Alternative Music
City of London Approves Terrifying, Gargantuan Spherical Music Venue
London sees your Flaming Lips bubble concert and raises you… one giant bubble. City planning authorities have given the green light to the MSG Sphere, a dauntingly futuristic-looking, 21,500-capacity arena that will become London’s largest indoor concert venue. Conceptualized by Madison Square Garden Entertainment Corp — the team behind the eponymous Manhattan arena — the MSG Sphere’s ball-shaped structure will boast a programmable LED exterior and gargantuan HD displays inside to give crowds “multi-sensory experiences.” Its planned features also include a separate 1,500-capacity venue for smaller artists, a 450-capacity restaurant and nightclub, retail spaces, cafes, and outdoor leisure areas. The Sphere will live on a nearly 5-acre plot of land MSG purchased in Stratford, right by Olympi...
Machine Gun Kelly on Pop Punk Success: “I Earned That Shit”
In a first for his career, Machine Gun Kelly is right on time. His breakthrough song “Wild Boy” was late to trap in hip-hop, and his 2019 curveball Hotel Diablo came years after artists like Lil Uzi Vert and Lil Peep had brought about the emo rap revolution. Despite picking up a sizable audience, critics never warmed up, pegging him as another white carpetbagger capitalizing on Black excellence. But he saw the pop punk wave coming, and in 2020 Tickets to My Downfall surfed that towering trend to win its place as the No. 1 album in the country — MGK’s first such achievement. Now, he’s not only headlining marquee festivals, he’s dunking on first-wave pop punk acts bitching from the smaller font, telling Billboard,“I earned that shit.” “I know it kills certain bands i...
Nicolas Cage Defends Marvel Movies from Scorsese and Coppola: “I Don’t See What the Issue Is”
Superhero movies have come to make a few enemies in the world’s more sophisticated cinephiles, but Nicolas Cage doesn’t mind the big-budget flicks. In a recent interview, the actor defended Marvel’s industry domination from vocal critics like Martin Scorsese and Francis Ford Coppola, saying, “I don’t see what the issue is.” Back in 2019, Scorsese proclaimed that Marvel movies were more like theme parks than cinema, while this year, Coppola — Cage’s uncle, for those unaware — described the franchise’s films as “one prototype movie that is made over and over and over and over and over again to look different.” When GQ asked Cage to comment on these theories, he didn’t understand the beef. “Yeah, why do they do that?” Cage said. “I don’t understand the conflict. I don’t agree with t...
Live-Action Voltron Movie Coming from Red Notice Director Rawson Marshall Thurber
Red Notice director Rawson Marshall Thurber is set to pilot a legendary robot in a live-action adaptation of Voltron. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Thurber will co-write the script with Ellen Shanman. World Events Productions, the company that owns the rights to the character, will serve as a producer through CEO Bob Koplar. The film is currently looking for a distribution home, though interest is reportedly high. World Events created Voltron: Defenders of the Universe in 1984. The show was a dubbed and recut version of the Japanese mecha anime Beast King GoLion, with an unrelated anime, Kikou Kantai Dairugger XV, serving as the basis for much of Season 2. The plot follows five space pilots who each steer their own lion robot. All fi...
TARJA TURUNEN Has Been ‘Super Productive’ During The Pandemic
Former NIGHTWISH singer Tarja Turunen spoke to Brazil’s Wikimetal about how she has spent her downtime during the coronavirus pandemic. She said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “It was a shock for me in the beginning. When all this happened, it was very hard to understand where you were at. And I didn’t even touch my grand piano that is just here next to me; I’m in my working room now. And there were months and months, I just walked past the instrument; I didn’t even touch it. It was a hard hit — really hard to understand that I’m not able to work any longer; my work is not permitted; I cannot [work]. So when that wheel stopped, it was my first time ever to be without performing — in 25 years or so. I’ve been a performer all my life, and so t...
RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS Tease ‘Not The One’ Single
RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS will release another new single, “Not The One”, on Friday, March 25. The song is taken from the band’s upcoming album, “Unlimited Love”, which will arrive on April 1 via Warner. A short snippet of “Not The One” is available below. RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS‘s first new LP with guitarist John Frusciante since 2006’s “Stadium Arcadium” was once again produced by Rick Rubin who previously worked on “Blood Sugar Sex Magik” (1991), “Californication” (1999), “By The Way” (2002) and the aforementioned “Stadium Arcadium”. The band stated about the new record: “Our only goal is to get lost in the music. We (John, Anthony, Chad and Flea) spent thousands of hours, c...
CALEB SHOMO Says Half Of Next BEARTOOTH Album Is ‘Done’: ‘It’s Going To Be A Wild Ride’
BEARTOOTH singer Caleb Shomo spoke to WSOU 89.5 FM radio station about the progress of the songwriting sessions for the band’s next studio album. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “Half of the record is done. I went out to L.A. — over the last month, I spent about three weeks there in total — and I’ve just been writing and working and coming up with kind of the new sound for this record. And it’s just been happening really, really fast. And it’s my favorite stuff I’ve ever written. I know a lot of people say that about their new stuff that’s not out yet, but truly for me, it just couldn’t describe more about where I’m at in my life, and I think the sound reflects that.” Caleb elaborated on the musical direction of the ...
SEVENDUST’s LAJON WITHERSPOON Has 13 Songs Ready For His Upcoming Solo Album
In a recent interview with Midwest Beatdown, SEVENDUST frontman Lajon Witherspoon spoke about the progress of the songwriting and recording sessions for his long-in-the-works debut solo album. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “I’m still working on it. I was just recently in Nashville. I got to write some music with my buddy Jimmie Allen, which is a country artist. Yeah, man, I’m just taking my time on that. I’ll be doing some more stuff on that once I get off [the road with SEVENDUST]. Actually, I’ll be going back to Tennessee in April and finishing up some work. There’s some interest in it. And I’m excited. I’ve probably got 13 songs now. And it’s good.” Earlier this month, Lajon told the 96.7 KCAL-FM radio program &...
ALS Patient with Complete Paralysis Asks to Hear Tool Album via Brain Implant
An ALS patient with complete paralysis became the first known person in his condition to use a brain implant to communicate, and one of the first things he asked for was to hear a Tool album. Scientists were able to communicate with the late-stage ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) patient using a brain implant that allows him to select letters and form sentences. “The neurological disease destroys the nerves that control movement,” per Science.org, “and most patients die within five years of diagnosis. When a person with ALS can no longer speak, they can use an eye-tracking camera to select letters on a screen.” The patient in question, who is now 36, began working with a research team at the University of Tübingen in 2018. At the time, he could still move his eyes and told the...
Soccer Mommy Announces New Album Sometimes, Forever, Shares “Shotgun”: Stream
Soccer Mommy has announced a new album called Sometimes, Forever. The third LP from Sophie Allison arrives June 24th via Loma Vista, while first single “Shotgun” is available to stream now. After working with indie producer Gabe Wax for 2018’s Clean and 2020’s color theory, Soccer Mommy enlisted Daniel Lopatin, the electronic producer behind Oneohtrix Point Never, for Sometimes, Forever. The album picks up where color theory left off, blending lush synths with Allison’s perennial fixation with 2000s pop. The record gets its title from the concept that neither sorrow nor happiness is permanent — that our strongest emotions feel like they’ll last forever, but quickly get brushed aside by something new. “Sorrow and emptiness will pass, but they will always come back ...
beabadoobee Announces New Album Beatopia, Shares “Talk”: Stream
beabadoobee’s sophomore album is on the way. Entitled Beatopia, it’s due out on July 15th via Dirty Hit. As part of today’s announcement, our 2021 Rookie of the Year has also shared the album’s lead single, “Talk,” and mapped out a 2022 tour in North America and the UK Beatopia’s title is pulled from the fantastical, personal world that beabadoobee’s Bea Kristi devised in her imagination as a seven-year-old, and has kept close to her heart to this day. Across the record’s 14 tracks, Bea weaves together elements of fuzzy rock, homey singer-songwriter, psychedelia, midwest emo, and straightforward pop. “Talk” exemplifies Bea’s versatility, drawing upon her tried-and-true blend of pop-rock. Watch the song’s video, which features 150 of the musician’s biggest fans, below. Advertisement Re...
John Coltrane’s My Favorite Things Receives 60th Anniversary Reissue
In celebration of the 60th anniversary of John Coltrane’s My Favorite Things, Rhino has announced a remastered deluxe edition of the album, slated for release on May 20th. Available both on CD and vinyl, My Favorite Things 60th Anniversary Deluxe Edition was remastered from the original tapes and features new stereo and mono mixes, the latter of which was once believed lost. The 2xLP comes packaged in a replica of the original record sleeve that contains a booklet featuring rare photos and new liner notes penned by acclaimed music journalist/author Ben Ratliff. “For a record that so many people listened to, the LP version of ‘My Favorite Things’ travels impressively far; it demonstrably goes somewhere,” Ratliff wrote. “It also remains ambivalent through its juxtaposition of E maj...
