This article originally ran in 2017 and has been updated. Ever felt overwhelmed by an artist’s extensive back catalog? Been meaning to check out a band, but you just don’t know where to begin? In 10 Songs is here to help, offering a crash course and entry point into the daunting discographies of iconic artists of all genres. This is your first step toward fandom. Take it. Isn’t it frustrating not being able to box something in? Not being able to name it because the goddamn thing is so busy evolving that it slips through your fingers? Sure, they might be a bunch of cartoon characters, but there’s always been something a little darker than meets the eye going on with Gorillaz. They’re pockmarked and weathered, garish, rough around the edges, the residents of Banksy’s Dismaland as counterpoin...
Listen via: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Pandora | Stitcher | Google | Pocket Casts | Radio Public | RSS Musician Sarah Barthel of Phantogram joins Dr. Mike Friedman on the Going There podcast to share her struggle with devastating and traumatic loss in her life. Advertisement Related Video The Phantogram singer has been a fantastic mental health advocate over the years, and has been very forthcoming and outspoken about how she not only lost her sister, Becky, when she committed suicide, but also had previously lost her father to cancer, and coped with her mother and other friends having the disease. What the “You Don’t Get High Anymore” artist describes is years of different devastating losses one on top of another a...
UK electro-pop crooner Katy B is back, having just released a new single called “Under My Skin” that serves as her first piece of solo music in five years. Stream it below. Katy B sounds right at home on “Under My Skin,” scaling falsettos and low notes with ease while singing about a love gone sour. Musically, it’s a light and catchy number with snappy percussion, buoyant synths, and vocal runs galore. Part of that instrumentation is thanks to P2J, the Nigerian musician who co-wrote and produced the single. In a statement, Katy B said it was a “dream” to work with P2J on the song: “He’s a fellow south Londoner like me and went to school with my brother. He told me back in the day my brother was always saying to him ‘you have to work with my sister’ and when we met, I instantly felt at ease...
<span class="localtime" data-ltformat="F j, Y | g:ia" data-lttime="2021-05-09T14:31:29+00:00“>May 9, 2021 | 10:31am ET Even Toyah Willcox and Robert Fripp warn you that that their latest “Sunday Lunch” performance “cannot be unseen,” as everyone’s favorite rock couple take on The Prodigy’s hit “Firestarter”. And they’re not kidding around — this one will be burned in your memory for a while. This video starts out with a warning: “You are about to see our favorite kitchen trio as you have never seen them before and it cannot be unseen.” Once again joined by mystery guitarist “Sidney Jake”, Toyah and Robert pay homage not only to the electro-rock anthem but also to The Prodigy’s look, particularly that of the band’s late singer Keith Flint (a sign wi...
<span class="localtime" data-ltformat="F j, Y | g:ia" data-lttime="2021-04-22T14:00:00+00:00“>April 22, 2021 | 10:00am ET Origins is a recurring new music feature giving artists the unique chance to detail the influences behind their latest song. Today, Black Fly returns to explain why he’s “No Fool”. Black Fly has always been enigmatic, both in his music and his story. The Vermont bedroom electronic artist first entered the scene in 2017 with his pulsing single “Sign 2”, with the promise of a full-length on the horizon. And then… nothing. It wasn’t until earlier this year that he resurfaced with the tracks “Kingdom” and “Sadsap”, bringing listeners back into his cinematic world of synths and gothic rhythms. With his debut LP Black Fly 01 fina...
Our new music feature Origins tasks artists with providing some behind-the-process insights into their latest single. Today, Claudio Sanchez returns to his The Prize Fighter Inferno moniker for “Sweet Talker”. With work on Coheed and Cambria’s next record on hold during COVID-19, frontman Claudio Sanchez turned towards a project that had been largely dormant for nearly 15 years: The Prize Fighter Inferno. Writing new solo material became an outlet for dark times, as the trauma of the pandemic was compounded by Sanchez’s grandfather falling ill and his wife being diagnosed with an auto-immune disease. Out of that isolation comes The City Introvert, the first Prize Fighter Inferno full-length since the moniker’s 2006 debut, My Brother’s Blood Machine. Out April 23rd via Evil Ink Records...
Over three years following her Always Never Home EP, Syd has returned with a new solo song called “Missing Out”. With a dark wave of synths and a slowly crunching beat, The Internet member delivers the perfect self-actualizing anti-Valentine’s Day ballad. “As far as I can see, you and me could never be/ ‘Cause we didn’t spend the proper time tryna work it out,” Syd sings. “Hope you findin’ what you need or what you seek ’cause now I’m free.” Stream “Missing Out” below. In addition to it being nearly four years since Always Never Home and its preceding LP Fin, it’s been two and a half since The Internet dropped Hive Mind. That doesn’t mean Syd’s been silent until “Missing Out”, though; over the last year or so, she’s collaborated with The Free Nationals, Disclosure, Zayn, Lil Uzi Vert, and ...
Earlier this month, Toro y Moi remixed Caroline Polachek’s “Hit Me Where It Hurts” with help from Deftones frontman Chino Moreno. The chillwave artist also known as Chaz Bundick has returned today with another reworking — this time for the three sisters of HAIM. Toro y Moi reimagined HAIM’s “3AM”, which appears on their Grammy-nominated album Women in Music Pt. III. While the original version saw the HAIM siblings play around with space and sparseness, this new remix is all about the layers and textures. Toro y Moi folds in echoes of electric guitar and fills voids with heavier bass. The whole thing reverberates with the kind of energy associated with a 6 a.m. wake-up call rather than a low-key, middle-of-the-night hang. Hear it for yourself below. Editors’ Picks Women in Music Pt. I...
Nick Murphy is back with new music, except this time it’s under his Chet Faker alter ego. After five long years, the Australian artist has revived the old moniker for a new single called “Low”. A bluesy track that grooves and stomps with purpose, it finds Faker soulfully crooning uplifting lines like, “Just because I feel low right now/ It doesn’t mean all that I’ve got has run out.” He later addresses his listeners, who also may be overwhelmed with doubt, saying, “I think you got purpose/ I think you got song/ You know that I think you should/ Do whatever is worth it/ Just to get to that place there.” Stream it below via its official video. “Low” is out via the musician’s own Detail Records in partnership with ADA/Warner and BMG Australia. “For Nick Murphy to bring the Chet Faker project ...
Electronic mastermind Kelly Lee Owens is gearing up to release her new album, Inner Song, this summer. To help make the wait a little shorter, she’s released a new song called “On” alongside a mesmerizing music video, and neither disappoints. Fans may recall that Inner Song was originally scheduled to come out this past May. Like other artists wary of the coronavirus pandemic, Owens has decided to push back her record, opting for a new release date of August 28th instead. Thankfully that gives us more time to sit with her new music, like previous singles “Night”, “Melt!”, and a dazzling collaborative track with Jon Hopkins. “On” continues the mood established on earlier album cuts, transitioning from her ethereal, cascading vocals to a harsher, dance-driven beat that blooms in the second h...
Electronic mastermind Kelly Lee Owens is gearing up to release her new album, Inner Song, this summer. To help make the wait a little shorter, she’s released a new song called “On” alongside a mesmerizing music video, and neither disappoints. Fans may recall that Inner Song was originally scheduled to come out this past May. Like other artists wary of the coronavirus pandemic, Owens has decided to push back her record, opting for a new release date of August 28th instead. Thankfully that gives us more time to sit with her new music, like previous singles “Night”, “Melt!”, and a dazzling collaborative track with Jon Hopkins. “On” continues the mood established on earlier album cuts, transitioning from her ethereal, cascading vocals to a harsher, dance-driven beat that blooms in the second h...