Alternative Rock
Spacehog’s Royston Langdon on Covering Iggy Pop and a New Version of Resident Alien
Listen via Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google Podcasts | Stitcher | Pocket Casts | Radio Public | RSS Spacehog’s Royston Langdon speaks with Kyle Meredith about his new solo EP, Chains, which finds him in a moment of not being chained to his own past but still deciding who he wants to be in this new phase of his career. Advertisement Related Video The English singer-songwriter talks about working with his longtime Spacehog producer Bryce Goggin, covering Iggy Pop’s “Nazi Girlfriend,” and the importance of context when it comes to art. Langdon also tells us that he’s making an alternate, acoustic version of Spacehog’s Resident Alien called President Alien, which will be available through his Patreon. Listen to Spacehog’s Roysto...
Courtney Love Raves About Use of Nirvana’s “Rape Me” In HBO’s Succession
If you, like seemingly everyone on Twitter, tuned in to the most recent episode of HBO‘s smash dramedy series Succession, you probably caught the perfect sync of Nirvana’s “Rape Me.” Of course, any music with Kurt Cobain’s name attached has to get the green light from his widow, Courtney Love. Thankfully, the Hole singer approved the use of the 1993 track and she went on to rave about its use in her Instagram story. “I was in the room watching (agog) as this song was written in about an hour, and I’ve never been so proud of approving one of Kurt’s songs,” Love wrote. “This cue in Succession is as if they truly understood KC. What he was screaming his heart out … without specifics … about. I’m sure wherever he is he’s proud of this. #rapeme #kurtdcobain #nirvana #disruption #myfavorite...
alt-J Share New Single “Get Better”: Stream
alt-J are back with “Get Better,” the second single from their forthcoming album The Dream. The plaintive song is essentially a two-hander, with dummer Thom Sonny Green sitting this one out. Instead, Joe Newman strums out gentle acoustic notes while Gus Unger-Hamilton joins in with harmonies and subtle piano. As Newman describes it, the track “is the union of two songs.” One was a little improvisation he sang to his partner, Darcy Wallace, back in 2018: “Get better, my Darcy/ I know you can.” The second was a chord progression written during lockdown while Newman thought of the thousands of bereaved around the world. “I felt nervous heat when writing ‘Get Better,” Newman said in a press statement. “The context of the Coronavirus pandemic lent my words a chilling weight and gave me a new se...
IDLES Share Hair-Raising New Single “Car Crash”: Stream
IDLES are days away from sharing their new album, CRAWLER, and the Bristol post-punks are offering another preview with the new single “Car Crash.” The slow-burning track arrives with an accompanying music video that splices together footage of collisions in cinema. As its title indicates, “Car Crash” was inspired by IDLES frontman Joe Talbot’s own brush with death behind the wheel. As he details in a press release: “It’s the horrific, comedown hangover — waking up in the morning and realizing the smashes, like, what the fuck am I doing with my life?” The track is defined by chugging, slipshod drums and abrasive guitars that stew until they explode into one chilling cacophony. “We wanted it to be as violent as possible to reflect that event,” guitarist and co-producer Mark Bowen adds. “We ...
Franz Ferdinand Announce Greatest Hits Album, Share New Song “Billy Goodbye”: Stream
Franz Ferdinand have announced a greatest hits collection entitled Hits to the Head. Out March 11th, 2022 via Domino, the album compiles the best of the Scottish rockers’ 20-year career while also adding two new songs to their discography. To mark the occasion, the band has shared the first of the new tracks, “Billy Goodbye.” Stream the song below. Hits to the Head follows 2018’s Always Ascending. At 20 tracks, the compilation follows Franz Ferdinand from their aughts post-punk revival success to the present day, from first single “Darts of Pleasure” and breakout hit “Take Me Out” to deep cuts like “Outsiders” and “Glimpse of Love.” In a statement, lead singer Alex Kapranos compared compiling greatest hits to preparing for a show, explaining, “It’s the same as writing a set-list ...
Spiritualized Announces New Album, Shares “Always Together With You”: Stream
J Spaceman has announced a new Spiritualized album. Entitled Everything Was Beautiful, it will be released on February 25th, 2022 via Fat Possum Records. As a preview, he’s shared the lead single, “Always Together with You.” As with most new releases these days, Spaceman wrote Everything Was Beautiful during the pandemic. In a statement, he said he thrived in the “beautiful solitude” and found inspiration in his walks through an empty “Roman London” [which were] “full of birdsong and strangeness and no contrails.” Spaceman plays 16 different instruments in Everything Was Beautiful, but also employed a massive collective of guest contributors, including string and brass sections and choirs. The seven-track album was recorded in 11 different studios, as well as in his home. Advertisement Rel...
Pavement Announce 2022 Reunion Tour Dates
Pavement will reunite next year for an extensive tour that includes dates across the US, UK, and Europe. Following previously announced headlining appearances at Primavera Sound in Barcelona, Spain and NOS Primavera Sound in Porto, Portugal next June, Pavement will embark a 23-date US tour starting in September. The jaunt includes multiple dates in cities like Los Angeles, San Francisco, Brooklyn, and Atlanta. The pioneering alt-rockers will then cross the Atlantic for a second time, this time to playing tour dates in the UK, France, Germany, and beyond. Advertisement Related Video Check out the tour’s full schedule below. Tickets go on sale starting Friday, November 5th via Ticketmaster. This is the second time Pavement have reunited for a tour. The core lineup of Mark Ibold, Scott “Spira...
Cat Power Announces US Tour, Drops Cover of Dead Man’s Bones’ “Pa Pa Power”: Stream
Cat Power announced today that she’s heading out on tour early next year. Additionally, she’s shared her new rendition of “Pa Pa Power” by Dead Man’s Bones from her upcoming album, Covers. The singer-songwriter reimagines the 2009 track by Ryan Gosling and Zach Shields into a haunting, melancholy dirge, replacing the children’s choir and plinking synths of the original with her own backing vocals and dreamy electric guitar. “Burn the streets, burn the cars/ Power/ Broken glass, but what about/ Our broken hearts/ Please make me better/ Please make me powerful,” she sings into dual mics in the accompanying music video, tweaking the song’s lyrics ever so slightly in the process. Advertisement Related Video The track serves as the second taste for the musician’s upcoming album Covers, which wi...
The War on Drugs Perform on CBS’ Saturday Sessions: Watch
The War on Drugs just unveiled their fifth studio album, I Don’t Live Here Anymore, and they’re keeping the release weekend festivities rolling with a live performance on CBS This Morning’s Saturday Sessions. The Philadelphia rock band ripped through album highlights “Old Skin,” “Change,” and “Occasional Rain.” Watch the replay below. Though I Don’t Live Here Anymore is full of ’80s-inspired, arena-sized riffs, these tracks translate well to the intimate studio space. Frontman Adam Granduciel has a knack for writing songs that are perhaps best heard live, and in these close quarters, each aspect of the song is distinguishable, even as they’re layered on top of each other. The War on Drugs also recently brought their studio sessions to late night TV with a performance of thei...
Joywave Announce New Album Cleanse, Share “Cyn City 2000”: Stream
Joywave released their last album, Possession, on March 13th, 2020, and you know what happened next. Even with the world on pause, however, the Rochester rock trio were ready to get back to work: Today, they’ve announced that their fourth studio album, Cleanse, will arrive on February 11th, 2022. As a preview, Joywave have shared the single “Cyn City 2000,” and they’ve also announced a North American tour for next year. Clease was written and recorded in frontman Daniel Armbruster’s home studio, which the band aptly nicknamed the “Joycave.” “With our dense touring schedule shelved, I was able to reflect on past travels and appreciate them in a new way,” Armbruster said in a press release. “But reminders of our fragile mortality were everywhere, punctuated by the ongoing pand...
CHVRCHES Release Screen Violence: Director’s Cut: Stream
CHVRCHES have released a deluxe edition of their latest album Screen Violence via Glassnote Records. Stream it below. Screen Violence: Director’s Cut features three new tracks “originally intended to be included on the release” of the original LP, the band revealed in a tweet ahead of the unveiling. They’re titled: “Killer,” “Bitter End,” and “Screaming.” The standard edition of Screen Violence dropped in August. The Scottish trio recently opened up to Consequence about recording the album during he pandemic, as well as what it was like working with Robert Smith and horror king John Carpenter in a separate sit-down for Kyle Meredith With… Advertisement Last month, the synth-pop act recorded a cover of Avril Lavigne’s 2002 single “I’m With You” for Apple Music’s Home Session along wit...
Tori Amos Unveils New Album Ocean to Ocean: Stream
Tori Amos has released her sixteenth studio album, Ocean to Ocean, via Decca. Stream it below. The studio effort is the pianist’s first full-length since last 2017’s Native Invaders, and was preceded by singles “Speaking with Trees” and “Spies.” “The goal was to make a sonic potion that would give people hope and make them feel, I don’t know, like magic does exist. For all of us. Even through these crazy times,” Amos said in an interview for Kyle Meredith With… about the new album, which she wrote and recorded in lockdown at her house in Cornwall, in the southwest of England Related Video The art-pop artist also revealed during the chat that album cut “Metal Water Wood” was the first song she penned after the LP’s thematic direction changed drastically around the start of the year. “I thin...
