Phoenix
Phoenix Collaborated With Daft Punk’s Thomas Bangalter for New Album, “Alpha Zulu”
Iconic indie pop band Phoenix have revealed they collaborated with Daft Punk‘s Thomas Bangalter for their new album. Speaking with Stereogum for the outlet’s “We’ve Got A File On You” interview series, Phoenix, who are celebrating their 25th anniversary this year, said they worked with Bangalter to produce Alpha Zulu, the band’s seventh full-length album. Frontman Thomas Mars said the legendary Daft Punk member at times filled the void of Philippe Zdar, their late French compatriot and a deeply influential musician who helped produce a handful of the band’s albums. Zdar tragically died following an accidental fall in Paris in 2019. “The mixer played an important part on this one,” Mars said. “And Thomas [Bangalter] from ...
Welcome to the Year of Indie Sleaze
The indie sleaze era had it all. Sky Ferreira hanging out with Taylor Swift at Katy Perry’s birthday party. A maximalist approach to fashion (no one would bat an eye at pairing shutter shades with a bikini top indoors). Skins parties that recreated the debauchery from the hit British series. Fan-run Tumblr accounts dedicated to the relationship of Alexa Chung and Arctic Monkeys frontman Alex Turner. Wild nights out captured with cameras instead of phones — with flash photography a must. It’s been a decade since this cultural phenomenon ended, but it’s left an enormous footprint on music and fashion. The initial spark came shortly after 9/11, with bands like the Strokes and Interpol releasing their debut albums. It wasn’t until the mid-2000s that indie sleaze became a widespread craze — rea...
Phoenix Unveils New Album and Song Featuring Vampire Weekend’s Ezra Koenig
2000s-era indie rock lovers rejoice: Phoenix has released a new song, “Tonight,” featuring vocals from Vampire Weekend’s Ezra Koenig. The track will appear on Phoenix’s new album, Alpha Zulu, which will be released Nov. 4 on Loyaute/Glassnote Records. In the Oscar Boyson-directed video, Phoenix’s members go about their daily business in Paris while Koenig does the same via split-screen from Tokyo. The track is a first for Phoenix in that the long-running French group has never featured another vocalist on one of its songs until now. [embedded content][embedded content] Alpha Zulu was produced by Phoenix and recorded in Paris’ Musée des Arts Décoratifs inside the Palais du Louvre. “We felt it would be a fantastic adventure to create something out of nothing in a museum,” guitarist/keyboardi...
Phoenix Get Weird On New Single ‘Alpha Zulu’
Phoenix offer up an enticing electro- and dance-tinged sound on their new single “Alpha Zulu,” which heralds the French group’s first new album since 2017’s Ti Amo. The track begins with chopped-up vocal samples before grooving to a hip-swinging beat that sounds very little like anything in Phoenix’s catalog to date. According to a press release, Phoenix frontman Thomas Mars heard an airplane pilot repeating the titular phrase during a bumpy, storm-addled flight, and was inspired to write the song afterwards. Phoenix’s most recent new song was 2020’s “Identical,” which appeared in Mars’ wife’s Sofia Coppola’s film On the Rocks. For now, there’s no additional information about the new album, including whether “Alpha Zulu” will be included on it. Phoenix begins a short European tour tonight ...
Liverpool fans show full support for Jurgen Klopp
Liverpool fans have thrown their full support behind under-fire Reds boss Jurgen Klopp by hanging a heartfelt banner outside of Anfield The Reds slipped to their third consecutive Premier League defeat on Saturday as Leicester City fought from behind to claim a 3-1 victory at the King Power. And Liverpool have now fallen 13 points behind league leaders Manchester City, who still have a match in hand. Klopp, who has come under increasing pressure as Liverpool’s form has slipped, appeared on the verge of tears as he conceded that the title race is over for the Reds. The 53-year-old German has also dealt with heartbreak off the field after his mother, Elisabeth, passed away and he was unable to travel to Germany for the funeral. Liverpool fans have rallied around Klopp as a banner was spotted...
US election: Republicans hold back Democrats, narrowing path to Senate control
The battle for power in the Senate tightened into Wednesday as Democrats picked up a seat in Colorado, but suffered a setback in Alabama, and Republicans held their own in high-profile races in South Carolina, Iowa, Texas and Kansas, dramatically narrowing the political map. Republicans fought to retain their Senate majority by turning back a surge of Democrats challenging allies of President Donald Trump, and the Democrats’ various paths to seizing control were growing more limited. With several contests still too early to call, and one Georgia race heading to a January runoff, the final verdict is expected to drag on. Democrats gained a seat when ex-Gov. John Hickenlooper ousted GOP Sen. Cory Gardner in Colorado, a must-win to flip the Senate, but couldn’t hold on in Alabama, where forme...
Gold rises on renewed US stimulus hope, dollar falls
Spot gold rose 0.3 percent to $1,910.56 an ounce at 3:37pm, New York time, after falling as much as 0.5 percent. Gold rose on renewed optimism for a preelection aid package in the U.S., while the dollar fell to a one-week low. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said a bill for a compromise stimulus package is being written as she awaits a key phone call with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said his chamber would take up a comprehensive coronavirus package if an accord is struck. The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index headed for the third straight decline. Pelosi said in a Bloomberg Television interview that while there are areas where more work is required to get a compromise, she was pleased with the Trump administration’s latest position on coronavirus testing ...
Phoenix Return With ‘Identical,’ Discuss New Album Details
It’s been a few years since Phoenix’s 2017 LP, Te Amo. But the French band is back with “Identical.” Bringing the synths and high energy, “Identical” will also appear on the soundtrack to the new Sofia Coppola film, On the Rocks, starring Bill Murray, Rashida Jones and Marlon Wayans. Aside from “Identical,” which you can also hear featured in the movie trailer below, Phoenix also wrote the score and put together the soundtrack — making it the band’s fifth collaboration with Coppola. “Too Young,” off their 2000 debut LP, United, appeared in her 2003 movie Lost in Translation, kicking off their creative partnership. While “Identical” is meant for a film, singer Thomas Mars said that the track will likely be on their upcoming new album — despite the fact that it goes in a different sonic...
US Sunbelt mayors push back against Trump’s virus optimism
US Sunbelt mayors warned Sunday that their cities are at risk of being overwhelmed by a surge of coronavirus cases as they pushed back against US President Donald Trump’s attempt to minimize the gravity of the spreading virus. COVID-19 has been raging for weeks across southern and western states. Florida has registered 10,000 new cases on some days. Arizona has seen record hospitalizations. And intensive care units in Houston, Texas are operating near maximum capacity. With President Trump continuing to play down the disease eschewing a mask, continuing to address large gatherings, saying a vaccine is only months away and asserting that “99 percent” of cases are not serious the exasperation of local officials has begun to boil over, with some floating the idea of new stay-at-home orders. “...
Pfizer, BioNTech dose U.S first participants of trial coronavirus vaccine
Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE announced on Wednesday, May 6, 2020, that the first participants have been dosed in the U.S in the Phase 1/2 clinical trial for the BNT162 vaccine program to prevent COVID-19. The trial is part of a global development program, and the dosing of the first cohort in Germany was completed last week. The Phase 1/2 study is designed to determine the safety, immunogenicity and optimal dose level of four mRNA vaccine candidates evaluated in a single, continuous study. The dose level escalation portion (Stage 1) of the Phase 1/2 trial in the U.S will enrol up to 360 healthy subjects into two age cohorts (18-55 and 65-85 years of age). The first subjects immunized in Stage 1 of the study will be healthy adults 18-55 years of age. Older adults will only be immunized with ...
