Corrosion of Conformity in 1982 alongside bassist Mike Dean and guitarists Pepper Keenan and Woody Weatherman. C.O.C., as they were also known, started out with a more hardcore sound, and became pioneers of sludge and stoner metal, releasing a total of 10 studio LPs during the course of their career. The sad news came just days after drummer Sean Reinert had passed away. Reinert was s legendary and highly influential death metal/tech-death drummer of Cynic and Death. He died at age 48.
URSSS.com is an online platform with videos of concerts held at the arty Milan club Macao. The latest addition is Italian American band Love Trap, prior to it they uploaded videos of modern composer Caterina Barbieri, Slovenian avant-garde folk trio Širom, and dozens of others.
Justin Bieber released his new single 'Get Me', featuring Kehlani; a good straight pop song. His new album will be titled 'Changes', and it comes out February 14.
Radio Garden is a great app that allows users to rotate the globe and listen to radio stations from all over the world in real-time. It features thousands of radios now. The site interface is a three-dimensional geolocation, where the user navigates through a representation of the globe. It also provides information on the country where the signal is being transmitted.
230 small and medium-sized venues in England and Wales will see a 50% reduction in business rates, a fee which is charged to most non-domestic properties. It should save each venue an average of £7,500 a year, according to the Independent Venues Trust and make it more likely that acts still have small spaces to start their careers.
Australian singer Mitch Tambo, an indigenous Gamilaraay and Birri Gubba man, delivered a rendition of John Farnham’s classic 'You're the Voice' as part of Australian Survival Day, Invasion Day and Australia Day events. The Gamilaraay language is no longer spoken, the last fluent speakers dying out in the 1950s. However, some parts have been reconstructed by late field-work.
Usher, Sheila and FKA Twigs performed a Prince medley at the 62nd Annual Grammys - the trio performed (well, FKA twigs actually just pole-danced) 'Little Red Corvette', 'When Doves Cry', and 'Kiss'. The host Alicia Keys was joined on stage by Boyz II Men to pay an emotional tribute to Kobe Bryant, who died earlier the same day - the four performed the Motown classic 'It's So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday'. Tyler, the Creator, donning his signature "IGOR" look, was joined by Boyz II Men for his energetic performance 'Earfquake' and 'New Magic Wand'. Aerosmith went 30 years back and showed where the rap-meets-rock/metal came from, with performance of 'Walk This Way' with Run DMC.
