Alternative Music
Red Hot Chili Peppers Are First Rock Band in 17 Years to Top Album Sales Chart Twice in One Year
Red Hot Chili Peppers have scored their second No. 1 album on the Billboard Top Album Sales chart in 2022 with Return of the Dream Canteen. With 63,000 equivalent album units earned, the LP also landed at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 behind Lil Baby’s debuting It’s Only Me and Bad Bunny’s juggernaut Un Verano Sin Ti. Back in April, Chili Peppers reunited with longtime guitarist John Frusciante (and producer Rick Rubin) for Unlimited Love. It debuted atop the Billboard 200 and became the band’s first No. 1 album since 2006’s Stadium Arcadium, which had been Frusciante’s most recent LP with the Chili Peppers before coming back into the fold. Unlimited Love also became the best-selling rock album since Paul McCartney’s McCartney III in January 2021 with 97,500...
Serj Tankian on What’s Next for System of a Down, Mixing Humor with Facts, and Interactive Experiences
Listen via Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google Podcasts | Amazon Podcasts | Stitcher | Pocket Casts | Radio Public | RSS Serj Tankian catches up with Kyle Meredith to talk about Perplex Cities, his second EP in as many years, as well as what’s next for System of a Down. Advertisement Related Video The System of a Down singer tells us about using his car to mix his songs and the 95 tracks found in his vault, mixing humor with serious issues, and trying to change minds in order to save the world. In fact, it’s with that that Serj discusses the current atrocities in Armenia, how the song “I Spoke Up” touches on those topics, and musically mixing cultures. Tankian also talks about the interactive experiences he bring...
Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities Is a Horror Anthology Haunted By Creative Freedom: Review
The Pitch: A racist scavenger (Tim Blake Nelson) uncovers the ultimate score in the storage locker of a dead Nazi. A desperate grave robber (David Hewlett) gets more than he bargained for on his latest excursion. A medical examiner (F. Murray Abraham) autopsies a dead body from a mine explosion and finds a passenger hiding within the flesh. An awkward, frumpy bank teller (Kate Micucci) is tempted with the secrets of beauty by a mysterious skin cream. An art student in 1909 (Ben Barnes) grows obsessed with the horrific paintings of a strange new colleague (Crispin Glover). A desperate man (Rupert Grint) searches for his dead twin sister through the veil of spiritualism. A reclusive billionaire (Peter Weller) gathers a group of illustrious talents to view his latest otherworldly find. A...
Tim Burton Says His “Days with Disney are Done” Following “Horrible” Dumbo Experience
Tim Burton has grounded any potential future projects with Disney following his “horrible” experience directing the 2019 live-action reboot of Dumbo for the House of Mouse. According to Deadline, Burton shared his displeasure with Disney on Saturday during a press conference at the Lumière Film Festival in Lyon, France, where the director was being was honored with the annual event’s prestigious Prix Lumière award. He critiqued the studio’s narrowing focus on franchises like Star Wars and Marvel and rejected the idea of helming an installment in the latter’s cinematic universe, before saying, “It’s gotten to be very homogenized, very consolidated. There’s less room for different types of things.” Burton’s feedback holds some weight considering the director launched his filmmaking career as...
How to Get Tickets to Jerry Seinfeld’s 2022-2023 Tour
Jerry Seinfeld has unveiled a fresh slate of 2023 shows for his ongoing residency at New York’s Beacon Theatre with tickets quickly going up for grabs along with his previously announced tour dates this year. The massive comedy trek should hopefully be enough to sustain audiences until the standup legend delivers his long-developing Pop Tarts origin film, Unfrosted. Get tickets here, and read on for more details including pre-sale dates. What Is Jerry Seinfeld’s Next Tour? The 23 Hours to Kill comedian will continue an ongoing 2022 North American circuit in October, then wrap the year with multiple shows at the Beacon Theatre in New York. He’ll relaunch in 2023 with an even longer stint at the Beacon plus a road trip that hits Florida, California, and more. The tour features several double...
House of the Dragon Season 1 Wasn’t Perfect — But It Was a Worthy Heir to Game of Thrones
[Editor’s note: The following contains spoilers through the Season 1 finale of House of the Dragon, “The Black Queen.”] Probably the most unintentionally hilarious part of House of the Dragon’s first season finale came at the very end, if you were watching with subtitles on: When Queen Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy), having just learned of her son’s death, turned away from the fire to reveal her grief-stricken face, the captions acknowledged a shift in composer Ramin Djawadi’s score like so: [Vengeful music plays]. It was funny because the captions really didn’t need to say anything — D’Arcy’s face said it all. It was all a jaw-dropping capper to a largely gripping season of television, because as we come to the finale, it can be said: If the goal was to create a new series that would please even ...
Run the Jewels Announce Latin American RTJ4 Remix Album RTJ CU4TRO, Share “Caminando en la Nieve”: Stream
Run the Jewels are revisiting their 2020 album RTJ4 with RTJ CU4TRO, a reimagining of the record made entirely by Latin American artists. The remix project arrives November 11th via Jewel Runners / BMG, and “Caminando en la Nieve,” an adaptation of “Walking in the Snow” by Orestes Gomez, Nick Hook, Akapellah, Apache, and Pawmps, is out now. Nick Hook curated and co-executive produced RTJ CU4TRO, while artists like Bomba Estéreo, Zack de la Rocha, Akapellah, Baco Exu Do Blues, Iggor Cavalera, Sarah La Morena, Sante Fe Klan, and Mexican Institute of Sound put their own spin on EL-P and Killer Mike’s songs. “We are honored and delighted to have had the opportunity to work with the amazing producers, vocalists, musicians, and artists who made this album happen,” EL-P said i...
Bono Pleads “Mea Culpa” for U2’s Misguided Songs of Innocence Apple Rollout
Bono took “full responsibility” for the controversial release strategy behind U2’s 2014 LP, Songs of Innocence, that installed the album on every Apple device for free, in his upcoming memoir, Surrender: 40 Songs, One Story. In an excerpt shared via The Guardian, Bono detailed a meeting with CEO Tim Cook, U2 manager Guy Oseary, and other Apple executives where the frontman previewed the new album and proposed the tech giant “pay us for it, and then you give it away free, as a gift to people… like when Netflix buys the movie and gives it away to subscribers.” The plan was subsequently pushed forward despite Cook raising legitimate concerns like “we’re not a subscription organisation” and “this is just to people who like U2?” “I take full responsibility,” the singer reflected in response to ...
Carly Simon Loses Both Sisters to Cancer a Day Apart
Joanna Simon and Lucy Simon, Carly Simon’s two older sisters, passed away a day apart this week following their respective battles with cancer. Joanna, a former opera singer, died October 19th at age 85 of thyroid cancer, while Lucy, a Broadway composer, died October 20th at age 82 of breast cancer. The daughters of Simon & Schuster co-founder Richard Simon, all three of the Simon sisters worked in the entertainment industry from a young age. Lucy and Carly performed as the folk duo The Simon Sisters in the 1960s before Carly’s pop career took off in the ’70s. Lucy continued her own solo career and even won two Grammy Awards for In Harmony: A Sesame Street Record and In Harmony 2, children’s music albums she produced with her husband, David Levine. In 1991, Lucy composed the Tony-nomin...
When We Were Young Festival Cancels First Day Due to High Winds
The first day of emo nostalgia festival When We Were Young has been canceled due to high winds in Las Vegas. Citing “dangerous 30-40 mph sustained winds with potential 60 mph gusts,” festival organizers announced the cancellation an hour prior to the event’s start time. They said the decision had been under the advisement of the National Weather Service and the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department. “This was not a decision that came lightly,” the organizers added a statement. “We know many of you traveled to the area to have a spectacular day with your favorite bands and have been looking forward to this day for months. We were equally as excited and are devastated to have to share this news.” Read When We Were Young’s full cancellation statement below. Advertisement Related Video...
Kanye West Hires Johnny Depp’s Lawyer Camille Vasquez Amidst Business Fallout
As business partners distant themselves following his latest public meltdown, Kanye West has reportedly hired Camille Vasquez, the lawyer who helped Johnny Depp win his defamation lawsuit against Amber Heard, to represent his interests. TMZ first reported that West hired Vasquez, a partner at the national law firm Brown Rudnick who became a sought-after rep for embattled celebrities after helping Depp win his case. The news comes after the rapper was dropped by Balenciaga following a slew of antisemitic comments he made on social media and in recently unearthed clips of his interview with Tucker Carlson. His comments — including a Tweet where he threatened to “Go death con 3 on JEWISH PEOPLE” — have also cost him a relationship with JPMorgan Chase, and his relationship with adidas is curre...
Late Black Dahlia Murder Singer Trevor Strnad Appears on New Chelsea Grin Song “Forever Bloom”: Stream
Salt Lake City metal band Chelsea Grin have released a new song “Forever Bloom,” which features late Black Dahlia Murder singer Trevor Strnad. Watch the accompanying music video below. “Forever Bloom” comes ahead of Chelsea Grin’s upcoming double release of Suffer in Hell and Suffer in Heaven. Suffer in Hell will drop next month on November 11th, while Suffer in Heaven will arrive on March 17th, 2023. Pre-orders are available here. “‘Forever Bloom’ is a fast-paced song with a whimsical edge to it, paying homage to some of our metal roots,” guitarist Stephen Rutishauser said in a statement. “The video accompaniment should let you know that it isn’t all evil and darkness in the world of metal. Of course, we were very grateful to have our friend Trevor feature on this song — RIP to a legend.”...
