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COACHELLA Festival Postponed For A Third Time Due To Coronavirus
The Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival has been postponed for a third time due to ongoing health concerns related to the coronavirus pandemic. The California desert festival was one of the first major music events to be affected by COVID-19, moving from its usual April 2020 dates to two weekends in October 2020 before being canceled altogether. Most recently, organizers Goldenvoice were planning to host the event this on April 9-11 and April 16-18. Earlier today (January 29), Riverside County Public Health Officer Dr. Cameron Kaiser signed a public health order canceling the April 2021 dates for Coachella. It was reported last June that the festival may return as a full-fledged Coachella experience in October 2021. Whether any of last year’s planned lineup — which included he...
JEFF PILSON Remembers RONNIE JAMES DIO: ‘He Was Just Such A Wonderful Person’
Bassist and producer Jeff Pilson is best known for playing with DOKKEN and FOREIGNER, but he also toured with DIO in the 1990s and performed on three of the group’s albums — “Strange Highways” (1993), “Angry Machines” (1996) and the group’s tenth and final studio release, “Master Of The Moon” (2004). During a recent interview with Dave Lawrence of Hawaii Public Radio, Pilson was asked to recount how he first met Ronnie James Dio, as well as to share any cool stories about the legendary heavy metal singer. He responded (hear audio below): “I first met Ronnie, I believe it was 1982. I was in a band that came down to L.A. — I was living in San Francisco at the time, but I was in a band that came down to L.A. to play. And we were playing a ...
Gas Lit – DIVIDE AND DISSOLVE
RATING: 8/10 The last decade has seen so many two-piece bands emerge from the riff-driven fray that, at this point, it rarely seems like a particularly radical idea anymore. But then there’s DIVIDE AND DISSOLVE, a female duo from Melbourne, Australia, with a ferocious intelligence and humanity driving their music forward, albeit at a crushing snail’s pace. “Gas Lit” is the band’s third album, and it’s one of those extraordinary pieces of art that seems to hover majestically between genres, harnessing all manner of drone, post-rock and doom tropes and spewing them back out in a frequently beautiful but often devastating squall of hazy color. Members Takiaya Reed and Sylvie Nehill audibly enjoy sublime chemistry throughout this all-too-brief record: itR...
Summer of Soul Is Questlove’s Thrumming Ode to Black Music and Culture: Sundance 2021 Review
This review is part of our Sundance 2021 coverage. The Pitch: In 1969, the same summer as Woodstock, a different music festival played just 100 miles away in Harlem. It was the third annual Harlem Culture Festival, a weeks-long celebration of soul, Motown, blues, and gospel where nearly 300,000 people gathered and celebrated the sounds of Stevie Wonder, Mavis Staples, Nina Simone, and a host of other Black artists at the time. But the festival was more than, as it would be haphazardly marketed, the “Black Woodstock”. It was a nexus around which so many facets of Black life at the time would intersect, from Afrocentrism to the Black Panthers (who would provide security for the event) to the renewed reclaiming of the word “Black” to identify themselves in print and in person. The music ...
First Look: Preview the Rob Zombie-Helmed Chapter of Anthrax’s Among the Living Graphic Novel
In November, Anthrax announced the impending release of their own graphic novel, Among the Living, featuring a bevy of famous guest contributors. One of the chapters is being written by Rob Zombie, and we’re teaming up with Z2 Comics for an exclusive first look at five pages of artwork. The graphic novel chapters are inspired by the songs on Anthrax’s iconic 1987 album, Among the Living, with Zombie being joined by such guest writers as Slipknot’s Corey Taylor, My Chemical Romance’s Gerard and Mikey Way, Fall Out Boy’s Joe Trohman, comedian Brian Posehn, and more. Along with the sneak peek at the Zombie chapter comes news that all four current classic members of Anthrax — Scott Ian, Joey Belladonna, Frank Bello, and Charlie Benante — will be contributing to the graphic novel. Ian is pennin...
Death Grips’ Gmail and the Restraining Orders EP, “More Than the Fairy” Finally Added to Spotify, Apple: Stream
It’s been two years and counting since we last got a proper album from Death Grips, but today’s surprise drop should keep fans preoccupied in the meantime. The group’s experimental EP Gmail and the Restraining Orders and one-off single “More Than the Fairy” have finally been added to streaming platforms like Spotify and Apple. Gmail and the Restraining Orders is a 30-minute collection of noise rock that was played prior to Death Grips’ live shows in 2015. The project was then featured in Warp Records’ WXAXRXP radio festival in 2019, before subsequently being released onto YouTube. As for “More Than the Fairy”, this track was initially put out on YouTube in 2016. It notably features bass from special (and very unexpected) guest Les Claypool of Primus. The collaboration is consider...
R.I.P. Hilton Valentine, Guitarist of The Animals Dead at 77
Hilton Valentine, guitarist and founding member of The Animals, has died at the age of 77. A representative for ABKCO Records announced Valentine’s passing on behalf of his wife, Germaine Valentine. A cause of death was not immediately made available. In 1963, Valentine was recruited by Eric Burdon, Chas Chandler, and Alan Price to join what would become The Animals. The UK band quickly made a name for themselves thanks to their high-energy concerts and rock ‘n’ roll covers of Nina Simone, Sam Cooke, and John Lee Hooker. They achieved their first No. 1 single in 1964 with “House of the Rising Sun”, on which Valentine is credited with playing the song’s iconic arpeggio introduction. The Animals’ early success culminated in visit to America in October 1964. As was the case for The Beatles mo...
People On The Move: Mark Stroman, SPIN Media
“SPIN has appointed industry legend Mark Stroman as Chief Marketing Officer, bolstering the leadership team of one of the most recognizable names in music journalism, which recently celebrated its 35th Anniversary.” Keep reading AdAge’s feature here. You Deserve to Make Money Even When you are looking for Dates Online. So we reimagined what a dating should be. It begins with giving you back power. Get to meet Beautiful people, chat and make money in the process. Earn rewards by chatting, sharing photos, blogging and help give users back their fair share of Internet revenue.
How Fran Rozzano Landed a Record Deal With Pina Records in a Pandemic
A music video, directed by Fernando Lugo in Miami, features Natti Natasha as the star with a cameo from Pina. But before making the rounds with his new bop and landing on YouTube’s Trending page, Rozzano was chasing his dream. One that he was able to reach thanks to the power of social media and in the midst of a pandemic. He was discovered in October of last year during Raphy Pina’s “Tienes Un Minuto” competition on Instagram, where he encouraged aspiring artists from all over the world to remix Natti’s “Que Mal Te Fue.” Rozzano ultimately won the competition and landed a record deal with Pina Records. “It changed my life,” he tells Billboard. Below, read our Q&A with Rozzano. How did you find out about Raphy Pina’s “Tienes Un Minuto” dynamic? I come from doing covers and my fam...
First Spin: The Week’s Best New Dance Tracks From Alok, Mikey Lion, TroyBoi & More
Brazilian phenom Alok drops “Kids On Whizz,” his rework of 2020’s “Charlie” by the UK duo (and brothers) Everyone You Know. Rife with “Can’t Feel My Face”-level euphemisms about a certain white substance historically popular in clubland, the already alluring track goes even deeper on this edit. Alok kicks up the BPM and adds a few slight layers to the already heady tropically-laden deep house production, while leaving the standout hook — which the producer says initially drew him to the song — in tact. “When we released ‘Charlie’ we never in a million years thought someone with as much weight and clout as Alok would reach out to rework the track,” the Everyone You Know bros gush in a statement. “It’s quite s...
From ‘Camp Rock’ to ‘Will & Grace,’ Here Are All of Demi Lovato’s Acting Gigs
And while fans love Lovato for her one-of-a-kind vocal talent and hit songs like “Sorry Not Sorry” and “Confident,” the news has us at Billboard reminiscing on the multi-hyphenate’s longtime acting career. See all her onscreen moments below. Barney & Friends (2002 – 2004) A then-10-year-old Lovato made her acting debut as Angela on seasons seven and eight of the popular kids’ television series. She met fellow star Selena Gomez on set, and the two would act in a number of scenes together. As the Bell Rings (2007 – 2008) Demi first dipped her toes in the Disney Channel world when she starred as Charlotte in the first season of As the Bell Rings, a short comedy series. She was the main female character, and fans at the time were ca...
Summer Walker Shows Off Her Pregnant ‘Body’ in Soothing New Video
Summer Walker has released the long-awaited video for her 2019 Over It track, “Body,” and it’s the breath of fresh air to kick of 2021. The black-and-white vignette shows the singer, who is expecting her first child with producer London on da Track, glowing in the sunlight against a mountainous and beachy California landscape. “Baby, I’m talkin’ crazy / I need you right in my space, but I / Need it, baby, I’m late, but I /Still can check in with you,” she muses in the sultry chorus. You Deserve to Make Money Even When you are looking for Dates Online. So we reimagined what a dating should be. It begins with giving you back power. Get to meet Beautiful people, chat and make money in the process. Earn rewards by chatting, sh...
