After months of anticipation, Elvis Costello will finally release his 31st studio album, Hey Clockface, tomorrow (October 30th). To promote the effort, the legendary musician appeared on Colbert Wednesday night to perform “Hey Clockface / How Can You Face Me” alongside A Late Show bandleader Jon Batiste. Holding his spring suspension microphone perhaps a little too close to his computer camera, Costello delivered what felt like a very old-timey performance despite all the technology involved. Batiste, as he always does, gamely played along at his piano, smiling the whole time. The pair also dusted off “Party Girl”, from Costello’s 1979 album Armed Forces, for a Play at Home online exclusive. Check out both performances below. Editors’ Picks Prior to playing his songs, Costello Z...
Veteran rapper Busta Rhymes has more to flaunt these days than just a fresh physique: his forthcoming album features the first new Kendrick Lamar verse of 2020. Their collaborative song is called “Look Over Your Shoulder” and has been released today in anticipation of the album’s October 30th release. “Look Over Your Shoulder” technically dates back a few years. The joint track was initially leaked around 2018, and then recirculated again in 2019. Even so, at this point — more than three years removed from the damn good DAMN. — any Kendrick is good Kendrick. As with those early leaks, the 2020 version is built around the Jackson 5 classic “I’ll Be There”, with Busta and Kung Fu Kenny trading bars both sentimental and boastful. During his anticipated turn in the spotlight, Kendrick pro...
In our new music feature Origins, we give artists the opportunity to explain the influences of their latest single. Today, Gianna Lauren tells us about the internet algorithms that haunt “Closed Chapter”. Next month, folk songwriter Gianna Lauren will release a new EP called Vanity Metrics. Recorded over the course of two weeks, the project explores feelings of love, loss, and sorrow. These deep reflections are tied to the effort’s title, which “refers to useless music industry data,” and the way in which worth is now often dictated by hollow online algorithms. The heart of the EP is probably best conveyed on today’s single, “Closed Chapter”. The new track grapples with the vicious cycle of internet metrics: “algorithms fucking up mainstream beauty standards, acknowledging...
Just in time for Thanksgiving, Goodie Mob have announced a kind of Dungeon Family reunion. Their new album Survival Kit drops November 13th, and will feature guest verses from old collaborators André 3000, Big Boi, and Big Rube, as well as the legend Chuck D. Production was handled by the Family crew Organized Noize. If the four members of Goodie Mob, the three producers in Organized Noize, the two representatives of OutKast, and Rube did come together at a Thanksgiving feast, their roles would be clear: André 3000 and Big Boi are the brothers who don’t talk anymore; Khujo and T-Mo are cousins who’re closer than brothers; Organized Noize cook and carve the turkey; Big Rube delivers the blessing; Big Gipp loudly says, “Their eyes are red!” after you and your cousin come back from a wal...
The coronavirus pandemic is still raging on, and that means everyone should follow the CDC guidelines: quarantine when you’re feeling sick, socially distance when you’re out, and wear a mask if there’s anyone nearby no matter what. Thankfully, Nine Inch Nails can help you with that last step, as they’ve just rolled out their own line of face masks to deal with COVID-19. Say hello to the “NIN Modular Face Mask Starter Kit”, a $35 ctton face mask deal that comes with interchangeable messages “for uncertain times” like these. Both of the grey and black masks have a filter, a bendable nose band, adjustable over-the-ear ringlets, and 13 replaceable patches to let the world know how you’re feeling: “DIRTY,” “CLEAN,” “NUMB,” “ENRAGED,” “BROKEN,” “FIXED,” “FRAGILE,” “PIG,” “ASLEEP,” “AWAKE,” “COMP...
Crowded House have released their first new music in a decade. It’s a single called “Whatever You Want” and it comes with a music video starring a very hallucinatory Mac DeMarco. The Australian rockers have been pretty quiet over the past decade, but perhaps that’s about to change with the release of “Whatever You Want”. It follows their 2010 album Intriguer, but it doesn’t sound out of shape. In fact, the single sounds as lively and composed as something Crowded House would have released in the early 2000s, not to mention lead singer Neil Finn sounds his best. In the music video, directed by Nina Ljeti, DeMarco wakes up from a drunken stupor on a couch, trophy in hand, and shakes off some troubling flashbacks. As he goes about getting ready for the day, he begins hallucinating conversatio...
For everyone who loved the chorus of “Born in the USA” and glossed over the verses, it may come as a surprise to learn that Bruce Springsteen is not a fan of Donald Trump. In the most recent episode of his SiriusXM radio show “From My Home to Yours”, The Boss shared a prose poem lamenting that “There’s no art in this White House,” and mourning how “we’ve lost so much in so short a time.” The episode’s full title was “From My Home To Yours, Volume 14: Farewell To The Thief.” Capturing the national psyche, his election episode was also a horror episode. “It is time for an exorcism in our nation’s Capital,” Springsteen said to being the program. “Welcome to our Halloween/election day monster mash.” He added, “In just a few days, we’ll be throwing the bums out. I thought it was a fucking night...
At barely 21 years old, Neil Young released his first album with Buffalo Springfield in 1966 and then, two years later, dropped his self-titled solo debut. Ever since then, the folk rocker has been churning out political anthem after classic rock staple without much pause in between. It’s an equally impressive and intimidating career, but that hasn’t stopped his older brother, Bob Young, from launching a music project of his own at 78 years old. Bob Young uploaded his debut single today out of nowhere. As Exclaim points out, it’s called “Hey America” and it sees the former professional golfer adopt the moniker Young Bob & the Peterboroughs. The group features Bob Young on lead vocals and guitar, Neil Young on harmonica, Ryan Weber on bass, Melissa Pyne on fiddle, Mike Belitsk...
Outlaw country legend Billy Joe Shaver died Wednesday in Waco, Texas, after suffering a stroke. His friend Connie Nelson confirmed the news to Rolling Stone. He was 81 years old. Though not as well known for his own recordings, Shaver was a pioneer of the outlaw country movement thanks to his hard-lived songwriting. He penned 10 of the 11 songs on Honky Tonk Heroes, Waylon Jennings’ 1973 album seen as perhaps the seminal effort in the genre. Kris Kristofferson, Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley, Patty Loveless, and Bob Dylan all recorded his work, while Willie Nelson once dubbed him “the greatest living songwriter.” The Texas native had plenty of inspiration to draw on, from cutting off two of his fingers in a sawmill accident at the age of 21, to run-ins with the law, to years of personal t...
Giannis Antetokounmpo’s life is like a fairytale story, so it’s no shock that Disney is making a movie about the NBA icon and his brother, Thanasis Antetokounmpo. What does come as a surprise, though, is the fact that they’re looking for everyday people to star as him — no experience necessary. “Disney is making a movie based on my family’s story and they are searching for actors to play me and my brother, Thanasis, in our younger days,” tweeted Antetokounmpo. “No experience necessary! It helps if you resemble the handsome boys pictured below and have some basketball experience. SPREAD THE WORD!” Born in Athens, Greece as the son of Nigerian immigrants, Antetokounmpo fell in love with basketball as a kid, joined a semi-pro local league, and made himself eligible for the NBA draft abroad. C...