A$AP Rocky unveiled a striking new song, “☆☆☆☆☆ 5IVE $TAR$.” The rapper shared the track on SoundCloud with the note, “Testing coming soon,” ostensibly hinting at a new project. “☆☆☆☆☆ 5IVE $TAR$” boasts a woozy hook from D.R.A.M. and finds Rocky unspooling cheeky boasts – “Gave the Uber man five stars/ Left the restaurant, five stars/ I was fucking with a five star” – languidly over drums, deep bass booms and a synth...
Phish will embark on a summer tour across the United States. The 21-show trek starts with two gigs at the Lake Tahoe Outdoor Arena at Harveys in Stateline, Nevada, July 17th and 18th. Phish will also play multiple nights in Washington, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Camden, New Jersey and Columbia, Maryland. The run wraps when Phish return to Dick’s Sporting Goods Park in Commerce City, Colorado for three shows, August 31st, September 1st and 2nd. Fans can request access to tickets...
The family of late Slipknot bassist Paul Gray secured a settlement for the rocker’s 2010 death from a drug overdose, the Des Moines Register reports. The Gray family sued pain relief specialist Dr. Daniel Baldi and his former employers, including the hospital company UnityPoint-Des Moines. The case was scheduled to go to trial in Polk County District Court, but was settled over the weekend. Baldi’s lawyer, Connie Diekema, declined to name the settlement amount, or name the parties that agreed...
Aretha Franklin, Aerosmith, Jack White, Sting and Beck top the stacked lineup for the 2018 New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. The annual event will take place over two weekends, April 27th through 29th, and May 3rd through 6th. This year’s lineup also features Lionel Richie, Jimmy Buffett, David Byrne, Anita Baker, Bonnie Raitt, Khalid, Sturgill Simpson, Sheryl Crow, Common, Jack Johnson, Steve Miller Band, Cage the Elephant, Smokey Robinson, Juanes, Jason Isbell, Toots and the Maytals, Lyle Lovett, Charlie...
Neil Diamond stunned his fans on Monday by announcing that he was retiring as a live performer after getting diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease. His 50th anniversary tour was nearly complete, but the final leg due to take place in Australia and New Zealand was called off. “I plan to remain active in writing, recording and other projects for a long time to come,” Diamond said in a statement. “This ride has been ‘so good, so good, so good’ thanks to...
Ben Harper and harmonica master Charlie Musselwhite unveiled a smoldering new song, “No Mercy In This Land,” the title-track from their forthcoming album, out March 30th. The sparse and lonesome blues tune pairs Harper’s steely guitar with the raspy blare of Musselwhite’s harmonica. The pair share vocal duties as well. Their voices and instruments mesh woefully above a steady march of percussion. “The righteous and the wretched, the holy and the damned,” Harper sings, “There’s no mercy in this...
Dolores Mary Eileen O’Riordan, 2013 Kip Carroll/eyevine/Redux Dolores O’Riordan appeared to be in good spirits the second weekend in January. On the 12th, the Cranberries frontwoman and her longtime bandmate, guitarist Noel Hogan, spoke by phone about a March tour and starting their first studio album in six years. “She was great,” says Hogan. “We spoke about getting back to work.” Two days later, O’Riordan e-mailed him several fresh songs that would be considered for that next band album. Sadly,...
South African trumpeter and jazz musician Hugh Ramopolo Masekela, who had a Number One hit with his version of “Grazing In the Grass,” died Tuesday in Johannesburg after a battle with prostate cancer. He was 78. Apartheid Rock Despite a United Nations boycott, American musicians from Frank Sinatra to Tina Turner still play South Africa In a post on Twitter, the Masekela family wrote: “A loving father, brother, grandfather and friend, our hearts beat with profound loss … Hugh’s global...
After nearly 40 years of having their logo spray-painted walls and, in one instance, carved into human flesh, thrash-metal firebrands Slayer will call it quits. The group will embark on a final tour this summer with support from numerous peers and bands they inspired, including Lamb of God, Anthrax, Behemoth and Testament. The first leg of the tour, which focuses on North America, kicks off May 10th in San Diego and wraps June 20th in Austin. Tickets go on sale...
The War on Drugs demonstrated their trademark mix of weary vocals and highly polished rock during a performance of “Pain” on The Tonight Show on Monday. The single became the band’s first Number One hit last week when it climbed to the top spot on Billboard’s Adult Alternative Songs Airplay chart. On The Tonight Show, lead singer Adam Granduciel displayed his mastery of late Seventies, early Eighties rock and roll. “Pain” has a crisp backbeat, steady but never pushy, and...
UPDATE: The planned “Classically Smiths” shows have been canceled. “In response to recent comments in the press, the planned Classically Smiths events will now no longer be taking place,” Bad Productions’ Joel Perry said in a statement. *** Former Smiths drummer Mike Joyce has dropped out of a series of orchestral concerts after the production company falsely listed his bandmate, Andy Rourke, as a participant. “It is with much regret that I have to announce that I will not be...
Erick Sermon, the rapper and producer best known as one-half of the seminal hip-hop outfit EPMD, unveiled a biting new song, “Come Thru,” featuring Craig Mack, Mr. Cheeks and Method Man. The track is set to appear on Sermon’s forthcoming album, Go, which he’s funding through a This article originally appeared on www.rollingstone.com: EPMD’s Erick Sermon Enlists Pharrell, Ghostface Killah for New...
Members of Sonic Youth, Negativland and the Flying Lizards have all taken part in a new recording of composer John Cage’s music with pianist Tania Chen. Electronic Music for Piano is a work that Cage wrote in Stockholm in 1964 on hotel letterhead, asking for musicians to play parts of his Music for Piano 4-84 on electronic equipment. What is played is up to the artist. Audio from the recording presents an ominous soundscape of staticky noise, sparse piano and...
Unknown Mortal Orchestra released a psychedelic new single, “American Guilt.” Throughout the track, mastermind Ruban Neilson warbles and moans over grimy fuzz guitars and clattering, treble-y drums before the song fades out in a muffled synth swirl. The New Zealand band also announced a world tour launching April 22nd in Northampton, Massachusetts and concluding July 19th in Phoenix, Arizona. Between two legs of North American dates, the trek includes stops in Germany, France, the U.K., Belgium and the Netherlands. Tickets...
Offset, Takeoff and Quavo (from left) Theo Wenner for Rolling Stone The hip-hop one-percenter life is a gated mansion in Atlanta that sits on more than two acres and has two Bentleys in front of it, and when you open the front door a cloud of weed smoke punches you in the face. Welcome to the huge, half-empty house owned by Offset of Migos. Some rooms have nothing but clothes on the floor. Some seem to have never been entered....
Vic Mensa dreams of a better world – without racial, religious or political barriers – in his poignant video for “We Could Be Free,” featuring Ty Dolla $ign. The clip opens with a baby in the womb and zooms out to reveal his mother at a heated protest. A police officer punches the woman in the face, and that act of cruelty changes the boy’s life. Years later, a cop guns down the teenager and the character’s mother cradles his...
Former Smiths bassist Andy Rourke denies that he is reuniting with the band’s drummer Mike Joyce for a series of orchestral concerts scheduled for this summer. Hours after the “Classically Smiths” shows were announced for June in the U.K., a rep for Rourke emailed Rolling Stone to say that the bassist never signed on for the gigs, even though a press release that accompanied the concerts’ announcement had a statement attributed to Rourke. Additionally, the event – which was teased...
Pearl Jam will play a pair of Seattle concerts this summer to help aid the city’s homelessness initiatives. Dubbed “The Home Shows,” the two stadium gigs mark the Rock Hall-inducted band’s first hometown gigs in five years. “The Home Shows” will invade Seattle’s Safeco Field, home of the Mariners, on This article originally appeared on www.rollingstone.com: Pearl Jam Announce Seattle Stadium ‘Home Shows’ to Fight...
Former Smiths bassist Andy Rourke and drummer Mike Joyce – as well as rhythm guitarist and temporary “Fifth Smith” Craig Gannon – will reunite this summer to perform the band’s music live alongside the Manchester Camerata Orchestra. Dubbed “Classically Smiths,” Rourke, Joyce and Gannon will stage concerts This article originally appeared on www.rollingstone.com: The Smiths’ Andy Rourke, Mike Joyce Reunite for Orchestral...
In February of 2011, Lady Gaga went onto Ryan Seacrest’s radio show to talk about her upcoming album Born This Way for the very first time. She was at the height of her fame, and her army of Little Monsters were eager for any scrap of information they could get their paws on. But the name of one This article originally appeared on www.rollingstone.com: Hear Clarence Clemons in His Final Rolling Stone...
