Neil Peart, the drummer and lyricist for Rush has died at age 67. Peart had joined Rush in 1974, remaining their drummer and primary lyricist up through their 2015 breakup.

Henry Rollins has teamed with Los Angeles Tourism for a YouTube series (three videos so far) where he explains how to use LAX. Characteristically for him, he is very enthusiastic about it, says the food is great there, he likes the executive lounge and suggests people should use the "therapy dogs"! Video 1 here, video […]

Algiers have a new album coming out next week, last songs before that release is dubby trip hop 'We Can't Be Found'; Wolf Parade have a new disco song 'Julia Take Your Man Home', with Spencer Krug singing about "some other, worse version of myself"; Agnes Obel sings beautifully about struggles with falling asleep in […]

Nick Cave and his Bad Seeds bandmate Warren Ellis have donated $500,000 to help those battling Australia’s bushfire emergency, Billboard reports. Metallica have also pledged to donate, A$750,000 (more than $500,000) to bushfire relief efforts in Australia, Rolling Stone reports. Elton John, Keith Urban, Nicole Kidman, Pink and Flume have already donated to Australian firefighters.

Sonically, new diss tracks by Stormzy and Wiley are great, lyrically, really just below the two (insulting mothers!?!, really ?!?). A message to both of them (and every other talented musician): "Next time someone wants to start a beef - ignore it! Make something worthwhile!" Waste of good beats - summed up on Fact.

'Do What You Want: The Story of Bad Religion' is the first autobiography by the punk veterans punks, and it chronicles band's beginnings "as teenagers experimenting in a San Fernando Valley garage dubbed 'The Hell Hole' to headlining major music festivals". It includes rare photos, never-before-seen material from the archives, and new interviews with former members […]

Parlophone Records has shared a previously unreleased version of David Bowie's 'The Man Who Sold the World' yesterday on what would have been singer's 73rd birthday. The largely acoustic rendition, recorded in November of 1996, was aired a few months later on Bowie's 50th birthday. 'The Man...' is 50 years young this year, and it is […]

Soul singer Celeste has won BBC Music's Sound of 2020 thanks to her "entrancing voice and jazz-steeped songs". BBC's accolade is given to artists who are tipped for success in the coming year. Indie band Easy Life came second, while pop-punk firebrand Yungblud was third on BBC's list this year. Adele, Michael Kiwanuka, Haim, 50 […]

English pianist and singer-songwriter Bill Fay will release his new album 'Countless Branches' next week, and this week he released his newest single 'Salt of the Earth' (watch it below). Fay's appearance in the video is that of an old man (he's 77), but warmth of his voice is like the one of a young […]

Pianos Become the Teeth frontman Kyle Durfey has started a new band Burial Waves, with members of We Were Black Clouds, Deleted Scenes and Flavor Waster. Burial Waves debuted their first song 'Cinema Shame', adding some post-punk to PBTT's post-rock/emo sound. Watch below.

PopMatters is delighted by the new book 'Fandom of Methodology', a collection of experimental texts, autobiography, fiction, and new academic perspectives on fandom in and as art. PM says "Academics must permit themselves to be fans", and adds - "I am officially a huge fan of 'Fandom as Methodology' because the articulation of these concepts ultimately leads […]

Avantguard pop artist Lyra Pramuk made her debut album 'Fountain' using only her voice, modulated by electronics, exploring "perception of music, rhythms, speech, body, and the relation between technology and humanity, exploring a post-human, non-binary understanding of life". She mixed it with her twin brother Ben, and the title is derived from her family name, […]

The Quietus has an accurate and lovely description on new song 'Haunted And Known' by Six Organs of Admittance: "It starts with Chasny’s acoustic guitar played in hypnotic ribbons, underscoring his whisper-singing and beckoning you closer, before a colossal synth surge overwhelms the track and gives it a whole new topography". It comes out on band's […]

Lee Buford of The Body, Kristin Hayter a.k.a. Lingua Ignota and Dylan Walker of Full of Hell have formed a supergroup Sightless Pit, and have recorded an album, 'Grave of a Dog', out February 21. The first single is 'Kingscorpse' - dark, powerful, haunting, noisy. Listen to it below. Grave of a Dog by Sightless […]

Timothée Chalamet will play Bob Dylan in a new music biopic 'Going Electric', directed by James Mangold ('Ford v. Ferrari' is now in cinemas), about Dylan's controversial 1965 performance at the Newport Music Festival where he went from acoustic to electric. Hollywood Reporter writes that Dylan is working closely with Mangold on the docu-movie, singer-songwriter's […]

One of London's most famous music venues, Koko in Camden has been badly damaged in an overnight blaze - the dome on the roof has been destroyed by fire. The venue which began life as the Camden Theatre in 1900 has hosted stars including The Rolling Stones, The Clash, Madonna, Coldplay, Prince, and Ed Sheeran. […]

Brooklyn Vegan made a selection of best screamo albums from 2019. Not a perfect selection, but a good start. There is: Zeta with their mix of screamo, post-hardcore, prog, psychedelia, jazz, and experimental rock on 'Mochima'; Shin Guard who started out with emo, and got to it's "nastier cousin screamo" on '2020'; Frail Body are cross-over with […]

Guardian has a lovely article about choirs that require no auditions getting more popular in the UK. Making Music, an organisation that supports a cross section of “leisure-time” music, has seen a rise in registered vocal groups from 1,781 in 2014 to 2,065 today, Rock Choir membership has rocketed to about 30,000 people, and London […]

Toymakers Hasbro, manufacturers of products like Transformers, Power Rangers, Furby, Nerf, Twister, and My Little Pony, are now the legal owners of Death Row Records, home to Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, and Tupac, as part of a $3.8 billion merger deal with Canadian studio Entertainment One. The merger was signed on December 30. Entertainment One, […]

Lifetime docu-series 'Surviving R. Kelly Part II: The Reckoning' has been aired across three nights last week, and it chronicles the stories of survivors who have brought forth allegations of sexual abuse and misconduct against the embattled musician. It highlights the reactions and responses to the documentary and the survivors featured, as well as Kelly’s current legal situation. The […]

The 21-year-old singer is recording her first album and it makes her "want to crap myself", as she says the BBC. "I'm like, 'Why am I stressed every day, I should be excited about this? But why should I be excited when this is nerve-wracking?'. I'm massively over-thinking everything", she explained. Joy Crookes is BBC's […]

Singer and visual artist Eartheater and experimental duo LEYA have released their digital EP 'Angel Lust', with Eartheater's “vacillating, ethereal” at the forefront. She is backed by LEYA's harpist Marilu Donovan and violinist Adam Markiewicz. Watch the haunting video below.

Keith Urban and wife Nicole Kidman, who both have roots in Australia, are giving $500,000 to support firefighters in their battle against Australia's devastating wildfires, Billboard reports. P!nk also said she is donating $500,000 to help fight the deadly wildfires in Australia, Spin reports (P!nk has no Australian roots, describes herself as "Irish-German-Lithuanian-Jew"). Why did […]

Icelandic composer Hildur Guðnadóttir has won Best Original Score at the Golden Globes for her score for 'Joker'. Guðnadóttir is the first woman to win the award solo in the history of the Golden Globes. She is also the first woman to win the award since Lisa Gerrard shared the prize with Han Zimmer in 2000 for their score […]

Dave Grohl, Krist Novoselic, and Pat Smear reunited for a brief set at the Heaven is Rock & Roll Gala at the Palladium in Los Angeles on Saturday night, Consequence of Sound reports. Beck, St. Vincent, and Grohl’s 13-year-old daughter Violet took a turn singing lead vocals. St. Vincent took the lead on 'Lithium', 'In […]

Travis Scott-led project Jackboys debuts at No. 1 on Billboard 200 chart with their first EP 'Jackboys, a seven-track set 21 minutes long. It started with 154,000 equivalent album units sold, and of that sum, 79,000 were in album sales. Jackboys comprise Scott, Sheck Wes, Don Toliver, and Chase B. Billboard...

NME made a list of 100 new artists, "set to take over 2020 and the next decade". Some are already known, like the eclectic 100 gecs, spoken word indie band Black Country, New Road, soul singer Celeste, Billie Eilish's brother Finneas, Ariana Grande writer Victoria Monét, and some less so. Check em all out here.

The Strokes played a New Year's Eve show in New York, and during the show, they played a new song called 'Ode to the Mets', Stereogum reports. Julian Casablancas confirmed that a new full-length album, the band’s first since 2013, would arrive in the new year. Watch the new song below.

154 million albums were either streamed, bought or downloaded the UK last year, the largest amount since 2006, when the figure stood at 161.4 million. The majority of sales (three quarters) were made through streaming - fans streamed 114 billion songs last year, a new record (1,000 streams generate one "sale"). Just three years ago, […]

Neil Innes, the English writer, comedian, and musician, known also as "The Seventh Python" for his work with the Monty Python, has died aged 75. He was also known for his work with the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, and spoof Beatles band The Rutles. Innes was later known as “the seventh Python” thanks to his […]