"Breakthrough acts like Idles or Fontaines D.C. are the result of actual human DJs, writers and tastemakers coming to a rare consensus around a particular band, but their impact is limited now, their chances of cracking the increasingly irrelevant singles chart virtually nil. All thanks to The Algorithm... The result is a musical culture practically […]
Pivot Gang is a hip hop collective of independent rappers from Chicago, and their debut album 'You Can't Sit With Us' is coming out this week. Consequence of Sound gave it a high score of B+: "It is built up of well-thought-out features and lyrics that are at times witty and others necessarily gruesome. It […]
Game of Thrones returned for the eight and final season, and Billboard celebrates it with an article about music and musicians in the show. The Hold Steady did a rousing punk “cover” of song 'The Bear and The Maiden Fair' from the show, The National and Sigur Rós have contributed haunting soundtrack versions of song […]
Michiel Eikenaar, vocalist for Dutch black metal bands Dodecahedron and Nihil, died last Friday (April 12) following a battle with cancer. Nihill were known for their relentless intensity and nightmarish atmosphere. Since forming in the early 2010s, Dodecahedron have released three records, distinguished by a more progressive and avant-garde sound. Nihill will cease to continue […]
American r&b singer Khalid's 'Free Spirit' is at the #1 on the Billboard 200 chart with 202,000 equivalent album sold in America in its first week of release. 'Free Spirit' is Khalid's first chart topper on the Billboard 200 - his 2017 LP, 'American Teen', debuted at #9 with 37,000 album-equivalent units. All Hip Hop...
"The pastoral folk sound of much of the album finds Bibio using the guitar to add subtle shades of color to the songs, giving them real emotional depth and breadth. There is an overarching reliance on melody as he adds another sophisticated layer to his songwriting as he incorporates elements of psychedelia, soul, funk, and […]
What may be the most comprehensive exhibition ever assembled about the history of electronic music is taking place in France’s capital in the Philharmonie de Paris. Guardian's Alexis Petridis visited the Electro: From Kraftwerk to Daft Punk, and liked it a lot: "Two years in the making, Electro is a pretty overwhelming audiovisual experience". So […]
Singer Ceili O'Connor, from the West End musical 'Cats' joined 91-year-old Denis Robinson, the "piano man" from London subway's St Pancras station, and soon the footage of the pair playing and singing went viral. Mr Robinson, of Sutton, south London, said: "It's an absolute joy. Especially in a world like we've got today, where they're […]
R. Kelly’s account at Wintrust Bank isn’t just completely drained, but in the red with negative balance of $13, on top of that, over $150,000 in holdings were also sucked out of Bank of America, leaving just $625 in Kelly’s pair of accounts there, court documents have revealed. The landlord of his Chicago studio is […]
“It sounds like us making music in 2019. And yes, we’re influenced by everything from Prince and Joni Mitchell to Biggie Smalls and 2Pac" producer Nico Segal says in interview with Stereogum, speaking about Intellexual, his project with Nate Fox. Segal, signed as Donnie Trumpet, has produced and played for the likes of Kanye West, […]
PopMatters has chosen five songs from five of the best new British artists. In the newest edition of their segment Brits in Hot Weather it's Ted Jasper, Flamingods, Liv East & CD Spinz, Spiritcake, and Ice Baths. Listen to the five songs here.
"The crowd are in the palm of her hands, as each song bleeds into the next like an immaculately crafted DJ set aimed at puncturing and then suturing the heart" - The Guardian is in ecstasy over Swedish pop-singer's last night concert in London - "a perfectly pitched set ranging from club anthems to her […]
YouTube confirmed on Saturday (April 13) that the South Korean boy-band's newly released 'Boy With Luv' music video featuring Halsey had the best-ever first-day music video on the site (watch it here). YouTube didn't give exact numbers, but the video had 115 million views on Sunday, Billboard reports. BTS premiered their live performance of 'Boy […]
Paul Raymond, longtime guitarist and keyboardist of the influential classic rock band UFO, died of a heart attack Saturday, April 13th. He was 73 years old. Raymond was still an active member of UFO, playing a show as recently as April 5th at London’s O2 Forum as part of the band’s 50th anniversary tour. UFO […]
At the start of 1969, Silver Apples had the world at their feet. The New York duo of Simeon Coxe and Danny Taylor had released a pioneering debut album, collaborated with Jimi Hendrix and played Central Park to tens of thousands of people. Their second LP was due imminently. Yet weeks later, the album was […]
"'Morbid Stuff' just still sounds like friends having fun and making catchy, cathartic punk anthems for teens and almost-adults alike" - Exclaim reviews the new PUP album. Sputnik Music loved it even more: "It’s a complete thrill from front to back that manages to retain the band’s whacky nature while making some inspiring progressions forward. […]
Guardian tells the story of Anderson .Paak, who's newest album 'Ventura' - the fourth and final named after a California beach - was just released to critical acclaim. In high school he was "that talented black kid who can rap, sing, danc", but after record labels rejected his demo he reinvented him as "the alternative […]
Ecuadorian fan started an online petition asking NASA to name the newly photographed black hole after the late Soundgarden singer Chris Cornell, who's 'Black Hole Sun' is one the most popular rock songs of 1990s. NASA published photograph of the black star, the first black star photo, this week, and Giuliana Jarrin thinks that Cornell […]
Plenty of nice words by the Quietus about the new Sunn O))) album 'Life Metal': "Rarely do we see them described for what they are – masters of the ecstatic... Sunn O))) really, have always been about the light... Timely reminder that the greatest art is often simultaneously deadly serious and utterly ridiculous... A vibrant, […]
Kendrick Lamar wrote a moving tribute to Nipsey Hussle, which was included in the program that was distributed to mourners on his funeral: "His charisma and way with words was powerful. But his integrity as a person, made me even more enthused. I watched a young, ambitious black male orchestrate fellowship amongst the men around […]
Korean boy-band BTS is the first K-pop group, and Asian artist overall, to surpass 5 billion streams on Spotify. Their single 'Fake Love', was Spotify’s most-streamed K-pop track of 2018, and has been responsible for more than 219 million of BTS’ 5 billion streams (listen to it here). Billboard...
"I'm very attracted to moving into darkness and expressing that. But I want to do that in the context of catharsis and ultimately turn toward hope", Anoushka Shankar, one of the most recognizable names in world music, has told PopMatters in an interview about her new best-of collection 'Reflections', which chronicles her two decades as […]
There’s a multitude of talent from UK that’s come through in the last decade or so, in the process taking metal music to new places and onto the playlists of new listeners. From ethereal prog to the extremes of death metal, Loudwire lists 11 bands defining the U.K.’s metal scene in 2019. It's: Architects, Blood […]
Mark Ronson has shared new single 'Late Night Feelings', featuring Lykke Li, the title track from his forthcoming album. 'Late Night Feelings' (out June 21) is a self-proclaimed album of “sad bangers” that is slated to feature King Princess, Arkansas-based singer songwriter Yeeba, and more. Ronson’s Miley Cyrus collaboration 'Nothing Breaks Like a Heart' will […]
'Sicilian Crest' is the last song on Mountain Goats' album 'In League With Dragons', and it's kinda dramatic in a childish way. About the album, bandleader John Darnielle has said that he hopes it will kick off a whole new genre called “dragon noir" (Rolling Stone). Listen to the song here.
"Drummer T.J. Childers plays with terrifying intensity but also with the kind of rhythmic playfulness that lets you know he listens to jazz. Guitarists Trey Dalton and Steven Russell are more concerned with creating atmosphere than with showing off, but they know how to launch into blazing solos when the time is right... They’ve taken […]
The whole thing about deal/no-deal Brexit is ridiculous, so why not just - sing to it, which is exactly what The Guardian did. They made a list of 50 songs about Europe, ranked, offering Ella Fitzgerald, Sex Pistols, Jacques Brel, David Bowie, Kraftwerk and more. A charming list.
Major streets in South Los Angeles were closed thursday following the final services for rapper Nipsey Hussle. The rap star was remembered in a touching ceremony at The Staples Center, where 21,000 of his fans gathered, including Snoop Dogg, YG and DJ Mustard and even Barack Obama (via a letter) paid tribute to Nipsey. A […]
"'Disturbance' is precisely what the dark uncertainty of the present moment calls for: a primeval blending of ancient ambiance and modern tech, building fast and furious into a soundtrack that batters the fragile Quotidien present with a beautiful rage into which the listener yearns to hurl themselves, body and soul" - PopMatters really likes new […]
"I think we are in the process of creating a more fair and equal music industry than it’s ever been in the past," Spotify CEO Daniel Ek said in an expansive new interview with the Freakonomics Radio podcast. He claims that more recording artists can make a full-time living now than they could in the […]
Maxwell Farrington & Le SuperHomard share a baroque pop 'We, Us the Pharaohs'; Skullcrusher goes totally mellow on 'Storm in Summer'; Lucy Dacus is minimal yet tense on 'Thumbs'; (almost) anonymous band Fuckin Whatever share psych-pop song 'Trash'; Sophie completed the collaborative track 'JSLOiPNHIE' with Jlin just before they died; Nadja share ambient industrial sludge song 'Luminous Rot'; Oddisee is laid back on 'No Trouble'; actor and singer Matt Berry shares a psychedelic instrumental 'Aboard'; Sarah Neufeld shares 'With Love and Blindness' from her new album, which documents an “intense, heart-wrenching, insane two years” in her life; Home Is Where share post-rock screamo 'Sewn Together From The Membrane Of The Great Sea Cucumber'.
An Instagram user ipaddrummer posted various short clips of drum covers on an iPad, of songs by Metallica, Slipknot, Iron Maiden, System of a Down, Slayer, Cannibal Corpse, Aerosmith, and many others, and it's just as amazing as it is funny.
Crime drama 'City of Lies' about the murder of Notorious B.I.G. is finally coming out next week (it was postponed three years ago due to Johnny Depp’s public image at the time). 'City of Lies' is based on the true story of Biggie's death in 1997. The movie follows a retired LAPD detective named Russell Poole (Depp) and a journalist (Forest Whitaker) as they try to uncover the identities of those responsible for the murders of Tupac Shakur and Biggie.
The Weeknd has six nominations for Juno Awards 2021, including nods for Album of the Year, Single of the Year and Artist of the Year. Jessie Reyez, JP Saxe and Justin Bieber each follow closely behind with five nominations each. Also nominated are Savannah Ré, Arkells, TOBi, Half Moon Run, the Glorious Sons, Alanis Morissette, Shay Lia, Kaytranada, WondaGurl, Murda Beatz, Alessia Cara, Crown Lands, Céline Dion, Leonard Cohen, NAV and Shawn Mendes.
While Americans mostly listen to a new generation of hip-hop, country, and pop acts, the Brits prefer both classic and modern rock bands, the US and the UK official charts show, Loudwire reports. Zero rock albums have topped the US chart in the U.S. in 2021 so far, and the last year it was only AC/DC and Machine Gun Kelly who occupied the No. 1 spot. Furthermore, rock has claimed the No. 1 spot just four times - by AC/DC, MGK, Tool, Slipknot - in the last two-and-half years. On the other side of the Atlantic, five rock albums - by You Me at Six, Bring Me the Horizon, Foo Fighters, Mogwai, and Architects - have topped the U.K. Albums Chart in 2021 alone. In 2020, a total of 15 rock artists held the top spot on the U.K. Albums Chart, including Green Day, Bruce Springsteen, Biffy Clyro, Yungblud, the 1975, and Paul McCartney.
Cardi B's major-label debut single 'Bodak Yellow' has been certified diamond by the Recording Industry Association of America, meaning it has moved 10 million units, Complex reports. The New York native is the first female rapper to achieve a diamond single award. One equivalent song unit is equal to a single digital song sale, or 150 on-demand audio and/or video streams.
Janelle Monae performed her anthemic song 'Turntables' on Stephen Colbert's The Late Show. She wrote the song for the documentary 'All In: The Fight for Democracy', starring Stacey Abrams, and in this rendition, it came out as soul Rage Against The Machine.
Producers Swizz Beatz and Timbaland have sold their Verzuz project to Triller, joining also the Triller Verzuz management team to help oversee music and other company strategies, LA Times reports. Timbaland and Swizz Beatz have become large shareholders in Triller Network and in turn have allocated part of their equity stake to the 43 performers who’ve appeared on Verzuz to date, including John Legend, DMX, Alicia Keys, Ashanti, Rick Ross, Patti LaBelle, Gucci Mane, Jeezy, RZA, The Dream, Brandy, Monica, DJ Premier, Erykah Badu, Jill Scott. Pairing popular artists from the worlds of R&B, hip-hop, dancehall and gospel, Verzuz was launched in March 2020 in the wake of COVID-19. Since then, the platform has boosted sales and streams for its featured artists in addition to accumulating more than 5 billion impressions.
"This isn't a typical music documentary. It’s as personal as it gets" - director Leigh Brooks says about 'The Sound of Scars', his new docu about Brooklyn alt-metal vets Life of Agony. The 90-minute film features new interviews with band members and their families, as well as archival footage, rare photographs, and "lost" interviews, and it looks at lead vocalist Mina Caputo's gender transition.
Monty Python member Eric Idle shared an insight into the production of the troupes 1975 film 'Monty Python and the Holy Grail', Rolling Stone reports. According to his tweet, British rock stars were essential in financing it - Led Zeppelin contributed £31,500, Pink Floyd Music ponied up £21,000, and Jethro Tull frontman Ian Anderson put in £6,300 of his own money. Monty Python's other movie 'Life of Brian' came out thanks to a musician as well - The Beatles legend George Harrison mortgaged his house and put that money in the movie.
