Music News
Matt Bellamy Buys Jeff Buckley’s “Hallelujah” Guitar
When Matt Bellamy heard there was a secret chord, he knew he had to have it. In a recent interview with Guitar World, the Muse frontman revealed he purchased Jeff Buckley’s legendary 1993 blonde USA Fender Telecaster — the very guitar used to record Grace and his biggest hit ever, “Hallelujah” — with the intent of playing it on Muse’s next album. There’s no understating how moving Buckley’s legendary ballad is or the album it comes from, as “Hallelujah” is one of the most popular songs to cover off an album that continues to inspire artists 25 years later. Thankfully, Bellamy didn’t buy the guitar with the intent of framing it and idolizing it as the piece of music history that it is. Instead, he wants to continue using it to make art. “I’ve bought it to actually attempt to use it and inte...
New Music Friday: 6 Songs You Need to Hear
Each Friday, Consequence of Sound rounds up the most exciting new music to hit our inbox. Today, May 15th, brings fresh singles from the likes of OneDa, Christian Lopez, The Sea The Sea, Lila Ikè, American Trappist, and Cat Clyde. Take a listen below, and keep track of all our favorite New Sounds via our exclusive Spotify Playlist. Christian Lopez – “Sick of Me” [embedded content] At just 24 years old, Christian Lopez has made a name for himself as a rock-tinted americana singer-songwriter. The Los Angeles-via-Nashville artist sounds like a cross between Chris Daughtry and The All-American Rejects on his newest single, “Sick of Me”, which uses an explosive chorus to highlight Lopez’s strengths not just as a songwriter, but as a pop-leaning country vocalist. According to Lopez, “Sick of Me”...
Remembering Ronnie James Dio 10 Years After His Passing: Interview with Wendy Dio
It’s been 10 years since the world lost one of the greatest voices of heavy metal and hard rock, the iconic Ronnie James Dio. The singer had a legendary career, ranging from doo-wop bands in the late ’50s to a reunion with his onetime Black Sabbath bandmates as Heaven & Hell in the 21st century. Born Ronald James Padavona on July 10, 1942 in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, Dio was raised in Cortland, New York, and became a trumpet player at an early age. Eventually, his vocal talents led him to singing in a variety of doo-wop and rock ‘n’ roll bands (including Ronnie Dio and the Redcaps). By the time he became the singer in Elf (earlier going by the name the Electric Elves), he began to find the style of music that best suited his voice – hard rock, and later, heavy metal. Elf opened shows ...
BROCKHAMPTON Share New Songs “M.O.B” and “twisted”: Stream
BROCKHAMPTON are turning quarantine into a music goldmine. Once again, the boy band have released two new songs, “M.O.B” and “twisted”, following the tracks they dropped last week. Apparently this will be a regular habit. “M.O.B” and “twisted” follow “N.S.T.” and “things can’t stay the same”, which BROCKHAMPTON dropped last week during a password-protected livestream. Reportedly, BROCKHAMPTON will be releasing new music every Friday for the foreseeable future on private streams via TechnicalDifficulties.Club. However, last week’s songs are no longer available on YouTube, notes Pitchfork, which could potentially mean fans have a limited amount of time in which to stream the music after it’s released. “M.O.B” opens by sampling the intro to Bunny Sigler’s 1974 song “Shake Your Booty”, as made...
Keith Urban Performs Drive-In Concert, Exclusively for First Responders
Keith Urban performs first American drive-in concert, exclusively for first responders Taking a page from those in Germany and Denmark, country music superstar Keith Urban performed one of America’s first pandemic-era drive-in concerts on Thursday. Even better, it was held exclusively for first responders. The private, unannounced event took place just 45 minutes east of Nashville at the Stardust Drive-In Movie Theater. A resident of Music City, Urban played an hour-long set for a crowd comprised of more than 200 doctors, nurses, and other emergency medical employees from Vanderbilt University Medical Center. According to a press statement, there were nearly 125 parked vehicles in attendance, all safely spaced apart, and they each honked and flashed their lights throughout the show in supp...
Sharon Van Etten and Josh Homme Team for Cover of “(What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding”: Stream
Sharon Van Etten and Queens of the Stone Age’s Josh Homme have joined forces for a modernized rendition of the classic plea for harmony “(What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding”. But whereas Nick Lowe’s original and Elvis Costello’s popular cover layered hope with frustration, Van Etten and Homme’s take weighs heavier in the COVID-19 era. Theirs is a twangy, lamenting version, as if the lack of change between Lowe’s 1974 recording and the world in 2020 has only weighed down the lyrics. Still, darker though it may be, there is a tone of resilience in their voices as they harmonize on the lines, “So where are the strong?/ And who are the trusted?/ And where is the harmony?” After all, belief that things can and will be better is the only way we’re going to get through times lik...
The Pretty Reckless Return with Heavy New Song “Death by Rock and Roll”: Stream
The Pretty Reckless are back with the new single, “Death by Rock and Roll”, a guitar-driven anthem highlighted by singer Taylor Momsen’s powerful pipes. The new song comes shortly after it was announced that the band had signed a new deal with Fearless Records. The track kicks off with a heavy guitar riff and features Momsen singing about the deaths of various characters, ending each of their stories with, “But on my tombstone when I go/ Just put ‘Death by Rock and Roll’.” Momsen’s vocals range from silky smooth in the verses to a full-on scream toward the end of the song. “In a lot of ways, this new album feels like a rebirth and our first single, ‘Death by Rock and Roll’, represents that salvation that my favorite music brings me,” said Momsen in a press release. “Rock is freedom and thi...
Rico Nasty Shares Cute Ode to “My Little Alien”: Stream
Rico Nasty flaunted her nasty bite on brawny, edgy singles like “Hard” and “Lightning”. Today, the young rapper is showing us a more kid-friendly side to her flow on “My Little Alien”, her contribution to the new Scooby-Doo movie. On the cute trap-pop treat, Rico talks about an unconventional and literal otherworldly crush. “You’re my little alien/ You came down from out of the sky/ People don’t know what you are/ And I couldn’t explain it if I tried,” she sing-raps on the chorus. It might be a stretch to dub it a “love is love” tune in time for Pride month, but Rico did just DJ one of the hottest queer Zoom raves this week. Hear it for yourself below, followed by the full soundtrack for Scoob!, which also features Best Coast covering the classic Scooby-Doo theme song. Editors’ ...
Cloud Nothings’ Dylan Baldi and Jayson Gerycz Release Freeform Jazz Album Blessed Repair: Stream
If the last few months have proven anything, it’s that this world is endlessly unpredictable. Case in point, no one could have expected Dylan Baldi and Jayson Gerycz of Cloud Nothings to come out of nowhere and drop a freeform jazz album. But here we are, with the bandmates forming the Baldi/Gerycz Duo and surprise releasing a new album called Blessed Repair. The 44-minute, five-track collection finds Cloud Nothings’ guitarist/singer Baldi playing saxophone and drummer Gerycz experimenting with new techniques on his kit. Unlike their work with their post-indie band, the duo’s new project finds them recording completely off the cuff. “Cloud Nothings is very much about fully written and composed songs, which take lots and lots of work,” Baldi said in a statement. “I can spend days working on...
Coheed and Cambria’s Claudio Sanchez Releases Two New Solo Songs As The Prize Fighter Inferno: Stream
Claudio Sanchez was working on the follow-up to Coheed and Cambria’s 2018 album Vaxis – Act I: The Unheavenly Creatures before life went into lockdown due to the pandemic. With the Armory Wars in the midst of a cease fire, the frontman has turned his attention back to his long-gestating solo project, The Prize Fighter Inferno. Sanchez has revealed he’s been writing a new album under the moniker, and today he’s shared a pair of songs to prove it. Speaking with SPIN, Sanchez said he hadn’t returned to Prize Fighter Inferno since 2012’s Half Measures EP out of a sense of “guilt” over having to put Coheed on hold. “… I’m like, ‘Oh, I wanna go do this thing … I wanna go exercise my ego with a side project.’ It makes me feel horrible, so I never do it.” Now that he’s unable to “just pass around ...
Alice Cooper Unveils New Song “Don’t Give Up” to Offer Encouragement During Pandemic: Stream
As the coronavirus pandemic continues to affect communities around the world, Alice Cooper is offering words of encouragement in the form of a new song, “Don’t Give Up”. The rock legend shared the music video for the track, which was recorded remotely during isolation. Cooper recently invited fans to participate in the video, which features his band members performing separately while in quarantine. More than 20,000 fans responded, with many of them seen holding signs of the song’s positive lyrics in the clip. “‘Don’t Give Up’ is out today,” Cooper said in a press release. “It’s a song about what we’ve all been going through right now and about keeping our heads up and fighting back together. And whatever you do — don’t give up!” The song is pure positivity, a mid-tempo rocker that begins ...
Over 700 Independent Musicians Sign Open Letter Asking Congress for COVID-19 Relief
In the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, over 700 musicians have signed an open letter asking the US Congress to increase relief measures for artists. A wide range of acts have signed the petition so far, including Fugazi’s Guy Picciotto, Sonic Youth’s Lee Ranaldo, Deafheaven, Julia Holter, Charly Bliss, and Jeff Rosenstock. The newly formed Union of Musicians and Allied Workers (UMAW) penned the letter as a way to ask their government representatives — especially Speaker Pelosi, Senator Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, and leaders of the Congressional Arts Caucus — to consider more helpful COVID-19 relief measures for artists. To make contacting representatives easier, the union has created a special phone number to connect callers to the aforementioned offices, the prompts of which ar...
