R. Kelly has been charged with engaging in prostitution charges by prosecutors in Minnesota, who allege he solicited a teenager who asked him for an autograph in 2001. According to county attorney Mike Freeman, Kelly invited the 17-year-old to his hotel room and offered her $200 (£164) to undress and dance with him, and after […]
The English folk musician had two critically acclaimed records - 2014's 'Nothing Important' and 2017's 'Peasant', and this years he returns with new album '2020', out October 11. On it he "introduces us to grand themes through small lives. His are portraits of human beings struggling with recognisable (and dare we say it, relatable) concerns, […]
Sophie's debut album 'Oil of Every Pearl's Un-Insides' reached many year-end best-of lists in 2018, and now the alt-pop Scottish electronic music producer has shared a remix album on 'Oil...' (listen the two part YouTube mix below). It features new versions of 'Oil...' songs, as well as new tracks.
It's refreshing to hear an epic instrumental of this caliber and ambition in the current musical climate - PopMatters really likes new song 'Epigenesis by the prog post-metal band Ghosts of Glaciers. The progressive elements are subtle but important, the metallic leanings played tastefully, the song comes out deeply melodic and yet sacrificing nothing in […]
Penguin Cafe have a new song 'At The Top Of The Hill, They Stood...' inspired by journeys taken by the band's leader Arthur Jeffes to Antarctica. The song comes out October 4 on album 'Handfuls Of Night' (listen below). The album began its life when Jeffes was commissioned by Greenpeace to write four pieces of […]
Soaring choruses, gorgeous vocal harmonies and well-tempered inspirational lyrics - PopMatters really likes new single by the Seattle pop-folk band Ivan & Alyosha. Well, it really is a hit (listen below).
“My father told me to stop wasting my time. I should be busy looking after the cows" - Fatou Seidi Ghali, the first female Tuareg guitarist, says in Guardian interview, about her beginnings in music. She started playing at age 10, on her brother's guitar, secretly, so nobody would know, and now at age 20-something […]
The streaming platform has announced that it is placing some restrictions on free users of its streaming service. As they say on Medium.com, free listeners will be able to seek forward through mixes, to listen to the same mix three times within a two week period and will no longer have access to mixes that […]
“I’m not necessarily the most educated on how to do things, but I definitely have the ideas to execute” - young, self-made artist Clairo says to the NME in their "Big Read". The English believe the lo-fi American is the next big thing, and they're most probably quite right. They put her in space where […]
In 2009 American ambient techno band Telefon Tel Aviv published their latest album 'Immolate Yourself', and band's founding member Charlie Cooper died. Remaining member Josh Eustis has since been working with Puscifer, Apparat, Nine Inch Nails and Vatican Shadow, and in 2017 he made a solo track 'Something Akin To Lust', as Fact Magazine reports. […]
Fierce women on stage doing their actual work. They sweat and make awkward faces. Wrinkles in their brows and the cellulite in their arms. Their eyes glaze over when the groove is strong... their eyes focus on the drummer to cue in the bridge verse. Untied shoes and precariously coiled amp cables - those are […]
Tool have added their four albums and one EP to streaming services, on Friday (August 2), after years of holding out, with all five entering the iTunes Top 10, while various songs cracked the iTunes Top 10 Songs chart. On the first day at iTunes album 'Ænima' landed at No. 2 on the iTunes Top Albums […]
100-something kids jumped the fence at Lollapalooza at once to get in. Somebody caught it all on video, and it’s since gone viral. Security doesn’t appear to stop any of them, except for one kid who has a prosthetic leg, well at first. Turns out, security caught up with them right after the events on […]
Yoga workshops, talks, therapies, spirituality, exocit and familiar food - hindu spa? No - music festivals! Womad world music festival, held in England, and Burning Man in the Nevada desert, are turning the music festival culture around from drugs, too much alcohol and bad food, to healthy practices, with attendees going home - healthier then […]
American rapper NF debuts on top of Billboard 200 chart with his fourth album 'The Search', sold in 130,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. Of that sum, 84,000 were in album sales, which made it the biggest sales week for a rap set this year (NF's third album 'Perception' also opened at No. 1 at […]
Californian electronic producer Datach'i made his new record 'Bones' after his father died. He obviously found peace and hope, since album is "Full of gorgeous modular synth work to produce characteristically dreamy, ambient electronics and warm, soothing melodies", as PopMatters says. "A beautifully rendered IDM album with boldly expansive yet gorgeously rendered tracks that offer […]
Billboard presents the latest edition of Queer Necessities, monthly LGBTQ-driven playlist where they catch on the latest and greatest bops by queer musicians. This time they've got Sam Smith with "a hard-hitting bass and a beat that's radio-ready" on 'How Do You Sleep?', Charli XCX & Christine and the Queens has "’80s-like drums, infectious synths […]
Two years ago Clairo made a break-out success of YouTube hit 'Pretty Girl', now she has a debut album, 'Immunity' which critics mostly love. Paste Magazine says it's a "smoothly-produced pop record about queer relationships"; Sputnik Music says she's "deep in thought, full of confidence"; Stereogum is simple - "good songs"; Rolling Stone says she […]
Fact Magazine picked out best house, techno, electro, disco and rave tracks from the past month. They chose Bobby Analog, AceMoMa and Afrodeutsche with unique takes on classic Chicago house, while Karen Gwyer, Andras and Yu Su took 4/4 into more experimental territory, and Floating Points returns to straight-up club music. Listen here.
There are: Memoriam - band built on ruins of Bolt Thrower, "hitting it right" on third album 'Shell Shock'; French band Grenouille play "brutal death metal in the unceasingly blasty and scuzzy fashion" on 'Les Vierges De Grasse'; Antigone’s Fate's 'Morgengrauen' is "an epic that goes from down and out to soaring above the clouds"; […]
Justin Bieber likes Tool, Tool don't like Bieber liking them, so DJ Cummerband stepped in to make amends. He made a mashup of Tool's 'Parabola' and Bieber's 'Love Yourself' into 'Love Your Parabola' with (mostly) their music and (mostly) his vocals, with a little help from Ludacris. It's a different song now, but it works […]
Hayes (with a heroin habit and a heart condition) died at 38 in 1973 before he could distil his skills into something as single-mindedly hefty as John Coltrane, or as capriciously flighty as Ornette Coleman. But 'Grits, Beans and Greens' – made in 1969 just before Hayes’ health declined, long-lost and now finally mastered and […]
Swedish hardcore punks Refused shared their new song 'Blood Red', the lead single from the band’s forthcoming new album, 'War Music', out October 18th (watch the retrospective music video below). Consequence of Sound likes the song a lot - "[it] puts vocalist Dennis Lyxzén’s charismatic howls in the forefront, with some subtle artistic embellishments — like […]
Katy Perry, her collaborators and her record label must pay 2.78 million dollars for 'Dark Horse' sharing elements of song 'Joyful Noise' by Christian rapper Flame. Musician and teacher Rick Beato analyzed the two songs, arguing the similarities aren't that big (watch the good analytical video below).
Gibson might have broken quite a few hearts after a video appeared showing the guitar manufacturer destroying hundreds of Firebird X guitars by running them over with a construction vehicle, Alternative Press reports. A former employee said the company decided to do so following poor sales. Gibson says the Firebird X models were unsalvageable and damaged […]
The singer-songwriter's Divide tour will be officially the biggest, most attended and highest grossing of all time when he plays in Germany later. Ed Sheeran's tour began in March 2017 and will culminate at Chantry Park in Sheeran's local town Ipswich later this month. By the time the finale comes around he will have spent […]
The ruling came down on Friday (Aug. 2) as Rocky's trial came to a close, and he is free to return home to the United States while awaiting a verdict, which is expected to come down by Aug. 14. The 30-year-old rapper, whose real name is Rakim Mayers, was arrested on July 3rd following a […]
"The rap, grime and future R&B (Nao, slowthai, Little Simz, Dave) represented the most incisive rising British talent, the guitar rock (Idles, Fontaines D.C., Black Midi) was suitably disjointed, angular and innovative, the poised and/or melodramatic art-pop (Anna Calvi, Cate le Bon) bore not the faintest trace of Paloma or Florence, the bigger names (The […]
"'Safe And Also No Fear' is like a good short story collection, where you can glean enough personal details about the writer to get an idea of their point-of-view, but the focus is on other people and how they can be reflective of the world as a whole. Ewald has become a master of character sketches, […]
"And while the idea of Segall working without a guitar sounds akin to robbing an infant of its blanket, 'First Taste' is still quintessential Segall: shaggy, tripped out, and all over the sonic map" - Consequence of Sound really likes the 13th album the American multi-instrumentalist and singer-songwriter. "Segall once again makes the various ideas and […]
"People just want to dance" - veteran producer and DJ Sarz says to DJ Mag about street-hop, ever-evolving sound of the 16-million people megacity of Lagos, Nigeria. It’s a mutating sound: even its most basic elements are in motion, influenced by hyperactive, ephemeral street trends. Dance music in Lagos is a percussion-heavy sound with a pitter-patter of percussive progression. DJ Mag speaks to some of street-hop’s key artists, like DJ Kaywise, Rexxie and Sarz, to find out how it’s evolved and where it’s going next.
Fiona Apple covers Sharon Van Etten’s 'Love More' for Van Etten's 'Ten' anniversary reissue, adding heartbeat drums and subtle piano to the song; Low cover Bob Dylan’s 'Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door' for the Uncut compilation 'Dylan Revisited'; The Black Keys share their version of 'Crawling Kingsnake' by Big Joe Williams, from their album of Mississippi hill country blues standards 'Delta Kream', out May 14.
Consequence chose dark Americana singer-guitarist Amigo the Devil as their Artist of the month, and had interviewed him. His sophomore album, 'Born Against', released, Friday, April 16, as he's told the C,"has to do with … doubting faith itself. … I kept asking myself, 'Are we born a blank slate?' … or 'Are we built pre-programmed with things'. It was more of that exploration of intention versus purpose, of discovery versus instinct”. He also discusses three of his biggest influences: Tom Waits, Leonard Cohen, and Fiona Apple.
Saturday Night Live star Pete Davidson is set to play Joe Ramone in a new biopic 'I Slept With Joey Ramone', based on the memoir of the same name by Joey Ramone's brother, Mickey Leigh, who is also one of the film’s executive producers. Davidson and his frequent collaborator Jason Orley also penned the script for the film, with Orley also directing the biopic, Rolling Stone reports. Mickey Leigh shared a bed with Joe Ramone, as well as childhood, family, and a lifetime.
Puerto Rican star was the big winner at the Latin American Music Awards, taking home five awards including artist of the year, album of the year for 'YHLQMDLG' and favorite male artist. Bad Bunny was followed by Karol G and Nicki Minaj who took three awards each including song of the year thanks to global hit 'Tusa', Hola! USA reports. Check out all the nominees and winners here.
"There isn’t a single wasted second among its ten tracks, navigating the waters between discordant grit and lilting harmony with a steady hand" - Heavy Blog is Heavy wrote reviewing new album by the screamo/post-hardcore quintet Dreamwell. Everything is Noise insists this is "a must-listen album to anyone who enjoys emotionally heavy music as a catharsis", with Noob Heavy adding it's a "powerful, mature, and often quite moving listen". Brooklyn Vegan argues "Dreamwell's screamo can be metallic and aggressive as much as it can be soaring and post-rocky, and it feels big enough to fill stadiums".
The staff of The Verge recommend their favorite music straming services:
Radio Dismuke, a little-known streaming service with a constant diet of pop and jazz from the early part of the last century
Soma FM - has tons of different genre stations
YouTube Music - incomparable catalog
8tracks - lets users upload playlists of at least eight songs, possible to get three skips per playlist per hour
KEXP - consistently excellent music selection by the public radio station based in Seattle
Aux Live - a music-focused service with a range of live concerts and documentaries
Qobuz - a place with higher-resolution music
Spotify - a nice user interface and compatibility with almost every piece of streaming hardware on the market
Apple Music - does a great job of syncing all of the music across devices
Live Music Archive - over 200,000 concerts in lossless audio quality for free
Guitarist Anthony Garone wrote a book 'Failure to Fracture' chronicling his 22-year-long journey of learning how to play King Crimson’s 11-minute instrumental 'Fracture', Guitar World reports. Robert Fripp once described his 1974 masterpiece as “impossible to play”, especially because of the section roughly three minutes in where the guitarist begins a nonstop barrage of notes called a “moto perpetuo” – an Italian term for “perpetual motion”. Over the years, Garone published blog posts and videos about his efforts, and kept working at it until he had a breakthrough after enrolling in a week-long guitar instruction course led by Fripp in rural Mexico in 2015. Last year Garone released a video of him playing the song (watch it below). 'Failure to Fracture' is released May 18.
A hilarious article by Tracy Clark-Flory for Jezebel about men displaying their power with air-sex: "When I think of stage humping, I think of a man thrusting against the floor in a modified pushup, an enactment of missionary screwing that presupposes a very long, and soon to be broken, dick... Recently, I came across similar moves on TikTok and was reminded, once again, of men making love to the floor. And I thought: From whence the floor grind? It was time to investigate this important topic".
"If the Internet existed back when Slayer released their very first album, we would have been destroyed" - speed-metal icons' drummer Dave Lombardo says to Pit's MoshTalks Cover Stories (via Loudwire). "So, today, these days, you have to go with the approach of how we did it back then — we didn't care. We thought it was heavy, we thought it was brutal and evil. It was dark. It had a certain feel to it. And it made all of us happy. It had our stamp of approval" - the drummer continued. Lombardo urges bands to listen to themselves only - "and another thing is bands that feel, 'Oh, no. Our fans won't go for that, because our fans only like us to do this style'. Well, then there's no growth. You're gonna grow stagnant. It's just not gonna evolve if you don't venture out and try new things".
