Alternative Music
Carrie Underwood Announces “Denim & Rhinestones” US Tour
Carrie Underwood has announced “The Denim & Rhinestones Tour,” a 43-date US trek in support of her forthcoming album of the same name. Joined by rising artist Jimmie Allen, Underwood kicks off the humongous tour on October 15th in Greenville, South Carolina. Throughout the fall, she’ll hit the likes of Lexington, Kentucky, Tulsa, Oklahoma, and Kansas City, Missouri before wrapping up her first leg on November 19th in San Francisco. Following a holiday break, “The Denim & Rhinestones Tour” picks back up on February 2nd in Miami, Florida. The artist will hit some especially famous arenas in the tour’s second leg, including New York’s Madison Square Garden, Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena, and L.A.’s Crypto.com Arena. The tour concludes on March 17th in Seattle. See the full list of dat...
Mac Miller Drug Dealer Sentenced to 17.5 Years in Prison for Fentanyl Sale
Stephen Walter, one of the three men charged in the overdose death of Mac Miller, has received a 17.5-year prison sentence after pleading guilty to federal charges of distribution of fentanyl, reports Rolling Stone. The sentence came after US District Judge Otis D. Wright, II rejected a plea agreement that Walter struck with federal prosecutors in October 2021 for a flat 17-year sentence. Since prosecutors claimed Walter continued to sell cocaine and counterfeit oxycodone pills even after Miller’s untimely passing, Judge Wright said he couldn’t accept the deal’s terms. “The court has elected not to accept that plea agreement. So, sir, if you want, at this point, you can withdraw your guilty plea and go to trial,” Judge Wright said. “I may as well lay it out, okay. When you continue to enga...
John Legend Calls Out Tucker Carlson for “Poisoning Minds” with Great Replacement Theory
After a white, 18-year-old gunman carried out a racist attack at a Buffalo, New York grocery store on May 14th, John Legend called for the de-platforming of Fox News commentator Tucker Carlson, whose prominent espousal of Great Replacement Theory the singer says “poisons the minds of millions.” Great Replacement Theory argues that people of color who immigrate to the United States are going to replace white Americans, and often blames Democrats for initiating immigration as a tool to enhance their voting base. The Buffalo shooter posted a 180-page manifesto to the anonymous message board 4chan repeating these views, as well as other white supremacist ideologies. He ended up killing 10 people and injuring three others in the attack, which he live streamed on Twitch. Almost all of the victim...
Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson Attend Primus’ Rush Tribute Show in Toronto: “They Did Us Proud”
Primus had a couple of potentially intimidating fans on Friday (May 14th) at Toronto’s Massey Hall, where Rush members Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson were in attendance. After all, Primus are paying tribute to Rush during this tour, but it appears they didn’t disappoint the prog-rock legends. Primus have been playing Rush’s A Farewell to Kings in its entirety, along with select Primus cuts, on the ongoing tribute run. When the route passed through Rush’s native Canada, it only made sense for Lee and Lifeson to drop by and check it out (Lee had previously given Primus’ Les Claypool some in-person tips prior to the tour). “On Friday night we had the joyful experience of reuniting with our grand pals from Primus… Les, Ler, Herb and their gang…” wrote Lee on Instagram. “We sat side stage as they i...
Sunflower Bean Give New York a Headful of Sugar at Webster Hall: Photos + Setlist
On the eve of the release of their new album, Headful of Sugar — and drummer Olive Faber’s birthday, no less — Sunflower Bean finally got to headline one of their hometown’s biggest venues: Webster Hall. (Get tickets for the rest of their upcoming headlining dates here.) The setlist featured almost every song from the trio’s latest LP (except highlight “Stand by Me,” which admittedly was a strange omission), but there were plenty of fan favorites and deep cuts in there too. “Twentytwo” — a track Julia Cumming revealed to us is her favorite song to play live — mad an appearance early on, while the encore closed with “Somebody Call a Doctor” off their very first EP, 2015’s Show Me Your Seven Secrets. While the concert was clearly a showcase for Headful of Sugar, it was also a fasci...
Chemical Brothers, M.I.A., Flume, Jamie xx to Play Inaugural Portola Music Festival in San Francisco
The Chemical Brothers, M.I.A., Flume, Jamie xx, James Blake, and Charli XCX are among the many exciting acts slated to play the inaugural Portola Music Festival in San Francisco this September. Produced by Goldenvoice, the two-day event goes down September 24th and 25th at San Fran’s Pier 80. Other notable acts include Kaytranda, Fatboy Slim, Caroline Polachek, The Avalanches, Caribou, Jungle, Toro y Moi, Four Tet + Floating Points, Arca, Yves Tumor, slowthai, Lane 8, DJ Shadow, Yaeji, Channel Tres, Kelly Lee Owens, shygirl, PinkPantheress, Fred again.., The Blessed Madonna, Haai, Dawn Richard, Duke Dumont, and more. Single-day and two-day passes go on sale Friday, May 20th at 10:00 a.m. PDT, and a pre-sale registration is now ongoing. Advertisement Related Video Per a press release, the f...
Black Mirror Greenlit for Season 6 at Netflix
It’s been nearly three years since new episodes of Black Mirror landed on Netflix, but Variety reports the streamer has now greenlit the dystopian sci-fi series for Season 6. Currently in pre-production, details of the new season are being kept under wraps, but Variety describes it as “more cinematic in scope,” with each episode being “treated as an individual film.” Considering most of the recent episodes have run well over an hour, it will be interesting to see how the Black Mirror showrunners take the series to the next level. Season 5 of Black Mirror premiered in June 2019. Containing three episodes, it featured a star-studded cast of Miley Cyrus, Anthony Mackie, and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II. Advertisement Related Video Soon after, series creator Charlie Brooker and hi...
2022 Billboard Music Awards: Florence + the Machine Perform “My Love”: Watch
Florence + the Machine electrified the 2022 Billboard Music Awards on Sunday night with a performance of their single “My Love.” Watch it below. “So tell me where to put my love/ Do I wait for time to do what it does?,” Florence Welch wailed as she twirled in front of a giant full moon on a stage strewn with loose papers and fog as red lightbulbs glowed above. ” I don’t know where to put my love/ My arms emptied, the skies emptied/ The billboards emptied/ My arms emptied, the skies emptied/ The buildings emptied,” The track is off the baroque pop act’s brand new album, Dance Fever, which dropped Friday via Polydor Records/Universal Music, and also includes lead single “King,” promo track “Heaven Is Here,” and latest single “Free.” Advertisement Related Video In our official review, Consequ...
2022 Billboard Music Awards: Megan Thee Stallion Performs “Plan B” and “Sweetest Pie”: Watch
Megan Thee Stallion hit the stage at the 2022 Billboard Music Awards to perform a medley of her latest singles “Plan B” and “Sweetest Pie.” Watch it below. Baring her body in sleek, black bodysuit full of cutouts, the rapper kicked off the number completely solo, transfixing the crowd as she spit the bars of “Plan B.” Eventually, she was joined by two different groups of backup dancers, transitioning into “Sweetest Pie” sans collaborator Dua Lipa. During the ceremony, Megan took home the award for Top Female Rap Artist, beating out “WAP” collaborator Cardi B and fellow BBMAs performer Latto. However, she did shout out her contemporaries during her acceptance speech, saying, “Everybody in this category is a winner, and I feel like we all been workin’ so hard all year, we been workin’ hard f...
Pearl Jam Enlist 18-Year-Old High School Senior on Drums for “Mind Your Manners”: Watch
With drummer Matt Cameron still sidelined by COVID, Pearl Jam tapped an 18-year-old high school senior to fill in behind the kit. Kai Neukermans backed Pearl Jam for their performance of “Mind Your Manners,” from 2013’s Lightning Bolt, during the band’s concert at Oakland Arena on Saturday (May 14th). As Neukermans replayed to the San Fransisco Chronicle, he initially offered his services to Pearl Jam by texting Eddie Vedder’s daughter, Olivia. (The two had met previously at her father’s Ohana Fest). Neukermans, who drums in a band called Alive, was then asked to record video of himself drumming along to a Pearl Jam song, so he skipped school — including a statistics test — and headed to a nearby practice space. The next day, Neukermans found himself taking the stage to a crowd of nea...
2022 Billboard Music Awards: Travis Scott Debuts New Song, Performs “MAFIA”: Watch
Travis Scott made his first televised performance since the Astroworld tragedy at the 2022 Billboard Music Awards on Sunday night, during which the rapper debuted an unreleased song and performed the single “MAFIA.” However, he made no mention of Astroworld during the performance. On an icy, futuristic set with snow flurrying down, Scott began by performing “MAFIA” — released just ahead of Astroworld last year — while lying down before getting up to play a song that’s believed to be called “LOST FOREVER.” He first previewed the latter track at his Cactus Jack for Dior Summer 2022 fashion show in June 2021. In November 2021, Scott’s Astroworld Festival left 10 people dead after a crowd crush. The Cactus Jack label head is still facing a multi-million dollar class action lawsuit brought fort...
Coward Morgan Wallen Makes No Mention of N-Word Controversy at 2022 Billboard Music Awards
One year after a camera caught Morgan Wallen shouting the N-word, the country superstar took the stage at the 2022 Billboard Music Awards on Sunday (May 15th). In light of Saturday’s shooting at a Buffalo grocery store, where a white supremacist shot and killed 10 people and wounded three others, one could argue that Morgan making a public repudiation of racism at the Billboard Music Awards would be pretty impactful. He is, after all, the biggest artist in country music. Yet, Wallen made no mention of his past behavior during his two-song performance of “Wasted on You” and “Don’t Thank Jesus.” Nor did he say anything when he took the stage to accept his Billboard award for Top Country Male Artist. Instead, after awkwardly shaking the hand of presenter Pusha-T, he opted for a lengthy list o...
