Entertainment News
Neil Young Issues Statement Addressing Capitol Insurrection: “There Is No Place Here for White Supremacy”
Neil Young has released a statement about the violent Capitol insurrection in Washington, DC last week, which has left at least five dead. The veteran songwriter condemned the pro-Trump-led attack and white supremacy, while also calling for “empathy” and unity going forward. Young said that both “sadness and compassion hit me” while watching news footage of the chaos and bloodshed. “Resentment of the Democratic party among the insurrectionists at the Capitol was rampant. We don’t need this hate,” remarked Young. “We need discussion and solutions. Respect for one another’s beliefs.” The 75-year-old also criticized the pitiful police response to the DC attack. “I was devastated to see the double standard,” Young wrote. “The way people were treated in the BLM demonstrations recently, compared...
EVH Unveils New 2021 Guitar Models in Eddie Van Halen’s Honor
EVH has unveiled a new series of colorful guitar models for 2021, honoring the company’s founder and namesake, the late Eddie Van Halen. All in all, there are nine new EVH guitars coming in early 2021. New models for the 5150 Series will include the 5150 Series Deluxe Poplar Burl featuring ebony fingerboard ($999.99 MSRP), the 5150 Series Standard with ebony fingerboard ($899.99), and the neon pink finished 5150 Series Standard with maple fingerboard ($899.99). The standard guitar will be available in February while the Poplur Burl arrives in April. The reimagined 5150 series guitars are engineered for “speed” and “comfort” — no surprise given Eddie’s lightning fast playing technique. The guitars’ Stratocaster-style basswood body has a deeper upper body curve, bold-on quarter-sawn maple ne...
Dr. Dre Still in ICU One Week After Brain Aneurysm
Dr. Dre in 2019, celebrating his 54th birthday, photo via social media Dr. Dre still remains in the intensive care unit (ICU) of Cedars-Sinai Medical Center one week after suffering a brain aneurysm. According to TMZ, doctors of the Los Angeles area hospital are keeping Dr. Dre in the ICU in order to continue running “a battery of tests to get to the root problem” of his condition. It’s still unclear what caused the aneurysm in the first place. Medical officials also say they want to be within reach “in case” the former N.W.A. rapper has a second aneurysm. The 55-year-old Chronic legend was initially rushed to the ICU last Monday, January 5th. His condition seemed to be under control by later that evening, as Dr. Dre was described as “stable and lucid.” The Aftermath Entertainment label he...
Black Country, New Road Unveil New Song “Track X”: Stream
The buzzy Brits of Black Country, New Road have returned with the new song called “Track X”. It’s the latest preview of their debut album For the first time, out February 5th. Like previous releases, “Track X” is understated and eccentric. Frontman Isaac Wood sings in a tone just above spoken word while brass instruments sketch butterflies around his voice. Even as the music looks forward with a heady mix of post-punk and jazz, the lyrics turn fondly backwards, remembering the place “where we fucked as kids,” and the time “I told you I love you in front of black midi.” In a statement, Wood explained how the song came together, saying, “Track X is a song we first worked on in 2018 but one that never made it out into our live performances. We decided to resurrect it during the reco...
Danny Elfman Shares Creepy New Solo Song “Sorry”: Stream
Halloween may be long past, but Danny Elfman has creepy treat for us. The beloved composer has returned with a new solo song called “Sorry” and an accompanying video. The expectedly eerie offering is only the second solo song Elfman has shared in the last 36 years (!), following last fall’s “Happy”. Like that tune, “Sorry” is being released via the indie labels ANTI-/ Epitaph Records, which feels like an interesting home for the guy who made the Nightmare Before Christmas soundtrack. In a statement, Elfman said “Sorry” is “the first song I’ve written for myself in a long time,” and detailed its “alien” beginnings, “It began as an obsessive choral-chant instrumental work, which at the time I called ‘alien orchestral chamber punk’ and evolved slowly into a song. I was surprised by the a...
Blanck Mass Announces New Album In Ferneaux, Shares “Starstuff”: Stream
Blanck Mass is the solo electronic music project of Benjamin John Power, co-founder of drone outfit Fuck Buttons. Today, the British artist has announced a new album dubbed In Ferneaux, due for release next month via Sacred Bones. The follow-up to 2019’s Animated Violence Mild was written and recorded during quarantine, and is very much a product of its time. Blanck Mass created the album using a decade’s worth of field recordings from his various travels — purposely bringing memories and relationships back to life during a period of great separation and isolation. These recordings inform both halves of In Ferneaux, with each section representing a so-called “long-form journey” in the UK musician’s life. “The journeys are haunted with the vestiges of voices, places, and sensations,” descri...
Lana Del Rey Details New Album, Promptly Puts Foot In Mouth
Lana Del Rey is nearing the release of her seventh studio album, Chemtrails over the Country Club. On Sunday, ahead of a new single, Del Rey revealed the album’s cover as well as its 11-song tracklist. Chemtrails includes the previously revealed single, “Let Me Love You Like a Woman”, as well as her cover of Joni Mitchell’s “For Free”. The album’s title track will be released as a new teaser single on Monday. The artwork depicts Del Ray posting with a group of friends. In the comments’ section of her Instagram, the singer said the cover is a reflection of her diverse social circle: “We are all a beautiful mix of everything- some more than others which is visible and celebrated in everything I do.” “In 11 years working I have always been extremely inclusive without even trying to,” Del...
HBO Max Announces Sex and the City Sequel Series And Just Like That…
HBO Max has officially announced And Just Like That…, a Sex and the City sequel series starring Sarah Jessica Parker, Cynthia Nixon, and Kristin Davis. The 10-episode, half-hour series will follow Carrie (Parker), Miranda (Nixon), and Charlotte (Davis) as they “navigate the journey from the complicated reality of life and friendship in their 30s to the even more complicated reality of life and friendship in their 50s,” according to a press release. Sex and the City co-star Kim Cattrall, who’s been feuding with Parker for the last several years, will not be returning for the sequel series. Based on Candace Bushnell’s book of the same name, Sex and the City ran for six seasons between 1998 and 2004. Two feature-length films followed in 2008 and 2010. There were plans for a third movie in 201...
Madlib and Four Tet Detail New Collaborative Album Sound Ancestors
Madlib and Four Tet have shared details of their new collaborative album Sound Ancestors. It arrives Friday, January 29th via Madlib Invazion. The tracklist and artwork are out now. Sound Ancestors is credited to Madlib, with Four Tet handling the editing, arranging, and mastering of the 16-song effort. In a social media statement, Four Tet explained the unusual work arrangement, writing, “He is always making loads of music in all sorts of styles and I was listening to some of his new beats and studio sessions when I had the idea that it would be great to hear some of these ideas made into a Madlib album. Not made into beats for vocalists to use but instead arranged into tracks that could all flow together in an album designed to be listened to start to finish. I put this co...
Arnold Schwarzenegger Gives Rousing Speech Defending Democracy While Holding Sword: Watch
Arnold Schwarzenegger has lived a long and varied life. The first superstar bodybuilder transitioned into a career as one of the biggest movie stars in history, and he followed that up with two terms as the 38th Governor of California. In a video posted to Twitter on January 10th, Ahnald brought all of his considerable talents to bear on America’s wavering democracy, and he did it with historical analogies, deeply personal stories, and of course, an enormous broadsword. Schwarzenegger began by framing himself as “an immigrant to this country,” a man raised in Austria in the shadow of Nazi rule. “I’m very aware of Kristallnacht, or the Night of Broken Glass, It was a night of rampage against the Jews carried out in 1938 by the Nazi equivalent of the Proud Boys,” he said, before turning his ...
Trent Reznor, Billy Corgan, Gary Oldman & Others Sing Bowie Songs for 74th Birthday Livestream: Watch
On Saturday night, David Bowie’s friends, collaborators, and some of the many musicians he inspired came together to celebrate his 74th birthday. (The event had originally been scheduled for Friday night, but was postponed due to technical difficulties.) Among the many highlights: Trent Reznor, along with his Nine Inch Nails bandmate Atticus Ross, Reznor’s wife Mariqueen Maandig, and Bowie collaborator Mike Garson, performed covers of “Fantastic Voyage” and “Fashion”. Billy Corgan played “Space Oddity”, Duran Duran covered “Five Years”, and The Cult’s Ian Astbury tackled “Lazarus”. Bowie’s close friend Gary Oldman sang Tin Machine’s “I Can’t Read”, and Michael C. Hall, who starred in Bowie’s musical Lazarus, performed “Where Are We Now?”. Slipknot’s Corey Taylor, Foo Fighters’ Taylor Hawki...
R.I.P. Marsha Zazula, Megaforce Records Co-Founder Who Helped Launch Metallica’s Career Dies at 68
Marsha Zazula, who co-founded Megaforce Records with her husband Jon Zazula (aka Jonny Z), has sadly passed away at the age of 68. The couple were instrumental in launching the careers of Metallica, Anthrax, and other metal bands. Marsha’s passing was confirmed by her daughter Rikki Zazula, who wrote, “RIP Mom April 21, 1952 – January 10, 2021. Your love, Your strength, Your memory and Your music has changed lives and will continue to FOREVER.” Along with Jonny, Marsha helped open the door for thrash metal on the East Coast. Jonny quit a Wall Street job and the pair began selling records at a flea market under the name Rock N’ Roll Heaven. Eventually, they established a New Jersey store that became an influential metal destination. Upon hearing Metallica’s No Life ‘Til Leather demo, Jonny ...
