An excellent mixture of pop, hip-hop, folk, and electronic elements, it's a continuously cherishable sequence that once again cements Dido as a singular artist... 'Still on My Mind' is another rich outing for Dido in every way. At its peak, it provides awe-inspiring combinations of singer/songwriter radiance and novel sonic manipulations and juxtapositions - PopMatters […]
In the 1970s and 80s Mogadishu's airwaves were filled with Somali funk, disco, soul and reggae. Musicians rocking afros and bell-bottom trousers would perform at the city's trendiest nightclubs during the height of the country's golden era of music. Somali Night Fever tells the story of the people keeping Somali music alive, including two friends, […]
20- and 30-somethings, filtering out from Robyn's March 8 Madison Square Garden show, ended her concert by screaming her song 'Dancing On My Own' at New York City's subway station. Soon someone pulled out a Bluetooth speaker and everyone started singing her song as if their lives depended on it... Watch the sing-along here.Vulture...
State schools in England have seen a 21% decrease in music provision over the last five years, and at the same time, access to music in independent schools has risen by 7%. The gap widens amongst poorer pupils, with just one in four schools in deprived areas offering music lessons. One in five primary school […]
Stevie Nicks will make history at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ceremony on March 29, becoming the first woman to be inducted twice. She was first inducted in 1998 as a member of Fleetwood Mac and is being ushered in this year as a solo artist - Billboard writes about women at the […]
"Matmos' new record is an anthem to one of the leading causes of pollution to the planet in all its various forms. So here come the PVC pipelines, the bubble wrap, and the Styrofoam. But that is not all, with Matmos also exploring sound from silicone gel breast implants and even synthetic human fat! All […]
"Using cutting edge percussive tools, including smart triggers, drum pads, and MIDI controllers, it is the duo's vision to augment the acoustic drum kit. It is through this exploration that Turning Jewels Into Water find a place where the ritualistic origins of music and rhythm meet with the digital realm" - PopMatters offers some avantgarde […]
The latest social media dance obsession, 'the Triangle', involves three people holding on to each others shoulders and jumping in-between each other in a pattern, and it will replace floss, well, it least that's what Guardian think.
'The Greatest Showman: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack' was the best-selling album globally in 2018 with 3,5 million copies sold. South Korean boyband BTS take both the second and third chart positions with the albums 'Love Yourself 結 'Answer' released in August 2018, sold in 2,7 million copies, and 'Love Yourself 轉 'Tear', released in May […]
According to dance movies, every dance performance must end in one of three ways: sex, madness, or death - Vulture makes a funny point and tries to find out the truth with Jesse Kovarsky, dancer and choreographer, and Ani Taj, director, choreographer, and dancer.
Listening to death metal music inspires joy, and not violence - a new study by the music lab at Sydney, Australia’s Macquarie University shows. The study involved asking 32 death meal fans and 48 non-fans to listen to death metal (Bloodbath's cannibalism-inspired track 'Eaten'), or pop while viewing unpleasant images (Pharrell Wiliams' 'Happy'). It revealed […]
UK start-up Peex is trying to make concerts sound better for attendees with a wireless wearable device that allows concertgoers to adjust the sound to their likings. Peex has partnered up with Elton John to have select people demo the Peex system at select shows on his farewell tour, which runs through 2021. System is […]
A second K-pop star has quit the music business, in a sex scandal - Jung Joon-young, 30, admitted to secretly filming himself having sex with women and sharing the footage. It comes a day after superstar Seungri from the group Big Band quit the industry after being charged over allegations that he ran and illegal […]
British folkers Mumford & Sons covered Nine Inch Nails' 'Hurt' on saturday evening during their live show in Cleveland, Trent Reznor's home-city. Marcus Mumford and the band are currently on the road in support of their latest album 'Delta'. NME...
Locating strange connections that lurk in our unconscious is an obsession for Drew Mulholland, a lecturer in psychogeography and hauntology – areas of study that stray into the unconscious and the seemingly supernatural – at Glasgow University, or, as he puts it, he is “interested in sound, memory and place”. He’s also a musician who […]
A Southampton FC fan has gone viral after raving to The Prodigy's ‘Firestarter’ during a match at St Mary’s Stadium this weekend. With the track being played over the PA ahead of the Southampton v Tottenham, the energetic attendee didn’t hold back as he channelled the spirit of Keith Flint. Sky Sports...
"Roberto Carlos Lange’s sixth and best album as Helado Negro deepens and expands upon the imagistic nature of his lyrics and cosmic synth-folk. It is a sublime, masterful piece of music" - Pitchfork.
“The reason everyone is so upset is ’cause R. Kelly and Micheal Jackson make great music. If I found out Macklemore did some weird stuff, I’d be happy to free up the space on my iPhone” - Pete Davidson said last night on 'Saturday Night Live' addressing the recent allegations surrounding Michael Jackson and R […]
R. Kelly was released from the Cook County Jail, where he was locked up over failure to pay $161,000 in back child support owed to his ex-wife, Drea Kelly. R. Kelly was freed after an unknown donor put up the money, after a judge sent him to jail on March 6, until he paid the […]
With a voice like his, so large and powerful and bodied with so much sincere soul, it shouldn't have taken so much effort to turn heads. But such is the fickle music business that has bowed to everything but the poise of a very true, though sidelined, talent - PopMatters takes notice of unusual American […]
"It’s the sort of mood that could suspend itself over a day or month or year. And as a musical statement, it’s Kehlani casually, unhurriedly, staking her spot in that next year, or more" - Spin picks out new album by the American r'n'b singer.
"I know injustices are frustrating and it’s easy to get worked up. but reacting with a calm mind usually is more logical than acting out of rage and also.... it feels better to mellow out. Smoke some weed n think about the bigger picture. chillax my dudes" - Paris Jackson tweeted following allegations about her […]
The Arab world’s biggest indie group, probably the most successful Arabic-language band internationally, they have collaborations with Róisín Murphy and Hot Chip’s Joe Goddard, they're going on a European tour - they're Mashrou' Leila and Guardian talked to them about politics, LGBT rights and how the West sees the East.
"Disq are finishing up their debut album, which also splits the difference between lightly psychedelic flourishes and more ramshackle singer-songwriter endeavors. Thematically, the new material also finds them in a different, older place — both members remark on how 'most of that first album is girls and heartbreak' whereas the stuff they’re working on now […]
"Three years after releasing the soul-baring opus 'A Seat at the Table', Solange has ditched traditional song structure and world-weary lyrics for a sonically and thematically ambiguous record that feels freer, and less burdened by the white gaze" - Pitchfork.
The Black Keys have shared a new single called 'Lo/Hi'. The track marks their first new music together since 2014’s Grammy-nominated 'Turn Blue'. It's written and produced by Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney themselves (Consequence of Sound). Listen to the song here.
Embattled US R&B singer R. Kelly has been taken into custody for failing to pay child support to his ex-wife Drea Kelly, for their three children. A judge in Chicago said he would be held until he paid $161,000 (£122,000) owed to his ex-wife and their children. The singer showed up to the hearing with […]
For the first time in almost two decades, this haywire tandem goes wild with their singularly subversive rock’n’roll... For all the admirers and imitators Royal Trux have amassed in absentia, no one else can make music like this - Pitchfork. Listen to their new song 'White Stuff' here.
There are docs and biopics, concert films and musicals, movies with flick-making and generation-defining soundtracks... They boast a common ethos, carry a certain swagger, and feel rebellious in their own, often unlikely, ways. So, here they are: The 50 Greatest Rock and Roll Movies of All Time, Consequence of Sound choice.
Four weeks ago, The Prodigy's Keith Flint played his final show with the band, in Auckland, New Zealand. It was on February 5 as The Prodigy performed at Auckland’s Trusts Arena, wrapping up the Oceania leg of their world tour. NME has a selection of videos from the show. The London music site picks out […]
'Bad Dreams' is the stand-out song from Indigo Sparke's new album 'Echo'; NoName shares funk/jazzy groove-banger 'Rainforest'; Hannah Jadagu shares some happy melancholia with 'Think Too Much'; The Armed go raaawk on 'All Futures'; Francis of Delirium share rock'n'cool song 'Let It All Go'.
Music streaming increased 13.4% in 2020 in the US compared to 2019, generating $10.1 billion last year compared to $8.9 billion in 2019, according to RIAA. Music streaming is accounting for 83% of the total revenue of the industry now. Vinyl sales have increased a whopping 29.2% to $619.6 million, compared to $479.5 million in 2019. Streaming has driven the industry to grow for the fifth consecutive year, with revenues increasing 9.2% in 2020, generating $12.2 billion in total.
George Clooney performed a lyrical improv reading of BTS' biggest hit 'Dynamite'. With a straight face Clooney says "hello, I'm Brad Pitt", and reads the lyrics. Amusing stuff!
Spotify CEO and cofounder Daniel Ek said the company paid out $5 billion in royalties in 2020, Spotify reports. Chief content officer Dawn Ostroff announced that over the last four years, the number of recording artists whose catalogs generated more than $1 million a year across recording and publishing is up over 82% to more than 800 artists (the majority of money is still going to the labels), and the number generating more than $100,000 a year is up 79% to more than 7,500 artists. Spotify this week also announced that it will be introducing a hi-fi option later this year.
Mogwai have landed their first-ever chart-topper in the UK as their latest release 'As the Love Continues' debuts at the No. 1 spot, UK Official Charts reports. It's the Scottish rock group's first No. 1 in 25-year career. Mogwai beat out grime artist Ghetts for the top spot.
ReWrapped is a new AI which analyzes your Spotify favorites in order to discover new artists influenced by your musical taste, Engadget reports. It works by linking directly with your Spotify account and identifying the most popular music via the Spotify Wrapped feature. Once recognised, this innovative A.I. audio analysis engine then examines key elements of each audio track and compares them against the community of artists, with suggestions then made based on the similarities.
Nick Cave and his Bad Seeds bandmate Warren Ellis made a new album in lockdown - their first non-soundtrack album as a duo - called 'Carnage' and it was just surprise-released today. Warren says "making 'Carnage' was an accelerated process of intense creativity. The eight songs were there in one form or another within the first two-and-a-half days and then it was, ‘let’s just make a record!’ There was nothing too premeditated about it". Cave calls it "a brutal but very beautiful record nested in a communal catastrophe". Read the lyrics here.
Tickets for Reading and Leeds festival have been sold out, two days after organizers confirmed the event would go ahead this year, NME reports. One of the UK’s biggest outdoor events has been confirmed for this year after the announcement of the UK government’s roadmap to reopening the country from Covid lockdown. Two city weekender is due to happen in August, and it will share a lineup which includes headliners Stormzy, Liam Gallagher, Post Malone, Catfish and the Bottlemen, Disclosure and Queens of the Stone Age.
Daft Punk’s catalog brought in $6.4 million in revenue annually over the last four years, which would make $1.883 million in artist royalties for the band, according to Billboard estimates. Parisian duo's catalog averaged around 317,000 album consumption units a year; also their last tour of 2007 has made them $20-40 million. Billboard also makes interesting estimates on possible earnings: a two-weekend headliner set at Coachella would have easily netted them $12 million minus costs, while at least 10 other major global festivals would have likely paid $5 million to $6 million per set. Pairing those festival appearances with a select stadium tour could have grossed the duo $3 million a night allowing them to surpass the $100 million mark by playing 35 to 40 shows in a single year.
Former Q editor Ted Kessler and staff members Chris Catchpole and Niall Doherty are launching a weekly music newsletter The New Cue. The first issue comes out on 26 February with new interviews with St Vincent, Arlo Parks and Tony Visconti, along with playlists and recommendations. The first few editions of the New Cue would be free, followed by a monthly subscription fee of £5 or an annual rate of £55 with occasional free weeks.
