The widespread acclaim for Rhye’s 2012 debut album Woman was a bit of a fluke. Much of the viral fascination surrounding the project concerned Mike Milosh’s incandescently fragile and feminine voice. Cannily, Polydor initially withheld biographical details of the two men behind the project – Milosh and producer Robin Hannibal, who apparently recorded the songs during a few fruitful bedroom sessions – resulting in fevered speculation over the gender of the singer. (Indie fans might have recognized Milosh from his...
PRhyme, the project of DJ Premier and Detroit rapper Royce Da 5’9″, unveiled a shrewd new song, “Era,” featuring New York MC Dave East. The track marks first single off the duo’s new album, PRhyme 2, out March 16th via PRhyme Records. 40 Best Rap Albums of 2014 From Young Thugs to Old Droogs, Rich Gangs to broke MCs with expensive taste — the year’s best in rhymes On PRhyme’s first album, DJ Premier pulled samples exclusively from the music of...
Rob Halford sings about fighting evil in the name of freedom in “Firepower,” the charging title track of Judas Priest‘s upcoming 18th studio album. The rest of the band, led by guitarists Glenn Tipton and Richie Faulkner, commands the sort of chugging riffs that made the group metal avatars in the early Eighties, all leading up to emotive, dueling six-string solos as drummer Scott Travis kicks up the tempo. The album, due March 9th, marks the second album since Faulkner...
Kylie Minogue has toured the world many times, but before starting work on her upcoming album Golden last summer, the veteran Australian pop superstar had never been to Nashville. “I put on a few pounds, that’s for sure,” she says of her time there, adding that she felt “so inspired” by the city’s musical legacy and vibrant community of working artists. “Just going down Music Mile and the billboards celebrating songwriters and artists with hits. We went to the Bluebird Cafe...
Kendrick Lamar and the Weeknd collaborated on “Pray for Me,” a new song from the Black Panther soundtrack. Over dark, rhythmic synth beats, the Weeknd sings,”Who gon’ pray for me?/ Take my pain for me?/ Save my soul for me?/ ‘Cause I’m alone, you see.” Lamar answers with an empowering verse: “Who need a hero?/ You need a hero, look in the mirror, there go your hero,” he raps. “Who on the front lines at Ground Zero?/ My heart skip...
Radiohead‘s Thom Yorke contributed a new song titled “Why Can’t We Get Along” to a short film highlighting fashion label Rag & Bone’s upcoming line. The six-minute track features hallmarks of the singer’s solo work – twitchy beats, hypnotic synths and Yorke’s siren-esque voice – as he coolly repeats “Why can’t we get along?” throughout the song. Yorke frequently contributes new music to the fashion label, including “Coloured Candy” for a 2017...
Justin Timberlake celebrated the release of his new album Man of the Woods with the comedic new video for the album’s title track. The video fully indulges the outdoorsman undertones of Timberlake’s new album by having the singer and an unseen woman go on a Buster Keaton-esque journey through the forest to get to the local tavern, where the woman is revealed to be Timberlake’s real-life wife (and frequent Man of the Woods guest) Jessica Biel. Later, four Timberlakes –...
Busta Rhymes has released new song “Get It,” which features Missy Elliott and Kelly Rowland. The track’s beats are propelled by Kelly Rowland’s sampled rhythmic hook, which buoys Busta Rhymes and Elliott’s verses. Rowland’s “Get it, get it, flip it, tip it, dip it” chant appears to hail from an unreleased track of hers called “Smooches,” which leaked a few years back. Over the melodic Rowland hook and building claps, Busta Rhymes fires off speedy, club-ready lines. “Get on your...
On his fifth album, Justin Timberlake continues to stay dedicated to Timbaland/Neptunes futuresex beats and his familiar lovesound come-ons that have made him the biggest male pop star of his generation. But, as its title implies, much of Man of the Woods also comes with the moonshine-and-mason-jar glisten of country, blues and folk. You might expect a smooth guy like JT to use this backdrop for a pickup-truck cruise across the Florida-Georgia line. Instead, he has something more timely in...
Recording Academy president Neil Portnow has announced the formation of a task force following criticism of comments he made as well as accusations of sexism during the Grammy awards ceremony, Variety reports. A call for Portnow’s resignation from female industry executives closely followed his announcement. This year’s Grammys have been under scrutiny for the apparent lack of female nominees and winners during the awards ceremony, from Lorde not performing (she was the only female nominee in the Album of the...
In the fall of 2012, Mike Milosh released “Open,” his first single under the name Rhye, a track that melded hushed chamber pop with a serene electronic pulse. The music was unwaveringly gentle, but surprisingly, it incited a major-label feeding frenzy. “I was not expecting 20 labels to be fighting for it,” Milosh remembers, speaking in his hotel room in downtown Manhattan on a frigid January day. “As a joke, this sounds super cocky, but I was like, ‘I’ll sign...
Kylie Minogue plays both honky tonk angel and club queen in the glitzy new video for “Dancing.” The track will appear on the Australian pop star’s new album, Golden, out April 6th. The Sophie Muller-directed clip finds Minogue channeling Dolly Parton at her most glammed out, singing the country-tinged dance tune in a lowly motel room. Each time “Dancing” hits its euphoric chorus, the video cuts to a wild club scene where Minogue and a cadre of dancers – many...
A couple escapes the city and finds a psychedelic respite in the new video for Dan Auerbach’s song “Up On a Mountain of Love.” The track will appear on Amazon Music’s “Love Me, Love Me Not” playlist, which arrives February 9th. Artist Omar Juarez helmed the clip for “Up On a Mountain of Love,” in which a couple is sucked into a pastoral painting on their wall. With Auerbach’s folk strumming and lush singing in the background, the man and...
For the first 40 minutes of Migos’ Culture II, the Atlanta trap-rap trio’s combative, aspirational mantras of jet-set consumption achieve such a stark, staccato groove that the music almost becomes meditative – the kind of stupefyingly decadent reverie that gets you “lost in the sauce,” to paraphrase trap forefather Gucci Mane. But, then, something startling happens. On the album’s eleventh track “Gang Gang” (there are 24, and you’ll feel all of them afterwards), the eerily glittering fog...
Bronx hitmaker A Boogie wit da Hoodie and his label mate Don Q party until a SWAT team arrives in the new video for “Somebody.” The track came out last September on A Boogie wit da Hoodie’s debut album, The Bigger Artist. The majority of the rapper’s new clip is set in a warehouse party helmed by DJ Mustard, who produced “Somebody.” DJ Mustard’s beat gives “Somebody” bounce and bite, while A Boogie wit da Hoodie raps about his newly-flush...
Rising boy band Why Don’t We released a new horn-filled single, “Trust Fund Baby,” that was written by Grammy-winner Ed Sheeran. The group recently appeared on iHeartRadio’s Jingle Ball Tour alongside Sheeran, Taylor Swift and Camila Cabello. On “Trust Fund Baby,” the group pines for self-made women who haven’t had their world handed to them on a platter. “Want a girl with common sense/ Who’s drippin’ in competence/ Don’t wanna die to get rich/ But she loves 50...
Neil Young has kept a pretty low profile over the past year, but it turns out that at least for some of that time he was working on a western movie, Paradox, that will premiere at South By Southwest in March. The film was directed by Daryl Hannah. Young stars alongside Willie Nelson, Micah Nelson, Lucas Nelson and members of his backing band, Promise of the Real. “Time is fluid in this far-fetched, whimsical western tale of music and love,” reads a...
David Byrne weighs in on Donald Trump, being sampled by Selena Gomez, why he’s not interested in a Talking Heads reunion and more. Jody Rogac “My booking agent said, ‘I think you’re having a Leonard Cohen moment,’ ” says David Byrne – before hastening to clarify, with a laugh, that the reference was to renewed relevance and popularity, not his impending demise. In March, he’s releasing a strong new album, American Utopia (written over tracks created by his longtime collaborator Brian...
Fall Out Boy delivered a blistering rendition of “Hold Me Tight or Don’t” on The Late Late Show With James Corden Wednesday. The track appears on the band’s latest album, Mania. For the performance, Fall Out Boy ran with the Day of the Dead theme used in the “Hold Me Tight or Don’t” video, with all four members sporting glowing orange skeleton face paint. The striking visuals paired well with the song’s razor-edge riffs as Fall Out Boy tore through...
Grateful Dead offshoot group Dead & Company will make a rare festival appearance when they headline Lockn’ Festival this summer. The four-day event takes place in Arrington, VA, at Infinity Downs Farm from August 23rd through the 26th. The group – comprising original Grateful Dead members Bob Weir, Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann, as well as John Mayer, Oteil Burbridge and Jeff Chimenti – are slated to perform four sets over the course of two nights, which will span material...
