Alternative Music
South Park Drops Majestic Orchestral Performance of “Gay Fish”: Watch
Cue the violins and jam a juicy fishstick in your mouth: Ahead of the February 2nd premiere of South Park’s 25th season, the rudest boys in Colorado have created something majestic — a sweeping orchestral performance of the SP original, “Gay Fish.” This iconic tune from Season 13, Episode 5 was sung by a character named Kanye West, who, after a full episode of not understanding a joke about fishsticks, had just discovered, to his great relief, that not only was he an aquatic vertebrate, but he was a homosexual one at that. The episode ended with him happily humping his way through the ocean. This new rendition features a 30-piece orchestra — 29 real humans and Cartman, judging from the video. With classically crisp diction, the choir soars through the phrases, “Gay fish/ Mot...
Song of the Week: Lana Del Rey Casts Her Spell with the Melancholic “Watercolor Eyes”
Song of the Week breaks down and talks about the song we just can’t get out of our head each week. Find these songs and more on our Spotify Top Songs playlist. For our favorite new songs from emerging artists, check out our Spotify New Sounds playlist. This week, Lana Del Rey’s cut from the Euphoria soundtrack captures all the glitter and drama of the hit television show. HBO’s Euphoria is a lot of things — trendy, absurd, moving, disturbing, a cinematography dream — but, above all, it is the moment. In an era often dominated by binge-watching, it’s a rarity to see people dutifully tune into new episodes of a show on a weekly basis for fear of missing out on the social conversation. Season 2 of the addiction drama seems just as strong (if not stronger) on that front. Sunday evening trendin...
STABBING WESTWARD Drops New Single ‘Ghost’
As the anticipation grows for the brand-new STABBING WESTWARD album “Chasing Ghosts” to be released — the band’s first new LP in more than 20 years — the four-piece gives another taste of the new music with their latest single, “Ghost”. Fans who buy the physical or digital edition of the single will be gifted with several additional tracks including remixes of “Ghost” led by STABBING WESTWARD frontman Christopher Hall and Assemblage 23 along with a reworking of early hit “Why”, from 1996 RIAA-certified gold album “Wither Blister Burn & Peel”. “Chasing Ghosts” will be out March 18 via COP International Records. It features 10 tracks that showcase the industrial rock band’s characteristic sound with a mod...
TESTAMENT Parts Ways With Longtime Drummer GENE HOGLAN
TESTAMENT has parted ways with its longtime drummer Gene Hoglan. The veteran San Francisco Bay Area metallers announced Hoglan‘s exit from the group in a social media post earlier today. The band wrote: “To all our TESTAMENT fans around the world, “First off, we are beyond grateful to have had Gene Hoglan behind our drum throne for ten years, several albums and countless tour dates. Unfortunately, our brother Gene‘s additional tours and solo endeavors in 2022 conflict insurmountably with TESTAMENT‘s rescheduled dates after two years of lost time due to the pandemic. Rather than TESTAMENT having to reschedule upcoming dates (yet again) or Gene having to cancel his own plans, we have decided to amicably part ways. “We understand that this announcement will...
K.K. DOWNING Weighs In On JUDAS PRIEST’s ‘Insulting’ Announcement It Would Tour As Quartet: ‘It Was A Slap In The Face’
Former JUDAS PRIEST guitarist K.K. Downing says that he was “totally bemused” to hear about the band’s plan to embark on the next leg of its 50th-anniversary tour as a quartet. On January 10, JUDAS PRIEST announced that it would perform as a four-piece when it returns to the road in early March. A few hours later, the band’s touring guitarist Andy Sneap, who co-produced the group’s 2018 album “Firepower”, released a statement to BLABBERMOUTH.NET in which he said that he was “incredibly disappointed” by PRIEST‘s decision to carry on as a quartet and thanked the Rob Halford-fronted outfit for the “mind-blowing” opportunity to share the stage with one of his favorite bands. Meanwhile, PRIEST fans were understandably upset...
Listen To KISS’s Live Version Of ‘Lick It Up’ From ‘Off The Soundboard: Live In Virginia Beach’
KISS has premiered a live version of “Lick It Up” from “Off The Soundboard: Live In Virginia Beach”, which is being released on March 11. The original album version of “Lick It Up” came out in 1983 and is the title track from the band’s platinum-selling release. The song quickly became a fan favorite, with the promotional video featuring the band without makeup for the first time. “Off The Soundboard: Live In Virginia Beach” was recorded live at the Virginia Beach Amphitheatre on July 25, 2004. This is the second in a series of live releases by the band and will be available to stream and download, with a three-LP standard black vinyl set, a two-CD set, and a limited edition three-LP set pressed on 180-gram opaque green vinyl, all avail...
Halestorm Unharmed After Tour Bus Is Destroyed by Fire
Halestorm’s tour bus was completely burnt out by a fire early Thursday morning, but thankfully the band members were sleeping in a hotel at the time. The rock group was in Worcester, Massachusetts to play a show last night (January 20th) at the DCU Center with co-headliners Evanescence. Guitarist Joe Hottinger posted photos of the aftermath on Instagram, showing the interior of the bus completely charred. He wrote, “Halestorm had a night for the books. We were all in our hotel rooms last night and we woke up to our bus burning down at 3AM. Fun fun. No one was hurt. The Worcester fire department got there and put the fire out. They were amazing. Our fearless security Steve pulled guitars and luggage out of the bay. We all lost some stuff, but it was just stuff. The investigator doesn’t know...
“Once You Rock, You Just Rock”: Composer Kevin Kiner on Capturing the Hair Metal Vibes of Peacemaker
If you’re watching a James Gunn project, you can expect a few things going in: An arch, darkly comic tone, characters as acerbic as they are morally questionable, and lots and lots (and lots and lots) of needle-drops. For Peacemaker, Gunn’s spinoff of last year’s endearing revamp of The Suicide Squad, his musically-literate mind zeroed in on one very specific genre: ’80s Scandinavian hair metal. After all, it’s pretty much the only type of music Christopher Smith, aka Peacemaker (John Cena) will listen to, the kind of thrashing, ballad-heavy stuff that fuels his flag-waving antihero. It’s suffused into every aspect of the show’s fabric, from Cena (in his thighty-whities) singing along to the Quireboys’ “I Don’t Love You Anymore” in Episode 1 to the stone-faced opening sequen...
Yard Act Break Down Their Debut Album The Overload Track By Track: Exclusive
Our Track by Track feature gives artists the opportunity to share the inspiration and stories behind each song on their latest release. Today, Yard Act frontman James Smith takes a deep dive into the songs behind their debut album, The Overload. British post-punk band Yard Act have unveiled their debut album The Overload today (January 21st). It’s safe to say that Yard Act are observers: The Overload is filled with statements that summarize our modern condition, both in their native England and the rest of the world around it. Led by frontman James Smith and rounded out by bassist Ryan Needham, guitarist Sam Shjipstone, and drummer Jay Russell, Yard Act are among the newest class of conscious rockers coming from across the pond. Every sound in The Overload feels deliber...
HBO Announces Euphoria Season 2 Soundtrack, Shares Lana Del Rey’s “Watercolor Eyes”: Stream
HBO has announced the coming release of the soundtrack to Euphoria Season 2, and unveiled lead single, “Watercolor Eyes,” by Lana Del Rey. Stream the song below. Euphoria Season 2 (An HBO Original Series Soundtrack) is slated to hit streaming services and digital retailers on February 25th via Interscope Records, and will include original music featured in upcoming episodes of the acclaimed series’ currently-airing second season. However, HBO has yet to release a full tracklist for the LP. Del Rey’s pre-release track, meanwhile, will be included in this Sunday’s episode of Euphoria, and finds the songstress’ voice floating on a searching piano ballad. “I think that you’re sweet like rock candy/ Warm like beaches that leave me sandy,” she croons. “Young love don’t always last forever/ Wild ...
GHOST Postpones ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ Appearance
GHOST has postponed its previously announced appearance on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” to an as-yet-unspecified “later date.” The Swedish occult rockers were scheduled to perform on the Thursday night (January 20) episode of the ABC show, but pulled out just hours before, explaining that they “had a bit too much going on in Reno, getting all our shit together” for the band’s upcoming tour. GHOST said in a statement: “Children of the World! …more specifically those of you who had just started to prep your couches up for tonights’ Jimmy Kimmel Live show. Well, it turned out that we had a bit too much going on in Reno, getting all our shit together for the tour, however – Our good friends at Kimmel offered us to come back and play the show ...
PAPA ROACH Releases Anthemic New Single ‘Stand Up’
California rockers PAPA ROACH are kicking off 2022 with a powerful message behind their anthemic new single, “Stand Up”. Produced by Jason Evigan (Dua Lipa, G-Eazy, MAROON 5), the song brings massive energy and unique arrangements to singer Jacoby Shaddix‘s uplifting and motivating lyrics. The track seeks to provide a signature, bouncing anthem for a world that is energized to stand up against injustice, complacency, and opposition, further exercising their agency towards the obstacles in this new year. “‘Stand Up’ is inspired by the social unrest of marginalized people throughout the world. It’s about feeling of wanting to give up when you’re backed against the wall. For the ones that have been oppressed for so long that a sense of hopelessn...
