music
The Once-Called “Herd Immunity Fest” Happened and Here’s What Went Down: Video + Photos
The once-named “Herd Immunity Fest” made national headlines when it was announced last month, and now the three-day rock gathering is in the books. The festival took place Thursday (July 16th) through Saturday (July 18th) outside the Q&Z Expo Center in Ringle, Wisconsin, and a smattering of social media posts and YouTube clips offer a glimpse of what it looked like. The “Herd Immunity Fest” faced backlash when it was first announced in late June, not only for its name but for the fact that it was going to be staged in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite organizers quickly renaming the event the “July Mini Fest”, a handful of bands dropped off the bill, including Nonpoint, Royal Bliss, Kaleido, and Blacktop Mojo. Things looked sketchy this past week when organizers reached out t...
Rare 1979 Version of Prince’s “I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man” Has Been Unearthed: Stream
This September brings a massive reissue of Prince’s 1987 tour de force, Sign O’ the Times. The expanded collection boasts 63 unreleased tracks, as well as a previously unseen concert film recorded at Paisley Park on New Year’s Eve that same year. Fans were already treated to one of the reissue’s many rarities, “Witness 4 The Prosecution (Version 1)”, back in June. Today, Warner Records and The Prince Estate are sharing a never-before-released 1979 version of “I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man”. This iteration was recorded at Hollywood Sound Recorders, Studio A on May 23rd, 1979. According to a press statement, it’s “the oldest recording” found on the upcoming reissue.”The track was retrieved from the vault by Prince in June 1986 and re-recorded, with Prince adding a guitar solo...
Pig Destroyer Announce New EP The Octagonal Stairway, Share Video for “The Cavalry”: Stream
Grindcore vets Pig Destroyer have announced a new EP, The Octagonal Stairway. In advance of its release, the band has shared the music video for the track “The Cavalry”, featuring fan-submitted footage from early on in the COVID-19 pandemic. The six-track EP, which arrives August 28th, collects previously released one-off singles and “B-side noise cuts.” The EP takes its title from the spiraling 2013 single “The Octagonal Stairway”, included here alongside 2019 songs “The Cavalry” (initially released via the Decibel Flexi Series) and “Cameraman”. The second half of the EP contains the previously unreleased songs “News Channel 6”, “Sound Walker”, and “Head Cage” (which shares a name with the band’s 2018 album, but was not on the LP’s tracklist). The EP also features former Sepultura drummer...
The Replacements Announce Pleased to Meet Me Deluxe Edition with 29 Unreleased Tracks
The Replacements have announced a new deluxe box set of their acclaimed fifth studio album, Pleased to Meet Me. Due out October 9th from Rhino, the collection showcases 29 never-before-released tracks from the band, including their final recordings with guitarist Bob Stinson. Remastered by Justin Perkins (who handled the same duties on last year’s excellent Dead Man’s Pop box), the Pleased to Meet Me deluxe edition is spread across three CDs and one 12-inch vinyl record. The first CD features the original LP along with B-sides and rarities, capped off with a Jimmy Iovine remix of the classic “Can’t Hardly Wait”. Disc 2 captures the summer 1986 sessions at Minneapolis’ Blackberry Way Studios that led up to the final album. Amongst the 15 demos are 11 previously unreleased recordings, t...
The Killers Set New Album Release Date for Imploding the Mirage
The Killers have finally landed on a release date for Imploding the Mirage. The new album is due out in just a little over a month on August 21st through Island Records. “COVID-19 monkey wrenched us. But we persevered. Folks, mark your calendars,” the band wrote on Instagram. Originally slated to drop in May, The Killers’ sixth full-length was put on hold “due to delays in finalizing the album.” It was recorded in Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and Park City, Utah, and co-produced by the group with help from Shawn Everett (Alabama Shakes, Julian Casablancas) and Foxygen’s own Jonathan Rado. Imploding the Mirage marks the first Killers LP to be released since the band members left their much loved hometown of Las Vegas. As previously noted, the follow-up to 2017’s Wonderful Wonderful features...
Kanye West Announces New Album in Since-Deleted Tweet
2020 presidential candidate (?) Kanye West may be releasing a new album next Friday, July 24th. In a since-deleted tweet, Kanye tweeted the tracklist for a new album called Donda. The tweet contained a hand-written tracklist listing 20 songs, including the previously revealed title track as well as the Travis Scott collaboration, “Wash Us in the Blood”. Kanye previously said “Wash Us in the Blood” would appear on a new album called God’s Country. It’s unclear whether he’s simply changed the name of that album, or if Donda is a separate release altogether. Whatever the case, if Kanye does indeed follow through with plans to release a new album next Friday, it’ll serve as the follow-up to 2019’s Jesus Is King and its companion LP, Jesus Is Born. In related news, Kanye still appears to be run...
Linkin Park Gets Trump’s “In the End” Video Pulled From Twitter
While it may seem like small potatoes compared to all the other crimes he’s committed while in office, Donald Trump has proven himself to be a blatant abuser of artists’ copyrights. Whether on stage at a campaign rally or via a video decimated on Twitter, Trump and his gang of deplorables have routinely play songs against the wishes of the musicians who created them. The latter such example of this occurred on Saturday when Trump tweeted a fan-made campaign video soundtracked by Linkin Park’s “In the End”. As the late Linkin Park frontman Chester Bennington previously called Trump “a greater threat to the USA than terrorism,” the band’s surviving members were quick to file a takedown notice with Twitter. Within hours, Twitter obliged with the band’s request, pulling the video from Trump’s ...
The Chicks Unleash the Comeback Album Gaslighter: Stream
The Chicks, formerly the Dixie Chicks, have released their comeback album Gaslighter. Stream it below via Apple Music or Spotify. For a high-definition listening experience, you can sign up for a 60-day free trial of TIDAL HiFi. While The Chicks are no longer whistling dixie (they changed their name last month in the aftermath of Black Lives Matter protests) this is still the same trio that tore up country radio at the turn of millennium, and it’s the same group that ran smack into the W. Bush war propaganda machine. Lead singer Natalie Maines’ 2003 comments about the impending invasion of Iraq — “We do not want this war, this violence, and we’re ashamed that the President of the United States is from Texas” — led to the most forceful music backlash in decades. Fans burned their ...
R.I.P. Ken Chinn (a.k.a. Mr. Chi Pig), Singer of Punk Band SNFU Dies at 57
Ken Chinn (aka Mr. Chi Pig) of SNFU Ken Chinn (a.k.a. Mr. Chi Pig), the singer of influential Canadian hardcore-punk band SNFU, has died at the age of 57. No cause of death has been disclosed, but the vocalist previously revealed in a December 2019 interview with Beatroute that he was in failing health and had a short time to live. The origins of SNFU — short for Society’s No F**king Use — date back to 1981, when Chinn first formed the punk band Live Sex Shows in Edmonton with twin-brother guitarists Marc and Brent Belke. While that outfit would break up later that year, the three musicians re-formed as SNFU shortly thereafter, going through a series of drummers and bassists throughout the ’80s. From 1985 through 1988, they released three albums, beginning with their debut, …And No One Els...
England to Allow Indoor Concerts Beginning Next Month
Earlier this week, veteran talent agent and Lollapalooza co-founder Marc Geiger predicted that concerts likely won’t return in the US until 2022 — a much bleaker timeline than the one previously provided by health experts. Meanwhile, our friends across the Atlantic will allow indoor concerts to take place beginning August 1st, 2020. UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson revealed the news on Friday, July 17th, as part of a larger discussion about the UK entering stage 4 of their five-stage reopening plan. While live indoor events will be allowed to return, there will be a strict set of guidelines in place, including social distancing measures, reduced capacity for venues, required online ticketing, frequent sanitization of sites, and staggered performance schedules. “The UK’s performing arts...
The Regrettes Fall Head Over Heels on New Single “I Love Us”: Stream
Two months after dropping the dreamy quarantine hit “What Am I Gonna Do Today?”, The Regrettes are back with a brand new track called “I Love Us”. It’s been paired with an adorable animated music video, as well, which you can watch below.. Whereas the band’s last song felt like a continuation of their 2019 album How Do You Love?, this new single is full of pep and optimism. Perhaps frontwoman Lydia Night spending quarantine with her boyfriend Dylan Minnette has helped her realize not even constant close contact can drive them apart. Still, as chipper as “I Love Us” is, it could be read two ways: A celebration of falling in love with someone and accepting them for who they are around you, or a cautious read on being head over heels for someone who comes with baggage. Either way, it’s c...
Jarv Is… (Jarvis Cocker) Release Debut Album Beyond the Pale: Stream
Following a number of coronavirus-related postponements, Jarv Is…, the new band led by Pulp frontman Jarvis Cocker, have finally released their debut album. Stream Beyond the Pale in full below via Apple Music or Spotify. For a high-definition listening experience, you can sign up for a 60-day free trial of TIDAL HiFi. Issued through Rough Trade Records, this album marks the first-ever full-length for Jarv Is… and Cocker’s first release of any kind since 2009’s Further Complications. Although it’s tempting to call Beyond the Pale a long-awaited comeback for Cocker, it should be viewed more as a creative reinvention. Along with his bandmates Serafina Steer (harp, keyboards, vocals), Emma Smith (violin, guitar vocals), Andrew McKinney (bass, vocals), Jason Buckle (synthesizer and ...
