Indie Rock
The War on Drugs Debut New Song “Ocean of Darkness” on Fallon: Watch
During the early months of the pandemic, The War on Drugs revealed they were working on a new album. Now, some of the fruits of their labor have arrived: the indie rockers debuted a new song called “Ocean of Darkness” on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on Friday. The group’s first offering since 2017’s A Deeper Understanding was both propulsive and pastoral, and soaked in wistfulness not unlike their past material. Donning a cap that said “VOTE”, frontman Adam Granduciel could be heard singing, “You’re just a poor boy/ Your blood rushes through me/ Alone in the great divide/ To love and understanding.” “Once I was eight years old/ I’d stare at the ceiling/ Get lost in a memory,” he continued, his voice faded like a ghost half-materialized. “Remember the feeling/ I was tire...
HAIM Get a Call from Robert Pattinson During “3 AM” Performance on Seth Meyers: Watch
HAIM have really got this “appearing on a late night talk show during quarantine” thing down. Last month, they set up outside of Los Angeles’ The Forum for a performance on Kimmel. Then on Thursday night, the siblings brought Halloween — and a special guest — to Seth Meyers. The trio’s rendition of “3 AM” from their latest LP, Women in Music Pt. III, opened with a call from Robert Pattinson. Listed in HAIM’s phone as “Emotional Vampire” (get it? ‘Cause of Twilight? You get it…), Pattinson recreated the booty-call intro from the album version of the song. After sending him to voicemail, the band revealed themselves in wedding gowns as (slightly) undead brides set in an exceedingly well-lit backyard. The vibe put a spooky sheen on the R&B jam, including a comically threatening call ...
Local Natives Perform “Statues in the Garden (Arras)” on Ellen: Watch
In just one week’s time, Local Natives have announced and released a new EP called Sour Lemon. The group’s promotional push continued Friday morning (October 23rd) with a daytime appearance on Ellen. Set up in a large and rustic indoor space with glowing overhead chandeliers, the California indie rockers rolled out “Statues in the Garden (Arras)”. The EP’s second track boasts all of Local Natives’ sweet spots — from those golden harmonies to the warm, sunny guitars — making for a TV performance that should delight new and old fans alike. At the very least, it reminded us of the live electric magic this band manages to conjure every time it takes the stage. Real concerts can’t come soon enough! Watch down below, and then head here to stream the entirety of Sour Lemon, which a...
New Music Friday: 9 Albums to Stream
Jeff Tweedy (photo by Sammy Tweedy), PUP (photo by Jess Baumung), Adrianne Lenker (photo by Genesis Báez), and Pallbearer (photo by Diana Lee Zadlo) Every Friday, Consequence of Sound rounds up some of the week’s noteworthy new album releases. Today, October 23rd, brings fresh music from PUP, The Mountain Goats, FUZZ, Adrianne Lenker, Jeff Tweedy, Local Natives, Raye Zaragoza, Songhoy Blues, and Pallbearer. Take a listen to each of their new albums below. Also be sure to check out new releases from Gorillaz and Bruce Springsteen. PUP – This Place Sucks Ass EP <img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1070497" data-attachment-id="1070497" data-permalink="https://consequenceofsound.net/2020/09/pup-this-place-sucks-ass-ep-rot-stream/pup-rot-this-place-sucks-ass-ep/...
Win Butler Hints That Arcade Fire Have Written “Two or Three” Albums in Quarantine
Early into quarantine, Win Butler revealed that the pandemic put the breaks on the recording of Arcade Fire’s new album. The frontman said he’d instead turned to writing more, and now it looks like he’s come up with enough material for more than just one Everything Now follow-up. In a new interview on Rick Rubin’s Broken Record podcast, Butler hinted that the delay in recording may end up fortuitous for those who can’t get enough Arcade Fire. “We would’ve been getting towards wrapping up [recording a new album], I think,” he said. “So instead we just wrote two or three.” Butler explained that it usually takes the band a full year of writing before they’re ready to go into the studio. After wrapping up the Everything Now tour in 2018, they set to work on creating the follow-up. Ar...
Nilüfer Yanya Announces New EP Feeling Lucky?, Drops “Crash”: Stream
Nilüfer Yanya has announced the Feeling Lucky? EP. It drops December 11th, and the British artist is celebrating with the new single “Crash”. This is the follow-up to Miss Universe, her debut album and one of our favorite records of 2019. Unsurprisingly for a young songwriter whose first full-length effort blew up, Yanya has been thinking about luck — both consciously and subconsciously. As she noted in a statement, it wasn’t until she’d been working on the EP for a while that she realized the connecting theme. She said, “One of the songs had the theme of luck in it as a concept but then I realized they all do. That got me thinking about luck in general; good and bad. Things out of our control and things in control of us, how often we put acts and happenings down to the fortune o...
Guided by Voices Announce Third Album of 2020, Share “Mr. Child”: Stream
Proving the pandemic hasn’t put a major dent in their plans, prolific band Guided by Voices are announcing their third album of 2020. Titled Styles We Paid For, it’s due for arrival December 11th via the aptly named Rockathon Records. The upcoming project follows closely behind February’s Surrender Your Poppy Field and July’s Mirrored Aztec. Frontman Robert Pollard originally envisioned it to be an all-analog LP called Before Computers, but with lockdown in place, GBV were forced to take their creative process online. “The pandemic obviously changed our recording plans and ironically it was all recorded digitally on computers,” Pollard told Rolling Stone. Each member contributed their parts from their own faraway quarantine locations — guitarist Doug Gillard in New York, ba...
Shura Remixes Becca Mancari’s “Lonely Boy”: Stream
Back in June, Becca Mancari released her excellent debut album, The Greatest Part, via Captured Tracks. Today, our former Artist of the Month has shared a remixed version of the single “Lonely Boy” by none other than our former CoSign, UK electro-pop artist Shura, Although The Greatest Part was produced by Paramore’s Zac Farro, Mancari’s sound has more roots in indie music than pop or pop-punk. The original version of “Lonely Boy” is a catchy indie rock track with a bumpy bassline and a dreamy hook, but there’s a spaciness to the song that translates really well in Shura’s dance-pop context. In the remix, the main hook of the tune remains intact, but Shura adds some clubby flair and an epic drum breakdown that transitions into a dazzling synth melody. In their respective press st...
Mac DeMarco Joins Benny Sings on New Song “Rolled Up”: Stream
For Record Store Day, Mac DeMarco released not one, but two new demo albums for 2019’s Here Comes the Cowboy. The jizz jazzer has returned now with a feature on “Rolled Up”, the latest single from Dutch pop artist Benny Sings. DeMarco’s lo-fi and lax aesthetic is well represented here, as is Benny Sings’ throwback groove, which sounds like a cross between the Bee Gees and The Stylistics. For all the chillness between them, though, “Rolled Up” is full of heavy existential reflection: “Rolled up, tossed out/ Trying to understand why my life turned south/ Oh I’m holed up, locked out, shut in, held down,” the opening verse reads. In a statement, Benny Sings talked about the track’s meaning and how it came together back during pre-coronavirus times: “The song is about being in the dumps without...
The National’s Matt Berninger Releases Debut Solo Album Serpentine Prison: Stream
Matt Berninger of The National has released his debut solo album Serpentine Prison. Stream it below via Apple Music or Spotify. The album was produced by the legendary Booker T. Jones, and features contributions from Andrew Bird, The National’s Scott Devendorf, The Walkmen’s Walter Martin and Matt Barrick, and Menomena’s Brent Knopf. But the only other artist actually heard on Serpentine Prison is Gail Ann Dorsey, whose vocals featured on six of the tracks from the 2019 The National album I Am Easy to Find. Here, there’s little to distract from Berninger’s mellifluous voice. In a review of Serpentine Prison for Consequence of Sound, Jordan Blum wrote, “Serpentine Prison isn’t the drastic change of pace that many frontmen create when they do a project outside o...
The Hold Steady Announce 10th Anniversary Reissue of Heaven Is Whenever, Share Previously Unreleased “Separate Vacations”: Stream
It’s been 10 long years since The Hold Steady released their fifth studio album, Heaven Is Whenever. To mark the anniversary, the band will reissue an expanded deluxe edition of the LP featuring previously unreleased songs, demos, and alternate takes. Due out November 27th via Vagrant Records, the double-album reissue consists of a newly remastered version of Heaven Is Whenever, along with nine (!) bonus tracks. Some of these unearthed songs are called “Ascension Blues”, “Touchless”, “Beer on the Bedstand”, and “Wonderful Struggle”. There’s also an alternate take on “We Can Get Together”. For those fans hankering for even more goodies, the digital version of the reissue comes with an additional six tracks. Most are recordings from The Hold Steady’s Avatar Sessions with Franz Nicolay (...
Artist of the Month beabadoobee Unleashes the Raw and Gutting Fake It Flowers: Review
The Lowdown: If you’ve ever scrolled TikTok, you’ve heard beabadoobee’s sweet single “Coffee”. It — plus a song that samples it — has been used to soundtrack almost every clip that includes any of the following: a nausea-inducing relationship montage, a racoon (or other wild animal) doing something kind of cute, or a craft project that you will absolutely never do but bookmark anyway. “Coffee” had taken off even before it made its way onto the omnipresent app, when it was posted by 1-800-LOVE-U, a popular YouTube channel with 700,000-plus subscribers. Characterized by a soft, almost dissolvable voice, the song is just under two minutes of simple guitar chords, doughy lyrics, and pleasant feelings. It’s charming, the equivalent of a gentle hug and kiss on the forehead. If, at times, the son...
