Entertainment News
New Order Unveil New Song “Be a Rebel”: Stream
Since dropping their excellent album Music Complete in 2015, New Order have been zoned in on special reissues like their upcoming Power, Corruption, & Lies box set instead of recording new music. But that changes today with the release of “Be a Rebel”, a brand new single and their first original music in five years. “Be a Rebel” was originally planned to be released during New Order’s autumn tour, but the band had to postpone those dates due to the ongoing coronavirus. They’ve decided to share the track digitally anyway to uplift listeners. It’ll receive a physical release on 12-inch vinyl and CD with remixes at a later date as well. “In tough times we wanted to reach out with a new song,” said Bernard Sumner in a statement. “We can’t play live for a while, but music is still something...
Fender Announces New Billie Eilish Signature Ukulele
Every big star started out small, and that’s more true of Billie Eilish than most. As a budding musician, the first instrument she learned to play was not a guitar, but its diminutive cousin the ukulele. Now the “Bad Guy” singer has partnered with Fender to release the Billie Eilish Signature Ukulele, available as of today. Like Eilish’s wardrobe, the design is both playful and lux. The colors are matte black and gold, with Eilish’s famous “blohsh” person slouching across the front. The top and bottom are both made of sapele, while chords are held against a walnut fingerboard with white dot inlays. The technically-inclined will be interested to note Nichole hardware and a Fishman Kula preamp that allows the ukulele to be plugged in. It retails for $299.99, and can be purchased through the ...
Electronic Music Duo Autechre Announce New Album SIGN
Veteran electronic music outfit Autechre are set to return with a new album this fall. Dubbed SIGN, it’s due out October 16th through longtime label Warp Records. The forthcoming effort follows the duo’s NTS Sessions, a collection of music broadcast during Autechre’s NTS Radio residency in 2018, as well as elseq 1-5 from 2016, a record comprised of five 50-minute segments. Per a statement, with a running time just a little over an hour, SIGN marks the British group’s first standard-length album since Exai from way back in 2013. SIGN contains a total of 11 songs. Among them are titles such as “M4 Lema”, “Metaz form8”, “gr4”, and “psin AM”, all seemingly strange and nonsensical, as is usually the case for Autechre’s Rob Brown and Sean Booth. Editors’ Picks Further album details are sti...
Disney Plus Sets October 30th Premiere for The Mandalorian Season 2
Mark your calendars: Disney+ has set an October 30th premiere for Season 2 of The Mandalorian, Jon Favreau’s acclaimed Star Wars spinoff series starring Pedro Pascal and Baby Yoda. One of our most anticipated TV series of Fall 2020, the upcoming season will feature the addition of Timothy Olyphant as Cobb Vanth (reportedly in the Boba Fett armor); Rosario Dawson as Ahsoka Tano, the former Jedi Padawan of Anakin Skywalker turned spymaster for the Rebel Alliance; and the return of Jengo Fett actor Temuera Morrison, only this time he’s playing Boba Fett. Robert Rodriguez is also said to be directing an episode. In our review, Consequence of Sound described The Mandalorian Season 1 as “the riskiest Star Wars expansion yet,” with writer Andrew Bloom specifically&nb...
Tiger King’s Carole Baskin Joins Dancing with the Stars Season 29
If you thought Dancing with the Stars found the bottom of the barrel with Sean Spicer, just wait till you see a potential murderer take the stage. Yes, ABC’s hit celebrity reality competition show has booked Tiger King star Carole Baskin to join the Season 29 cast. Baskin, who will take over the now-shuttered Tiger King zoo at the end of the month, will sashay on DWTS alongside rapper Nelly, Backstreet Boys member AJ McLean, and One Day at a Time star Justina Machado. Other “famous” contestants for the new season include Monica Aldama, a head coach from Netflix’s Cheer; Bachelorette lead Kaitlyn Bristowe; NFL tight end Vernon Davis; Skai Jackson, Disney Channel star and voice actress; actress Anne Heche; Nev Schulman, host of MTV’s Catfish; Olympic figure skater Johnny Weir; former NB...
Micachu and the Shapes Change Name, Announce New Album: Stream
Micachu and the Shapes, the noisy indie-pop band led by Under the Skin composer Mica Levi, are back. They have renamed the group Good Sad Happy Bad — taken from their 2015 full-length of the same name — and have announced a new album called Shades. It’s due out October 16th via French label Textile Records. Shades is Good Sad Happy Bad’s fifth studio album to date and their first new music since releasing the Taz and May Vids EP in 2016. According to the record label, Good Sad Happy Bad have shuffled their musical duties on the 12-track full-length, with Raisa Khan taking on lead vocals, Levi playing playing guitar and electronics, Marc Pell on drums, and CJ Calderwood contributing vocals, saxophone, and recorder. To coincide with today’s announcement, Good Sad Happy Bad have also sha...
Gorillaz Announce New Song with The Cure’s Robert Smith
Gorillaz have The Cure for your quarantine blues. For the sixth installment of the Song Machine series, the venerable virtual rockers have announced a new single featuring the Godfather of Goth, Robert Smith. No release date has been set and few details are known. But the band left a few tantalizing bread crumbs on Twitter. They wrote, “Coming up on Song Machine… It’s @RobertSmith.” This was followed by a spaceship emoji, as well as the instructions to “Follow your nearest Song Machine NOW!” That cartoon rocket seems more significant combined with the accompanying promotional pic. It features the cartoon band dressed as astronauts and exploring a rocky orb in space. Looming in the distance is the Earth, and looming close by is Robert Smith, looking like the dark side of the moon ...
Colin Meloy and Laura Veirs Join Raye Zaragoza on New Song “They Say”: Stream
Colin Meloy (photo by David Brendan Hall), Raye Zaragoza (photo by Cultivate Consulting), and Laura Veirs Folk artist and protest music songwriter Raye Zaragoza has announced a new album, Woman in Color. Due out October 23rd through Rebel River Records, it’s being previewed today with a single called “They Say”, featuring harmonica from The Decemberists frontman Colin Meloy and banjo arrangements courtesy of veteran folk musician Laura Veirs. A timely number, it finds Zaragoza taking the US government to task for its piss-poor response to the coronavirus crisis. “This song is about the dysfunction of American power structures. It’s about how the systems built to support the people don’t support all people,” she explained in a statement. “Especially during a pandemic, it’s been ex...
Metallica Are First Act to Top Billboard’s Mainstream Rock Chart in Four Different Decades
Metallica have added another milestone to their storied history. The metal titans just became the first act to hit No. 1 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock airplay chart in four different decades, topping the latest tally with their performance of “All Within My Hands” from their recent S&M2 release. Justifiably, it should be five decades of topping the chart, but the band never had a No. 1 rock hit in the ’80s, despite a legendary output of albums in that era. In fact, Metallica didn’t even have a song crack the Top 40 of the Mainstream Rock chart during that decade. Not even 1991’s “Black Album” produced a chart-topper, even though it’s the biggest selling album of the SoundScan era. Instead, Metallica scored their first No. 1 on the Mainstream Rock chart in 1996 with “Until It Sleeps”...
Bilal Releases New Star-Studded Album VOYAGE-19: Stream
Veteran R&B and soul artist Bilal has returned with his first album in five years. Stream VOYAGE-19 below via Bandcamp. The long-awaited follow-up to 2015’s In Another Life was created over the course of just three days last month in partnership with Brooklyn-based studio HighBreedMusic. Joining the Grammy-winning musician remotely was a long list of special guests, who all recorded their parts in real time as part of a live event. Among those who participated: Erykah Badu, Robert Glasper, Nick Hakim, Cory Henry, Madison McFerrin, Marcus Strickland, and Jaime Woods. Ben Williams, Ray Angry, Brandee Younger, Marcus Gilmore, Louis Cato, and Melanie Charles also appear on the project. VOYAGE-19 is broken up into three separate parts, one for each day: “Day One – Warning-19”, “Day Two...
Yes Co-Founder Jon Anderson on Why Music Is Timeless
Kyle Meredith With… Jon Anderson Listen via Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google Play | Stitcher | Radio Public | RSS Yes co-founder Jon Anderson gives Kyle Meredith a call to talk about 1000 Hands: Chapter One. The new solo album took 30 years to finish, and Anderson revisits its epic journey. He also discusses the origins of the tracks, working with Jethro Tull’s Ian Anderson, where he gets his sense of melody, and the vocalizations he does each day. The legend also discusses the four new songs to be written for the album, their themes of living in the now, and his quest to figure out where music comes from. Kyle Meredith With… is an interview series in which WFPK’s Kyle Meredith speaks to a wide breadth of musicians. Every M...
Billie Eilish Designs Sleek 2028 Olympics Logo
Assuming America is still intact after the global pandemic and Election Day, the 2028 Summer Olympics are set to take place in Los Angeles. The Olympics Committee has already chosen an official logo, but also enlisted a number of LA-based celebrities to design their own alternate versions. One of those chosen to participate was Billie Eilish, a fitting choice considering she just performed at the Democratic National Convention, has an aesthetic that resonates with the youth, and actually is optimistic about “my future”. For these alternate designs, celebrities were allowed to play around with just the “A” in the LA portion of the logo. Taking inspiration from her own font and merchandise (see example below), Eilish turned the “A” into a slime green GIF. The letter appears and disappears so...
