Throughout his entire discography, The Weeknd dishes on his salacious, sex-fueled nights and his luxe life of fancy cars and mansions. For his latest project, however, the Canadian R&B singer is looking to change that narrative, if for just 30 minutes. Abel Tesfaye co-wrote and starred in the newest episode of Seth MacFarlane’s American Dad. Titled “A Starboy is Born” (referencing his Starboy album from 2016), it sees the artist show his true colors — and it’s a stark contrast from the rich playboy we’ve all come to know. Kidnapped by Roger the Alien, The Weeknd settles into the Smith family household surprisingly quickly, reveling in homemade lasagna, mundane house chores, and suburban pleasantries. “I miss being around boring people like this family,” he says at the dinner table. The...
Wire were all set to drop their 18th studio album 10:20 on Record Store Day. But with that particular holiday delayed and practicing social distancing, the post-punk rockers have now announced that 10:20 will instead be available on all platforms on June 19th. To tide fans over until then, Wire has shared the nearly new song “The Art of Persistence”. Like most of the “strays” being collected on 10:20, “The Art of Persistence” has been around in one form or another for a number of years. It first popped up when the band reconvened in 2000, and made appearances on The Third Day EP (labelled as a “First Draft”) and then as a live performance on Recycling Sherwood Forest as part of Wire’s Legal Bootleg series. Musically, “The Art of Persistence” is a thr...
Yves Tumor plays a sex god on their latest album, a carnal rock record called Heaven to a Tortured Mind. If you were only familiar with the experimental ambient and noise Tumor was making just four years ago, this might sound unlikely. But transformations and roleplaying are key to understanding why Tumor is among the most interesting artists working today. Genre-bending is an inadequate rubric for describing what makes Tumor’s sound so enticing; with each new record, they seem to embody a genre—its history, its texture, its tropes. The mutations and evolutions across their work are something closer to method acting. Every gesture or affect on display across Tumor’s previous albums represents an engrossing performance of whatever genre they’re studying at the moment. When Tumor became a da...
It happens to most of us at an early age: the realization that life will not follow a straight line on the path towards fulfillment. Instead, life spirals. The game is rigged, power corrupts, and society is, in a word, bullshit. Art can expose the lies. The early music of Fiona Apple was so much about grand betrayals by inadequate men and the patriarchal world. Did it teach you to hate yourself? Did it teach you to bury your pain, to let it calcify, to build a gate around your heart that quiets the reaches of your one and only voice? Fetch the bolt cutters. Fiona Apple’s fifth record is unbound. No music has ever sounded quite like it. Apple recorded Fetch the Bolt Cutters both in and with her Venice Beach home, banging on its walls, stomping on its ground. Self-reliance is its rule, curio...
Ever since an artist once known as Lonny Breaux decided to defy his label Def Jam and deliver his debut, Nostalgia, Ultra, straight to the internet, the textures of popular R&B have become increasingly homegrown. Whether it’s the lithe heartbreak workout of LE1F affiliate Rahel’s 2015 album Alkali or the collaborations of singer Alexandria and producer Ethereal, there’s been a bounty of music for those who crave soulful vocals over beats from somewhere underground. On her debut album Forever, Ya Girl, the Chicago-bred, New York-based singer/producer/multi-instrumentalist KeiyaA merges Earl Sweatshirt-ish grime and the grit of deconstructed club with hints of psych and funk. It’s easier to find a singular sound when you’re working on your own, which KeiyaA did almost entirely—she poses ...
Last year, Drew Daniel and M.C. Schmidt celebrated 25 years of mad-genius musical experiments as Matmos with a Plastic Anniversary—an album recorded entirely using plastic. That’s how Matmos albums work; a concept that might seem silly or crass at first glance is backed by a mountain of research, executed with passion and, in that case, ornately recorded using a parade of PVC pipes, riot shields, and breast implants. Since 2001, Daniel’s side-project the Soft Pink Truth has run parallel to Matmos, applying similar twists to the dancefloor. Yet nothing in either project has presaged Shall We Go On Sinning So That Grace May Increase?, a cathartic, emotional windfall unlike anything Daniel has ever recorded. Daniel thought hard about how to process the anger and despair born out of a worldwid...
EDM’s plucky tag-team of livestreaming heroes Diplo and Dillon Francis are at it again. This time, they are helping fans celebrate Cinco de Mayo in style, fittingly teaming up with Corona for a livestreamed benefit concert. For every person that tunes into the livestream event, Corona will be donating $1 (with a maximum donation of $500,000) to the Restaurant Employee Relief Fund, which aids restaurant industry employees who are navigating the pitfalls of the devastating impact of COVID-19. In addition to Diplo and Dillon Francis, there will also be one secret, unannounced DJ set. Cinco de Mayo isn’t just tequila and beer, though—if you work up an appetite during the livestream, Corona has you covered. They partnered up with Postmates to offer...
With the COVID-19 pandemic bringing the live music world to a near stand-still, artists, venues, and promoters worldwide have had to get creative with how they bring concert experiences to the masses. While many have adapted to livestream technology, improvisational whiz and loop station maestro Marc Rebillet has been hammering out tracks on camera for his entire career. Naturally, Rebillet has been streaming quite often in hopes of bringing some positivity to the world during these uncertain times and has used his platform to raise over $34,000 to COVID-19 relief. Now, the one affectionally referred to as “Loop Daddy” is introducing a brand new, social distancing-compliant way of experiencing live music. In June and July, Rebillet will be performing l...
Whethan took to Twitter today to share the news that he’s been commissioned by Foreign Family Collective for an upcoming guest mix, which will air this Wednesday at 11AM PST (2PM EST). The mix will feature a slew of songs he’s currently listening to as well as a few cuts from his highly anticipated forthcoming debut album Fantasy. Foreign Family Collective, the ODESZA-led electronic tastemaker, recently launched its weekly Intermission Broadcast mix series, which highlights the imprint’s favorite artists of the moment. Previous guests include SG Lewis, Jai Wolf, and TOKiMONSTA, among others, and Whethan now jumps into the fray following a strange incident that emanated in the dark, murky interwebs of EDM Twitter. When Room Service Music Festival&...
The charity organization Last Night A DJ Saved My Life (LNADJ) has announced an absolutely gargantuan COVID-19 relief livestream event. Dubbed SetForLove, the event will feature over 2,000 DJs, who will be performing in hopes of raising money to support African countries affected by the pandemic. While the full lineup is yet to be announced, organizers have promised that some big names will be taking the virtual stage. Artists are encouraged to sign up for a performance slot and when they’re accepted, they will choose a platform and be given a donation link to join the fundraising effort. The founder of LNADJ, Jonny Lee, spoke about how just a small donation can make a massive difference in people’s lives. “In this current moment, we were able to contemplate the...
Download Vector ft. Masterkraft – If We Must (Sun x Rain) new song! Nigerian rapper, Vector, and Masterkraft equip their imminent body of work with another song tagged “If We Must” (Sun x Rain). A body of work that is a convergence of two goliaths is deserving of being called Cross Roads. MASTAA has demonstrated once more that he is the specialty of music and Vector brought verses, pleasantry and rap like it has never been heard. This EP is the redefinition of rap in the African music scene or maybe the genuine meaning of mood and verse. This EP is an excursion into something new, diverse, musical, and refreshingly extraordinary. Utilizing a blend of English, Yoruba and pidgin, and a variety of sounds intentionally orchestrated to shock and pleasure simultaneously, Vector and MASTAA acquai...