It’s been almost six years since Scissor Sisters released their fourth album, Magic Hour, and now lead singer Jake Shears has gone solo. “Creep City, the first single from his forthcoming album, hews close to his glam-rock roots. But that’s not enough for Shears, who is currently starring as Charlie Prince in Kinky Boots on Broadway and releasing Boys Keep Swinging, his memoir about how he went from being a shy Arizona teenager to performing in gay nightclubs in New...
Fergie‘s rendition of “The Star-Spangled Banner” at the NBA All-Star Game was met with criticism and derision Sunday night after the Black Eyed Peas singer opted to turn the National Anthem into a bluesy torch song. Throughout Fergie’s sultry two-and-a-half-minute version, a “low chuckle rumbled through the sold-out” Staples Center, the Associated Press reported, with some basketball players, including Draymond Green, unable to suppress their laughter during the performance. During halftime, after Shaquille...
Black Panther finished atop both the box office and the Billboard 200 as the Marvel blockbuster’s Kendrick Lamar-curated soundtrack debuted at Number One on the album charts. Black Panther: The Album – featuring new tracks by Lamar, Jay Rock, the Weeknd, Future, Vince Staples and more – sold 154,000 total albums in its first week of release, which preceded the superhero film’s opening by a week. 52,000 of that total were from traditional album sales. While soundtracks often top the...
Kanye West made another rare onstage appearance Saturday when the rapper performed his “Father Stretch My Hands Pt. 1” during Kid Cudi‘s concert at an Adidas event in Los Angeles. West also introduced Cudi – who wasn’t listed among the scheduled performers – at Adidas’ 747 Warehouse St. event, a two-day all-star event tied to the NBA All-Star Weekend in Los Angeles. The two-minute cameo comes four months after West made his last onstage appearance, where the rapper again dropped...
Maynard James Keenan offered an encouraging update on the long-awaited Tool album on Twitter, alerting the alt-metal band’s fans that he has finished composing – but hasn’t yet recorded – his contributions to the follow-up to 2006’s 10,000 Days. “Started getting music files from the boys w the word FINAL in the title a few months ago after 11 years of begging. That in theory means the tracks wont change out from under me while I’m trying to write stories...
Solange was honored with the 2018 Harvard Foundation Artist of the Year distinction. Past winners have included Salma Hayek, Eva Longoria, Queen Latifah, Viola Davis, Shakira, John Legend and Jackie Chan. Each year, the Artist of the Year selection is voted on by students and faculty of the Harvard Foundation for Intercultural and Race Relations. According to its website, the foundation aims to “improve relations among racial and ethnic groups within the University and to enhance the quality of our...
After nearly two decades of drama, Smashing Pumpkins have reunited their classic lineup – sort of – for a summer tour. Billy Corgan, guitarist James Iha and drummer Jimmy Chamberlin will be playing together without the aid of D’arcy Wretzky, the band’s bassist from 1988 through 1999. “Some 30 years ago, as ‘The Smashing Pumpkins,’ James Iha and I began a musical journey in the cramped rear bedroom of my father’s house,” Corgan said of the reunion in a statement....
A$AP Rocky, Gucci Mane and 21 Savage unite on “Cocky,” a collaborative single featured in the upcoming basketball comedy film Uncle Drew, out June 29th. The rappers exchange verses over producer London on Da Track’s minimalist synth lines. “I’m too cold for these suckers; they ain’t got more money than me,” Gucci Mane boasts. “I wear my mink in the summer when its 103.” A$AP Rocky works in some hoops-themed rhymes in his section, rapping, “Make a cheerleader cream; so what,...
Brandi Carlile, By the Way, I Forgive YouLong beloved by champions of songcraft – as evidenced by last year’s tribute album featuring the likes of Adele, Pearl Jam and Dolly Parton – this troubadour has released “a moving and righteous piece of Americana-infused pop,” writes Brittany Spanos. Carlile “belts with gusto, whether offering nostalgic, harmonized forgiveness … or a shoulder to cry on.”Read Our Review: Brandi Carlile’s By the Way, I Forgive You Is Righteous...
Cozy up to the year’s early standout: On her sixth LP, veteran songwriter Brandi Carlile teams up with co-producers Shooter Jennings and Dave Cobb for a moving and righteous piece of Americana-infused pop. Across the 10-track LP, the folk-tinged singer belts with gusto, whether offering nostalgic, harmonized forgiveness on album opener “Everytime I Hear That Song” or a shoulder to cry on with anthemic ballad “The Joke.” She flexes her country roots on the quaint “Fulton County Jane Doe,” which...
Drake embarks on a million-dollar spree of benevolence through Miami in his poignant “God’s Plan” video. The clip opens with a caption reading, “The budget for this video was $996,631.90. We gave it all away. Don’t tell the label.” During his tour of good deeds, the rapper pays for strangers’ groceries, presents teenagers with new cars, hands over stacks of cash to struggling families, takes people shopping, surprises kids with toys and donates to institutions like the University of Miami’s...
David Byrne teams with producer Oneohtrix Point Never for the new song “This Is That,” the latest offering from the former Talking Heads singer’s upcoming LP, American Utopia. Over sparse beats manipulated pianos and icy synths, Byrne sings, “That’s when I got your message / That’s when I sing this song / That’s when he says it’s over / That’s when my life is in your hands now / That’s when I call you up / That’s when my river overflows...
When Donald Trump won the presidency in 2016, something snapped inside the members of Superchunk. As they watched “deplorables” take cabinet positions and alt-right Nazis align, the veteran indie-rockers had a visceral reaction. The band members, four liberal-minded musicians who have called purple-state North Carolina their home since they formed in 1989, wrote all of the record’s songs in a frenzied rush between the election and February 2017 and they ultimately struck on a perfect half-hour of punky, poppy vitriol....
It’s a weird time to be Justin Timberlake. On the hand, his just-released album, Man of the Woods, hit number one, and he played music’s most coveted gig at the Super Bowl – without incident, this time. He’s about to go on what will no doubt be a highly successful arena tour. But a very vocal online contingent has simply had enough of him: they mocked every second of his album roll-out, beginning with its trailer, which raised accusations of “pivoting...
Muse is nowhere near finished recording their eighth album, but today they gave a preview of what’s to come by releasing “Thought Contagion.” The politically charged rock song is the second single from their as-yet-untitled LP after “Dig Down,” which came out last year. Dropping singles piecemeal like that is a radical departure from the group’s standard practice of holding back any music until the album is complete. But nearly a quarter-century into their career, the trio are shaking up the...
Run the Jewels are the official ambassadors for Record Store Day 2018, which set to take place on April 21st at independent record stores around the world. The rap duo, El-P and Killer Mike, announced the news and spoke about the importance of record stores in a short video. The bizarre clip picks up where Run the Jewels’ video for “Call Ticketron” left off, with a comical RTJ3 news report coming in the middle of an alien invasion. Despite the chaos,...
Belle and Sebastian might not be able to solve all our problems (as the title of their latest implies), but they can handle the ones that involve a lack of witty, tuneful indie-pop. This 15-track set offers a tasting menu of the Scottish band’s strengths. Would you like a bittersweet ballad about that autumn feeling? They’ve got you (“Fickle Season”). A glammed-up strut about faith and doubt? Sure thing (“Show Me the Sun”). An enchanting Motown throwback about pining for...
Brazilian Girls unveiled an uplifting new video for “Pirates.” The track is the band’s first single from their upcoming album, Let’s Make Love, out April 13th. Juan Gonzs directed the video, shot in Buenos Aires while the band toured Argentina. The clip blends footage of Brazilian Girls backstage at a giant festival, running through the halls and vacuuming the walls of their hotel, posing for a photoshoot and performing on stage for a rambunctious crowd. “Since we all live in...
Diplo, Zedd, Tiësto and Kaskade are among the acts that lead 2018’s Electric Daisy Carnival Las Vegas lineup. In its 22nd year, EDC Las Vegas will take place May 18th through May 20th at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Armin Van Buuren, Afrojack and Marshmello will also take top billing. This year, 250 acts will appear across eight stages, performing a variety of dance music subgenres, including trap, trance, techno, bass, house and bounce. More than 25 back-to-back performances are planned, including...
Last year, Nick Cave and his band, the Bad Seeds, embarked on one of the most emotional tours of his career, supporting an album recorded in the aftermath of the death of one of his sons. Now he’s releasing a film, Distant Sky, of a concert the band played in Copenhagen as a one-night only screening in movie theaters around the world. The screening will take place April 12th. David Barnard, whose credits include films and documentaries about Radiohead, Björk,...