Alternative Rock
Gorillaz Tap Thundercat for New Single “Cracker Island”: Stream
The world’s biggest virtual band have teamed up with Thundercat. Gorillaz shared the new single “Cracker Island” on Wednesday, June 22nd, marking their first release since last year’s surprise Meanwhile EP. On “Cracker Island,” the bass maestro lays down the foundation for a catchy, funky instrumental co-produced by Gorillaz with Grammy-winning hitmaker Greg Kurstin and Remi Kabaka Jr. The song itself goes into cult themes, with lyrics like, “On Cracker Island it will die/ Join the collective in the sky/ And on the shining bolt of light.” As part of this new era, Gorillaz have invited fans to join “The Last Cult,” for which bassist Murdoc serves as the “self-appointed Great Leader.” In a press release, lead vocalist 2D said, “It’s nice to be back. I’m well into our new tune,...
Manchester Orchestra Announce Fall 2022 Tour Dates, Share Live Video for “Dinosaur”: Watch
Manchester Orchestra are hitting the road. Fresh off of last year’s The Million Masks of God, one of the best albums of 2021, the Atlanta rockers have announced a new run of 2022 tour dates. Plus, to get you excited, they’ve shared a new live video of the album cut “Dinosaur.” The brief stretch is bookended by performances at Ohana Festival and the first weekend of Austin City Limits, with stops in Ventura, California; Tucson, Arizona; Albuquerque, New Mexico; and Denver, Colorado. It comes after a summer slate heavy on this year’s festival circuit, with appearances at Lollapalooza, Firefly, and more. See Manchester Orchestra’s full list of 2022 tour dates below. Tickets for the Ventura and Tuscon shows go on sale beginning Thursday, June 23rd at 9:00 a.m. local time via Ticketmaster. Grab...
Bartees Strange Announces First-Ever Headlining North American Tour
Bartees Strange just released his 4AD debut, Farm to Table, and now, he’s readied a lengthy 2022 North American run marking his first-ever headlining tour. Spanning more than 20 dates, the trek kicks off in November, where the rising indie rocker will perform in cities like Pittsburgh, Detroit, Austin, Los Angeles, Nashville, and, of course, his hometown of Oklahoma City. Throughout most of the leg, he’ll be supported by Pom Pom Squad, with Spring Silver and They Hate Change joining them in Boston. Tickets go on sale beginning Friday, June 24th at 10:00 a.m. local time via via Ticketmaster. Related Video The string of dates follows the European leg of Strange’s tour, which begins in July. After a stretch of headlining shows, he’ll open up for The National before lending support t...
Foals Preview 2022 Mad Cool Festival Set: “It’s a Great Vibe Playing in Spain”
Listen via Spotify | Google Podcasts | Radio Public | RSS Mad Cool Festival goes down from July 6th to 10th in Madrid, Spain, and the lineup is truly stacked: amidst headliners like Metallica, Jack White, Muse, Florence + The Machine, The Killers, alt-J, and more, Mad Cool will host major performances from Glass Animals, The War On Drugs, CHVRCHES, Two Door Cinema Club, Carly Rae Jepsen, Deftones, Modest Mouse, and many others. Related Video Set to grace the stage on Thursday, July 7th are British rock trio Foals, who also celebrating the release of their excellent seventh album, Life Is Yours, today (June 17th). The band’s new album is destined for a late-night dance party — perfect for a music festival; it will fit Mad Cool’s unforgettable atmosphere well. Foals ...
Weezer Announce Broadway Residency, Drop New SZNZ: Summer EP: Stream
Start calling it the Great Weezer Way, because Weezer is headed to Broadway. The news coincides with the release of the latest EP in the band’s ongoing SZNZ series. Rivers Cuomo and co. will take over The Broadway Theatre for a week beginning Tuesday, September 13th. Across five shows, the band will perform each song cycle of their SZNZ project — Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter — followed by a special encore on closing night. Each night, the band also promises to play corresponding deep cuts from their extensive, career-spanning catalog of three decades. Tickets for the residency go on sale June 24th at 10 am ET via Telecharge. With today being the summer equinox, Weezer also unfurled SZNZ: Summer in all its glory. The follow-up to March’s SZNZ: Spring and its alt radio hit “A Litt...
King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard Announce They’re Dropping “3 More Albums This Year”
King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard took to social media on Friday, June 17th to share their ambitious plans for the rest of 2022. And here’s a hint: there’s a lot more music on the way. “[Three] more albums this year,” the rockers tweeted, sending their loyal fans into hysterics in the comments and replies. “I just threw up and shit myself,” one tweeted upon seeing the news, while another responded, “Just fell to my fucking knees inside a walmart.” Releasing three more studio sets by year’s end will put King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard’s output for 2022 on par with their record for 2017, in which they dropped five albums: Flying Microtonal Banana, Murder of the Universe, the collaborative Sketches of Brunswick East with Mild High Club, the self-released Polygondwanaland, and eleventh hou...
Dawes Embrace Volatility on New Single “Everything Is Permanent”: Stream
This summer, Dawes will share their eighth studio album, Misadventures of Doomscroller. Before its release on July 22nd, the Los Angeles band has offered another preview today with the new single “Everything Is Permanent.” At nearly nine minutes, “Everything Is Permanent” gives Dawes plenty of space to push the envelope. What starts as an unassuming, yet pleasant earworm of a folk-rock number slows down into a dramatic, jazzy middle section, where vocals are replaced by an epic guitar solo. Just as you get comfortable in this mode, however, Dawes disobey the song’s title and switch things up again. In a press release, singer/guitarist Taylor Goldsmith explains that “Everything Is Permanent” refers to the fact that everything about and around us is documented in some manner. Even when thing...
Two Door Cinema Club Return With “Wonderful Life,” Tease Upcoming Album Keep On Smiling: Exclusive
When Two Door Cinema Club returned back in 2019 with False Alarm, there was a delightful tone of being “seriously unserious.” But now, that lighthearted message means something a bit different; after two years of a pandemic and a lengthy period of being stuck at home, playful and positive art helped lessen the weight of our global situation, and as most of us exit lockdown, there’s a definable sense of tension around re-entering the world and starting over. For Two Door Cinema Club, they just want you to keep calm and smile on. Today (June 16th), they’ve announced their forthcoming fifth studio album, set for release on September 2nd of this year. Keep On Smiling as a title implies a couple different things: for one, it’s a steadfast image of positivity and optimism, a plea to keep sp...
“Car Seat Headrest’s Music Is Furry Adjacent”: Will Toledo Talks About Being a Furry
During a performance at Brooklyn Steel in late March, Car Seat Headrest’s Will Toledo showed the world a side of himself that few outside of a small community had seen. He wore his fur suit on stage, offering the public debut of his furry alter-ego, Mortis Jackrabbit. Now, the band has given an interview to Brooklyn Magazine where they spoke about this revealing moment and how CSH’s music has always had roots in the furry community. “I wanted more furries in the crowd,” Toledo recalled of that March night. “It was very impromptu. My friend tried finding someone else to wear the suit but he couldn’t find anybody. So at the last minute, I asked him to bring it and I wore as much of it as I could.” Drummer Andrew Katz added, “A lot of Car Seat’s music is furry adjacent because,...
Foals on the Ecstatic, Unified Energy of New Album Life Is Yours
Back in November, days before the release of Life Is Yours‘ lead single “Wake Me Up,” Foals frontman Yannis Philippakis assured listeners that this album would be a return to a “sweaty, late-night dance floor.” He wasn’t kidding: Life Is Yours is undoubtedly the most groove-oriented, shimmering Foals album yet, destined for the peak of a wild night and smartly positioned as an antithesis to a long period of lockdown. If you are a Foals fan, the streamlined style of Life Is Yours is a bit of a left turn, albeit one that’s closer to the frenetic dance punk of their debut Antidotes and the introspective glow of Total Life Forever. Though a restless energy populates the dance-centric Life Is Yours, there’s very little agitation in the mix — where previous Foals jams like “I...
Flight of the Conchords’ Bret McKenzie Invites You to “Dave’s Place” on New Single: Stream
Bret McKenzie is taking a pause from his comedy group Flight of the Conchords and swooping towards his first-ever solo album Songs Without Jokes this summer. Before the LP is released on August 26th via Sub Pop, the New Zealand musician has shared another sample of it today with the new single “Dave’s Place.” Like most of his songs, McKenzie originally wrote “Dave’s Place” on his guitar at home. What began as a simple country tune eventually grew into a “Dire Straits-esque” blues-rock jam after bringing it to the studio with producer Mickey Petralia in Los Angeles. Despite the song’s peppy, sunshiney flair, the meaning of its lyrics is much more bittersweet. “The song is called ‘Dave’s Place’ after the late Dave Bianco,” McKenzie explains in a press release. “Dave was an amazing audio...
How to Get Tickets to The Smile’s 2022 Tour
The Smile are only just beginning to shine as the Thom Yorke, Jonny Greenwood, and Tom Skinner project heads out on their first full tour together behind their debut LP, and one of Consequence‘s Top 30 Albums of 2022 (So Far), A Light for Attracting Attention. Now they’ve expanded their initial outing with a full North American leg starting in November. Get tickets here, and read on for more details including pre-sale dates. What Is The Smile’s Next Tour? The Smile kicked off their first tour in May with an ongoing UK/European leg that stretches to the end of July and includes appearances at Denmark’s Roskilde Festival, Switzerland’s Montreux Jazz Festival, and the final stop at London’s All Points East on August 28th. Advertisement Related Video The additional North American leg is no “Th...
