Music News
Bernie Sanders Has a Red Hot Chili Peppers Poster Hanging Up in His Office
One of the unexpected consequences of the global quarantine is the chance to get a peak inside the homes of celebrities, politicians, and other high-profile public figures. Livestreams and webinars don’t just provide entertainment, they also scratch a voyeuristic itch. For instance, if not for the quarantine, how else would we have learned that Bernie Sanders has a Red Hot Chili Peppers poster and a Prince bass drum head hanging up in his home office? The music memorabilia could be seen in the background as Senator Sanders posed questions during a virtual hearing about COVID-19 on Tuesday. To his left was a framed Red Hot Chili Peppers poster, and to his right hung a bass drum head from Prince’s backing band New Power Generation. It’s worth noting that Bernie previously recruited both...
Moog Announces New Subharmonicon Analog Synthesizer, Shares Musical Score by Suzanne Ciani
Moog has unveiled its new analog synthesizer, the Subharmonicon. The instrument finally arrives on the consumer market after a prototype version was teased during a workshop at Moogfest, the company’s curated music festival, in 2018. To commemorate the occasion, Moog shared a short film, Music as Living Matter, featuring a score by electronic music pioneer Suzanne Ciani, composed entirely with the Subharmonicon. The hype is well deserved. The early models used during Moogfest sold for thousands on the second hand market, leaving artists and hobbyists wondering when the instrument would see an official rollout, much like Moog’s Werkstaat. The latest evolution in Moog’s arsenal of semi-modular analog synths, the Subharmonicon offers a limitless creative portal worthy of the iconic brand. To ...
Lou Barlow Says Next Dinosaur Jr. Album Is Finished, Plays New Song: Watch
Late last year, bassist Lou Barlow revealed that Dinosaur Jr. were in the studio recording their next record. Now, relishing his role as the official Dino-leaker, Barlow has announced that the album is finished and mixed. What’s more, he’s premiered a new, currently untitled song. The news came from Barlow’s laundry room during a lockdown livestream performance on Monday. “We just finished mixing the Dinosaur Jr. record. Of course we did it remotely,” he said, adding that John Agnella had done the work alone in his North Carolina studio. “I have two songs that I contributed. I had three but I couldn’t finish the third one because of…” He gave a shrug that took in the general state of the world. “This. There’s been a lot of cancelled Dinosaur Jr. stuff, too, but we have a record so we have ...
The Beths Second-Guess the Future on New Single “I’m Not Getting Excited”: Stream
This summer, The Beths will return with a sophomore album called Jump Rope Gazers. After previewing the release with last month’s “Dying to Believe”, the New Zealand indie pop outfit is unboxing a new single in “I’m Not Getting Excited”. While musically a jumpy, driving number, its subject matter is about denying oneself the freedom to enjoy excitement and success — all because of constant second-guessing. In a statement, lead singer Elizabeth Stokes explained this case of imposter syndrome, “People always ask ‘are you excited!?’ and it’s a fair question, because exciting things do happen to us sometimes. Support slots, overseas tours, music releases. Stuff we’ve dreamed about for years. So the correct answer is always ‘yes.’ But the truth is that deep down there’s a tiny Liz saying, ‘don’...
Hundreds of Hard-to-Find Peel Sessions Cataloged on YouTube
John Peel’s BBC 1 radio show was iconic at the time it aired. In hindsight, it’s only grown all the more legendary. The legendary broadcaster recorded over 4,000 sessions with over 2,000 artists, which is, objectively speaking, a lot. To help make sorting through the Peel Sessions archive easier, angel-in-disguise and blogger Dave Strickson has uploaded and alphabetized hundreds of available recordings from the show to stream online (via BrooklynVegan). Most of the original studio sessions from Peel’s radio show were released as Peel Session EPs by his label, Strange Fruit Records, but many of those are unavailable to stream online. Thankfully, listeners occasionally upload those almost-lost-to-time recordings to YouTube. That’s where Strickson comes in. To help make the process of di...
Jordana Makes Sleek Pop on New Single “I’ll Take It Boring”: Stream
Bedroom pop artist Jordana is back with a brand new single called “I’ll Take It Boring”, and it’s pretty much another guaranteed hit from the 19-year-old wunderkind. A few months ago, Jordana signed to Grand Jury Music and re-released her debut album, Classical Notions of Happiness, through the label. If you haven’t heard it, check it out ASAP. It’s a collection of folk-tinged pop songs that’s as witty as it is personable, landing Jordana alongside fellow young singer-songwriters like Sidney Gish and Caroline Rose. Thanks to “I’ll Take It Boring”, fans don’t have to wait to hear what she was working on as a follow-up. “’I’ll Take It Boring’ is a song about my experience at a Halloween party which I regretted attending,” Jordana said in a press release when asked about the track’s origins. ...
Bryan Adams Blames “Bat Eating”, “Virus Making Greedy Bastards” For COVID-19
Bryan Adams was supposed to kick off a residency at London’s Royal Albert Hall on Monday, but because of the coronavirus, those dates have been delayed indifferently. The “Summer of ’69” songwriter and devout vegan isn’t holding back on who he blames for the crisis. “Thanks to some fucking bat eating, wet market animal selling, virus making greedy bastards, the whole world is now on hold,” Adams wrote in an Instagram post on Monday night. “My message to them other than ‘thanks a fucking lot’ is go vegan.” While other musicians such as Paul McCartney have expressed similar sentiments regarding China’s wet markets, Adams’ tone and word choice has led some to accuse him of racism and xenophobia. It is worth noting that there is no conclusive evidence that COVID-19 originated from a wet market...
Snoop Dogg and Meek Mill Blast Tekashi 6ix9ine After Post-Prison Song
Snoop Dogg and Meek Mill have both called out the media for their coverage of Tekashi 6ix9ine following his comeback single, “GOOBA”. The two vented their frustrations on Instagram, with Snoop going as far to say, “Fuck Tekashi 6ix9ine… Feel me on this, and if u don’t fuck u 2.” Tekashi 6ix9ine got a lot of attention for his new song — it racked up over 36 million views in less than 24 hours on YouTube — and part of that praise was coming from music writers and influencers alike. Snoop Dogg and Meek Mill had enough when they saw Elliott Wilson, Rap Radar founder and a longtime hip-hop journalist, share the cover art for “GOOBA” in his Instagram Stories, notes HipHopDX. Snoop Dogg has been a vocal critic of Tekashi 6ix9ine for a while, so it’s no surprise he was angry to see the felon ...
Rammstein and Guns N’ Roses Both Call Off European Tours Due to COVID-19 Pandemic
Rammstein’s Till Lindemann (photo by Jens Koch), Guns N’ Roses’ Axl Rose (photo by Amy Harris) Two of rock’s biggest live acts will not be touring Europe this spring and summer, as planned, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Rammstein and Guns N’ Roses have each announced that they’ve called off their respective outings. Rammstein were scheduled to embark on a new leg of their “Stadium Tour” on May 25th in Klagenfurt, Austria, and remain on the European run until August 4th in Aarhus, Denmark. As of now, there has been no official announcement regarding the band’s late summer North American run, which is slated to kick off August 20th in Montreal. Rammstein, who’ve been touring in support of their 2019 untitled album, explained the European tour cancellation: “Due to local eve...
#MetallicaMondays: Watch Metallica Perform “The Black Album” in Full at 2012 Austria Show
Metallica have been digging through their vast archive of live performance footage for their weekly #MetallicaMondays concert series. The latest installment should particularly appeal to fans of “The Black Album”, as the band unearths a back-to-front performance of the LP recorded in 2012 in Austria. The footage captures Metallica’s headlining set for the Nova Rock Festival on June 10th, 2012 in Nickelsdorf, Austria. After playing a handful of hits including “Master of Puppets”, the band launched in a full performance of 1991’s Metallica (aka “The Black Album”) in reverse order, starting with “The Struggle Within”. After playing the full album, they finished the lengthy show with a few more hits. The set and the band’s respective European tour celebrated the 20th anniversary of the legenda...
Electric Daisy Carnival Announces Virtual Rave-A-Thon
EDM mega fest Electric Daisy Carnival has announced a new Virtual Rave-A-Thon. This livestream will take place May 15th, 16th, and 17th, with donations benefitting coronavirus relief charities. Across two “stages”, or unique Twitch and YouTube channels, the Virtual Rave-A-Thon will see performances from Afrojack, David Guetta, Flosstradamus, Kaskade, TOKiMONSTA, Zeds Dead, and more. EDC founder Pasquale Rotella will be hosting the event, as well as conducting interviews and interacting with fans at home. Other acts will include 12th Planet, AC Slater, ARMNHMR, ATLiens, Benny Benassi, Boombox Cartel, Borgore, Chris Lorenzo, Claude VonStroke, Deorro, Dombresky, Don Diablo, Duke Dumont, Ekali, Headhunterz, i_o, JSTJR, K?D, KSHMR, Lee Foss, Malaa, NGHTMRE b2b Ghastly, Nicole Moudaber, Oli...
Josh Homme Performs a Queens of the Stone Age Song in His Bathroom: Watch
Musicians are staying busy during the coronavirus pandemic by doing everything from reading children’s books to hosting interviews in a shower. Now, Josh Homme has served up his own slice of quarantine-induced creativity by playing Queens of the Stone Age song “Villains of Circumstance” in his bathroom. In the clip below, Homme can be seen playing a small acoustic guitar in his bathroom at home in Los Angeles. The original version of “Villains of Circumstance”, as heard on 2017’s Villains, is a six-minute-long sprawler full of eerie backing reverb and trickling guitar parts. It’s ominous and sinister, as if hiding a tender heart at its core. Homme reels things back for his quarantine rendition, taking the emphasis off the instrumentation and putting it onto his warbling vocal par...
