Guardian made a selection of 20 best small music and arts festivals around Europe this summer. There's details about each festival, location, dates, costs... It's: Meadows in the Mountains, Bulgaria; Awake, Romania; Sacred Ground, Germany; Secret Solstice, Iceland; Uprising, Slovakia; Instytut, Poland; Ypsigrock, Sicily; Mandrea, Italy; Love International, Croatia; Horst, Belgium; Evasion, France; Parallel, Spain; […]
Carrie Underwood selected an all-female lineup for her upcoming Cry Pretty Tour, with opening acts Maddie & Tae and Runaway June, but then she wondered - “Can we do that?”, and then told herself: “OK, we have to do this!”, Billboard reports. Underwood says she wants the audience “to leave saying, ‘That’s the best show […]
"She draws from Armenian folk performances, classical choral music, and improvisatory jazz, only to defy all expectations for every single one of these genres" PopMatters reviews avant-garde folk by Armenian singer Areni Agbabian. "The key to Areni Agbabian's success on 'Bloom is' a purity of emotion; passion laid bare".
Public figures including Stephen Fry, Gene Simmons of the band Kiss, Sharon Osbourne, comedian Al Murray, Spanish singer/songwriter Conchita, Marina Abramović, and pop mogul Scooter Braun have signed a letter speaking out against a proposed boycott of this year’s Eurovision, which is to be held in Israel in May, the Guardian reports. Their letter states […]
The Quietus made a new monthly selection of punk and hardcore, for the month of May, and this time it is particularly noisy, unintentionally. Bananas Belgians Cocaine Piss serve as light relief among the crop, tQ says. Listen to the May-nosie collection here.
Debuting at No. 11 on the midweek UK singles chart is a song 'Let Nature Sing', and it’s literally just birds, Pitchfork reports. The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds released the track of pure birdsong with the hope that it would chart and raise awareness for endangered birds in the UK. Vocals on […]
UK artists were paid £746 million in 2018 for their tracks being played, and that was record high - a rise of 4% on 2017. For the first time, PRS for music, which collects the royalties for artists, counted songs used on Facebook and Instagram Stories. But, as singer-songwriter Ruth-Anne Cunningham says to BBC, "a […]
John Singleton, Oscar-nominated director of 'Boyz n the Hood', 'Poetic Justice', and 'Higher Learning', has passed away at the age of 51. With 'Boyz n the Hood', in 1991, then-24-year-old Singleton was the youngest nominee and the first black filmmaker to be nominated for the award. "He not only made me a movie star but […]
“Britain produces so much interesting, creative stuff, but it has become a nation where any kind of gathering together seems terrifying to the authorities" - Vinca Peterson tells Guardian in an article about artists who depict clubs. It connects escapism of dancing with social commentary of arts - "From pagan festivals that have been taken […]
British telecom company EE will be trialing a 5G mobile network at this year's Glastonbury, which raised some health issues, and some fans were questioning whether they will even attend the festival now because of the trial, Plymouth Live reports. The trial would mark the first time the 5G technology has been used at a […]
BBC has a political piece with South African rappers about elections being held May 8, since six million young eligible voters in South Africa didn't even bother to register earlier this year. Rapper Lex Lafoy puts it simple and correct: "What use are these freedoms if we don't know how best to use them".
The Guardian reporter visited Ronnie Wood at his art studio in Hertfordshire village, in England, a cottage where Rolling Stones hellraiser turns into calm and delicate painter. “The studio evolved with the clarity I gained from sobering up over the last few years,” Wood explains in the subtly ironic article - "in the past it […]
Sex Pistols star Johnny Rotten has asked Los Angeles police officials to help him keep homeless vagrants from his Venice Beach home which they target as a party pad. The Anarchy in the U.K. singer told Newsweek thugs have started ripping the bars from the windows of his home, breaking windows and turning the home […]
Loudwire has made a list of 16 UK bands defining UK's rock'n'roll. It's: Brighton proggers Black Peaks, pop-punkers Boston Manor, metal-core band Bring Me the Horizon, pop-rock by Don Broco, power-rock band Dream State, post-hardcore band Enter Shikari, punk-rockers Frank Carter and The Rattlesnakes, post-hardcore band Holding Absence, punk-rockers Jamie Lenman, math-rockers Marmozets, punk-rockers Milk […]
“It was all against the systemic control of the music system. This idea of provocation in the streets, the field of punk was a social protest, elements of that still exist" - the curator, Andrew Blauvelt, says to Guardian, about new exhibition Too Fast to Live, Too Young to Die: Punk Graphics, 1976–1986 about graphic […]
"The beats here may slap like club beats slap, but the sounds that twist and turn over them are unlike anything else, mixing the energy of punk, the squelch of p-funk, the strut and heat of ballroom house, the future shock of experimental electronica, and the wild, freeform harmolodics of free jazz – not to […]
It's about being "comfortable, enjoying a peaceful day" - James Blake explains what's his latest video 'Barefoot in the Park' is about. He has Rosalia singing it with him, and in the video they go towards one another, before... something happens. 'Barefoot in the Park' is from Blake’s most recent LP 'Assume Form', and the […]
Guardian has a funny article about band's names of festival posters. It's about who comes first, and who has a bigger font. According to insiders, it’s the music world’s touchiest topic.
Dark ambient artist and painter Tor Lundvall made a list for PopMatters of five albums that shaped him, as a musician. It's albums by Peter Gabriel, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, The Durutti Column, Harold Budd & Brian Eno project, and Slowdive.
Uncompromising. Independent. Prolific. Bloody-minded. Off the radar of the influential booking agents. Unable to play any sort of game. Totally honest - the Quietus writes about Mike Vest, British guitarist who burned a bunch of his old guitars in an act the musician himself describes as "better than just putting them in a skip". Vest […]
A British couple traveled 30,000 kilometers around Europe in an old motorhome, recording love songs in their mobile studio for their Oh Europe project, Guardian reports. They recorded 731 love songs – Kiss song 'I Was Made for Lovin’ You' was sung by a seven-year-old Greek boy, a British man who only sings at karaoke […]
Paul Rudd paid visit to Jimmy Fallon, but instead of talking about Rudd's new 'Avengers' movie, they made a parody of Dead or Alive's ’80s classic 'You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)'. Watch it here.
He says it's “a return to my solo recordings featuring character-driven songs and sweeping, cinematic orchestral arrangements”, but it's really just a lovely song. 'Hello Sunshine' is the first single from his upcoming album 'Western Stars', his first new record in five years, out June 14, Pitchfork reports. Watch the accompanying video here.
Ishmael Ensemble's debut album 'A State Of Flow' comes out next week. Guardian says it's "pitched somewhere between astral jazz, burbling electronica, trippy minimalism, psychedelic dub and 20 years of club culture". Listen to song 'Lapwing' here, or an awesome live performance here.
TheGrio website sat down with prominent Black men in the entertainment industry to discuss how Nipsey Hussle inspired the community and music industry as a whole and what steps need to take place to continue the work amid such tragedy. Watch the 34-minute conversation here.
Guardian has a beautiful interview with Peter Doherty, who is still alive, and still on heroin. He's 40 now, and has an album out - 'Peter Doherty and the Puta Madres'. But, it's his life what they talk about, not music. Why is he still on heroin? - "Because my brain thinks I enjoy it. […]
Taylor Swift published a new video today, and it has been watched more than 29 million times in 17 hours after being released. That makes it the fastest music video in history to reach more than 10 million views - reaching the milestone in just 2 hours. BBC lists all the references in the new […]
Riot grrrl legends Bikini Kill played their first show in 22 years last night (April 25) performing 27 songs at Hollywood Palladium. NME collected a few fan-shot footages of several songs.
"'Designer' is Harding’s third album, and like the two that preceded it, it’s absolutely gorgeous, at least on a surface level. Her music rests on delicate little details: lightly strummed acoustic guitars, brushed cymbals, softly tapped bongos and xylophones, piano lines that move like ripples across a lake’s surface... Every song has a subtle groove, […]
"The album is a perfectly curated, succinct, and poignant picture of being a woman, and its effectiveness is a result of the full three years she took to perfect it" Consequence of Sound reviews third album by American r'n'b singer Lizzo. 'Cuz I Love You' is "purposefully compact, genre-blending, unifying, reaffirming, devoid of corniness... Lizzo […]
Taylor Swift has become the first woman in Grammy Awards history to win album of the year three times - the 31-year-old songstress took home the top prize last night with 'Folklore'. Swift previously won album of the year in 2010 for 'Fearless', at that time, the youngest artist ever to do so, and in 2016 for '1989'. The only other musicians to win thrice are Stevie Wonder, Frank Sinatra, and Paul Simon, USA Today reports. Beyoncé became the most-decorated woman in Grammys history with her 28th win, while her daughter Blue Ivy Carter, at 9 years old, became the second youngest person to win a Grammy, according to CBS News. Billie Eilish accepted the Grammy for Record of the Year for her song 'Everything I Wanted', Megan Thee Stallion won Best New Artist, H.E.R. took Song of the Year for 'I Can't Breathe', Check out all the nominees and winners here. BBC picks out five special moments from the ceremony, including Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion simulating sex onstage (a Scissor Sisters moment, right!?).
Adrian Crowley shares a bit of psychedelia indie with 'Northbound Stowaway'; Human Impact offer dirty industrial rock on 'Recognition'; DJ Muggs and Rome Streetz go old-school hip-hop on 'Ace of Swords'; Kele of Bloc Party shares a hypnotic guitar loop on 'The Heart of the Wave'; afrobeat meets hip-hop on 'Cosmosis' by the late Tony Allen featuring Skepta & Ben Okri; Chronixx cries for peace (and legal ganja) on psychedelic reggae 'Safe N Sound'; former post-hardcore band Trophy Scars deliver an Americana-blues song 'Father: Part I'.
Aphex Twin sold a new unique piece of artwork in the form of an NFT for $128,000 on the cryptocurrency marketplace Foundation, NME reports. The piece, titled afx\/weirdcore\blockscanner, is a collaboration between Aphex and regular collaborator and visual artist Weirdcore, and features music from the DJ and “additional technical input” from multidisciplinary artist Freeka Tet.
A great talk with singer-songwriter Richard Thompson, a long time ago a member of Fairport Convention, in Guardian about his new book 'Beeswing: Fairport, Folk-Rock and Finding My Voice' about the start of his career. Thompson is a touring musician and misses playing now in the pandemic - live music needs to happen, he says, “otherwise, as a human race, we will go extinct. Music is so great for kids. It makes you cleverer at everything else, and also teaches you to go past a mistake. If you make one [when you play live], you can’t burst into tears and stop. You just have to carry on”.
Apart from the biggest categories, there were some noticeable wins at the Grammys last night. Kaytranada won Best Dance/Electronic Album with 'Bubba', Fiona Apple won Best Rock Performance with 'Shameika' as well as Best Alternative Music Album with 'Fetch the Bolt Cutters', Brittany Howard won Best Rock Song with 'Stay High', The Strokes won Best Rock Album with 'The New Abnormal', Thundercat won Best Progressive R&B Album with 'It Is What It Is', Gillian Welch & David Rawlings won Best Folk Album with 'All The Good Times', Burna Boy won Best Global Music Album with 'Twice As Tall', Body Count won Best Metal Performance with 'Bum-Rush', even Kanye West won, in Best Contemporary Christian Music Album category with 'Jesus is King', tying Jay-Z as the most ever Grammy-awarded among hip-hop artists with 22 awards.
Morgan Wallen spends a ninth week at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart with 'Dangerous: The Double Album', which is most weeks at No. 1 for any album since Drake scored 13 nonconsecutive weeks at No. 1 in 2016 with 'Views'. 'Dangerous' is also one of four country albums ever to spend at least nine weeks in the lead. Billboard reports. 'Dangerous' earned 78,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. in the week ending March 11, down a meager 6% from the previous week.
World-renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma played a short gig in the observation area at the Berkshire Community College in Massachusetts after receiving his COVID-19 vaccination this week. Ma said he wanted to “give something back” after receiving his jab, so he played a 15-minute concert for others waiting at the centre, the Berkshire Eagle reports. Ma’s set was observed by a small crowd that were masked and socially distanced.
Satanic Planet is a new industrial metal supergroup featuring Justin Pearson of the Locust and Dead Cross, Dave Lombardo of Dead Cross and ex-Slayer, Luke Henshaw of Planet B, and Lucien Greaves, co-founder of the actual Satanic Temple, The PRP reports. Greaves will be penning lyrics for Satanic Planet, while Pearson will be on vocals. They are also working with a variety of guests on their debut album, including Cattle Decapitation's Travis Ryan, Silent's Jung Sing, Eric Livingston, Nomi Abadi, Shiva Honey, as well as Steve-O of ‘Jackass‘. Satanic Planet members are pointing to the date of May 28.
The 63rd Grammy Awards take place in Los Angeles on Sunday night, with performances from Billie Eilish, BTS, Taylor Swift, Dua Lipa, Harry Styles and Cardi B - it's available to watch online (at 5 PM LA time, 1 PM Monday Berlin time, 9 AM Monday Tokyo time). This year's ceremony will have to audience, and performers will be separated onto five stages. The awards will be handed out by bartenders, security guards and cleaners from concert venues that have been forced to close because of Covid-19.
The Weeknd has said he will boycott future Grammy Awards after not being shortlisted for a single award this year, the New York Times reports. He said he would remain absent from the event until the Recording Academy, which organizes the awards, got rid of the "secret committees" that decide many of the nominations. The Grammys voting procedures are notoriously opaque, with review committees having the final say in 72 of the 83 categories. The anonymous panels, which can include musicians, record label staff and experts, review the initial choices of the Grammy voters and have the final say over who makes the shortlist.
