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10 Record Store Day 2021 Releases Every Music Fan Should Own
Crate Digging is a recurring feature in which we take a deep dive into a genre and turn up several albums all music fans should know about. In this special edition of the series, we’re shining a spotlight on Record Store Day‘s second drop of 2021 by rounding up the 10 releases you won’t want to miss. Due to the global pandemic, Record Store Day 2021 was split into two “RSD Drops,” with the first occurring on June 12th. (RSD typically occurs in April of each year.) Saturday, July 17th marks the second and final event; as always, it’s a celebration among independent record stores uplifting the collection and preservation of vinyl. RSD has grown into a global event and continues to include designated releases — below, we’ve rounded up our picks for ten can’t-miss Record Store Day drops, in no...
Clairo’s Sling Is a Luminous, Devastatingly Intimate Portrait of Domesticity
Just four years ago, Claire Cottrill was creating lo-fi bedroom pop on a simple keyboard. Then her now-certified-platinum song “Pretty Girl” went viral on YouTube, and the unexpectedly biting track cascaded into a breadth of opportunities for the young artist, who performs as Clairo. After dozens of festival shows, collaborations, and an EP, she released her excellent debut album Immunity in 2019 to widespread acclaim. Although many doubted Clairo’s ability to showcase a strong musical identity due to her age, background, and her viral moments, Immunity was an impressive and personal foray into her unique brand of indie pop. (It also sparked her first Billboard hit in “Sofia,” which enjoyed TikTok attention in the autumn of 2020.) Now, two years later, Clairo returns with Sling, an organic...
Bartees Strange on Independent Venue Week, Upcoming Music
“I’m ready to move on to the next thing,” Bartees Strange tells SPIN. It’s a logical impulse, especially since his debut LP, 2020’s Live Forever, restlessly shuffles through genres — indie-rock, folk, emo, hip-hop, soul — like playing cards. October also wasn’t the most optimal time for a life-changing career move: With COVID-19 grinding live music to a halt, Strange couldn’t organically advance the momentum of his late-night spots or year-end accolades. Not that he’s complaining. “I’m just grateful,” he says. “Going into the pandemic, I was working a full-time job and trying to figure out how to do music more. Now I look at my calendar and it’s just music stuff. It’s incredible.” But now, knee-deep into recording another album, and with an actual tour launching in September, he’s ready to...
Coheed and Cambria’s Claudio Sanchez on Navigating the Pandemic, 2021 Tour, and New Music
Coheed and Cambria have kept busy during the past year, between launching a coffee line, collaborating with Rick Springfield on the song “Jessie’s Girl 2”, doing Twitch streams, and working on some musical side projects. “We each tried to be creative in our own unique ways apart from each other and navigate the isolation as best we knew how,” frontman Claudio Sanchez tells Heavy Consequence. Sanchez caught up with Heavy Consequence to discuss Coheed and Cambria’s upcoming tour with The Used, how he and the band navigated the pandemic, and various other projects. He also gave us a hint as to what fans can expect as far as new Coheed music. Advertisement Related Video Pick up tickets to Coheed and Cambria’s tour with The Used via Ticketmaster, and purchase Coheed’s line of Coffee Roasters pr...
Unpacking the 73rd Emmy Awards Nominations: Snubs & Surprises
The 73rd annual Emmy nominations were announced this morning, with ever-shifting and expanding categories adding plenty of chaos to the sorting, categorization, and, yes, also honoring of TV shows across a truly daunting number of channels and platforms. A process that once enacted dull annual routines, as shows like Frasier and NYPD Blue notched nom after nom after nom, has at least become less predictable and more eclectic — though that doesn’t mean it lacks for frustrations and controversies in addition to the pleasant surprises. Let’s review some of those surprises, snubs, and overall trends in this year’s nominees. (View the full list of nominations here.) SNL Goes For the Gold: Current Saturday Night Live cast members have become fixtures among nominees in recent years — but most oft...
Jakob Dylan, Locked and Loaded
“It’s daunting because you’re starting over every time,” says The Wallflowers’ Jakob Dylan. “You check in and ask yourself, ‘Am I ready to do this?’ It’s not a matter of success or not. It’s another record that I have to write and turn myself inside out for — and then, hopefully, make the record, and then talk about it and tour it.” Seated in the lobby of a Santa Monica hotel, the singer-songwriter is drinking an iced black coffee on a sweltering hot June day. He’s here to discuss Exit Wounds, his band’s soon-to-be-released seventh record — and The Wallflowers’ first in nine years. Dylan’s distinctive bright blue eyes are accentuated by his denim button-down shirt. His sleeves are rolled up, as are the bottoms of his loose-fitting jeans, with the only color deviation being his yellow ...
Sonic Frequencies from “The Black Album” Make Metallica’s Latest Blackened Whiskey the Perfect Sipper: Review
Metallica have unveiled The Black Album Whiskey Pack, the latest release in their Blackened American Whiskey line. The 12 songs from the classic 1991 album were used for the “Black Noise” sonic-enhancement process, literally pummeling the casks with sonic frequencies to extract flavors from the wood. The new pack includes a bottle of Batch 114 Blackened whiskey — finished to the low hertz frequencies of “The Black Album” — a collectible coin, and a Snakebite cocktail booklet. It’s a dream gift for Metallica fans and at a very modest SRP of $49.99, considering this is high-grade craft whiskey. I was fortunate enough to have been gifted a pack for this article. Knowing that I certainly couldn’t polish off the whole bottle alone — or shouldn’t, at least — I decided to bust out ...
Madeon’s Iconic “Pop Culture” Mashup Is Now a Decade Old
10 years ago, a game-changing performance was uploaded to YouTube by none other than Madeon. He was only 17 years old at the time, but already making a name for himself via stellar remixes of Pendulum’s “The Island (Pt. 1),” deadmau5’s “Raise Your Weapon,” and Yelle’s “Que veux-tu,” among others. However, when Madeon revealed his mind-blowing mashup of 39 tracks called “Pop Culture,” he catapulted himself into the spotlight of the EDM community and hasn’t looked back. By implementing a multitude of samples from each song and making them flow together seamlessly, “Pop Culture” became a timeless work of art and a harbinger of a future superstar. A young Madeon performing in Brussels on April 4th, 2015. Guilla...
The Day Disco Died: Remembering the Unbridled Chaos of “Disco Demolition Night”
On this day in 1979, a fun MLB promotional event quickly devolved into the most infamous and controversial event in disco history. In the late 70s, dance-oriented disco was one of the most popular musical genres in the United States. Seminal films such as Saturday Night Fever and Disco Godfather greatly influenced the music scene, while artists like the Bee Gees, ABBA, KC and the Sunshine Band, and Donna Summer became repeated record plays for many. While disco provided a fun, novel outlet and style of dress to many people, it sparked major backlash from fans of rock music. Critics at the time often feared that the rise of the disco would quickly lead to a decay in rock after disco albums dominated the 21st Grammy Awards in 1978. When Chicago’s WDAI-FM switched from rock to disc...
WILLOW Is Finally Ready for Her Rock Era
There’s not much that Willow Smith hasn’t done. Actor? Check. Talk show host? Check. Artist? Check. But at 20, the artist who goes simply by WILLOW, is ready to try something new: being a rock star. But her foray into the genre is nothing less than authentic. Even since the release of her debut single “Whip My Hair” in 2010 — a catchy ode to individualism — her message has been the same: “Be yourself, do it, unapologetically and inspire other people to do it, too,” WILLOW tells SPIN over the phone from an undisclosed location in Malibu. And that has remained as her entire foundation for making music. If you’re surprised by WILLOW’s pivot to punk-rock, you haven’t been paying attention. Truthfully, rock has run in her family. In the early 2000s, WILLOW’s mother, actress Jada Pinkett-Smith, ...
25 Essential 2021 Hard Rock & Metal Tours to Catch This Summer and Fall
Early on in the pandemic, Slipknot frontman Corey Taylor predicted that there would be an “explosion of live entertainment” once the concert industry opened up again. And, boy, was he right! The summer and fall 2021 concert season is jam-packed, with countless hard rock and metal tours taking place from July through December. Not only are Slipknot set to embark on their “Knotfest Roadshow” this fall, other major acts like Guns N’ Roses, Megadeth, KISS, Judas Priest, Korn, and more will all be on the road. Punk and hardcore will also be well represented, with tour packages including Dropkick Murphys and Rancid, Rise Against and Descendents, Bad Religion and Alkaline Trio, and more. Advertisement And if you’re looking for a gory good time, there’s always the intergalactic barbarians of GWAR....
Underground Vibes | 069
“Waiting For You” Ft. wilo wilde – QUIET BISON Coming to Ultra Music to share the second single off his forthcoming debut album Dawn with “Waiting For You,” QUIET BISON once again proves why he is one of the most exciting emerging producers to follow right now. Including wilo wilde on the vocals, “Waiting For You” takes listeners on an exciting sonic journey driven by lush guitar chords and sharp synths with experimental undertones. “Dark Lies” Ft. Britt Lari – EQRIC Emerging house star EQRIC just shared his debut solo-produced EP with Dark Lies. The title track alongside Britt Lari perfectly showcases the young Canadian’s tasteful sound, filled with radio-ready vocals, lush ambiances and rumbling basslines. “Only For A Night” – French Original Breakout act Fr...
