YouTube Music and Universal Music Group have started a project of remastering a series of iconic music videos. The first group of videos to be remastered include works by Lady Gaga, Janet Jackson, Tom Petty, Nirvana ('Smells Like Teen Spirit' included), Beastie Boys (watch Sabotage' below), with new titles appearing each week, and over the […]
Facebook has started banning artwork from Led Zeppelin's classic album 'Houses of the Holy', and really, a classic design. The cover was created by Hipgnosis designer Aubrey Powell, the photo was originally captured among the basalt columns of Northern Ireland's Giant's Causeway. In the surreal image, a group of naked figures (who were portrayed by […]
Versace presented their latest menswear collection at Milan Fashion Week over the weekend, with several of the looks on display nodded to 1990’s rave culture, while a few of the models referenced The Prodigy frontman’s signature hairstyle, Fact reports. Here's the whole collection, there's more of Flint's style on Instagram.
Carter Tutti Void is a collaborative triangle of Chris Carter, Cosey Fanni Tutti and Nik Void, and - the Quietus' favourite band. They have a new song 't3.5' - "all warm blood pulsing eroticism and hypnotic, narcotic fizz". Their new album 'Triumverate', their third and final album, will be released via Conspiracy International on August 30.
In a city with only one month of winter, outdoor dance parties are a staple and often timed so that migrant workers, often from west Africa, are able to attend. In these warm and welcoming dances, where the crowds cry out for Zion and justice and righteousness, the music of the old diaspora is now […]
Award-winning writer/director team of Richard Curtis and Danny Boyle made a new movie 'Yesterday', with an interesting catch - nobody knows anything about the Beatles. The movie premiered on Tuesday, it stars former EastEnders actor Himesh Patel as a struggling singer-songwriter, as his character Jack Malik wakes up after an accident caused by a global […]
"In the music industry, there’s still segregation. There used to be the black division, race records. Programmers, especially at Pop radio, has this imagery of what beauty looks like. They wanted that imagery to be the same that’s singing those records", Matthew Knowles, Beyoncé father said while on SiriusXM's The Clay Cane Show. The former manager […]
"That they manage to exist in equipoise while in the midst of so many proliferating uncertainties is a striking balancing act, and it is therefore appropriate that their sound is neither fish nor fowl – jazz but not quite jazz, popish, but certainly not "pop" as we know it, avant-garde in the sense that it's […]
“The lefties of Vila Madalena have never seen a body splayed out on the ground. If they’ve ever seen a coffin it’s because their dog died – or their grandad of old age” - Brazilian rapper Ricardo Alves explains to the Guardian why he supports new Brazilian far-right president, Jair Bolsonaro. He believed Brazil’s left […]
BBC Radio 4 continues to investigate unusual UK music with it's New Weird Britain segment. New episode goes into the strange rural, "the valleys and plains of Britain", as they talk to Gazelle Twin, Richard Skelton, Hawthonn, Folklore Tapes, Farmer Glitch and Saxon Roach. Listen to the show here.
Bluegrass music has been considered unworthy of notice: low art, uncomfortably associated with white redneck culture, but now the things are changing - this music is becoming increasingly politically potent, because of it "fundamentally social tradition – and the democracy of the picking circle", as the Guardian points out - "bluegrass is unique in the […]
"We want to piss people off. We know where our place is, and our creed is solidarity and respect for others, even though we may bring knives or scythes to gigs" says 38-year-old Marek, singer of Czech band Bahratal, who insists that Nazi references in his band are just punk provocations, part of the theatre […]
British climate activist Extinction Rebellion will lead a march through the Glastonbury festival on Thursday June 27. The ‘Extinction Procession’ will begin at The Park Stage at 4pm, it then heads to the Stone Circle, where at 5:30pm, the largest-ever human hourglass sculpture will be attempted. The hourglass is also Extinction Rebellion’s logo, Independent reports.
Spin made a charming list of 30 best disco songs, all from 1970s and beginning of 1980s. It goes from 16-minutes Italian disco epic 'Hills of Katmandu' by Tantra to Clash's 'Magnificent Dance'.
"While Titus Andronicus have been able to achieve grandiosity without the bombastic self-importance that lesser artists would gravitate towards, 'An Obelisk' is easily their most digestible and contained album yet" - Consequence of Sound writes, and gives ??' B+.
'Ever Again' starts pretty decent with Robyn singing and dancing among some Greek statues. Then she unties her Louis Vuitton silk blouse to reveal a semi-sheer embossed latex jumpsuit, as Vogue reports, and ends up with, well, almost making love to her microphone.
“For me and for us as a band, we’ve known that there’s going to be doors open. There’s no doubt about it, but those doors will shut just as fast as they open if we’re not good" - Eli Hewson of the Dublin newcomers Inhaler told NME about having U2s Bono for a dad. You […]
Tom Morello threw a fan’s phone into the crowd at his Saturday (6/15) show at Hollywood Casino Amphitheater in Tinley Park, IL. He said about the incident - “Put a phone in my face onstage and I’ll throw it. #LiveInTheMoment”, and shared a video of it on Twitter. He also told the audience at the […]
Famous guitarist first saw Nandi Bushell's videos, and then invited her to come jam with him in London O2 Arena where he was about to play. They're quite sweet playing together, and he seems much more excited than her. Bushell has a YouTube channel with her drum covers of rock, metal and pop songs.
Since B-Vegan is indie-rock loving, it's not your "usual metal" list. They chose German post-rock/black metal of Downfall of Gaia ("bring the punks, the metalheads, and the Explosions in the Sky fans together"), Finnish orchestral-metal collective Waste of Space Orchestra ("use rock instrumentation to create music with movements that echo classical music"), Polish black metal with […]
DJ, musician, smiley aficionado, and now curator Fatboy Slim has a new art exhibition devoted to the - smiley. Slim, aka Norman Cook, has amassed possibly the largest collection of smiley ephemera in the world, which is now to form the centrepiece of an exhibition, Smile High Club, opening 21 June, in Lisbon. Items include […]
"The whole album sounds like they have decided to take a small break from the inside of their heads and work their bodies a little bit. There is a much appreciated directness to their production that demands the listener take notice... Plaid may have foregrounded a darker, discordant side to their production, but this has […]
Guardian writes how album leaks harm musicians, not only financially, but they also affect their self-esteem, even more so than being robbed. This month, Madonna said she “felt raped” after her 2015 album 'Rebel Heart' leaked online before she’d even announced it, Jai Paul disappeared from the public for six years after his unfinished album […]
"Now I wanna be your brew" - coffeelovers of the world are heard singing on the news of Iggy Pop making his own signature coffee. It's a collaboration with Stumptown coffee, produced by the Bies Penantan community in the province of Aceh, Sumatra and assembled for Stumptown by the female-led Ketiara Cooperative. The coffee arrives […]
Genius Media Group has accused Google of stealing lyrics published on its site to populate its search engine results. Genius has asked Google in 2017 not to use lyrics taken from their platform, they sent a follow-up letter in April. Genius said that using lyrics taken from the platform violates both the company’s terms of […]
"Leif’s pastel atmospheres frequently give way to deep, chest-quaking drums: layer upon layer of thrumming hand percussion, sub-bass rumble, and sampled kit" - Pitchfork says about Leif's third full length, their latest choice for Best New Music. "The mood he evokes may be blissful, wistful, or simply serene, depending upon the listener’s headspace—but the constantly […]
Thom Yorke has issued mysterious ads for his new album 'Anima Technologies' on London trains, in Milan photo booths, and within the pages of The Dallas Observer. The ads promises to help remember dreams with something called a “dream camera,” and includes a phone number (916-619-6192). Upon dialing the number, a pre-recorded voice message claims that “Anima […]
New York rapper Messiah has released 'Black Fathers', addressing the topic of fatherhood in the black community and the compelling need for fathers in the lives of their children (watch a video to she song below). The song features on Messiah's newly released project titled 'The Eye Of Freedom' now public on all digital platforms, […]
Over 50 love letters from Leonard Cohen to Marianne Ihlen (who inspired 'So Long Marianne' and many other of his songs) have been sold for $876,000 at a recent Christie’s auction. The letters sold individually, with one from December 1960, where he wrote about being “alone with the vast dictionaries of language,” went for $56,250, another, which was from 1964 and had Cohen […]
Nas shared a photo of his new book on Instagram, a children’s book 'I Know I Can', named after one of his biggest hits, All Hip Hop reports. Is was written by Nasir 'Nas' Jones himself along with illustrations by Michael Lukowski, and, according to the rapper, it will be the first of many titles targeting […]
Dua Lipa, Arlo Parks, Celeste, Joel Corry and Young T & Bugsey lead Brit Awards 2021 nominations with three noms apiece. The British album category also features four out of five female nominees for the first time in Brits history, with the aforementioned women joined by Jessie Ware and J Hus. Also, more than half the nominees in key categories are non-white, making the most diverse nominations in the event's history, as Sky emphasizes. Alexis Petridis points out that - "by recognising UK rap and women’s creativity, the Brits are finally in tune".
The Pact, a group of top-level songwriters, released a letter calling for an end to one of the longest-running open secrets of the music industry: the practice of artists demanding credit and publishing for songs they did not write, Variety reports on the brave activism of music authors. Why now? - this rude practice has actually grown worse in recent years as the value of publishing and awareness of that value has risen. The Pact includes co-writers of songs by Dua Lipa (Emily Warren), Justin Bieber (Justin Tranter), Selena Gomez, Ariana Grande (Victoria Monet), the Jonas Brothers, Britney Spears, and many others.
Spotify announced the acquisition of Betty Labs, the creators of Locker Room, a live audio app focused on sports talk, with the aim to build its own rival to the buzzy Clubhouse live-audio chat app, MBW reports. Spotify’s deal values Betty Labs at around $50 million, the Wall Street Journal reported. Betty Labs first launched Locker Room for sports fans in October 2020. Spotify said it plans to rebrand the app (but keep it separate) to “evolve and expand” Locker Room into an enhanced live audio experience for a wider range of creators and fans, offering sports, music, and cultural programming along with interactive features that enable creators to connect with listeners in real time.
"It is a statement about the beauty of slowing down, of not worrying about what you say and instead focusing on how you feel" - Pitchfork writes Lost Girls' 'Menneskekollektivet’, the debut LP from the Norvegian duo Jenny Hval and Håvard Volden. Sonically, it's "a dance record, a heady cocktail of muted drum machines and hypertrophied synthesizers", while its "inherently unfinished quality makes it feel naturalistic, deeply human". Beats Per Minute argues 'Menneskekollektivet' is "a fun time; an unorthodox album that borders on a million genres and commits to none".
The Conversations looks for reasons for cassette's comeback: Independent musicians have been looking to the sale of physical products and merchandise as a means of generating income. Cassettes actually represented a cost-effective means of providing a physical product, far cheaper than pressing a vinyl record and printing sleeves and packaging... Many people have reported feelings of digital detachment and alienation during the pandemic. It doesn’t seem unreasonable to suggest that a desire for something we can actually feel, embellished with a nostalgic glow from a COVID-free past, may also explain the resurgence of the audio cassette.
Lil Nas X had months to plan out a strategy for the release of his latest video 'Montero (Call Me By Your Name)', which sees him ending up in hell (for being gay, right?), and taking the crown of the devil himself, as Mashable has noticed. Rapper Joyner Lucas accused him of cheating on kids who liked 'Old Town Road', to which Lil Nas X answered "i literally sing about lean & adultery in old town road. u decided to let your child listen. blame yourself". South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem was offended by the "Satan Shoes"; Lil Nas X believes she's got better things to do: "ur a whole governor and u on here tweeting about some damn shoes. do ur job!".
10-year-old music wonderkid Nandi Bushell published a video of herself opening up a gift from Muse's Matt Bellamy - a signature guitar model. Bushell has covered 'Plug in Baby' witch caught the attention of Muse's frontman, who sent her the model, and the polite and nice girl was really happy with the gift. Previously, Bushell has covered Muse's 'Hysteria'.
"Even if you’ve heard them a million times or come across them in a dozen movie soundtracks, classics like 'My Girl', 'Come See About Me', or 'The Tracks of My Tears' still sound almost impossibly fresh, just as the radical spirit of 'What’s Going On' or 'Living for the City' resonates perfectly in our present political moment. And amid all the hits, there are still lesser-known gems to be discovered" - Rolling Stone writes introducing the 100 greatest Motown songs list, 60 years after label's first Number One hit, 'Please Mr. Postman', by the Marvelettes.
Britney Spears spoke for the first time about the New York Times' documentary 'Framing Britney Spears' saying that she had cried for two weeks after seeing parts of it (she never saw the whole thing), Billboard reports. However, it's the other thing that she has said that speaks volumes about her mental health: "I do what I can in my own spirituality with myself to try and keep my own joy … love … and happiness !!!! Every day dancing brings me joy !!! I'm not here to be perfect … perfect is boring … I'm here to pass on kindness !!!! ... My life has always been very speculated … watched … and judged really my whole life !!! For my sanity I need to dance... every night of my life to feel wild and human and alive !!!".
Brian Rohan, the San Francisco “dope lawyer” who represented rock clients like Grateful Dead, Janis Joplin, Santana, Aerosmith, Boston, Jefferson Airplane, and Kris Kristofferson, has died at 84, Consequence of Sound reports. Rohan's rock career was opened by Grateful Dead in 1966 when he helped them organize their first album contract with Warner Bros. Several months later in January 1967, the police arrested nearly 100 people on charges of loitering and “being hippies” after the Human Be-In. Rohan brought the case to trial and won, getting all other charges dismissed. Rohan also co-formed the Haight-Ashbury Legal Organization that same summer and often set up a table in front of the band’s house where he offered service to live-in and walk-in clients alike who needed help. A story has it also that Rohan punched David Geffen for having his phone calls for clients ignored, earning the applause of “Jann Wenner, Paul Simon, Linda Ronstadt, and Leonard Cohen".
