Alternative Music
Why Viktor Hargreeves’ Experience in The Umbrella Academy Was Always a Trans Allegory
[Editor’s note: The following contains mild spoilers for The Umbrella Academy Season 3.] Cliffhangers rule The Umbrella Academy. Every season, including the just-premiered third, of Netflix’s adaptation of Gerard Way and Gabriel Bá’s comic book series has ended with the status quo being shaken up more than it already has. And Season 2 ended with a particularly intriguing move: The Hargreeves, a dysfunctional family of adopted super-siblings, returned to the present from 1960s Dallas, only to find their home is no longer their home. Instead, Reginald Hargreeves adopted a different group of children with special powers (including original Umbrella Ben) for what’s now known as “The Sparrow Academy.” But a different sort of lingering question about the show’s direction arose between the second...
Christian Bale Confirms “Kate Bush Stuff” Was Cut from Thor: Love and Thunder
Looks like Kate Bush couldn’t make a deal with Gorr the God Butcher. According to Christian Bale, the singer’s music was supposed to be featured somehow in Marvel’s upcoming Thor: Love and Thunder, but didn’t made the final cut. “Taika [Waititi] and I wanted to do a whole dance, which we didn’t get to do, but we had all this sort of Kate Bush stuff that we worked at,” the actor revealed in a new interview with Deadline. “I think he just realized he was never going to be allowed to put that in the final film.” He added, “I would say that the most common thing I was staring at [while preparing for the role] was the Aphex Twin video of ‘Come to Daddy.’ But I don’t even know if that will be in the final film.” Advertisement Related Video He also revealed in a recent interview that when he agre...
Tours on Sale This Week: Jack White, Kid Cudi, Judas Priest, Manchester Orchestra, and More
Here’s the latest on the live concert landscape. Jack White has majorly expanded his North American tour, while Judas Priest, Tour Door Cinema Club, and many more are gearing up for US treks of their own. Get the details on these tours and more below. Jack White has expanded his 2022 “Supply Chain Issues Tour” with a second North American leg coming in September, along with a string of South American shows in October. Tickets for the new dates were first available to Third Man Records Vault Members, with a general pre-sale going on now using the code DAZZLE. General public access to tickets begins on Friday, June 24th at 10:00 a.m. local time. Lock in seats on Ticketmaster. Advertisement Kid Cudi’s extensive “To the Moon – 2022 World Tour” begins with a month’s worth of North American...
Home Renovating Gets Horny in Trailer for How to Build a Sex Room: Watch
When it comes to home renovation shows, the opportunities for spinoffs are endless. Nothing proves this point better than Netflix’s latest addition to the genre, How to Build a Sex Room, which just released its first trailer. How to Build a Sex Room comes from ITV America’s High Noon Entertainment and is executive produced by Adam Sher, Jim Berger, Scott Feeley, Corrina Robbins, and Sarah Howell. In the series, premiering July 8th, luxury interior designer Melanie Rose classes up the sex dungeon, offering couples a room that’s both posh and seductive. “When people hear the words ‘sex room,’ they concentrate on the word ‘sex,’ and that connotates [sic] dirty, disgusting,” Rose explains in the preview. “But when I design them, they can be beautiful.” Advertisement Related Video Wit...
Regina Spektor Is On Her Own Hero’s Journey
Regina Spektor still waits for inspiration to strike. The singer-songwriter, who is about to release her first album in more than half a decade, explains that she isn’t the sort of person who sits herself down at the piano when she doesn’t feel like she has something to say. She’s often struck by peers and friends who have developed different types of discipline, people who craft songs with the skill of someone assembling furniture, but her process has always been much more organic. “It’s like somebody screaming at a fish pond for 10 minutes and then like putting in their their fishing rod,” she tells Consequence of trying to force herself to write. “Where are all the fish? Well, maybe you shouldn’t have brought a megaphone to this.” Home, before and after, the name of Spektor’s eight...
Taylor Swift Announces New Song “Carolina” from Where the Crawdads Sing
Taylor Swift has announced “Carolina,” her first original track since the release of 2020’s evermore. It’s the theme song to the new film Where the Crawdads Sing and arrives at midnight ET between June 23rd and June 24th. We got a preview of the mysterious new single in the trailers for Where the Crawdads Sing. Swift’s vocals arrive as if through a fog, while dramatic drums ripple underneath. “They never saw me,” she sings, “You didn’t see me here/ No, they never did see me here/ There are places I will never, ever go/ Things that only Carolina will ever know.” Where the Crawdads Sing is adapted from the 2018 novel of the same name by Delia Owens. Swift was a big fan of the book, and when she heard that producer Reese Witherspoon and director Ol...
Netflix Adds Cheaper Tier for Customers Who “Don’t Mind Advertising”
Netflix has confirmed it will be launching a cheaper, ad-supported tier. The streamer’s co-CEO Ted Sarandos explaining the reasoning behind the lower-priced plan at Cannes Lions advertising festival on Thursday, June 23rd during a sitdown with Sway podcast host Kara Swisher. “We’ve left a big customer segment off the table, which is people who say, ‘Hey, Netflix is too expensive for me and I don’t mind advertising,’” said Sarandos (via The Hollywood Reporter). “We’re adding an ad tier; we’re not adding ads to Netflix as you know it today. We’re adding an ad tier for folks who say, ‘Hey, I want a lower price and I’ll watch ads.’” During Netflix’s last quarterly call in April, the company reported a loss of 200,000 subscribers, marking the first time its customer base has de...
Spiritbox Surprise Release New Three-Song Collection, Including Video for “Rotoscope”: Stream
Spiritbox have surprise-released a new three-song collection titled Rotoscope, while unveiling the music video for the title track. You can stream all three tracks now. The title cut sees Spiritbox embracing a more industrial metal sound. The pulsing beats and crunchy, syncopated riffs have a danceable quality, with frontwoman Courtney LaPlante going full melodic-pop on the vocals. But the clean singing dissipates on the chorus — a nu-metal explosion that’s wholly unexpected. The Max Moore-directed video showcases the intensity of LaPlante’s performance on the track. The release also includes two additional tracks, “Sew Me Up” and “Hysteria.” The former is a mid-tempo riffer that recalls Diamond Eyes-era Deftones with its balance of pop-like songcraft, melody, and harshness. Advertise...
How Only Murders in the Building’s Music Supervisors Perfected the Needle Drop
It’s hard to think of an element of filmmaking that is as simultaneously critical and hidden as music. It is the unassuming link that binds a film together from moment to moment; it is the final piece of the puzzle that makes the whole experience that much more cohesive; more emotional; more impactful. So what is the key to curating the perfect soundtrack or score? Patience? Determination? For music supervising power-duo Bruce Gilbert and Lauren Mikus, the secret to success is enjoying the work, and having the most fun as possible. In fact, Mikus describes the perfect project as, simply: “a fun conversation,” and the approach seems to work for them: The two have overseen, both individually and as a team, music featured in an impressive catalog of films and TV shows, including, but certainl...
Pearl Jam’s Stone Gossard and Ani DiFranco Connect on New Song “Disorders”: Stream
Pearl Jam guitarist Stone Gossard and fellow ’90s icon Ani DiFranco have teamed up for a new charity single entitled “Disorders” in support of women’s rights to reproductive health care. “Disorders” starts off with soft guitars accompanying DiFranco’s lyrics taking on the patriarchy: “Watching you weaponize/ Your ejaculations.” Before the track is done, however, thrashing electric guitars and pounding drums match her impassioned vocals. All proceeds go to the National Network of Abortion Funds, which serves to remove financial and logistical barriers to abortion access for those who need it the most. Advertisement Related Video “With the imminent overturning of Roe v. Wade, women in every Republican stronghold in this country are left treading in a sea of unnecessary suffering, just trying...
Kacey Musgraves Covers Elvis Presley’s “Can’t Help Falling in Love”: Stream
From golden hour to blue suede shoes, Kacey Musgraves has taken her pop-country sound backwards in time and shared a cover of Elvis Presley’s “Can’t Help Falling in Love.” The song appears on the soundtrack of Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis. “Can’t Help Falling in Love” first appeared on Presley’s Blue Hawaii (1961), though its origins are much older, having been written by Hugo Peretti, Luigi Creatore, and George David Weiss from themes in the 1784 French ballad, “Plaisir d’amour.” Musgraves’ version is stripped back, forgoing the original’s heartbeat percussion and swooning choir, the better to put all the emphasis on the melancholy keys. There’s lots of reverb on her voice, making it sound as though she’s singing alone in a large, empty house. Her take on “Can’t Help Falling in Lov...
Julien Baker, Faye Webster, and Tomberlin Contribute to Charity Compilation Through the Soil II: Stream
The underground indie pop charity compilation Through the Soil II has been released featuring new material from Julien Baker, Faye Webster, Tomberlin, and more to benefit The Trevor Project. Stream it below via Bandcamp. The album spans 37 tracks with contributions from artists raised in the DIY and indie scenes across genres including Squirrel Flower, Parannoul, Ratboys, and Lala Lala. Organized by original TTS co-creator Andres Villogas, the compilation hosts original tracks like Knifeplay’s aptly titled “Trevor Project Benefit Compilation Song,” IAN SWEET’s unreleased demo of “f*ckthat,” a live cut from Faye Webster, and Julien Baker covering Billy Bragg’s “Milkman of Human Kindness.” Through the Soil II finds the nascent series flourishing after its first installment in 2021 ...
