music
Producer Bob Rock Finally Explains the Much-Maligned Snare Drum Sound on Metallica’s St. Anger
Metallica’s 2003 album St. Anger is often derided, due in large part to drummer Lars Ulrich’s distinctly off-putting snare drum sound. The butt of many jokes among fans and critics for years, the snare roast reached a fever pitch when one clever YouTuber replaced the snare from “Master of Puppets” with a snare sample from St. Anger, immortalizing its abrasiveness. Many other parodies followed, each replacing the snare of various songs with the way-to-tight, trebly, zero-resonance St. Anger sample. Finally, the album’s producer Bob Rock has explained the story behind the much-maligned snare sound. Not surprisingly, he essentially diverts the blame to Ulrich, who fell in love with the sound of Rock’s Plexi Ludwig snare. As Rock tells it, Metallica were jamming in their “clubhouse” in San Fra...
Woman Jumps on Stage, Coughs on Singer Clayton Gardner During Concert
On July 17th, country singer Clayton Gardner performed an outdoor concert for a small, socially-distanced audience in Las Colinas, Texas. During the show, Gardner was interrupted by a woman who jumped on stage, refused his polite requests to step back, and then apparently coughed in his face. Gardner is best known for his 2015 album Under the Lights and the song “Buy You a Drink”. Last Friday, he performed for “about 30 people,” and livestreamed the set for his fans on Facebook. Afterwards, he posted a video of his altercation with the unknown woman. As he explained, “About fifteen minutes into the show, this random lady walked around all of my gear to sneak up behind me.” Once on stage, she requested a song by another artist. In the clip, Gardner replied, “If you could do that from l...
Jeff Bridges and Breedlove Unveil New Signature Model Acoustic Guitars
Actor and musician Jeff Bridges has teamed with Breedlove for a line of new signature model acoustic guitars. The instruments are sustainably sourced and feature Bridges’ “All in This Together” motto inlayed on the fretboard. As Bridges states in the press release, the elegant acoustic guitars prove “we can build beautiful instruments to make beautiful music that will resonate for all time, and preserve the trees, the lungs of our planet, which temper our climate, replenish our fresh water and provide shelter for our wildlife. We can make our instruments with salvaged or selectively harvested wood from sustainable forests, while still protecting habitat and sustaining the local community. We can make a difference.” The Breedlove Jeff Bridges “All in This Together” premium signature model i...
Emerging Songwriter McCall Shares New Single “One Eye Open”: Stream
Rising Los Angeles songwriter McCall has shared the dreamy new single “One Eye Open”. It’s off her upcoming EP, On Self Loathing, due out sometime later this summer. McCall first began to break out with her 2019 EP Under the Reign. She specializes in what she calls “sad bops with spice,” and that certainly applies to her new offering. “One Eye Open” is fashioned around achingly personal lyrics and pared-back piano. Meanwhile, the studio effects — or her “spicy” ingredient — find McCall sounding like a kid in a candy store. The SoCal native arranges her own voice into a grand chorus, at times evoking Imogen Heap’s “Hide and Seek”. But she uses this technique sparingly, and as often as she builds out the top line, she demolishes it back to simplicity. She also worked a series of breaks...
Chris Cornell’s Daughter Lily Launches New IGTV Mental-Health Series in Honor of Her Late Father: Watch
The late Chris Cornell’s 20-year-old daughter Lily Cornell Silver has launched the new mental-health interview series Mind Wide Open on IGTV. The first episode premiered Monday (July 20th) to coincide with the legendary Soundgarden frontman’s birthday. “As someone who has suffered trauma and loss as well as struggled with anxiety and depression, I know how important it is to have a space to talk openly and without shame about these subjects,” said Lily in a statement. She continued, “There is so much value, especially for people in my generation, in knowing that everyone struggles with mental health at some point in their lives, despite our society’s dismissive tendencies around emotional wellbeing. It is important for me to give voice to these issues by providing information, honest conve...
UK Cassette Sales Have Doubled in 2020
In the latest proof that younger generations are just as insufferably nostalgic as Baby Boomers, cassette tape sales are on the rise. The US market has grown by as much as 35% in recent years, with over 219,000 tapes sold in 2018. But that’s nothing compared to the surge seen in the UK, where, according to the Official Charts company, sales have more than doubled in 2020. So far this year, Englanders have purchased 65,000 cassette tapes, an increase of 103% (!) compared to the same period last year. UK sales overall are on pace to top 100,000 for the first time since 2003. Cassette tapes, it should be noted, suck. It’s the second-worst audio format of the last 50 years, surpassing only the execrable 8-track, and coming in well south of the fidelity offered by CDs and vinyl. Peaking in popu...
#MetallicaMondays: Watch Metallica Play Master of Puppets in Its Entirety at 2006 Berlin Show
For the latest installment of #MetallicaMondays, the thrash legends are revisiting their 2006 Master of Puppets 20th anniversary tour. On the very metal day of June 6th, 2006 (6/6/06) at Berlin’s Waldbühne, Metallica played their classic 1986 thrash masterpiece in its entirety, front-to-back, also premiering “The New Song”. The archival concert footage goes live this evening (July 6th) at 8:00 p.m. ET / 5:00 p.m. PT via Metallica’s YouTube channel below. The Berlin show is historically significant for seeing the world premiere of “The New Song”. With fans clamoring for a new studio album — it had been three years since St. Anger — the performance of new material ignited a surge of hype surrounding what would eventually become Death Magnetic. “The New Song” didn’t make it to the final ...
Burger Records Employees, Artists Accused of Rampant Sexual Misconduct
Longtime indie label Burger Records has been accused of “curating” a breeding ground for predatory behavior and sexual misconduct. Additionally, sexual assault allegations have been made specifically against Burger Records signees and their associates, including members of The Growlers, The Frights, The Buttertones, SWMRS, and Cosmonauts, among others. Many of the allegations were complied on an Instagram page called Lured_By_Burger_Records, which was launched in hopes of “amplifying voices and supporting those who were victims of sexual predation by predators involved with Burger Records.” Numerous posts recount instances in which young, underage girls were invited into the back room of Burger Records’ physical store in Fullerton, California, only to be to preyed upon by older m...
Travis Scott Shares New Songs With Big Sean, Young Thug, Chase B, and More: Stream
Travis Scott has more new music on the way. As Stereogum points out, the Houston rapper and producer Chase B teased a new collaborative album on the latest installment of their .WAV Radio show on Monday. They’re calling it Escapism and they’ve already dropped a bunch of tracks from it. Here’s a rundown of the new songs: “Zen” and “Lithuania” featuring Big Sean; “Cafeteria” featuring Don Toliver and Chase B; “Picky” featuring Nav and Wheezy; “Scrooge” featuring Swae Lee; “The Parables” featuring YBN Cordae; “White Tee” featuring Young Thug; and “MAYDAY” featuring Sheck Wes. Who knows when we’ll hear the full album, but you can stream a replay of .WAV Radio here via Apple Music. The new material begins around the hour and a half mark, shortly after they have a pretty great chat abo...
Sylvan Esso Announce New Album Free Love, Share “Ferris Wheel”: Stream
At last, Sylvan Esso have finally announced a new album. The record, titled Ferris Wheel, is due out September 25th via Loma Vista. To celebrate the news, Sylvan Esso have shared the title track as well as a dizzying music video to go with it. This is Sylvan Esso’s third full-length album to date, following 2017’s What Now and their 2014 self-titled debut. Ferris Wheel spans 10 tracks in total, including the new song they shared today as well as the previously released single “What If” — which, according to the tracklist, serves as the album opener, too. “It’s a record about being increasingly terrified of the world around you and looking inward to remember all the times when loving other people seemed so easy, so that you can find your way back to that place,” the band said in a statement...
Tony Iommi Recalls the Time He Kicked Madonna Out of Black Sabbath’s Rehearsal Room
In a new interview, guitarist Tony Iommi recalled the original Black Sabbath lineup’s brief reunion in 1985 for Live Aid, where Iommi inadvertently crossed paths with pop star Madonna, unbeknownst to him at the time. Live Aid saw Iommi, Ozzy Osbourne, Geezer Butler, and Bill Ward onstage together for the first time in years. The day before the performance, the band was given a private room for rehearsal. Black Sabbath were jamming and reminiscing about the past when Iommi noticed two people enter the otherwise closed session. “It was a bit of a disaster, really, to be honest,” Iommi told SiriusXM. “They had a room booked for us to rehearse. We started rehearsing and then we started talking about the old times; so most of the rehearsal was talking. And the time when we did rehearse, it was ...
SWMRS’ Joey Armstrong Accused of Sexual Misconduct by The Regrettes’ Lydia Night
Joey Armstrong, the drummer of SWMRS and son of Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong, has been accused of sexual misconduct and other predatory behavior by The Regrettes’ Lydia Night. Night said she felt compelled to share her story about Armstrong after SWMRS “released an unbelievably hypocritical statement on social media.” She said, “The band’s delusional positioning of themselves as woke feminists is not only triggering for me as a victim, but is complete bullshit and needs to be called out.” In a detailed account posted to her Instagram, Night recounted her nearly two-year relationship with Armstrong that began when he was 22 and she was 16. She described herself as being the victim of “emotional abuse and sexual coercion by someone in a position of power over me.” “Because of our ...
