Alternative Rock
Gorillaz Bring the Song Machine to Life with a Multimedia Extravaganza: Review
Editor’s Note: This review is of Performance 2 of Gorillaz’s Song Machine Live, which aired on December 12th at 7:00 p.m. ET. Setting the Stage: If there’s one thing that Gorillaz are known for, it’s irresistibly creative fusions of music and visuals. From the very beginning, they’ve ensured that their videos, concerts, web content, and assorted paraphernalia provided a characteristically cartoonish spectacle to match the flamboyant edge of their tunes. Their latest multimodal project, Song Machine, is the best example yet of that fusion, as it mixed episodic webisodes with an almanac, a proper LP — this year’s Song Machine, Season One: Strange Timez — and more. Really, all that was missing were live performances — that is, until now. This past weekend, the group teamed up with LIVENo...
Lin-Manuel Miranda Sings Pearl Jam’s “Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town”: Watch
Later this week, Lin-Manuel Miranda will join Pearl Jam in conversation for a virtual fundraiser centered around the Georgia Senate runoff. To promote the event, the Hamilton creator took to Twitter to sing the alternative rockers’ Vs. cut “Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town”. “Elderly Composer Behind The Keyboard In A Messy Office,” Miranda joked in the post sharing his brief rendition. “(I’m so sorry @PearlJam, you play it so much better, see you Wednesday night.)” He also twisted the last phrase of the chorus to show his excitement for the upcoming fundraiser. Watch the clip below. Hosted by Wayne Brady, the “Art and Activism” livestream aims to raise money and awareness for the Georgia runoff election, which will determine the balance of Senate for the first half of Presi...
Taylor Swift’s evermore Continues the Personal Fable Begun on folklore: Review
The Lowdown: Once again, Taylor Swift was lying when she told us there was “not a lot going on at the moment.” Once again, she’s dropped a carefully curated collection of songs unraveling both her extremely public exterior and deeply personal interior life. And once again, it’s an album that acts as a remarkable exercise in lyricism. It’s not just a worthy follow-up to July’s folklore; it’s a mirror, a companion, and a bookend. Taylor had a few more things to say. The fable wasn’t finished yet. Like folklore, evermore was announced hours before release, framed as a “sister” project to the summer album that gave us the latest reinvention of Taylor Swift and successfully cemented her, even in many previously unconvinced eyes, as one of the strongest songwriters working today. evermore picks ...
The Flaming Lips’ Wayne Coyne on the Band’s Space Bubble Shows: “It’s Safer Than Going to the Grocery Store”
As our Annual Report continues, we’ll be taking several looks at how live music changed in a year where most of the world was in lockdown. Today, we share our conversation with Wayne Coyne about his current plans for space bubble shows. A year ago, no one could have predicted that a trip to the grocery store could be life-threatening and dangerous. But here we are at a time where buying vegetables can be anxiety-inducing and unsafe. Concerts mostly apply, as well, but Flaming Lips vocalist Wayne Coyne devised a way to transform live music into a safe process. Coyne is no stranger to performing in what he calls a space bubble. He’s famous for rolling out into crowds, but the thought of putting the entire band and audience in their own respective bubbles was a thought that came to him at the...
My Morning Jacket Perform “Climbing the Ladder” on Meyers: Watch
My Morning Jacket appeared on Seth Meyers on Thursday to perform their song “Climbing the Ladder”. It was the band’s third late-night performance behind The Waterfall II, and a pattern has definitely emerged. When MMJ previously appeared on Fallon and Kimmel, each member performed their part alone in front of a single backdrop and then the shots were layered on top of each other. For Meyers, the concept was much the same, though the execution was unique. Instead of overlaying the various shots, the band cut it all together in ever alternating panels, a playful yet effective editing that matched the track’s carnival atmosphere. Watch the replay of My Morning Jacket’s “Climbing the Latter” performance below. Editors’ Picks In addition to The Waterfall II, MMJ released a trio of live al...
Chris Cornell’s Estate Releases New Covers Album No One Sings Like You Anymore: Stream
On behalf of Chris Cornell’s estate, the late rocker’s wife Vicky Cornell and her children, Toni and Christopher, have released a new album of cover songs recorded by Cornell. It’s called No One Sings Like You Anymore and it’s available to stream right now via Apple Music and Spotify below. No One Sings Like You Anymore is a collection of 10 cover songs handpicked by Cornell himself. The Soundgarden singer recorded and sequenced the tracks back in 2016 as a way to honor the artists who inspired him, such as John Lennon, Janis Joplin, Harry Nilsson, and Electric Light Orchestra. A physical release is expected to drop on March 19th, with pre-orders currently ongoing. The album includes several staples from Cornell’s solo career, like his take on Lorraine Ellison’s “Stay With Me Baby” for the...
Dave Grohl Kicks Off Hanukkah Sessions with Cover of Beastie Boys’ “Sabotage”: Watch
Hanukkah officially begins today, and with it brings the launch of The Hanukkah Sessions, a new song series from Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl and Grammy-winning producer Greg Kurstin. The project sees the pair covering one Jewish musician every night of the eight-day holiday. For the first installment, Grohl and Kurstin take on Beastie Boys’ “Sabotage”. While the two don’t celebrate Hanukkah the same way — Kurstin is Jewish, Grohl is not — you wouldn’t know it from the intensity of their performance. The duo’s chemistry is also readily apparent, no doubt a result of the time they spent together recording Foos’ 2017 album, Concrete and Gold. Watch their collaborative cover below. As the Festival of Lights doesn’t conclude until Friday, December 18th, there’s plenty more Hanukk...
Haley Williams Shares Stripped-Down Version of “Simmer” from New Acoustic EP: Stream
Hayley Williams is following up one of our favorite albums of 2020, her debut solo record Petals for Armor, with a new three-song EP called Petals for Armor: Self-Serenades. Today the Paramore singer is previewing the effort with an acoustic rendition of one of the year’s best songs, “Simmer”. The original take on the track features all sorts of cool percussion and layered vocal harmonies, but this stripped-back version is pretty much the complete opposite. The extremely stark performance contains just light guitar plucks and Williams’ whispery croon, which builds nicely toward the end but never raises to a genuine belt. In fact, it’s so quiet that Williams’ dog Alf even made an accidental guest appearance on the recording. “If you listen closely you can hear Alf sigh dramatically in the o...
PJ Harvey Announces Is This Desire? Vinyl Reissue, Shares Unearthed Video for “Angelene”: Watch
PJ Harvey has announced a vinyl reissue for her 1998 album Is This Desire?, the latest release as part of her year-long archival campaign. To accompany today’s news, she’s unearthed a previously unreleased music video for the album’s opening track, “Angelene”, as well as a demo version of the same song. So far this year, Harvey has reissued 1992 Dry, 1993’s Rid of Me, 1995’s To Bring You My Love, and 1996’s Dance Hall at Louise Point. As with these other release, Is This Desire? will come paired with a companion demo album. In a statement, director Maria Mochnacz said the video for “Angelene” was originally made 21 years ago, but was ultimately shelved. “We used a combination of video/16ml film and medium format Polaroids, curtains as backdrops to look like a ...
Dave Grohl and Greg Kurstin Announce Hanukkah-Themed Song Series
Dave Grohl may have recently lost an epic drum battle to 10-year-old rock prodigy Nandi Bushell, but the Foo Fighters frontman’s cheery holiday spirit is still going strong. So much so, in fact, that he is planning to release a new song each night of Hanukkah in collaboration with Grammy-winning producer Greg Kurstin. The pair’s new music series is simply titled The Hanukkah Sessions and will see Grohl and Kurstin covering various renowned Jewish musicians. Running throughout the entirety of the Jewish holiday, the project officially begins tomorrow, December 10th and extends until next Friday, December 18th. “With all the mishegas of 2020, @GregKurstin & I were kibbitzing about how we could make Hannukah extra-special this year. Festival of Lights?! How about a festival of tasty LICKS...
Kyle Meredith’s Best of 2020 Pt. 1: Stephen Malkmus, Ed O’Brien, Paul Banks, and More
Listen via Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google Play | Stitcher | Radio Public | RSS For all of December, Kyle Meredith is looking back on his favorite moments in 2020. This week, we revisit talking with Stephen Malkmus as he geeks out about Led Zeppelin, Radiohead’s Ed O’Brien balancing the darkness of the world with an optimistic light that he carries, Interpol’s Paul Banks finding his own new light within the band Muzz, King Krule discovering The Beatles, Sparks being masters at cussing, and Buzz Osborne who gets playful about the importance of music. Kyle Meredith With… is an interview series in which WFPK’s Kyle Meredith speaks to a wide breadth of musicians. Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, Meredith digs deep into the artis...
Weezer’s Rivers Cuomo is Selling Over 2,000 Unreleased Demos
We didn’t get a new Weezer album this year, but frontman Rivers Cuomo has arguably given diehard fans a better gift. The 50-year-old rocker recently created an online marketplace where he’s selling over 2,000 unreleased demos, spanning the pre-Weezer years all the way up to the band’s 2015 era. Located in the “Market” section of his Mister Rivers’ Neighborhood website, Cuomo has ten different compilations for sale that are organized based on different periods of his creative history. Each demo pack costs just $9, but the track counts range from 26 in the concise “Best of the Demos” comp to a whopping 1,113 (that’s over 38 hours of music!) for “The EWBAITE Years”, which encompasses the 2011-2014 era. Fans of Weezer’s early work will surely be tantalized by the 72 demos in the coveted “Blue-...
