Alternative Rock
Courtney Barnett Takes Us Down “Rae Street” on Fallon: Watch
Courtney Barnett is gearing up to soundtrack your Sad Girl Winter with her forthcoming album, Things Take Time, Take Time. To promote the follow-up to 2018’s Tell Me How You Really Feel, the Aussie singer-songwriter made an appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, where she performed her recent single (and previous Song of the Week) “Rae Street.” Sonically, “Rae Street” feels warm and rugged, and Barnett’s remote performance suited the song’s ambiance perfectly; she and her band set up in a dimly-lit lounge area that looks like a mix between your neighborhood speakeasy and your favorite grandparent’s living room. It’s the type of setup that makes you want to curl up in one of the big upholstered chairs in the corner and watch Barnett’s magnetic songwriting unfurl in front of y...
Stone Temple Pilots and Bush Announce Fall 2021 Co-Headlining Tour
Two bands from the heyday of ’90s alternative rock, Stone Temple Pilots and Bush, are joining forces for a co-headlining 2021 US tour. The run will set off September 30th in Mesa, Arizona, and wrap up October 17th in Oklahoma City. Black Map and Devora will provide support. A press release promises an “an unforgettable night of music,” with each band taking turns closing out the night in various cities. Advertisement Related Video Tickets for the shows go on sale to the general public starting Friday, August 20th, at 10 a.m. local venue time via Ticketmaster, with pre-sales beginning Thursday. A limited amount of $20 tickets are available for certain dates. In addition to the dates with Bush, Stone Temple Pilots will hit the road on their own headlining run from October 18th through Novemb...
Nick Cave and Warren Ellis to Soundtrack New Movie Blonde About Marilyn Monroe
Longtime collaborators and friends Nick Cave and Warren Ellis have reportedly been working on a soundtrack for a new film about Marilyn Monroe. The movie, currently titled Blonde, is directed by Andrew Dominik and is scheduled for release later next year, notes The Guardian. When asked about what it’s like working with Warren on projects like these, Cave said it’s “an incredible privilege” that he doesn’t take for granted. “In any situation, he wants the best for me and I want the best for him,” he said. “We have basically developed a way of working where we both relinquish control of the music we make together. We spend many hours improvising music together, sitting and playing in good faith without the politics and power grabs of many partnerships. We just let the songs find themsel...
Billy Joel Performs “Iris” with Goo Goo Dolls’ John Rzeznik at Buffalo Concert: Stream
Billy Joel had a surprise for the crowd present at his show in Buffalo on Saturday night: an appearance by none other than the Goo Goo Dolls’ John Rzeznik. “Welcome to my hometown,” the frontman told Joel after being brought onstage at Orchard Park, NY’s Highmark Stadium to cheers from the assembled concertgoers. From there, he launched into his band’s biggest hit — 1998’s “Iris” — with some help from the legendary piano man on keys. “And all I can taste is this moment/ And all I can breathe is your life/ And sooner or later, it’s over/ I just don’t wanna miss you tonight/ And I don’t want the world to see me/ ‘Cause I don’t think that they’d understand/ When everything’s made to be broken/ I just want you to know who I am,” he wailed on the second verse and subsequent chorus as the crowd ...
Wednesday Share New Album Twin Plagues: Stream
The new album from Wednesday — no, not that Wednesday — is here. Twin Plagues, the latest release from the Asheville, North Carolina quintet, is indie rock in the truest sense of the phrase, released via the Chicago label Orindal Records. Twin Plagues includes the single — and our Song of the Week Honorable Mention — “Handsome Man.” On this album, Wednesday tap into many tried-and-true ‘90s touchstones. You can hear flashes of Pavement’s unpolished, lo-fi charm, The Breeders’ knack for earworm melodies, Codeine’s hypnotic slowcore, and My Bloody Valentine’s trademark roaring guitars. Altogether, however, Wednesday make these well-worn references feel fresh across the 12 tracks of Twin Plagues. Lyrically, Wednesday aren’t afraid to step into the surreal: “I think the magical realism/absurd ...
CHVRCHES Cover Echo & The Bunnymen’s “The Killing Moon”: Stream
If you’ve ever thought the music of CHVRCHES had a bit of an ‘80s goth feel, that comparison checks out. Today, the synth-pop trio have shared a cover of Echo & The Bunnymen’s classic 1984 hit, “The Killing Moon,” available to stream exclusively on Amazon Music. “We’ve been waiting to do this forever, so it only feels right that ‘The Killing Moon” be our first proper cover this year,” CHVRCHES wrote on social media. They also mentioned their shared affinity for the 2001 psychological thriller, Donnie Darko, which featured “The Killing Moon” on its soundtrack: “‘Killing Moon’ feels almost synonymous with Donnie Darko, which is a film we all love.” Stream CHVRCHES’ cover of the track below. This isn’t the first time CHVRCHES have paid homage to their ‘80s goth forebears this year; earlie...
The Replacements Announce Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take Out the Trash Deluxe Reissue
The Replacements are celebrating the 40th anniversary of their debut album, Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take Out the Trash, with a deluxe edition reissue. Due out October 22th via Rhino, the new set boasts 100 tracks, 67 of which are previously unreleased rough mixes, alternate takes, and more. Along with the 4xCD/1xLP set comes a 12×12 hardcover book with rare photos and liner notes from Replacements biographer Bob Mehr and their former manager Peter Jesperson. In addition to remasters of the album’s original tracklist, Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take Out the Trash (Deluxe Edition) includes some of the Minneapolis band’s earliest demos as a burgeoning punk act. Advertisement Related Video You can also hear the first professional live recording of the band, taken in January 1981 at Minneapolis’ iconic 7t...
They Might Be Giants Announce New Album BOOK, Share “I Can’t Remember the Dream”: Stream
A new album from They Might Be Giants is coming faster than you can say “Constantinople.” BOOK, the geek-rock icons’ 22nd (!!!) full-length LP, is due October 29th. As a preview of the upcoming music, TMBG have shared a surreal video for the snappy single, “I Can’t Remember the Dream.” BOOK, the album, is billed as a beacon of light amid a pretty unanimously rough period of time; As the band’s John Linnell describes, its songs are “humorously germane to the catastrophe going on around us.” “I Can’t Remember the Dream” is a perfect fit for this purpose, detailing all the benefits of a pleasant slumber: “I can’t remember the dream that I had last night/ But I woke with delight and excitement/ And then when I tried to remember the dream that I had last night/ It was gone, but the feeling I ha...
Weezer Cover Fall Out Boy’s “Sugar, We’re Goin’ Down” at New York’s Citi Field: Watch
Fans planning to catch Fall Out Boy on the Hella Mega Tour alongside Weezer and Green Day were bummed when the pop-punk icons pulled out of the New York City and Boston dates after a member of their team tested positive for COVID-19. But the show must go on, so last night at Citi Field, Weezer and opening act The Interrupters ensured the crowd’s Fall Out Boy hunger was satiated by ripping through not one, but two covers of “Sugar, We’re Goin’ Down.” It’s unclear whether or not the double-cover situation was accidental, but who would complain about getting to hear “Sugar, We’re Goin’ Down” twice in one night? While The Interrupters kept more true to the original punky attitude of the 2005 hit, Weezer frontman Rivers Cuomo took a one-man approach with just his voice and guitar, making t...
Dinosaur Jr. Bring the Noise at NPR Tiny Desk (Home) Concert: Watch
Due to the pandemic, NPR has been hosting its beloved Tiny Desk Concert series wherever artists want to film their special contribution. Lots of people have replicated Bob Boilen’s famed office space by sitting behind their own desks, playing acoustic songs, or even recreating a miniature set in their apartment. Dinosaur Jr. are the latest group to film a Tiny Desk (Home) Concert, and they recreated the magic of that iconic NPR room for it by way of dozens of cute tchotchkes and other pieces of pop-culture iconography. Holed up inside an empty Shea Theater in Turners Falls, Massachusetts, Dinosaur Jr. enlisted a few camera operators and lighting assistants to help drag all of their tiny toys onstage. There’s a tiny wooden desk with a miniature laptop propped atop it, a giant stuffed animal...
Kurt Cobain’s Childhood Home Being Restored for Private Tours
Nirvana fans may soon be able to live out their dreams and visit Kurt Cobain’s Aberdeen, Washington childhood home in its original form. After being added to Heritage Register last week, the house’s current owner is continuing restoration plans with the goal of opening it to private tours next spring. Cobain lived in the one-and-a-half-story house from 1968 to 1984. The home’s current owner, Lee Bacon, and his wife Danielle bought it for $225,000 from the Cobain family in 2018. Bacon told Rolling Stone that plans to restore the house are “90 to 95 percent” complete. This will include repainting the exterior to match the “light-colored fern” and “dark-colored mint” colors it had in the ’70s. Meanwhile, the interior includes the Cobain family’s original dining room table and china hutch, the...
Bright Eyes’ Conor Oberst and Waxahatchee’s Katie Crutchfield Trade “Songwriting Slump” Tips and Discuss Returning to the Stage
Katie Crutchfield was destined to be a Bright Eyes fan. The singer-songwriter, who performs poignant folk-rock as Waxahatchee, recalls the music of Conor Oberst as a crucial turning point in her upbringing as a self-proclaimed outcast in suburban Alabama: “I feel like Bright Eyes had one of the biggest impacts of any band at the time,” Crutchfield tells Consequence by phone from her Kansas City home. It’s serendipitous that nearly twenty years after she first became enamored with albums like Letting Off the Happiness, Fevers and Mirrors, and Lifted or The Story Is in the Soil, Keep Your Ear to the Ground, Waxahatchee would be pegged to open for the Bright Eyes show, along with Lucy Dacus, at New York’s Forest Hills Stadium on July 31st. (The emo-folk titans played their first show tog...
