INTERVIEWS
“I Want to Follow My Heart”: Armin van Buuren On Sound Experimentation and the Future of Trance
We caught up with the trance music icon for an intimate interview in Miami ahead of his epic Ultra Music Festival 2022 performance. When you’ve bulldozed as many musical borders as Armin van Buuren has, it’s only a matter of time before the innate need to explore new sonic frontiers bubbles to the surface. But for an aesthete like van Buuren, it comes easy. We recently sat down with van Buuren in Miami, where the pioneering electronic music artist and “A State of Trance” creator opened up in an intimate interview before his dazzling Ultra Music Festival 2022 headlining set. And after all was said and done, it’s clear at this juncture in his storied career that he’s laser-focused on artistic experimentation. He’s particularly e...
“I Want to Follow My Heart”: Armin van Buuren On Sound Experimentation and the Future of Trance
We caught up with the trance music icon for an intimate interview in Miami ahead of his epic Ultra Music Festival 2022 performance. When you’ve bulldozed as many musical borders as Armin van Buuren has, it’s only a matter of time before the innate need to explore new sonic frontiers bubbles to the surface. But for an aesthete like van Buuren, it comes easy. We recently sat down with van Buuren in Miami, where the pioneering electronic music artist and “A State of Trance” creator opened up in an intimate interview before his dazzling Ultra Music Festival 2022 headlining set. And after all was said and done, it’s clear at this juncture in his storied career that he’s laser-focused on artistic experimentation. He’s particularly e...
“I Want to Follow My Heart”: Armin van Buuren On Sound Experimentation and the Future of Trance
We caught up with the trance music icon for an intimate interview in Miami ahead of his epic Ultra Music Festival 2022 performance. When you’ve bulldozed as many musical borders as Armin van Buuren has, it’s only a matter of time before the innate need to explore new sonic frontiers bubbles to the surface. But for an aesthete like van Buuren, it comes easy. We recently sat down with van Buuren in Miami, where the pioneering electronic music artist and “A State of Trance” creator opened up in an intimate interview before his dazzling Ultra Music Festival 2022 headlining set. And after all was said and done, it’s clear at this juncture in his storied career that he’s laser-focused on artistic experimentation. He’s particularly e...
Westworld Composer Ramin Djawadi on the Exciting Musical Twists Promised by Season 4
[Editor’s note: The following contains spoilers for Westworld, Season 4 Episode 2, “Well Enough Alone.” To read about the music of Episode 1, click here.] There might not be a big epic cover in the newest episode of Westworld, but there’s still plenty to discuss, music-wise, with composer Ramin Djawadi. That’s because Episode 2, “Well Enough Alone,” continues exploring key questions for Season 4, ending with the revelation that Delos Destinations, the corporation behind the high-tech amusement parks where this future dystopia was born, is up to its old tricks — with a brand new theme park setting that made Djawadi very happy. “I love jazz and actually studied jazz in college as well, and I never get to do much jazz in score. So whenever there’s opportunity, I jump on it right away,” he tel...
Spielbergs Preview 2022 Mad Cool Festival Performance: “We’re Going To Try and Make as Much Noise as Possible”
Norwegian rock trio Spielbergs were set to have a massive 2020. After their 2019 debut LP This is Not the End received some rave reviews, the band was scheduled to hit the road in Europe over the summer, complete with an appearance at Madrid’s Mad Cool Festival. Of course, everyone’s 2020 plans were diverted and postponed, but luckily, Spielbergs maintained their spot on Mad Cool’s 2022 lineup, which features Metallica, Florence + The Machine, The Killers, Jack White, Glass Animals, Muse, Alt-J, The War On Drugs, Carly Rae Jepsen, CHVRCHES, Nathy Peluso, and many, many more. Even better is the fact that Spielbergs have new music in tow — and they’re some of the most powerful songs the trio has ever released. The anthemic “When They Come For Me,” which we recently named as an honorable ment...
Artist of the Month Momma Are a Household Name for the Coolest of Households
Artist of the Month is an accolade given to an up-and-coming artist or group who is poised for the big time. For July 2022, we’re celebrating Momma as they take a swing at fame with their new album Household Name. “I wanna be your next big thing.” So opens Household Name, the latest album from ‘90s revivalists and DIY champs Momma (out Friday, July 1st). And though they seem intimidatingly cool — like success in the music industry would be, like, totally whatever, man — the sentiment is far from ironic. Even if they don’t always take themselves too seriously, Momma is taking the namesake of their record very seriously. They’re going to be household names, or die trying. Inspired by endless label meetings headed nowhere, thousand-dollar-suit execs saying nothing, and a type of rock stardom ...
Hardwell Opens Up About Avicii: “You’re Never Going to Convince Me There’s Someone Better”
Four years after his death, Avicii‘s innate artistry and incomparable studio presence continue to inspire the music industry’s most illustrious players. After torpedoing a four-year hiatus, Hardwell recently caught up with Apple Music 1’s Zane Lowe to chat about his relationship with the late EDM icon whose talent, he said, “was truly unseen in dance music.” “For me, the death of [Avicii] was definitely the trigger for me to, well, pull the trigger myself, and be like, ‘Yo, I’m taking a break. That’s it. I’m losing one of my friends now,’ and worst feeling in the world,” Hardwell said. “There is no way. There is no solution in-between. There is no way you can still tour.” Avicii and Hardwell. Hardwell/Twitt...
Steven Wilson on Porcupine Tree’s Unexpected, Slow-Simmering Reunion
By late 2021, the odds of a Porcupine Tree reunion seemed beyond slim. It had been 12 years since the alt-prog band’s 10th LP (and apparent swan song), 2009’s The Incident, and singer-songwriter Steven Wilson realized his rabid audience wasn’t counting on a follow-up. “Fans had probably given up on [us] ever making another record,” he tells SPIN, his polite eloquence downplaying a hilariously massive understatement. It’s also not like Wilson initially had Porcupine Tree on the brain. After The Incident, feeling trapped in a hamster wheel of expectations and unspoken resentments, he stepped aside to focus on other projects — including various collaborations (Storm Corrosion with Opeth‘s Mikael Akerfeldt), numerous remixing gigs (King Crimson, XTC), and a solo career...
Westworld Composer Ramin Djawadi on That Epic Lana Del Rey Cover in the Season 4 Premiere: Exclusive
[Editor’s note: The following contains spoilers for Westworld, Season 4 Episode 1, “The Auguries.”] The return of Westworld for its fourth season means a whole new set of challenges for series composer Ramin Djawadi, who’s been with the series since the beginning, and thus responsible for the soundtrack’s compelling blend of classical and electronic sounds (not to mention its always exciting covers of pre-existing tracks). “I feel like the show always pushes forward,” he says, in the first of a series of episode-specific conversations with Consequence this season. “With the characters, musically speaking, we always talk about, ‘Okay, do we need new themes? Or are we staying with old themes, and should we arrange them differently?’” Advertisement The season premiere, “The Auguries,” a...
Why Yes, the Westworld Cast Has Concerns About Data Privacy After Working on Season 4
HBO’s Westworld is set in a seemingly far-off future, one where a disaster at a high-tech theme park ends up having massive society-wide repercussions. The third season of the series focused on one-time “host” Dolores (Evan Rachel Wood) attempting to bring down a malevolent artificial intelligence that’s using peoples’ personal data to determine the course of their entire lives, and Season 4 takes place in the aftermath of that struggle, in a world which thinks itself free of technology’s control… perhaps quite foolishly. In essence, like all stories about the future, it’s really about the present. Specifically our present-day relationship with the technology that helps us and connects us every day… but with its own costs. Speaking with Consequence during a recent virtual press event, the ...
Jack Johnson’s Unexpected Longevity
In 2020, Jack Johnson’s teenage son came to him with some unexpected news: “Upside Down,” Johnson’s 2009 song off the Curious George soundtrack, went viral. The groovy tune, it turned out, had been used by a TikToker to soundtrack a comical video involving a stolen TV from Arby’s. The video quickly amassed 3.5 million likes and soon, 50,000 other TikTokers were making their own memes around it. In short order, streams and sales for Johnson’s entire catalog skyrocketed. “Soon the people at my record label, Brushfire, were calling me up telling me about this Tik Tok thing,” the perpetually mellow singer-songwriter says over the phone from Hawaii. “It was just so funny because you do all this other work at AAA Radio and one person chooses to put you in the background of their TikTok now and t...
Giveon Is Ready to Wake You Up
It’s release week for Giveon, and just as he jokes, things feel theatrical. As he sits in a director’s chair on Zoom like a movie star, he’s surrounded by white flowers and an enormous cardboard image of his album cover for Give or Take. “It’s feeling like a film rollout,” he laughs. His observation is fitting. While his debut–released on June 24– isn’t going to earn Giveon any IMDB credits, the baritone-voiced ballad-churner’s first full-length project has all the ingredients of a music blockbuster. The anticipation, for one, is there. Fans have been waiting for a Giveon record since he was introduced to the world with his feature on Drake’s “Chicago Freestyle” in 2020, as he released his first two EPs Take Time and When It’s All Said and Done. There’s a concept there, too, he says. The a...
