Alternative Music
Rina Sawayama Drops New Song “Hold the Girl”: Stream
Rina Sawayama has shared “Hold the Girl,” the title track to her upcoming album. “’Hold the Girl’ was the first song I wrote for the record at the end of 2020,” Sawayama shared in a statement. “I had gone to therapy and had a revelation, so I decided to write this song… that was the start of it. I was crying before going into the studio to write about it.” The soaring pop anthem finds Sawayama telling someone to “hold the girl” before undergoing an epiphany. “Reach inside and hold you close,” she sings, “I won’t leave you on your own/ Teach me the words I used to know/ Yea I forgot them long ago/ So hold that girl.” Later, she identifies the girl as living inside herself, saying, “The girl in your soul’s seen it all/ And you owe her the world/ So hold the girl.” Related Video Hold the Girl...
Punk Supergroup OFF! Announce New Album and 2022 Tour, Unleash “War Above Los Angeles”: Stream
OFF!, the band led by singer Keith Morris (Circle Jerks, ex-Black Flag) and guitarist Dimitri Coats (ex-Burning Brides), have announced their first album in eight years. The LP, titled Free LSD, will arrive on September 30th, and features the just-released new single “War Above Los Angeles.” Free LSD marks a new era for the group, who recently welcomed new drummer Justin Brown (Thundercat, Flying Lotus, Herbie Hancock) and new bassist Autry Fulbright II (…And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead) to the lineup. The band will support the new album with a fall North American tour. The outing kicks off October 24th in Phoenix, Arizona, and runs through a December 17th gig in Los Angeles. Tickets for select shows are available via Ticketmaster beginning Friday (July 29th), with a pre-sale sta...
Conan O’Brien, Bowen Yang, and Meg Stalter Join Cast of Please Don’t Destroy Movie
Breakout Saturday Night Live trio Please Don’t Destroy are set to star in a movie produced by Judd Apatow, and the comedians are in good company: As Variety reports, Conan O’Brien, Bowen Yang, Meg Stalter, X Mayo, and Nichole Sakura have joined the cast of the film. The currently untitled picture, set to hit theaters on August 18th, 2023 via Universal Pictures, features Please Don’t Destroy — Ben Marshall, John Higgins, and Martin Herlihy — as childhood friends who attempt to find gold treasure rumored to be buried in a nearby mountain. The project now has even more comedy star power thanks to SNL alum and late night legend Conan, current cast member Yang, and Hacks star Stalter. Meanwhile, X Mayo writes for The Daily Show With Trevor Noah and appears in the N...
Pinkshift Announce Fall 2022 North American Tour
Baltimore punks Pinkshift are gearing up to release their debut album, and now, they’ve announced a run of 2022 North American tour dates, marking their first-ever headlining trek. Kicking off October 20th in their hometown, Pinkshift — singer Ashrita Kumar, guitarist Paul Vallejo, and drummer Myron Houngbedji — will perform in cities like DC, Detroit, Austin, and Brooklyn before wrapping up in Boston on November 18th. Jigsaw Youth and Yasmin Nur will provide support. What’s more, before they begin their headlining dates, Pinkshift will open for Destroy Boys at a few East Coast shows and perform alongside 100 Gecs and Bring Me the Horizon at Emo Nite New Orleans Vacation. See all of the band’s upcoming tour dates below. Tickets go on sale Friday, July 29th at 10:00 a.m. local time; grab yo...
Pinocchio Comes to Stop-Motion Life in Trailer for Guillermo del Toro’s New Film: Watch
Netflix has cut loose the first trailer for Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio, the auteur’s new stop-motion adaptation of the classic tail. Directed by del Toro alongside Mark Gustafson from a script by the former with Matthew Robbins (Crimson Peak), the movie marks del Toro’s first feature-length animated movie. He’d been trying to get the project financed since 2010, and fans of Hellboy II: The Golden Army know stop-motion has been a passion of the filmmaker for some time. It finally all came together when Netflix revived the film in 2018, and now we get to see the fruits of del Toro’s labor of love. As the first trailer shows, del Toro’s Pinocchio sees Sebastian J. Cricket (Ewan McGregor) narrating the tall about “imperfect fathers and imperfect sons, about loss and love.” I...
Metallica Took a Quantum Leap on Ride the Lightning
The first four Metallica albums are among the genre’s most powerful and enduring documents, and while the band’s debut LP, Kill ‘Em All, was a landmark for thrash metal, Ride the Lightning presented a quantum leap in terms of songwriting and structure. Kill ‘Em All leaned heavily on elements of boogie beats nabbed from ’70s Judas Priest and the heavy swung feel to fast-paced riffs that Dave Mustaine would eventually take with him to Megadeth, but Ride the Lightning, released July 27th, 1984, almost wholly struck the swung-boogie vibe from its mostly slower-paced riffs, focusing instead on a near neo-classical sense of grandeur plucked more from the pages of groups like Rush, Rainbow, Blue Öyster Cult and even Priest’s more grandiloquent epics than bands like Sweet or even the more rock ‘n’...
Sam Fender on First Mercury Prize Nomination, Summer Festivals, and “Bawling” Over Bruce Springsteen
It just keeps getting better for Sam Fender, one of England’s biggest songwriters. With his second album, the brilliant and personal Seventeen Going Under, released in November 2021, Fender cemented his place in the pantheon of great British songwriters, earning praise from Adele, Elton John, and many more in the process. And it didn’t stop there — since the release of Seventeen Going Under, Fender was awarded the prestigious Ivor Novello songwriting prize for “Best Song Musically and Lyrically,” supported The Rolling Stones at a show in London’s Hyde Park, headlined dozens of festivals around Europe, and, most recently, was nominated yesterday (July 26th) for the Mercury Prize, which awards the best album released in the UK. It’s clear that the personal and therapeutic direction of S...
How to Get Tickets to Adele’s Las Vegas Residency
Adele has rebooked her “Weekends with Adele” Las Vegas residency and tickets are sure to be incredibly in-demand after her much-anticipated stage return was postponed in January. In a statement shared via Instagram, the 30 singer-songwriter announced the new run saying: “Words can’t explain how ecstatic I am to finally be able to announce these rescheduled shows. I truly was heartbroken to have to cancel them. But after what feels like an eternity of figuring out logistics for the show that I really want to deliver, and knowing it can happen, I’m more excited than ever! Now I know for some of you it was a horrible decision on my part, and I will always be sorry for that, but I promise you it was the right one. To be with you in such an intimate space every week has been what I’ve most been...
Live Nation Offering 4 Tickets for $80 All-In Package for Thousands of Summer Concerts
Live Nation is offering an all-in package of four tickets for $80 as part of its Summer’s Live promotion. The deal is good for thousands of shows taking place in amphitheaters and clubs across the US this summer. That includes upcoming concerts headlined by The Killers, Brandi Carlile, Demi Lovato, Jane’s Addiction with Smashing Pumpkins, Wu-Tang Clan and Nas, Carly Rae Jepsen, The Black Keys, Korn and Evanesence, Death Cab For Cutie, Bauhaus, Crowded House, Incubus featuring Sublime with Rome, Lamb of God, Mudvayne, Tenacious D, The War on Drugs, The Gaslight Anthem, Courtney Barnett, and L7. The promotion also applies to Willie Nelson’s “Outlaw Music Festival,” Sharon Van Etten, Angel Olsen, and Julien Baker’s “The Wild Hearts Tour,” and Peter Hook’s “Joy Division: A Celebration.” Plus, ...
How to Get Tickets to Chris Distefano’s 2022 Tour
Comedian Chris Distefano has announced his “Right Intention, Wrong Move” tour for fall 2022, and coming on the heels of his latest Netflix special Speshy Weshy, it will be the right decision to grab tickets early. Get tickets here, and read on for more details including pre-sale dates. What Is Chris Distefano’s Next Tour? The 18-city “Right Intention, Wrong Move” tour kicks off in Tarrytown, New York on September 18th. He jets to the Midwest for shows in Madison, Milwaukee, and Minneapolis in early October, then after a few weeks’ break, relaunches in Baltimore on October 27th. He closes out the month with two sets at The Fillmore Philadelphia on October 28th and a stop in Montclair, New Jersey on October 29th. Advertisement Related Video Distefano will deliver a total of four sets in Toro...
Brendan Fraser Is a 600-Pound Man in First Look at Darren Aronofsky’s The Whale
Brendan Fraser is definitely going to make us cry in The Whale, Darren Aronofsky’s new film for A24. The movie will premiere at the Venice Film Festival August 31st to September 10th, and the first look photo reveals a haunted look in Fraser’s eyes to accompany his transformation into a 600-pound man. Based on the award-winning play by Samuel D. Hunter, The Whale tells the story of a morbidly obese recluse attempting to reconnect with his estranged daughter. He had abandoned his wife and family to live with another gay man, but after his partner’s death, his grief drove him to compulsive eating. “Adapting my play into a screenplay has been a real labor of love for me,” Hunter said to Deadline last year. “This story is deeply personal and I’m very thankful it will have t...
Rina Sawayama Announces 2022 US Tour
Rina Sawayama has mapped out a US tour in support of her upcoming sophomore album, Hold the Girl, for November 2022. The trek kicks off on November 1st in Brooklyn and includes stops in cities like Boston, Nashville, Austin, and more before wrapping in Los Angeles on November 23rd. See Sawayama’s full itinerary below. Tickets go on sale Friday, July 29th at 10:00 a.m. local time via Ticketmaster. A pre-sale will precede the public on-sale beginning Thursday, July 28th (use code ELECTRIC). Advertisement Related Video Thus far, Sawayama has previewed Hold the Girl with “Catch Me in the Air” and the lead single “This Hell,” one of the best songs of 2022 to date. The album is out September 2nd and will be available on vinyl, CD, and cassette; pre-orders are ongoing. Ah...
