Singer-songwriter Neko Case unveiled a new song, “Hell-On,” the deceptively sinister title-track from her upcoming album, out June 1st via Anti. “Hell-On” boasts a smoldering mix of guitar plucks, muted drums and swelling strings, over which Case sings in a sweetened voice, “You cannot time its table, it sets no glass or gables/ God is a lusty tire fire.” But just as this ominous section reaches its apex, Case deftly turns “Hell-On” into a breezy country tune, offering a brief...
Jim James, Animal Collective, Angel Olson and Flying Lotus are among the artists slated to perform at the David Lynch Foundation’s Festival of Disruption, which comes to New York’s Brooklyn Steel on May 19th and 20th. The director himself will also host talks at the two-day festival, including a Blue Velvet screening with actress Isabella Rossellini. An art exhibit showcasing works by Lynch, William Eggleston and Sandro Miller’s Psychogenic Fugue featuring John Malkovich photographed as iconic David Lynch characters is...
David Byrne apologized on Monday for failing to incorporate female artists into his upcoming American Utopia album – a project that includes collaborations with some two dozen musicians and producers. Byrne posted a contrite note on Instagram, acknowledging his mistake and how it contributed to gender inequity in popular music. “This lack of representation is something that is problematic and widespread in our industry,” he wrote. He added, “I regret not hiring and collaborating with women for this album –...
Russ Solomon, founder and overseer of the Tower Records empire, died Sunday at his home in Sacramento, California. He was 92. Solomon’s family told the Sacramento Bee that he likely suffered a heart attack. “Ironically, he was giving his opinion of what someone was wearing that he thought was ugly, then asked (his wife) Patti to refill his whisky,” at which point he died, Solomon’s son Michael Solomon told the newspaper. Solomon started Tower Records – named after the local...
Comedy troupe the Lonely Island released an unused parody song they originally wrote and demoed for the 2018 Oscars. Throughout the hilarious track, the trio – Andy Samberg, Jorma Taccone and Akiva Schaffer – portray characters from big-budget Hollywood movies and critically panned projects who vent about their lack of nominations. “We were asked to write a song for this year’s Academy Awards,” the Lonely Island write in the song’s goofy video mock-up. “Unfortunately, it wasn’t chosen because it...
Rob Zombie and Marilyn Manson will co-headline the “Twins Of Evil: The Second Coming Tour” this summer, a nod to the rockers’ joint “Twins of Evil” 2012 tour. The two artists will play close to 30 shows together, starting July 11th in Detroit and wrapping up August 29th in Irvine, CA. Presale for the trek begins March 19th, with a general on-sale to follow on March 24th. Check out Manson’s site for complete ticket information. Zombie and Manson previously toured...
Richmond, Virginia singer-songwriter Lucy Dacus has said her second LP is concerned with staking her artistic platform to activist action. For the most part, though, the confrontations she maps out are more interior than openly polemic. Historian opens with “Night Shift,” where she sings about shaking loose a romantic obsession, her voice as delicate as an exhalation as she finds herself caught between longing and “resisting urges to punch you in the teeth.” These songs are confessional but not diaristic,...
Last month, Avenged Sevenfold wrapped a sold-out tour in support of their latest album, The Stage. The month-long trek found the group playing arenas around the country, but singer M. Shadows tells Rolling Stone that the metal outfit’s upcoming summer tour “will be our biggest trek yet. In terms of production and song selection, it feels like the whole cycle has been leading up to this.” The tour kicks off July 22nd at the Xfinity Center in Mansfield, Massachusetts and...
Robert Plant and the Sensational Space Shifters extended their Carry Fire tour with a new run of North American shows. The summer trek, which launches June 8th in Atlanta and concludes the 29th in Vancouver, will include an array of high-profile openers – with Jim James (solo acoustic), Lucinda Williams, Sheryl Crow, Los Lobos, Elle King, Seth Lakeman and Jon Langford performing at select dates. Spotify will offer a special pre-sale for the new concerts, with a code emailed to...
Grateful Dead co-founders Phil Lesh and Bob Weir began a three-city, six-show run, dubbed the Bobby and Phil Tour, with a pair of sold-out gigs at Radio City Music Hall on Friday and Saturday. In classic Dead fashion, the concerts moved between magical jams and charming discombobulation, never losing their sense of real-time fun. During their debut as a “duo,” Lesh and Weir were augmented on and off by percussionist Wally Ingram and, for Saturday’s thrilling, improv-packed second set, Phish...
Childish Gambino has announced a short tour in support of his Awaken, My Love! album. Rae Sremmurd will serve as his supporting act. Donald Glover’s musical alter ego kicks off the 13-date arena jaunt in his native Atlanta on September 6th. After stops at Madison Square Garden in New York City and Oakland’s Oracle Arena, the tour wraps up in Vancouver on September 30th. Awaken, My Love!, Childish Gambino’s third LP, came out in December of 2016. It included the single...
Royce Da 5’9″ and 2 Chainz tackle love in the social-media era on their new collaboration “Flirt,” a track from Royce and DJ Premier’s PRhyme project. DJ Premier provides the two rappers with an ornate beat full of elaborate string samples and stinging drums. The frilly instrumental spurs Royce Da 5’9″ to catalog a series of frustrating romantic interactions before landing on dismissive, sing-song chorus: “Bad bitches can’t flirt good for shit.” If Royce 5’9″ is...
When Lucius’ Jess Wolfe and Holly Laessig first sang with Roger Waters, the clouds above them parted and a giant rainbow stretched across the sky. Literally. The two women were late additions to the singer-songwriter’s surprise appearance at the Newport Folk Festival in 2015, when he came out with My Morning Jacket for a set of solo cuts and Pink Floyd classics. He’d asked festival organizer Jay Sweet for some recommendations of female backup singers, and Sweet suggested Lucius. The...
Nearly 15 months after Bon Jovi‘s This House Is Not for Sale debuted atop the Billboard 200, the Rock Hall-bound band’s latest LP returned to the Number One spot. The album had fallen off the album charts entirely before resurfacing in the top spot. This House Is Not for Sale‘s return is thanks entirely to a deal that packaged tickets to Bon Jovi’s upcoming tour with a free physical or digital copy of the album. Of the estimated 375,000 Bon...
Less than a year after Migos first appeared on Saturday Night Live, the rappers returned to SNL as musical guest, with Quavo, Offset and Takeoff delivering a pair of Culture II tracks, “Stir Fry” and “Narcos,” on the Charles Barkley-hosted episode. The group first doled out a dynamic rendition of “Stir Fry” backed by live instrumentation before returning later in the episode to showcase “Narcos,” which featured a standout, rapid-fire verse courtesy of Takeoff. While the performance marked...
Stone Temple Pilots kicked off their first tour with new singer Jeff Gutt Friday night in Santa Clarita, California, where the band were joined onstage by actor Johnny Depp. Ultimate Classic Rock reports that the Hollywood Vampires guitarist performed a pair of tracks during the encore with Stone Temple Pilots: Core‘s Sex Type Thing and the band’s cover of MC5’s “Kick Out the Jams,” which also featured that proto-punk band’s Wayne Kramer. Stone Temple Pilots’ first full concert with Gutt...
Whether you’re a well-established wordsmith or someone who’s never written a song before, inspiration can strike at any moment. Could that phrase fit into the perfect chorus for a new song? Could that melody you’ve had stuck in your head be the next “Despacito”? Use these five apps to jot down your ideas, melodies, and lyrics to turn those seeds of inspiration into actual songs. Not only do these apps give you tools to organize your lyrics and recordings, they...
Rob Zombie has announced a solo career-spanning vinyl box set complete with 11 albums including a new live LP. The limited edition Rob Zombie vinyl box set features all of the White Zombie singer’s solo studio and live LPs, from 1998’s Hellbilly Deluxe to 2016’s The Electric Warlock Acid Witch Satanic Orgy Celebration Dispenser. Each album will be pressed on 180-gram vinyl. The box set, limited to 1,000 copies, will also include the upcoming live album Astro-Creep: 2000 Live, a...
Rick Ross was hospitalized early Thursday morning and is now connected to machines to help him breath and to assist his heart in functioning, according to TMZ. He is in the cardiac unit, which suggests that he suffered a heart attack. The site says he’s hooked to a form of life support that oxygenates his blood from the outside before being put back into his body. He was hospitalized after someone in his Miami-area home called 911 to report that...
Pink goofs off backstage, dancing and rolling around on the floor, in the video for her Beautiful Trauma track “Whatever You Want.” Elsewhere in the clip, the blond-pompadoured singer rehearses dance moves, plays with her daughter and son, spends time with husband Carey Hart and walks the red carpet of awards shows, pulling off a few stunts along the way, for a candid look at the singer’s life, on and off the stage. The clip also includes footage of her...
