Compton rapper Roddy Ricch climbs to the No. 1 spot on the Billboard 200 chart with his debut studio album, 'Please Excuse Me for Being Antisocial', Billboard reports. The set starts with 101,000 equivalent album units earned in the U.S. in the week ending Dec. 12, out of it SEA units comprise 98,000 (equaling 130.7 […]
The Voidz have released a new "sweetly chill and rather charming pop" song 'Did My Best', with a funny video to go with it with band members hitting on to - sex dolls; Grimes is out with a drum-and-bass inspired '4ÆM'; Peter Bjorn and John are back with a "self-aggrandizing blues love song" 'Idionsynchracy'; Kings […]
The British singer rose to the top of UK's album chart with his new album 'You're In My Heart', orchestral reimagining of his biggest hits. Stewart's new album was released on November 22, but it rose to the top spot this week in a close race - with a difference of just 750 in sales […]
Amazon bought the worldwide rights for Rihanna documentary, which will be directed by Peter Berg, for a reported $25 million. Rihanna, as producers say, is “an unfiltered look into Rihanna’s life, providing a glimpse into the evolution of one of the world’s most well-known pop artists". Last week Apple TV+ reportedly bought a Billie Eilish […]
It’s the shows that go deep on specific albums, individual songs, or particular artists that can be so valuable for music fans - Stereogum says about their choice of the best podcasts of 2019. 'People's Party' is about Talib Kweli, but it’s also a show about culture, politics, writing, comedy, self-actualization, sports; 'This Particular Album […]
Taylor Swift was named Billboard's woman of the decade on Thursday night, and she used the occasion to criticise "toxic male privilege" in the music industry. "Women in music are not allowed to coast," she observed, and added - "we are held at a higher, sometimes impossible-feeling, standard". She said that in her early days, […]
31-year-old flute-playing singer and rapper was named Time magazine 2019's entertainer of the year. Why her? - "At a time when Instagrammers are shilling flat-tummy tea or pretending to eat a giant cheeseburger, Lizzo sells something more radical: the idea that you are already enough".
It's a standard now to have Brooklyn Vegan making the best selection on new songs. This week they're not all great, but some do stand out. This week it's: Stormzy with his "hardest, darkest, and most booming" song 'Audacity'; Sam Lee's 'The Moon Shines Bright' with Celtic vibe and Elisabeth Fraser on vocals (below); The […]
An impressive project by the Los Angeles Times - a 50-song mixtape attempting to locate musical intersections both physical and thematic. They picked out a whole lot of musicians - Kanye West, Lana Del Rey, Kendrick Lamar, Devendra Banhart... landing them in LA. An entertaining ride.
NPR has an encouraging article about people in Appalachias use instrument building as a way of overcoming opioid addiction. Their approach is occupational therapy - it attempts to engage people in meaningful activities, which helps them think about something else other than addiction, and even recovery. The build wooden string instruments like guitars, banjos, dulcimers, […]
Grimes made a playlist with her, Bjork, Massive Attack, Cocteau Twins and others on in, lobbying to make "ethereal" a genre. She usually disagrees with the idea of genre as such, and believes her music "doesn't fit into any existing format or genre" and "therefore cannot be on playlists or radio", Brooklyn Vegan reports. She […]
Ed Sheeran's albums spent 41 weeks in total at the top of UK album chart this decade, his singles spent 38, making a total of 79 weeks – more than any other artist, the Official Charts Company announced. No other artist meanwhile has spent more time in the Top 40 UK singles chart than Sheeran’s […]
Experimental metal band Wrekmeister Harmonies has Swans’ Thor Harris and Xiu Xiu mastermind Jamie Stewart featuring on their new album 'We Love to Look at the Carnage', out February 21. The album “charts a restless journey beginning in the middle of the night and ending in the small hours of the morning”, with Harris doing […]
Both Stereogum and PopMatters made their lists of best jazz albums of 2019 and the lists don't coincide much, which is interesting to see since both websites come from contemporary pop-music milieu. Stereogum chose Jaimie Branch's 'Fly Or Die II: Bird Dogs Of Paradise' as the jazz album of the year, while PM divided its […]
Prince‘s 1984 film 'Purple Rain', Martin Scorsese’s classic concert film for the Band, 'The Last Waltz', and Milos Forman’s movie 'Amadeus' about Mozart have been added to the US Library of Congress’ National Film Registry for this year. The Library of Congress adds 25 films to the registry annually, recognising aesthetically, culturally, or historically significant films that showcase “the […]
London hardcore band Game have the best punk album of the year with their debut 'No One Wins', according to the Quietus. The rest of the Top 10 is filled by Implement, Petlya, Terra Soror, Haiboku, Rainbow Grawe, PlasticHeads, Enzyme, Soga, Disguise. No One Wins by Game
Canadian producer Kaytranada released his new single, '10%', which features Kali Uchis (watch below). It comes on his second studio album 'Bubba', out this Friday, featuring contributions from Pharrell Williams, Tinashe, GoldLink, Charlotte Day Wilson, Estelle, VanJess, Masego, Mick Jenkins, and SiR, among others, The Fader reports. Kaytranada won Polaris Music Prize - Canadian Album of the Year […]
For the full list go here; the top 10 are below: 10. Purple Mountains: 'Purple Mountains'9. Weyes Blood: 'Titanic Rising'8. Fennesz: 'Agora'7. Helado Negro: 'This Is How You Smile'6. Bad Bunny: 'X 100PRE'5. Solange: 'When I Get Home'4. Angel Olsen: 'All Mirrors'3. Big Thief: 'U.F.O.F.'2. FKA twigs: 'MAGDALENE'1. Lana Del Rey: 'Norman Fucking Rockwell!'
As the singer of Roxette, Fredriksson was one of the most recognisable voices in 1980s pop. She dies on Monday, aged 61, Rolling Stone reports. Roxette left their mark in music with some not too cheesy hits - ‘Joyride’, ‘It Must Have Been Love’, ‘Listen To Your Heart’, ‘The Look'...
Brian Eno has released a new song 'Everything’s on the Up with the Tories', a political satire aimed at UK's Conservative Party (colloquially known as The Tories). It's a fun song, about some not-so-funny subjects like Brexit, National Health Service, unemployment, the pay gap, Donald Trump. All proceeds from it go to aid the homeless.
Police say they found guns and drugs on the private jet that carried rapper Juice Wrld to Chicago before he died on Sunday morning. Officers say they found 70 pounds (31 kilos) of marijuana in 41 "vacuum-sealed" bags, six bottles of prescription codeine cough syrup, two 9 mm pistols, a .40-caliber pistol, a high-capacity ammunition […]
Here the full 70 list; the top 10 spots are taken by the following: 10. Purple Mountains – 'Purple Mountains' 9. Big Thief - 'U.F.O.F.' 8. Angel Olsen – 'All Mirrors' 7. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds – 'Ghosteen' 6. Jamila Woods – 'LEGACY! LEGACY!' 5. Dave - 'PSYCHODRAMA' 4. Fontaines D.C. - 'Dogrel' […]
In addition to all the new names, established artists like redefined themselves, and visionaries took their art to new heights, Pitchfork says about their list of 100 best songs of 2019. Shawn Mendes' 'If I Can’t Have You' and FKA twigs' 'cellophane' stand on the edges of that list. Check out the full list here.
So, in categories - for Best Original Score – Motion Picture the nominees are Alexandre Desplat for 'Little Women', Hildur Guðnadóttir for 'Joker', Randy Newman for 'Marriage Story', Thomas Newman for '1917', and Daniel Pemberton for 'Motherless Brooklyn'. Best Original Song – Motion Picture nominees include Andrew Lloyd Webber & Taylor Swift‘s 'Beautiful Ghosts' from […]
A Chilean protest song 'Un Violador en Tu Camino' ('A Rapist in Your Path') about rape culture and victim shaming has become a viral anthem for feminists around the world. The song was first performed in late November as Chile’s nationwide uprising against social inequality pushed into its second month. Videos of the song – […]
This month’s edition od Fact Magazine's For Club Use Only segment features some strong and angry underground club music like Capital Caos, El Irreal Veintiuno, Lila Tirando A Violeta, Nick Catchdubs, etc. Listen to the mix in full - here.
Kanye West staged his sophomore opera, 'Mary', at the Miami Marine Stadium as part of the final day of Art Basel on Sunday, with him covered fully in silver, Pitchfork reports. The opera tells the Christmas nativity story through Gospel arrangements of Kanye’s own songs, including 'Devil in a New Dress', 'Love Lockdown', and 'Power', as well […]
'The Frozen 2' soundtrack climbs to No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart with 80,000 equivalent album units sold in its third week, Billboard reports. 'Frozen 2' is the first new full-length soundtrack to reach No. 1 for the first time in 2019. It’s also the first soundtrack of an animated film to hit […]
American rapper Juice WRLD has died suddenly at the age of 21, TMZ reports. Juice WRLD, a.k.a. Jarad Anthony Higgins, had arrived at Chicago's Midway Airport on Sunday following a flight from Los Angeles and suffered a seizure in the terminal. He was alive when paramedics arrived on the scene but was pronounced dead at a local […]
Freddie Gibbs and Madlib visited NPR's offices and performed four songs at a Tiny Desk Concert. The duo played songs from their 2019 album 'Bandana' alongside New York-based funk band El Michels Affair. Watch it below.
