Spoon’s Britt Daniel (photo by Heather Kaplan) and Tom Petty (photo by Philip Cosores) Spoon have shared covers of the late Tom Petty’s “Breakdown” and “A Face in the Crowd”. Stream both songs below. The Texas indie rockers recorded both tracks live at the Catacomb in Austin, with “Breakdown” originally being broadcast as part of Tom Petty’s 70th Birthday Bash, a virtual tribute concert that took place last fall. Back in 2017, Spoon lead singer Britt Daniel explained to Stereogum why “A Face In The Crowd” is his favorite Tom Petty song. “Divine Fits (Daniel’s other band) played ‘You Got Lucky’ at just about every gig we had. What an insane single. It’s got an intense lyric and the most powerful, creepy guitar riff and somehow Dan was able to tap into that attitude every time. It was ...
Chicago-born producer and singer Ace Hashimoto has recruited fellow multi-hyphenate Thundercat for his new song “VAPORWAVES”. Stream it below. The breezy track has a funky bassline and features Hashimoto and Thundercat contemplating the meaning of life. “After the end of the world, when it’s all said and done,” Hashimoto sings. “There’s no sign of life, but somehow life will still carry on / Could it mean our existence not grand as we thought?” Hashimoto originally released “VAPORWAVES” earlier this week as an exclusive on his Patreon page, and warned fans it would only be available on YouTube “for a limited time only.” In a lengthy update, the musician shared his inspiration for the song. “This song is about existential crisis and I believe it was that concept that led me to feeling free ...
BLACKPINK’s Rosé has unveiled two new solo songs titled “On the Ground” and “Gone”. Together, the singles make up the K-Pop sensation’s debut solo project, R, which she announced earlier this month. Back in January, Rosé gave fans their first taste of her work as an individual when she performed “Gone” during BLACKPINK’s triumphant livestream concert, The Show. She had been teasing an impending solo project since June of last year, and then on the March 1st she finally announced the release and began dropping clips of the “On the Ground” music video. Now both of them have finally arrived in full, and fans of BLACKPINK’s neon K-Pop will certainly appreciate their sound and style. The 24-year-old superstar is still riding the high of her group’s massively successful 2020 record, Th...
Alabama rapper Chika has released a new EP called Once Upon A Time. Stream it below via Apple Music or Spotify. The 24-year-old is nominated for Best New Artist at this Sunday’s Grammys, so this new joint serves as a celebration of how far she’s come in just a few years. The six-song effort follows her well-liked 2020 EP Industry Games, and the handful of singles she released last year. Only one of those — the lustful “FWB” that she originally dropped back in December — appears on Once Upon A Time, while the others are all fresh cuts. As its storybook title and castle-adorned cover art imply, Once Upon A Time has a fairytale concept weaved through it. The first song, which features BJ The Chicago Kid, is literally called “FAIRY TALES”, and there are two other tracks cal...
Kenny Mason turned Atlanta hip-hop on its ears with last year’s debut album, Angelic Hoodrat. The genre-mashing artist is now set to keep his momentum going with a new project dubbed Angelic Hoodrat: Supercut, which features the new single “Pup”. Due out April 16th, Supercut consists of 12 new tracks and a quartet of features. Denzel Curry, a frequent collaborator who has emerged as something of a mentor to Mason even though he’s only a year older, appears on “A+”, while Freddie Gibbs drops in on “Much Money”. Alongside those heavy-hitters, Mason welcomes a pair of fellow risers, with Dallas’ Angel White featuring on “Titan” and bi-lingual New Jersey singer-songwriter contributing to “Breathe”. The new collection was first teased last month with “Partments”, a low-key track that further pe...
Danny Elfman is keeping his promise to release a new song every month this year. Following January’s “Sorry” and last month’s “Love in the Time of COVID”, the beloved composer has returned with another new tune called “Kick Me”. After releasing his first solo song in 36 years last fall, the 67-year-old got the bug and pledged to unleash a brand new recording on the 11th day of each month. His previous two songs met at the crossroads of progressive metal and Broadway pageantry, but “Kick Me” is his shortest, heaviest, and most straightforward yet. Featuring frenetic drumming and punk-ish guitars, it sounds like a cross between System of a Down, Primus, and one of his Tim Burton scores. Meanwhile, its lyrics see Elfman playing the part of a tone-deaf celebrity, unloading narcissistic pleas f...
Our new music feature Origins tasks artists with providing some behind-the-process insights into their latest single. Today, Claudio Sanchez returns to his The Prize Fighter Inferno moniker for “Sweet Talker”. With work on Coheed and Cambria’s next record on hold during COVID-19, frontman Claudio Sanchez turned towards a project that had been largely dormant for nearly 15 years: The Prize Fighter Inferno. Writing new solo material became an outlet for dark times, as the trauma of the pandemic was compounded by Sanchez’s grandfather falling ill and his wife being diagnosed with an auto-immune disease. Out of that isolation comes The City Introvert, the first Prize Fighter Inferno full-length since the moniker’s 2006 debut, My Brother’s Blood Machine. Out April 23rd via Evil Ink Records...
Jorja Smith is back with an irresistible new track called “Addicted”. The song comes with a music video filmed entirely in isolation, which you can watch ahead. Following last year’s “Come Over” with Popcaan, “By Any Means” of Roc Nation’s Reprise compilation, and The Eddy contribution “Kiss Me in the Morning”, “Addicted” marks Smith’s first single of 2021. Musing in the atmosphere of a hazy beat punctuated with live guitars, the song is as alluring as a siren. Which is fitting, since the lyrics call for a lover to recognize how good they have it and “be addicted to me.” In a press statement explaining the track, Smith noted it’s about “focusing on wanting the full attention of someone who’s not giving enough (or any) when they should be.” “Addicted” comes with a self-directed video (...
UK independent record label 4AD turned 40 years old in 2020. In belated celebration, the label has announced a new covers compilation called Bills & Aches & Blues, out on streaming services April 2nd. As a preview, the first five songs from the release are streaming below. Today’s cache of tracks include The Breeders covering His Name is Alive’s “Dirt Eaters”, Tkay Maidza’s version of Pixies’ “Where Is My Mind?”, and U.S. Girls’s rendition of The Dirty Party’s “Junkyard”. You’ll also hear Aldous Harding covering Deerhunter and Maria Somerville playing an Air Miami song. Other artists featured on the compilation include Big Thief, Bradford Cox, tUnE-yArDs, Future Islands, Helado Negro, SOHN, and many more. Check out the full tracklist below. The first 12 months o...
Montreal’s TEKE::TEKE have unleashed the new song “Yoru Ni” from their upcoming debut album Shirushi. The surf-psych seven-piece originally formed as a tribute band to Japanese guitar icon Takeshi Terauchi. But from that singular purpose, TEKE::TEKE have developed an expansively off-kilter identity, layering on the beauty of Japanese folk and the ferocity of UK punk into the perfect soundtrack for dropping acid at the beach. “Yoru Ni” means “At night,” and as guitarist Serge Nakauchi-Pelletier said in a statement, the song had a spookily nocturnal inspiration. He explained, “‘Yoru Ni’ (which translates from Japanese to ‘At night’) was literally written in the middle of the night. I woke up suddenly and had this melody in my head, as if it had come to me from another world. It really felt l...
All this week, the Spotify Singles series is highlighting the nominees for the 2021 Best New Artist Grammy. But the contribution from CHIKA comes as a double celebration, as today happens to be the Alabama MC’s 24th birthday. As a gift for your ears, she’s delivered a new rendition of her single “U SHOULD” as well as a cover of Billie Eiilish’s “my future”. Plenty of artists have put their own spin on Eilish’s single from last summer, including Artist of the Month Arlo Parks and Miley Cyrus. CHIKA takes it into a new realm, however, taking ownership of the luscious, jazzy ode to self worth with a whole new verse of her own. “Ain’t no stopping shooting stars/ They got their own mind, and that’s the gold mine,” she raps. “The whole grind is nuts, so hold mine/ I promise you I’m set for go ti...