Name Nikki Sixx Best known for I’m 100 percent best known for my sarcasm first, and second, for being a member of Mötley Crüe. Current city Jackson Hole, WY, where there’s more cattle than there are people. Really want to be in If I could be any place in the world—besides where we live in Jackson Hole, WY, which we love, we have a lot of property, you can’t see any houses or anything from where we live—would be somewhere on the beach. Maybe St. Barts. Excited about Yeah, I’m really excited about the fact that I’ve signed a deal—and I’m not ready to announce who it is—but a huge director in animation. And we’ve gotten together, and we’ve got a really great idea for an animated show for children, which is driven by an original song in each show. And the other thi...
Bobby Shmurda has returned to drop another new track. The 27-year-old rapper has gradually been making his return to music following his release from prison in February. Shmurda signed with Roc Nation in August and the following month, unveiled his first solo song since coming home. The freestyle, titled “No Time for Sleep,” arrived with a music video of the Brooklyn rapper performing in a dimly-lit warehouse. Prior to that, Shmurda made his official return to the industry with a feature on a remix and video for Eladio Carrión’s “TATA” alongside Daddy Yankee and J Balvin. Now Shmurda has released a follow-up to the debut of his long-awaited comeback with “Cartier Lens.” The accompanying cover art is evocative of the rapper’s goals, picturing sunglasses with reflections of stacks of cash in...
First, let’s take care of the obvious. Despite the still-persistent narrative that such music is “dead,” there are way more than 50 excellent rock bands out there. And there’s no exact science to scooping the cream of the crop. Our list includes arena-packing veterans but also semi-obscure indie acts who’ve barely escaped their basements. There are no hard rules here. Our methodology was simple: ask our writers and staff which rock bands feel worthy of recognition right now. But we did aim for a wide scope — throughout, you’ll find flavors of psych, post-punk, hardcore, metal, even country. If it feels like rock, it’s on the table. Consider SPIN‘s 2021 roundup — just like last year’s — a thermometer, taking the temperature of modern rock in all its various mutations. Altın Gün Ho...
Surprise! Jónsi is releasing his third studio album Obsidian, tomorrow, October 30. Coinciding with his art installation of the same name, Obsidian was co-produced and mixed by Paul Corley (Yves Tumor, Oneohtrix Point Never, Ben Frost, Koreless) and Nathan Salon. The record follows Jónsi’s sophomore album Shiver that released last year. Obsidian and its installation were inspired by the recent eruption of the Fagradalsfjall volcano in Iceland. Having lay dormant for nearly eight hundred years, Jónsi was unable to return to his homeland and witness the rare phenomenon. The ten-track record gives each title a reference to sights, textures, and aromas of the ashen terrain. The founding member of Sigur Rós’ exhibit is open from October 30 until December 17 at the Tanya Bona...
The War on Drugs’ latest album opens with somewhat of a feint. Littered with sparse piano and soft guitar, “Living Proof” is among the quietest songs in the Philadelphia band’s expansive catalog. 2014’s Lost in the Dream opened with the resplendent “Under the Pressure,” and 2017’s A Deeper Understanding had the immediacy of “Up All Night.” The heartland rockers’ fifth record, however, introduces itself gently, opting for restraint rather than full-blown grandeur. Toward its end, “Living Proof” recedes into itself, like a gravitational pull into the distant horizon. Then, the locomotive pace of “Harmonia’s Dream” kicks in. This is all an exercise in tension and release, and the rest of that record is the release that “Living Proof” leaves you yearning for. Produced by frontman Adam Granduci...
Following months of controversy revolving around its workplace culture, sexual harassment and gender discrimination, Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick has finally announced that a series of policy changes are on the way. Announcing the end of ist required arbitration over the employees’ claims, the company’s Kotick stated in an email to employees yesterday that Activision Blizzard will be implementing a series of changes to improve its work environment and culture, including a “zero-tolerance” harassment policy. “Being welcoming and inclusive, in the context of our workplace, is crystal clear,” Kotick wrote. “We will still passionately debate ideas, employ healthy skepticism when appropriate, and demand excellence and rigor in all of our pursuits – but we will always treat each other wi...
Mark Zuckerberg recently hosted a Facebook Connect keynote that covered various upcoming virtual reality projects under its new name, Meta. Towards the end of the presentation, Mark Zuckerberg announced that Rockstar Games‘ Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, which he described as “one of the greatest games ever made,” is currently in development and will arrive in the metaverse via its Oculus Quest 2 system. The virtual reality version of San Andreas will likely be built on the remastered version of the game that was recently announced as part of a larger bundle that includes Vice City and GTA III. While VR mods for GTA games have unofficially existed for years, the upcoming official release is sure to bring a whole new experience. “This is a project many years in the making, and we can’t wait...
Five years after the original release of the massively popular Nintendo handheld, the Switch is finally getting its first games from the beloved Tomb Raider franchise in celebration of its 25th anniversary. Thanks to a collaboration between Crystal Dynamics and Feral Games, Switch owners will soon be able to play Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light as well as Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris. The two games originally launched for PC back in 2010 and 2014 respectively, offering fans of the franchise a refreshing isometric take with co-op multiplayer mechanics. Guardian of Light supported two-player mode while its sequel Temple of Osiris allowed up to four players to explore its levels. There’s currently no precise release date yet for the two games, so Tomb...
Following on from yesterday’s news that Gran Turismo 7 will feature over 400 cars, Playground Games has confirmed that the upcoming Forza Horizon 5 video game will feature almost 500 cars upon launch. 491 cars will be available from launch, and more cars are set to be unveiled closer to the game’s official release on November 9. As per the Forza recipe, there will also be a number of expansion packs that will introduce more driveable and customizable cars to the garage. Brands such as Acura, Alpine, Aston Martin, Audi, Bentley, BMW, Chevrolet, Dodge, Ferrari, Ford, Honda, Jaguar, Lamborghini, Lexus, McLaren, Mercedes-Benz, Nissan, Porsche, Toyota, and VW will remain in the game, with Mercedes-Benz actually serving as the game’s halo brand with its AMG Project One being the star of the show...
Dillon Francis has signed with UTA Music to oversee the DJ’s film, television and alternative media pursuits in addition to his international touring business in Europe, the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand. Francis will continue to be represented by Canopy Media Partners and TMWRK. Having just put out his fifth record Happy Machine, Francis is working on endeavors outside of music, penning scripts for his animated series titled Gerald’s World, which is currently in development. He is also putting together a treatment for a show about his alter-ego DJ Hanzel. Big Loud Records has signed rising country singer Jake Worthington to its growing lineup of artists. Worthington, who emerged as a finalist on NBC’s The Voice in 2014,...
Limp Bizkit will release their first new album in 10 years on Sunday (Oct. 31), the self-deprecatingly titled Limp Bizkit Still Sucks. Guitarist Wes Borland confirmed the news on Thursday, when he posted an image of the album’s cover and the message, “Our first album in over a decade comes out this Sunday! Happy Halloween! Limp Bizkit – Still Sucks.” The illustrated cover features the members of the Nu-Metal band laying on the floor of a suburban house as a joint-smoking woman attempts to vacuum them up. A link to the album title hashtag takes you to the track list for the 12-song collection, which promises such songs as “Dirty Rotten Bizkit,” “Turn It Up, B–ch,” “Don’t Change,” “You Bring Out the Worst in Me,...
After Degradation Trip — which was dedicated to Alice in Chains frontman Layne Staley, who died of an overdose at age 34 two months before its release — Cantrell refocused on his main band. Alice in Chains delivered its fourth album, Black Gives Way to Blue, in 2009, followed by 2013’s The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here and 2018’s Rainier Fog. Post-Rainier Fog, Cantrell began assembling the nine tracks on Brighten by revisiting his backlog of songs previously demoed and shelved, fragments of melodies and riffs held over the years, a mix of new songs — and a cover of an Elton John deep cut — and started recording in 2020. “Every record I’ve been in involved in has a couple of ideas that either weren’t in their best form or just didn’t fit with that body of work, and t...