Exclusive Features
The 5 Best Covers of David Bowie’s “The Man Who Sold the World”
Very few were originally sold on The Man Who Sold the World, whether talking about David Bowie’s now-admired third album or the title track nestled near the back of that same recording. After a debut album of boyish, quirky pop juvenilia and a follow-up known mostly for the novelty of the future Starman’s first foray into outer space (“Space Oddity”), The Man Who Sold the World saw the English songwriter shift towards a harder brand of rock alongside producer Tony Visconti and future Spiders from Mars guitarist Mick Ronson and drummer Mick Woodmansey. Still, the departure gained Bowie little notice, and the title song itself did little to stand out at the time on the single-less album. It wouldn’t be until Bowie’s success two records later as Ziggy Stardust that critics and fans alike bega...
Maynard James Keenan on “Arrogant” Pandemic Behavior: “There’s Logic Attached to Just Looking Out for Each Other”
Maynard James Keenan recently revealed that he battled COVID-19 earlier this year and is still feeling the residual effects months later. Unfortunately, the singer of Tool, Puscifer, and A Perfect Circle fears any serious warning that he or others give about coronavirus is “just going to fall on deaf ears.” In interviews with Arizona Republic and The Joe Rogan Experience podcast, Keenan disclosed that he contracted COVID when Tool were on tour in Australia and New Zealand in late February. Eight months later, he still has lung damage, leading to daily coughing fits. Tragically, the United States is currently experiencing its worst single-day infection numbers yet, with roughly 100,000 people testing positive for COVID-19 every 24 hours. To this day, there’s a large contingent of the popula...
Mike Patton: John Carpenter’s Halloween “Made Me Not Want to Trick or Treat When I Was a Kid”
Mike Patton is a man of many musical hats. He’s the celebrated singer of Faith No More, Mr. Bungle, Tomahawk, and Dead Cross, just to name a few, as well as the co-owner of the acclaimed independent record label Ipecac Recordings. He also knows a good scary movie when he sees one. We recently had the pleasure of speaking with Patton, who told us all about Mr. Bungle’s new album, The Raging Wrath of the Easter Bunny Demo, and how he was navigating the pandemic both professionally and personally. During our conversation, he also took time to remember the late Eddie Van Halen, telling us the guitarist’s “level of musicianship was off the chart.” Knowing Patton was a bit of a film buff, we couldn’t let him go without asking him to recommend a few movies for Halloween night, especially consider...
Ranking: Every James Bond Movie from Worst to Best
This feature originally ran in November 2015 and is being republished in honor of the late Sir Sean Connery. Despite its relatively rigid formulas, the past 60 years have seen 007 innovate and change with the times — from the swinging ’60s sophistication of Sean Connery to the wacky, winking camp of Roger Moore in the ’70s; from Timothy Dalton’s harder edge in the ‘80s to the slick, techno-infused commercialism of Pierce Brosnan in the ’90s. Even Daniel Craig’s macho navel-gazing has brought us a more sensitive, introspective Bond for a 21st century audience. To that end, us agents here at Consequence of Sound decided to provide our own collective assessment of the Bond films from worst to best, along with our dissection of what makes each entry unique. So sit back with your vodka martini ...
Puscifer’s Maynard James Keenan and Mat Mitchell on Existential Reckoning, Alien Abduction, and More
In the midst of a pandemic and a truly bizarre year, it somehow feels like an ideal time for Puscifer to release a new album. The experimental rock act is back with a new LP, Existential Reckoning, and it’s a fitting document of the times, even if that wasn’t intentional. Led by a core of Maynard James Keenan (Tool), Mat Mitchell, and Carina Round, Puscifer have often thrown out the rulebook when it comes to rock ‘n’ roll. Each album is surrounded by eccentric characters, while the music is equally unconventional. Existential Reckoning is no exception, picking up on the story of the fictional characters Billy D (apparently now abducted by aliens) and his wife, Hildy Berger, as it had left off with 2015’s Money Shot. The new album is shrouded in a cloud of alien activity, from its init...
Mike Patton on Reuniting Mr. Bungle, Navigating the Pandemic, and More
Mr. Bungle (Mike Patton center), photo by Eric Larsen Prior to the pandemic, Mike Patton had countless irons in the musical fire. While his touring plans came to a standstill, the singer has soldiered on with his many creative endeavors. One of those projects is the first album in 21 years from his reunited band Mr. Bungle. Mr. Bungle reunited earlier this year for a handful of shows in February, featuring a lineup that included original members Patton, Trey Spruance, and Trevor Dunn, along with thrash titans Dave Lombardo (ex-Slayer, Suicidal Tendencies) and Scott Ian (Anthrax). In addition to the concerts, news came that the same lineup would re-record Mr. Bungle’s 1986 demo The Raging Wrath of the Easter Bunny. The re-recording, due October 30th, features the songs from original trackli...
Pallbearer’s Joseph Rowland Talks Forgotten Days and the Importance of Releasing Music During the Pandemic
Pallbearer are a true heavy metal success story. Arising from the humble Arkansas metal scene, the band sharpened its craft in the underground and forged its own artistic path, rising up the food chain to become one of the most respected American doom bands. This would eventually lead Pallbearer to heavyweight label Nuclear Blast, who signed the group last year. Symbolically, it signaled that Pallbearer had officially arrived, and that the years of work had paid off. Like the great doom bands of yore — Candlemass, Solitude Aeturnus, Cathedral — Pallbearer infuse their doom with a palpable emotional weight that verges on spiritual. Good riffs are only part of the equation. It’s the human energy and expression that drives the band’s music and spine-chilling live performances. That energy hit...
Song of the Week: Stevie Nicks Lends Her Voice to the Fight on “Show Them the Way”
Song of the Week breaks down and talks about the song we just can’t get out of our head each week. Find these songs and more on our Spotify New Sounds playlist. There are no shortage of voices being raised across America today. It’s a sign of the times. Politicians, activists, artists, and everyday people look around and sense that something is terribly wrong — and, more troubling yet, that it’s only going to get worse without an immediate change in course. Presidential candidate Joe Biden, as you’ve probably heard him tell it, came out of political retirement to run for office after he saw neo-Nazis and white supremacist groups marching and stirring up violence in Charlottesville, Virginia. We’ve seen children-turned-activists like Emma Gonzalez and Greta Thunberg sound the warning alarm ...
Van Halen’s Top 10 Songs In Honor of Eddie Van Halen
This feature originally ran in January 2014 and is being recirculated in honor of Eddie Van Halen’s passing. Van Halen overwhelmed America. With their big hair, long legs, and jaw-dropping solos that went on for days and days, the Pasadena rockers were loud, lewd, and loved. They sang about beautiful girls, devilish bad boys, and dreamy schoolteachers. Their videos were just as majestic as their sound, turning everyone into howling hound dogs with nights to lose. They conquered the world, too. With 1984, the hard rockers went toe to toe with global sensation Michael Jackson, whose Thriller also happened to feature guitarist Eddie Van Halen. The blockbuster album reached No. 2 on the Billboard Top 200 Album Charts, and stayed there for five weeks, eventually selling 12 million copies states...
Song of the Week: BLACKPINK Find Their Own Roar on “Lovesick Girls”
Song of the Week breaks down and talks about the song we just can’t get out of our head each week. Find these songs and more on our Spotify New Sounds playlist. Note to self (and anyone in the same camp). It’s time to stop underestimating K-Pop. What once felt like a fad to those of us late to the genre now pulls in fans and numbers in the States like only a small handful of hip-hop and pop stars can boast. Take BLACKPINK for instance. Perhaps once in the shadow of male K-Pop world-beaters BTS, the girl group dropped their debut Korean-language studio album, matter-of-factly titled The Album, last Friday, and already the video for new single “Lovesick Girls”, released the day before, has racked up over 94 million YouTube views. Lord knows what that figure will be by the time I finish this ...
Sylvan Esso Break Down Their New Album Free Love Track by Track: Stream
Our Track by Track feature provides musicians the chance to guide fans through each track on their latest album. Today, Sylvan Esso gives us some much needed Free Love. Sylvan Esso have today shared their third studio album, Free Love. Stream the 10-track effort below via Apple Music or Spotify One of the fall’s most anticipated releases, Free Love follows Sylvan Esso’s 2017 record What Now. Self-produced in the band’s own studio in the woods of North Carolina, the LP is billed as their “first true ‘band’ record.” It finds vocalist Amelia Meath and producer Nick Sanborn working hand and hand on all elements of the songwriting and recording, instead of one focusing on melody and the other on beats. Sylvan Esso describe the album as “about being increasingly terrified of the world aroun...
Ranking: Every Sufjan Stevens Album from Worst to Best
Sufjan Stevens has come to be one of the quintessential voices in contemporary indie rock, but it’s not a title he earned overnight. The songwriter is known for being prolific, having written eight solo studio albums, several collaborative albums, original material for Luca Guadagnino’s 2017 film Call Me by Your Name, and even multiple Christmas albums. He writes, performs, and records most of the music himself, sometimes playing more than 10 instruments on a single record. He even once vowed to make an album for each of the 50 US states (though, we all know how that turned out). Throughout each of his records, he’s explored banjo-led folk, electro-pop, grandiose indie rock, glitchy experimentalism, and instrumental new-age music. Stevens is the epitome of a musical polymath. What’s impres...
