Alternative
Modest Mouse’s Isaac Brock on The Golden Casket, Aliens, and the Unseen Universe
Listen via Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google Play | Stitcher | Radio Public | RSS Modest Mouse’s Isaac Brock speaks with Kyle Meredith about The Golden Casket, the band’s first album since 2015. The frontman also tells us about the sound experiments he has been working on over the past few years, having kids, and the album he had talked about releasing after Strangers to Ourselves (which he still has, and likes). Brock goes on to discuss his penchant for writing about the universe, the unseen parts of our environment that includes sound waves, and aliens. In fact, there is quite a bit of talk of UFOs, 3rd Eye Spies, and the Phoenix Lights, both in relation to his own experiences and how they work themselves into the record. Relat...
The Strokes Tease New Song “Starting Again” in Maya Wiley Campaign Ad: Watch
Tuesday, June 22nd is New York City’s mayoral primary, and The Strokes are hoping to jam their way to a better world by teasing the new song “Starting Again” in an ad for progressive candidate Maya Wiley. Throughout the election, the New York rockers have been wildin’ out for Wiley, performing their first-ever unplugged set as a fundraiser on her behalf and following that with NYC’s first full-capacity indoor concert alongside fellow Wiley backers John Mulaney, Blood Orange, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Despite these famous fans, Wiley’s candidacy has struggled to gain traction, with recent polling putting her in fourth place behind Eric Adams, Andrew Yang, and Kathryn Garcia. However, NYC’s use of ranked-choice voting means that if she is the second- or third-choice candidate f...
Sleigh Bells Tease New LP with 2021-2022 “Unannounced Album Tour” Announcement
Sleigh Bells will be hitting the road this fall to kick off a 2021-2022 tour. Cheekily titled “Unannounced Album Tour”, the announcement does indeed include a tease for “new music coming very soon.” The North American jaunt begins October 5th at Lincoln Theatre in Raleigh, North Carolina. Stops in Nashville, Austin, and Los Angeles are included in the first leg, which concludes on October 28th in Seattle. LA indie rockers Kills Birds will serve as a supporting act for the fall leg. Sleigh Bells will then pick the tour back up at Newport Music Hall in Columbus, Ohio on February 8th. The second leg includes dates in Chicago, Toronto, and Brooklyn before closing February 27th in Philadelphia. Related Video Pre-sales begin at Ticketmaster on Wednesday, June 23rd at 10:00 a.m. local time, with ...
Fuel marketers bewail extortion by DPR officials, threaten strike
The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) Suleja/Abuja Unit, on Sunday, threatened to embark on a strike action over alleged extortion by officials of the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR). It said members would be instructed not to load from Suleja depot in Niger State. The Chairman of the Unit, Alhaji Yahaya Ahman Alhassan, made the disclosure during an interactive session with journalists in Abuja. According to him, the association seeks an explanation as to DPR’s incessant demand for daily sales activities from filling stations. “IPMAN has no other alternative other than instructing our members not to load from Suleja depot in Niger State to express our frustrations after all efforts to make DPR officials desist from unethical practices failed. “These iss...
Courtney Barnett Announces North American 2021-2022 Tour Dates
Courtney Barnett is hitting the road this winter for a North American tour. The late-2021-to-early-2022 trek will feature opening acts Bartees Strange, Julia Jacklin, and Shamir. The 23-date jaunt kicks off on November 29th at Brooklyn Bowl in Las Vegas, Nevada. Barnett and her tourmates will make stops in US cities like Los Angeles, Nashville, and New York City, while also touching down in Vancouver, Montreal, and Toronto. The trek closes out at the latter city’s Massey Hall on February 12th. Barnett has partnered with mental health access fund PLUS1 to support Indigenous-led organizations with a portion of proceeds from the tour. Fans can go to Barnett’s website to register for pre-sale tickets, which will be available at Ticketmaster on Tuesday, June 22nd at 10:00 am. local time. The ge...
David Byrne’s American Utopia Returning to Broadway this Fall
After plans for a 2020 run were called off, David Byrne’s American Utopia stage show is finally returning to Broadway this fall. The massive six-month run will begin September 17th at its new location, the St. James Theatre — the same venue hosting Bruce Springsteen’s own Broadway revival this summer. Based on Byrne’s 2018 album of the same name, American Utopia initially opened in October 2019. On stage, Byrne is joined by an 11-piece mobile ensemble playing songs from American Utopia, other tracks from his solo catalog, and Talking Heads material. Annie-B Parson, who worked with Byrne on his preceding “American Utopia Tour”, scripted the show’s staging and choreography. In a statement, Byrne celebrated the return: “It is with great pleasure that finally, after a year+ like no o...
My Morning Jacket Announce New Vinyl Series MMJ Live
As My Morning Jacket gear up for their first headlining tour in five years, the Kentucky rockers have announced the new vinyl series MMJ Live. The first edition, Live 2015, will be ready for your spinning pleasure on Friday, September 3rd. This is the band’s first official live release since 2006’s OKONOKOS, though they did upload three live albums to Bandcamp last year. Taken from the tour in support of their album The Waterfall, Live 2015 features 16 previously-unreleased tracks. The new set comes on three crisp white discs with red labels, and each purchase is accompanied by a digital download card, with the actual digital versions arriving sometime later. Live 2015 drops via ATO Records, and pre-orders are ongoing. Check out the artwork and tracklist ...
Portugal. The Man Unveil 2021 Tour Dates and Share Live EP: Stream
More than a year since their last live performance, Portugal. The Man will see if they can “Feel It Still” during a newly-announced 2021 tour. The band has also unveiled the live EP Ulu Selects Vol #1 (Live). The Oregon-by-way-of-Alaska rockers will kick things off in July at WonderStruck Festival. The 12-date trek will also include stops at the Alaska State Fair, as well as Governors Ball, Firefly Festival, Shaky Knees Festival, and a performance at Red Rocks supported by Parquet Courts. Check out the full schedule below. Pre-sale begins June 17th through the band’s website, with general admission kicking off June 18th at 10:00 a.m. local time. Afterwards, book your seat through Ticketmaster or on the secondary market here. Related Video As a taste of things to come, the rocker...
Feist to Debut New Music During Summer 2021 Live Residency MULTITUDES
Leslie Feist has announced MULTITUDES, an upcoming live residency that will feature intimate performances of all-new songs. The limited capacity, in-the-round production was developed by the Canadian singer-songwriter with designer Rob Sinclair, who has worked with David Byrne, Peter Gabriel, and Tame Impala. It will feature custom 18-point D&B Soundscape immersive audio and is described in a press release as an “intimate, radically communal, and topsy-turvy concert that muddies the roles between audience and performer.” Musicians Todd Dahlhoff and Amir Yaghmai will accompany Feist during the shows. Created during and in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, MULTITUDES aims to bring people back together. Audiences are encouraged to participate in the performances. Related Video MULTITUDES...
Indigo De Souza Announces New Album, Shares “Kill Me”: Stream
Indigo De Souza has announced her new full-length album, Any Shape You Take, out August 27th on Saddle Creek Records. As a preview, the Asheville-based artist has shared the cheeky music video for the album’s first single, “Kill Me”. De Souza will also hit the road on a US tour this fall. A musician since childhood, De Souza co-produced Any Shape You Take with Brad Cook, who’s also worked with Bon Iver and Waxahatchee. It was recorded at Betty’s, the Chapel Hill studio of fellow North Carolinians Sylvan Esso. The album is described as an exploration of change and the role it plays in the human experience. “I wrote ‘Kill Me’ sometime in 2018 when I was really tired and fucked up in a lot of ways,” De Souza said in a statement. “I was deeply consumed in a big crazy love and coming to terms w...
Gang of Youths Return with New Song “The Angel of 8th Ave”: Stream
Gang of Youths are back with “The Angel of 8th Ave”, the Australian rock band’s first new song in four years. The heartland rock anthem finds Gang of Youths in their element, as they channel Bruce Springsteen and U2 on a track made to be heard in an arena. “I wanna lay me down and be lover of the year,” David Le’aupepe earnestly sings. “In this strange new town/ This strange hemisphere.” In an interview with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe, Le’aupepe described “The Angel of 8th Ave” as “kind of a lightning strike.” He added, “I think we wanted those things that had kind of inertia and energy and to have that sensibility. But I think there was kind of a part of us that wanted to still tip the cap to what we’d been for so long, but also gestured to the future and gestures to the sounds that we’re ob...
Angels & Airwaves Announce First Album in Seven Years Lifeforms, Share “Restless Souls”: Stream
Angels & Airwaves have announced a new album called Lifeforms. It’s their first studio LP in seven years (!) and it’s due out September 24th. To celebrate, they’ve shared a new song from the record called “Restless Souls”, which you can stream below. Lifeforms spans 10 tracks in total and includes the previously released single “Euphoria”. The alt-rock group broke the news today by partnering with Sent into Space, which launched a renewable hydrogen capsule into space that played the entire album out loud, displayed the LP information, and detailed their upcoming world tour. It probably felt like the latest dream come true for Tom DeLonge considering he went from singing about aliens in Blink-182 to proving UFOs exist with the Pentagon and partnering his To the Stars Academy with ...
