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The Network Perform “Threat Level Midnight” on Fallon: Watch
Last month, Green Day revived their secret new wave side-project The Network for the release of a brand new album. Entitled Money Money 2020 Part II: Told Ya So!, it marked their first new album under the moniker in some 17 years. On Friday night, the group supported its release with a late-night TV appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. Part of The Network’s bit is that they refuse to acknowledge themselves as Green Day, and any insinuation that they are is met with am explicit rebuttal from both the band and their fans. (This post, for example, will no doubt generate a litany of comments from Green Day fans informing us that The Network is not Green Day). To add their mythology, The Network’s members use aliases — Fink, Van Gough, The Snoo, and Bal...
Is the Media Still Cashing in on Britney Spears’ Trauma?
In the past month, the steadily growing #FreeBritney movement became a mainstream phenomenon following the release of The New York Times Presents documentary Framing Britney Spears. The documentary dissects the pop star’s controversial conservatorship, which placed her under the strict supervision, financially and personally, of conservators like her father, James “Jamie” Spears, among others since 2008. Acting as a thorough introduction for newcomers, Framing Britney Spears provides a heartbreaking portrait of both the rise of the wide-eyed teen singer from Louisiana and her fall from grace, including that infamous head-shaving, umbrella-wielding night anyone who lived through 2007 saw footage of at least a million times over. Framing Britney Spears casts a much kinder, more sympathetic l...
Facebook’s New App Bars Lets You Rap Over Premade Beats
The follow-up era to SoundCloud rappers may well be upon us. As noted by TechCrunch, Facebook is releasing an app that will let users rap over premade beats and share a video of it with their community. It’s called Bars, and it’s currently available to download in closed beta form. From the sound of it, Bars is an app geared towards beginner rappers and freestyle pros alike. Users can choose from a rolodex of beats already available to use on the app, rap over them for 60 seconds, and then post the video to a “TikTok-style feed” where fellow Bars users can watch it and mark it as “fire” if they like it. Bars reportedly offers “studio quality vocal effects,” including everybody’s favorite AutoTune feature, too. Those in need of a creative boost should be pretty pleased with Bars because it ...
Stone Roses’ Ian Brown Says He Will ‘NEVER EVER’ Perform a Show With Vaccination Requirements
The return of live music could be returning sooner than we thought; however, there’s been talk of requiring proof of vaccination for concert goers. If that’s the case, fans won’t be seeing Ian Brown live any time soon. On Friday, the former Stone Roses singer made his thoughts about vaccination requirements very clear, proclaiming he will “NEVER EVER” play a show with such conditions. “I will NEVER sing to a crowd who must be vaccinated as a condition of attendance. NEVER EVER!” Brown tweeted. I will NEVER sing to a crowd who must be vaccinated as a condition of attendance. NEVER EVER! — Ian Brown (@ianbrown) February 26, 2021 His declaration is the latest in a storm of controversial tweets. Back in September, Brown suggested that the world’s response to COVID-19 is a “...
Death or Life: Here’s Why This Song Is Pissing Off the Cuban Government
In May, Romero and his band, Orishas, released “Amame Como Soy” (Love Me As I Am), a rework of “Amame Como Soy,” the now-classic track by Cuban troubadour Pablo Milanés. The new version quotes the Milanés chorus, but the verses — accompanied by black-and-white footage and pictures of Cuba and imagery that alludes to repression — are harshly critical of the Cuban government. The song caused a stir on the Caribbean island. But that’s been nothing compared to Romero’s new single “Patria y Vida,” which he performs with fellow Black Cuban musicians Descemer Bueno, Gente de Zona, Maykel Osorbo and El Funky. With a title that translates to “Country and Life,” a direct rebuke to Cuba’s official slogan –Country or Death — the song and video released Feb. 16 have unleashed a ...
5 Uplifting Moments in Latin Music This Week (February 27)
New episodes will premiere every Friday on HBO Max and HBO Latino. Season 1 of HBO Presents: A Tiny Audience is available for streaming now on HBO Max. Watch the trailer for A Tiny Audience season 2 below: Carlos Vives Donates Cumbiana Books Carlos Vives spoke with more than 75 students across the U.S., Mexico and Puerto Rico about his book Cumbiana: Relatos De Un Mundo Perdido. During the virtual event, the Colombian star talked about cumbia and its roots and described his experiences writing the book. The institutions that were part of the talk with Vives were also recipients of a special donation: Vives gifted schools located in cities such as Los Angeles, Miami, Chicago, Mexico City and Yauco (Puerto Rico) with a copy of his book, in wh...
Watch The Network Trash Their Set During Fallon Performance
The Network made its comeback last year with Money Money 2020 Part II: Told Ya So! — its first album in more than 15 years — and on Friday night, Green Day’s “secret” band took the new material to The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. Though it’s common knowledge that Billie Joe Armstrong, Tré Cool and Mike Dirnt are at the new wave group’s core, they obscure their faces to hide their identities and go by the names Fink, Snoo and Van Gough, respectively (it’s all part of the act). The masked musicians played “Threat Level Midnight” (you know, like that infamous Michael Scott “film” from The Office) from a remote location that they turned into their own ’70s-era talk show set, complete with their own host. Fink began the performance by smashing a glass in his hand, and...
NEUROSIS’s STEVE VON TILL Announces Ambient Album ‘A Deep Voiceless Wilderness’ And Spoken-Word Release ‘Harvestman’
Steve Von Till has made a life’s work out of seeking the elemental. With a solo discography that stretches back more than two decades, he has toiled in a shadow realm, peeling back layers of reality in a never-ending search for true meaning and raw emotion. Due on April 30, “A Deep Voiceless Wilderness” strips back the veil even further. An achingly beautiful ambient work with neo-classical leanings, the album is a hallucinatory and elegant rumination on our disconnect from the natural world, each other, and ultimately ourselves. For some listeners, the album may recall the work of modern composers like Jóhann Jóhannsson, Brian Eno or Gavin Bryars. For Von Till, it’s about surrendering to the spirit of place — and to the original intent behind his 2020 solo album, &...
HELLOWEEN: Go Behind The Scenes Of Photo Shoot For Upcoming Single ‘Skyfall’
The reunited expanded classic lineup of German power metallers HELLOWEEN will release its much-anticipated album in the summer of 2021. The disc’s first single, “Skyfall”, will arrive on April 2. Behind-the-scenes video from the “Skyfall” photo shoot can be seen below. The “Pumpkins United” lineup features returning singer Michael Kiske and guitarist/vocalist Kai Hansen alongside current singer Andi Deris, guitarists Michael Weikath and Sascha Gerstner, bassist Markus Grosskopf and drummer Daniel Löble. Produced by Charlie Bauerfeind and Dennis Ward, the new HELLOWEEN LP was recorded in part at the H.O.M.E. Studios in Hamburg (where everything started in 1984). The same recording console used for such HELLOWEEN albums as “Master Of The Rings&...
SAMMY HAGAR, STEVE VAI, ZAKK WYLDE, JOE SATRIANI, Others Wish NEAL SCHON Happy 67th Birthday (Video)
A phenomenal digital birthday card to legendary JOURNEY founder Neal Schon featuring heartfelt greetings from his stunning wife Michaele along with Jonathan Cain, Brad Paisley, Randy Jackson, Narada Michael Walden, Sammy Hagar, Steve Lukather, Steve Vai, Arnel Pineda, Scott Hamilton, Zakk Wylde, Joe Bonamassa, Jason Derlatka, Joe Satriani, Eric Johnson and Jack Blades can be seen below. Schon, who was born in Midwest City, Oklahoma on February 27, 1954 to Matthew and Barbara Schon, turns 67 on Saturday. Neal founded JOURNEY in 1972 and has been the only consistent member, having participated in every album and tour to date. He is a Grammy-nominated guitarist, songwriter and vocalist who was also a member of SANTANA and has performed with a variety of other acts, including BAD ENGLISH, JAN ...
KAMELOT’s TOMMY KAREVIK On Replacing ROY KHAN: ‘In Hindsight, It Couldn’t Have Gone Any Better’
KAMELOT‘s Tommy Karevik spoke to #MetalTalk about what it was like to replace Roy Khan nearly a decade ago. The Swedish singer has appared on the band’s last three studio albums, 2012’s “Silverthorn”, 2015’s “Haven” and 2018’s “The Shadow Theory”. “I never thought about it as, ‘I’m gonna replace someone,’ to be honest,” Tommy said (see video below). “I thought about it as I wanna honor the legacy that was already there but bring something new into the fold as well. I thought of it as a huge challenge, of course. But my view on it was never, ‘I’m gonna go in and replace this guy,’ because I know he was loved, and he is still loved, in the metal community, and he will alway...
A Poetic Tribute to Marvin Gaye
In honor of Black History Month, poet Vievee Francis remembered Marvin Gaye with two poems. MARVIN GAYE: MERCY Take Marvin Gaye. His father had no mercy. Paranoia does that. Mercy is spat like spinach between the teeth. It slips out in a pee stream. Those without, never had it or lost it by adulthood. A flatline. Mercy replaced by a thin-lipped smile of rage. But Marvin wanted mercy so badly from a man who didn’t have it to give, as if all he once had now rested in Marvin. Who wouldn’t be jealous? To see your better self. To hear all that beauty wafting out of every car window sweet as cigarette smoke. I don’t trust those who don’t like the smell. Orthodoxy. That was the gun in his daddy’s hand. It said, don’t this and don’t that and the only goodness is to wither on your own vine. But how...
