Three-fourths of the Smashing Pumpkins‘ classic lineup will reunite for a North American tour this summer. The trek marks Billy Corgan, guitarist James Iha and drummer Jimmy Chamberlin’s first tour together since 2000, though the band’s original bassist D’Arcy Wretzky will not join the trio. The Shiny and Oh So Bright tour starts July 12th at the Gila River Arena in Glendale, Arizona and wraps September 7th at the Ford Idaho Center in Boise, Idaho. Tickets go on sale February...
Various Artists, We Out Here | *** 1/2Nubya Garcia, Nubya’s 5ive | ****Ashley Henry & the Re:Ensemble, Easter EP | *** 1/2 The question of who will “save” jazz – a music that celebrated a century on record in 2017 – is one that gets a new answer every few years. The cycle goes like this: A flashy award, a pop cosign, a high-profile collaboration or some intangible sense of “relevance” suddenly brings an artist like Esperanza Spalding, Robert Glasper or Kamasi Washington to...
Kanye West has settled his lawsuit against insurer Lloyd’s of London. Howard King, the attorney representing West’s touring company in the suit, confirmed in a statement to Rolling Stone that “the dispute has been amicably resolved.” The rapper alleged the insurer withheld paying claims from the portion of West’s canceled Saint Pablo tour in 2016. West filed the $10 million suit last August. According to the now-settled suit, West’s touring company, Very Good Touring Inc. alleged that Lloyd’s of London...
Khalid and Fifth Harmony singer Normani unite on a slinky, R&B single “Love Lies,” featured on the soundtrack to new romantic comedy Love, Simon. The track is Normani’s first release outside the platinum-selling pop group, which issued their self-titled third LP last year. The vocalists originally met on the set of Khalid’s celebrity-packed “Young, Dumb, and Broke” video. “I’m just thankful that she’s in the video, because I’m pretty sure it’s not the first thing...
Machine Gun Kelly explores a relationship’s bitter end with his colorful “The Break Up” video. Director Jordan Wozy follows the rapper and his ex as they air grievances over the phone, shifting through color-coded rooms that include one filled with cacti and another with “Fuck You” balloons. The rapper also marked Valentine’s Day by launching another unsentimental project: his 1-800-The-Break-Up website, which allows users to text custom relationship-ending messages or pre-set, greeting card-styled disses....
Dave Chappelle, Lil Uzi Vert, the Diplomats, Dirty Projectors and the Roots are among the acts appearing at this year’s Roots Picnic, which takes place at Philadelphia’s Festival Pier on June 2nd. Chappelle will host a Roots Jam Session “with mad mad mad surprise guests! Like seriously im not naming em here. Just gonna be one POW! after another POW POW after another #BoomBapPowSurprise for ya,” Questlove promised on Instagram. The Roots and Chappelle previously held a Jam Session during...
The fifth Tool album has become something like alt-metal’s Chinese Democracy. This April will mark 12 years since the release of the group’s most recent LP, 10,000 Days, and 10 since they started teasing a follow-up. Among journalists and fans, Tool albumspotting has become its own pastime. Information has trickled out as a baffling series of contradictions. Late last year, drummer Danny Carey told an interviewer that Tool’s fifth LP would “definitely” be out in 2018, while in January, singer Maynard...
Original Smashing Pumpkins bassist D’arcy Wretzky criticized Billy Corgan for allegedly excluding her from the band’s still-unannounced reunion tour in a new interview with Alternative Nation. “Everyone said changed since he had a kid, and he can be very charming, and fun. He’s fun to talk to; I enjoy mental sparring with him,” Wretzky said. “I just was so out of that world for the longest time, I wasn’t aware of a lot of the crazy stuff, like he supports Trump. What?...
Eminem traces a relationship from hopeful beginning to volatile end in the new, documentary-style “River” video, featuring guest singer Ed Sheeran. The clip opens with an unseen director interviewing Eminem, the rapper’s fictional girlfriend and her ex-husband about their cycles of romance and despair. “My personal life is not exactly a highlight reel,” Eminem says as the video veers from the idyllic first stages of his relationship to a heated argument about an unplanned pregnancy. “What else can I say?...
New York R&B duo Lion Babe conjure the spirit of J Dilla with their seductive new single “Honey Dew.” Lucas Goodman nods to the late producer with his clanging, just-off-the-beat percussion, thumping synth-bass and dusty piano. “Everybody wants a piece,” vocalist Jillian Hervey croons over the low-simmering funk. “Honey Dew,” the group’s first release of 2018, follows their December stand-alone single “Rockets” featuring rapper Moe Moks. Goodman and Hervey began their collaboration...
Collaborators of the superstar siblings reflect on how “Beat It” and “Black Cat” crossed genre – and racial – boundaries, and changed pop forever Collaborators of the superstar siblings reflect on how “Beat It” and “Black Cat” crossed genre – and racial – boundaries, and changed pop forever In 1982, Michael Jackson wasn’t yet Michael Jackson, megastar. Before Thriller, the then–24-year-old had released five solo albums but was still defining his...
New Orleans rapper Big Freedia marked Mardi Gras with a delirious new track, “Best Beeleevah.” The song appears on Freedia’s new Spotify playlist, “The Sound of Bounce,” which celebrates the bombastic New Orleans style of hip-hop. “Best Beeleevah” is rooted in a sample of Harry Belafonte’s “Jump in the Line (Shake, Señora)” and injects the classic tune’s delightful kettle drum melody with an explosive, speaker-rattling edge. Freedia presides over this blistering beat with...
It’s not easy being a Peter Gabriel fan in 2018. He hasn’t released an album of original tunes since 2002’s Up, even if he’s supposedly been picking away at a follow-up called I/O since 2005. He refuses to put his music on Spotify and surely plays no small roll in keeping the 1974 Genesis double LP masterpiece The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway off there, too. He pops his head to the surface every couple of years for a brief...
The Smashing Pumpkins are reportedly days away from announcing a reunion tour – minus the band’s reclusive founding bassist, D’arcy Wretzky. The band said in a recent statement that Wretzky declined numerous invitations to join the tour. “James Iha, Jimmy Chamberlin and William Corgan haven’t played a show with D’arcy Wretzky for over 18 years,” the band said. “But it’s not for a lack of trying … Ms. Wretzky has repeatedly been invited out to play with the group, participate...
Two weeks before the Grammys, Code Orange drummer-vocalist Jami Morgan is admiring the outfit he’ll be wearing on the red carpet: a bespoke black fur coat. He never thought he’d possess something like this, let alone sport it during such a high-stakes occasion. “After we announced the nomination, I got a message on Twitter,” recounts Morgan in his band’s three-bedroom home in Pittsburgh, less than a mile away from where the members grew up together. He pulls up a photo...
Tom Rapp, the leader of the beloved psych rock outfit Pearls Before Swine and a longtime civil rights lawyer, died in hospice at his home in Melbourne, Florida. He was 70. A representative for the record label Drag City, reissued Pearls Before Swine’s debut One Nation Underground last year, confirmed the musician’s death. Rapp was born in North Dakota and grew up in the upper midwest. He received his first guitar at age six. He took to the instrument immediately and in...
Superchunk frontman Mac McCaughan can vividly recall what he felt the moment he learned that Donald Trump had been elected president: “horror, depression, sadness.” Rather than bottle up those feelings, which escalated in the weeks to come as he saw the alt-right gain newfound confidence, he began work on what would become the indie-rock group’s 11th studio album, What a Time to Be Alive, written entirely between November 2016 and February 2017. The title is sardonic. “It seemed it would...
Joan Jett and the Blackhearts and Styx will co-headline a North American tour this summer with heavy metal outfit Tesla serving as support. The trek kicks off May 30th at the FivePoint Amphitheatre in Irvine, California and includes stops in Denver, Dallas, Atlanta, Boston, Toronto, Detroit, Chicago and Pittsburgh. The tour wraps July 15th at the PNC Bank Arts Center in Holmdel, New Jersey. Tickets for most shows will go on sale February 16th at 10 a.m. local time via...
Last fall, Pearl Jam guitarist Mike McCready welcomed five young men who lived in foster care as children into his band’s studio with the intention of making a song. The thing was, recording in a professional studio was a new experience for everyone except McCready. “This was a bunch of guys that had never met each other, so you never know how that’s going to go,” he tells Rolling Stone. Together, they created “Try So Hard,” a mellow, uplifting song...
Two days before the Smashing Pumpkins are rumored to announce the long-awaited reunion of three-quarters of their classic lineup, the band issued a statement explaining why the fourth key member won’t be taking part. “In reuniting The Smashing Pumpkins, the band’s dedication remains to its fans and its music. To that, James Iha, Jimmy Chamberlin, and William Corgan haven’t played a show with D’arcy Wretzky for over 18 years. But it’s not for a lack of trying,” the band said...
