Entertainment News
Unborn Baby Records Debut Album
For decades, musicians have recorded music with the specific intent of helping foster child development in utero and teach soon-to-be kids iconic rap hooks. Now the tables have turned: an unborn baby has recorded her debut album, presumably for the enjoyment of full-grown humans. The baby, named Luca Yupanqui, is the soon-to-be child of Psychic Ills bassist Elizabeth Hart and Lee “Scratch” Perry collaborator Iván Diaz Mathé. Yupanqui created the songs on her album using biosonic MIDI technology that translated her in-utero movements into sound. The MIDI device was hooked to Hart’s stomach, recorded the vibrations created by Yupanqui, and transcribed them into Mathé’s synthesizers, a meditative process that took place over five hour-long sessions. Hart and Mathé then edited and mixed the re...
Rostam Shares New Solo Song “These Kids We Knew”: Stream
Last month, Rostam set Amanda Gorman’s now-famous Inauguration poem to music using piano arrangements. The former Vampire Weekend member is back today, this time with a dazzling original song of his own dubbed “These Kids We Knew”. Stream it below. This new offering revolves around a musical pulse meant to reflect the innocence of youth and the impermanence of stability. According to a press release, Rostam wrote “These Kids We Knew” in a “fever-dream state” in March of last year — during which he was recovering from COVID-19 — while reflecting on the push and pull of societal responsibility. “I was thinking of three generations while I was writing this song,” he explained. “There’s a generation of adults who don’t see global warming as their problem because they think they won’t...
Jeff Bezos Will Step Down as Amazon CEO
Alexa, what do you do after you’ve conquered the world? In an email to his employees, Amazon founder and Chief Executive Officer Jeff Bezos has announced he’ll be stepping down in Q3, with current head of Amazon Web Services Andy Jassy taking over. Bezos will transition to the role of Executive Chairman, where he’ll be less involved in day-to-day operations but still focused on long-term strategy. In his letter, Bezos wrote that, “In the Exec Chair role, I intend to focus my energies and attention on new products and early initiatives,” while investing more time in his personal and philanthropic projects. He continued, “As Exec Chair I will stay engaged in important Amazon initiatives but also have the time and energy I need to focus on the Day 1 Fund, the Bezos Earth Fund, Blue Origin, Th...
Meskerem Mees Unveils New Song “Seasons Shift”: Stream
21-year-old songwriter Meskerem Mees drew international attention with her first single “Joe”, and now she’s proving she’s a talent to watch with her new song “Seasons Shift”. Mees enchants from the moment she opens her mouth, with an ethereal voice and cosmopolitan accent (she’s Belgian with Ethiopian roots). Alongside her friend the cellist Febe Lazou, she crafts gentle music out of turbulent emotions. “Seasons Shift” is more about a variable person than the changing weather, with lyrics that track differences over time. She sings of someone who “got serious in December/ Lonely in July, though you wouldn’t tell me why/ It might have been easier just to call me but you preferred to cry.” At first she seems to be sketching out a failed relationship, but as the song progresses, her co...
YouTuber Masterfully Performs Depeche Mode’s “Personal Jesus” as a Motörhead Song: Watch
YouTuber Denis Pauna imagines an alternate universe where hit songs were recorded by different artists. For his latest hypothetical, Pauna pondered, “What if Motörhead wrote ‘Personal Jesus’ by Depeche Mode?’” That’s the title of the Croatian musician’s latest pseudo-mashup cover. As if to discover the answer to his own question, he dressed up in full Motörhead regalia — even donning Lemmy Kilmister’s signature mutton chops — and played Depeche Mode’s classic in the vein of the British heavy metal pioneers. As Pauna proves, if Motörhead had written “Personal Jesus”, it would have still been an awesome song. Over a propulsive riff and the crushing Kilmister bass tone — all played by Pauna himself — hearing the chorus rendered through his spot-on Lemmy bark is truly satisfying. It made us cu...
Steven Wilson Transforms into Brad Pitt, David Bowie, Donald Trump, and More in “Self” Video: Watch
Prog rocker Steven Wilson has unveiled a disturbing deepfake music video for his latest single, “Self”. The track appears on Wilson’s new album, The Future Bites, which was released last week. Following the post-modern dystopia theme of the album, Wilson used deepfake facial mapping technology for the video, transforming himself into a motley crew of notable celebrities, politicians, and musicians. If you’ve ever wanted to see Donald Trump go prog, now’s your chance. The likes of Joe Biden, David Bowie, Hillary Clinton, Brad Pitt, Mark Zuckerberg, Robert Downey Jr., and more appear in Wilson’s influencer choir. The deepfake imaging falls somewhere between convincing and downright terrifying — maybe more toward the latter, since Wilson’s face changes but his hair stays the same, resulting i...
Russell Louder Shares Origins of New Track “Home”: Stream
In our new music feature Origins, artists are asked to give listeners unique insights into their latest track. Today, Russell Louder explains how they found “Home”. For Russell Louder, the most basic definition of ‘home’ would be Prince Edward Island. Though they were raised on the nautical Canadian province, they now split their time between PEI and Montreal. Factor in the journey the singer has gone on as a trans individual, and you can understand how the idea of ‘home’ is a bit fluid for them. But while discovering your place of supreme comfort is often seen as a daunting challenge, Louder finds excitement in the quest on her new single, “Home”. Over a beat buzzing and clanging with retro synth sounds, they sing not just of the terrible uncertainty of “finding home,” but the boundless p...
R.I.P. Ricky Powell, Iconic Hip-Hop Photographer and Honorary Beastie Boy Dead at 59
Ricky Powell, the celebrated hip-hop photographer who was known as the honorary fourth member of the Beastie Boys, has died at age 59. Powell’s manager and business partner Tono Radvany confirmed that his client had passed away on the night of February 1st. No cause of death has yet to be revealed. “I just want to let everyone know he was a very special man, and he will be sorely missed,” Radvany told Complex. A New York City native through and through, the Brooklyn-born Powell entered photography mainly to stick it to an ex-girlfriend. He discovered a camera she’d left behind and determined to use it to make a name for himself. After photographing art galleries in Greenwich Village and hip-hop shows in downtown Manhattan for a year, he was able to quit his job selling lemon ices to head o...
Marilyn Manson Removed From Two TV Series Following Evan Rachel Wood’s Abuse Allegations
The fallout continues for Marilyn Manson following abuse allegations from actress Evan Rachel Wood and four other women. The veteran rocker has now been removed from two TV series as a result of the accusations. Manson had already appeared in the Season 3 premiere of the Starz series American Gods as the frontman of Viking death metal band called Blood Death. In the wake of the allegations, he will be removed from a future episode. “Starz stands unequivocally with all victims and survivors of abuse. Due to the allegations made against Marilyn Manson, we have decided to remove his performance from the remaining episode he is in, scheduled to air later this season,” the network said in a statement. The shock rocker was also set to appear in the upcoming second season of Creepshow on AMC’s st...
Cannibal Corpse Announce New Album Violence Unimagined
Death metal pioneers Cannibal Corpse have announced their 15th studio album, Violence Unimagined — one of our most anticipated heavy albums of 2021. They also premiered the lead single, “Inhuman Harvest”, on Monday (February 1st) via SiriusXM’s “Liquid Metal” program. Needless to say, Cannibal Corpse haven’t let up over their 30-plus year career, and “Inhuman Harvest” is as brutal as ever. George “Corpsegrinder” Fisher spews forth his vocals offer a bed of necrotic downtuned death metal. It’s classic Cannibal Corpse, and we wouldn’t want it any other way. That said, it’s uncertain whether troubled guitarist Pat O’Brien is on the recording. All signs indicate that O’Brien — who was involved a bizarre incident involving over 80 firearms and human skulls in 2018 — was not in the studio when C...
Kelsey Grammer in Talks for Frasier Reboot
The executives at ViacomCBS are hankering for toss salad and scrambled eggs, hoping for a revival of the hit sitcom Frasier. As Variety reports, the company is in early talks with star Kelsey Grammer for a reboot that would air on Paramount+, its rebranded streaming service set to replace CBS All Access. Frasier was the Dave Grohl to Cheers’ Nirvana; a spin-off from a beloved cultural institution that went on to outlast the original. Starring Grammar, David Hyde Pierce, Jane Leeves, Peri Gilpin, and John Mahoney, who died in 2018, Frasier ran from 1993 to 2004, winning a record-breaking 37 Primetime Emmy Awards and taking home five consecutive trophies for Outstanding Comedy Series. At a time when far less successful franchises have been brought back fro...
R.I.P. Dustin Diamond, Saved by the Bell’s “Screech” Dead at 44
Dustin Diamond, the actor who famously played Screech on Saved by the Bell, has died at the age of 44. Last month, Diamond was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer. TMZ reports that he passed away early Monday (February 1st). Born January 7th, 1977, Diamond said goodbye to a normal childhood at the age of 11, when he appeared in the first non-pilot episode of the Disney Channel original series Good Morning, Miss Bliss. That show transferred to NBC in 1989, in the process moving from John F. Kennedy Junior High to Bayside High School and acquiring the new name Saved by the Bell. Diamond played the role of Samuel “Screech” Powers throughout the show’s initial run (1989-93), plus the TV movie Saved by the Bell: Hawaiian Style (1992), the sequel series The College Years (1993-94), the two-h...
