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The Rising Son
Up a difficult-to-see road, branching off one of the busiest roadways that cuts through Beverly Hills to the San Fernando Valley, is one of the most famous numbers in all of hard rock: 5150. The studio—accessible by navigating several corners of a curvy, gravelly road—sits behind a gate that’s carefully monitored. For the average person, it’s extremely difficult to find—and with good reason: quiet please, genius working. For Wolfgang Van Halen, this is home. In a single-story gray building sits the house that Eddie Van Halen built—and it still feels that way. Beginning with 1984, every Van Halen album has been recorded in this space. Though the mixing console needs to be overhauled (“Damn ’90s technology,” says Matt Bruck, the co-manager of Eddie’s line of guitars, EVH Gear, as we walk int...
Apple CarPlay Head Unit Review: We Add the Sony XAV-AX7000 to Our 1998 Porsche Boxster
An entire industry has emerged around smartphone mounts for your car. Magnets clipped to an air conditioning vent, suction cups on the windshield, cheap plastic mounts meant to fit in the cupholder; we’ve seen it all. But if you’ve driven a new car in the past five years, you know there’s a more elegant solution. With the near-universal adoption of smartphone-mirroring software in the forms of Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, we can now use familiar, up-to-date media and navigation apps like Spotify and Google Maps in-car on a large, integrated touch display. But what if your ride was built before the CarPlay era? Worry not. Many older cars use standardized head unit sizing that make it easy to source and install an aftermarket system. Although head units with Apple CarPla...
10 Must-See Acts to Catch at Welcome to Rockville 2021
<span class="localtime" data-ltformat="F j, Y | g:ia" data-lttime="2021-06-04T17:05:20+00:00“>June 4, 2021 | 1:05pm ET When it comes to hard rock and heavy metal, few festivals are as stacked as Welcome to Rockville 2021. The four-day extravaganza takes place November 11th-14th in Daytona Beach, Florida, and promises a who’s-who of major acts and rising newcomers. Last year’s festival was postponed due to the pandemic, and promoter Danny Wimmer Presents has more than made up for missing out on the 2020 edition by delivering a mouthwatering lineup. Many of the bands who were scheduled to play in 2020, including Metallica, Deftones, and more, are back for 2021, while such notable acts as Nine Inch Nails, Rob Zombie, and more, have been added to this year’...
A Timeline of Drake Bell’s Biggest Controversies
<span class="localtime" data-ltformat="F j, Y | g:ia" data-lttime="2021-06-04T23:53:14+00:00“>June 4, 2021 | 7:53pm ET Drake Bell was one of the most popular teenage actors at the turn of the century thanks to Nickelodeon. The actor broke out as a recurring cast member on The Amanda Show starting in 1999 and was then launched to fame in 2003 with the debut of Drake and Josh, the smash hit series in which he and Josh Peck co-starred as stepbrothers who spent their days causing comedic hijinks and attempting to deal with everyday teenage problems. However, childhood fame didn’t necessarily prepare Bell for the realities or responsibilities of adulthood. Bell quickly found himself running into numerous issues with alcohol and fading fame by the time the 20...
Song of the Week: CHVRCHES and Robert Smith Write the Handbook on “How Not To Drown”
<img src="https://consequence.net/2021/06/chvrches-how-not-to-drown-robert-smith-song-of-the-week/" class="avatar avatar-48 photo wp-post-image jetpack-lazy-image" alt="Consequence Staff" loading="lazy" data-attachment-id="1120872" data-permalink="https://consequence.net/?attachment_id=1120872" data-orig-file="https://consequence.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/Consequence-Staff.jpeg?quality=80" data-orig-size="400,400" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":...
Letting the Day Go By: A Dream Drive in a Bentley and a Rolls-Royce
A dream drive in a pair of cars from two of the world’s most prestigious automakers, Bentley and Rolls-Royce? Were the world working as usual, we’d jet to old Blighty, pick up our rides in the shadow of Big Ben, and cruise up to a hotel in an old Scottish castle with haunted rooms and a French chef. Another day in the coal mines. But the world isn’t quite back to normal, so we’re simplifying. We plan to meet in Beverly Hills, one of the country’s richest neighborhoods, then waft our way through tony Brentwood and Santa Monica to the ocean. We’ll turn up the Pacific Coast Highway and cruise 30 miles through some of America’s finest scenery before stopping for a picnic on the beach. We’ll take Route 101 up to Santa Barbara, a rather ordinary ro...
How Philadelphia International Records Gave Rise to Black Music Appreciation Month and Established an Iconic Sound
<span class="localtime" data-ltformat="F j, Y | g:ia" data-lttime="2021-06-03T20:15:07+00:00“>June 3, 2021 | 4:15pm ET Philadelphia International Records. The music that came pouring out of Sigma Sound Studios in Philly was the ornately urbane sound of Black America in the 1970s. One decade earlier, Motown had become a mainstay by branding itself “The Sound of Young America,” and Stax Records dubbed itself “Soulsville” as a way to cement its name as the home base for grit and realness of the Black experience. But Philly, while born of both musical forebears, was a different experience; this was Black America in full regalia and awareness of itself. It spoke to a newfound consciousness and to the musical aspirations of two men bred in that consciousness....
Porsche Boxster at 25: 1997* Original vs. 2021 Anniversary Edition
“Putting Porsche in the Pink.” That was the headline on a New York Times story published on January 20, 1996, detailing the German marque’s effort to turn around its finances and reinvent the way it had built cars for more than 40 years. As the newspaper pointed out, the company that produced must-have products for the upwardly mobile during the cartoonishly decadent ’80s—in 1986, North American sales exceeded 30,000 units—had reached its last gasp. Antiquated, inefficient manufacturing processes collided head-on with an economic recession and a misjudged, aging product range to result in just 3,713 sales in the same region in 1993. Threatened with bankruptcy, Porsche had to change. As the 968 and 928—the latter originally and inconceivably meant to replace the 911—...
10 Times Amazing Kid Musician Nandi Bushell Blew Our Minds
<span class="localtime" data-ltformat="F j, Y | g:ia" data-lttime="2021-06-02T21:01:33+00:00“>June 2, 2021 | 5:01pm ET The rise of 11-year-old YouTube prodigy Nandi Bushell has been one of the most entertaining sensations of the pandemic. A multi-instrumentalist who plays drums, guitar, and sings, Bushell’s musicianship is always on point. She has covered heavy bands like Slipknot and Rage Against the Machine on her channel, showcasing a diverse taste in music and an acute talent for playing it. Often the musicians themselves will applaud the young UK phenom after she drops a new cover. Combined with a big smile and infectious laugh, Bushell’s skills have made her a viral phenomenon. So much so that she engaged in a headline-making drum battle with none...
Obscure, Futuristic ’70s Mazda RX500 Concept Was Immortalized in Die-Cast Form
It’s late 1970. Mazda has been at the rotary engine game for almost a decade, developing the problematic Felix Wankel/NSU design into a formidable, powerful, and futuristic little powerplant. It was the highlight of the forward-looking production 1967 Mazda Cosmo Sport 110S. While beautiful, and interesting, the Cosmo Sport merely (albeit expertly) epitomized the now. The RX500 Concept, which took the stage at the 17th Tokyo Motor Show, envisioned a rotary-powered future straight out of a Syd Mead sketchbook. The RX500’s aesthetic is pure ’70s sci-fi, with a wrap-around windshield that makes it look like a starfighter for the road. The ports on the engine cover and fenders look like exhausts for some sort of fusion reactor, the mirrors look like sensor pods, the large inl...
The Reissue Section: Spring 2021
A pair of classic comedy albums from a revolutionary standup, a previously unreleased live recording from one of Germany’s most influential bands, a new collection honoring a post-disco R&B queen and the “Ultimate” edition of a John Lennon masterpiece are just a few of the archival gold hitting retail this Spring. But first, we dive headlong into a box set that classic rock fans have been anticipating since the news broke of its existence. The Who, The Who Sell Out: Super Deluxe Edition (UMe) When you listen to The Who with a 21st-century mind, especially the 1967 concept album The Who Sell Out, it’s easiest to think of them in the context of a group like Van Halen or Aerosmith when it comes to their lusty feelings about young women. By the mid-60s, teenage girls across Ameri...
Erling Haaland hints at Bernabeu move, calling Real Madrid players his ‘brothers’
With the transfer market well underway, Erling Haaland has once again raised questions about his future after posting a friendly comment on Reinier’s Instagram post, in which he features alongside Rodrygo. Real Madrid have both Erling Haaland and Kylian Mbappe on their agenda. The club would love to have one of Europe’s hottest talents in Haaland in their side, with the Norwegian once again sparking up rumours about a possible move. Haaland said goodbye to his teammate Reinier – whose loan deal at Dortmund from Real Madrid terminated at the end of the seaoson – via a comment on the player’s Instagram post. Reinier appeared in the photo alongside fellow Madrid player Rodrygo, as both stars head to Belgrade for friendlies with the Brazilian national team, before joining up again for the Olym...