An archive series of Lou Reed’s music has been announced by Light in the Attic Records, with many of the late artist’s early demo recordings surfacing for the first time. The initial release, Words & Music, May 1965, is set to arrive on August 26th. Compiled with cooperation from Reed’s longtime partner and electronic music pioneer Laurie Anderson (who also produced Words & Music, May 1965 with Don Fleming, Jason Stern, Hal Willner, and Matt Sullivan), the newly-remastered material pulls from tapes recorded by the fledgling New York singer-songwriter prior to the official formation of The Velvet Underground. In archival notes that accompany the release, Fleming and Stern recount their discovery while browsing Reed’s offices, where they found two tapes that featured a 1958 rehearsal...
An archive series of Lou Reed’s music has been announced by Light in the Attic Records, with many of the late artist’s early demo recordings surfacing for the first time. The initial release, Words & Music, May 1965, is set to arrive on August 26th. Compiled with cooperation from Reed’s longtime partner and electronic music pioneer Laurie Anderson (who also produced Words & Music, May 1965 with Don Fleming, Jason Stern, Hal Willner, and Matt Sullivan), the newly-remastered material pulls from tapes recorded by the fledgling New York singer-songwriter prior to the official formation of The Velvet Underground. In archival notes that accompany the release, Fleming and Stern recount their discovery while browsing Reed’s offices, where they found two tapes that featured a 1958 rehearsal...
45 years after its original release, Sex Pistols’ anti-monarchy anthem “God Save the Queen” has been propelled to the top of the UK charts following a reissue for Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee. After its re-release on Friday, June 3rd, the song went to No. 1 on music streaming service charts and is headed to the Top 5 of the Official UK Singles chart. First released in May 1977 during the Silver Jubilee, “God Save the Queen” was Sex Pistols’ second-ever single. It was highly controversial at the time for lyrics attacking the “fascist regime” and was banned by the BBC. However, the song still reached No. 1 on NME’s chart and landed at No. 2 on the UK Official Singles chart (where it was listed as blank in deference to the establishment). In response to the latter, many fans bel...
45 years after its original release, Sex Pistols’ anti-monarchy anthem “God Save the Queen” has been propelled to the top of the UK charts following a reissue for Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee. After its re-release on Friday, June 3rd, the song went to No. 1 on music streaming service charts and is headed to the Top 5 of the Official UK Singles chart. First released in May 1977 during the Silver Jubilee, “God Save the Queen” was Sex Pistols’ second-ever single. It was highly controversial at the time for lyrics attacking the “fascist regime” and was banned by the BBC. However, the song still reached No. 1 on NME’s chart and landed at No. 2 on the UK Official Singles chart (where it was listed as blank in deference to the establishment). In response to the latter, many fans bel...
Following the release of her last full-length LP CAPRISONGS, Cheltenham-born singer FKA Twigs has just unveiled a release date and cover art for her next single entitled “Killer.” Due to release on June 16, Twigs took to social media to tease the new track last night, describing the new release as one for “the baddies with a tear in their eye.” Along with the single artwork, FKA Twigs has also leaked a short clip of her performing the new song on stage on her respective TikTok and YouTube platforms. [embedded content] FKA Twigs’ last mixtape CAPRISONGS dropped back in January and it kept things very UK-focused, despite her success across the pond. The 17-tracker featured the likes of UK drill star Unknown T, Coventry-born Pa Salieu, Jorja Smith and Shygirl. Keep an eye out for ...
Chief Keef has officially launched his new record label, 43B [Forget Everybody], in partnership with RBC Records/BMG. The new venture will provide artists and producers “who are shifting music and culture” with distribution and marketing services, resources, guidance and infrastructure to navigate today’s industry. The name 43B, which stands for Forget Everybody, emphasizes “the importance of individuality and autonomy—two factors that have played heavily into Keef’s path as an artist.” Joining Keef as the label executives are his longtime manager Idris Dykes, who will be serving as co-CEO, and Sophie Kautz, who is the Head of A&R and Marketing. Meanwhile, Atlanta’s Lil Gnar is named as the first artist on the 43B roster as he “is emblematic of the values and vision he hopes ...
Kate Bush has shared two statements in regards to the newfound popularity of her 1985 track “Running Up That Hill,” which appeared in a prominent scene in Stranger Things 4. Her latest statement was made through her publicist, with Consequence reporting, “When the first series came out, friends kept asking us if we’d seen Stranger Things, so we checked it out and really loved it. We’ve watched every series since then, as a family. When they approached us to use ‘Running Up That Hill,’ you could tell that a lot of care had gone into how it was used in the context of the story and I really liked the fact that the song was a positive totem for the character, Max. I’m really impressed by this latest series. It’s an epic piece of work – the shows are extremely well put together with great chara...
Last month’s announcement that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences is reducing the number of songs from a film that may be submitted for Oscar consideration (from five to three) prompted us to take a deep dive into the Oscar rulebook in the music categories. The Oscars have had music categories every year since 1934, when the stylish “The Continental” (performed by Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers) won best original song and One Night of Love won for scoring. In the early years, there was no explicit rule that a song had to be written for the film in which it was featured. The poignant ballad “The Last Time I Saw Paris,” which Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II wrote in response to the Nazi takeover of Paris in June 1940, was a hit for Kate Smith that year — the year before t...
BTS have come up with a new way for ARMY to share their memories with the boy band, and it’s all happening on YouTube. On Monday (June 6), the K-pop idols announced their new fan initiative #MyBTStory, which officially launches this Friday in an exclusive partnership with the streaming hub’s YouTube Shorts. “Dear ARMY, For nine years you have been our greatest champions,” the septet wrote in a letter posted to YouTube’s official blog. “As we embark on the journey to our tenth year as a band, we want to remember and celebrate all the special moments we’ve had together so far. Beginning this Saturday, we want to ask you to share your BTS stories with us, and each other, on YouTube Shorts.” Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news The note continue...
Harry Styles is so hot right now. His third studio album Harry’s House is No. 1 on the Billboard 200, and its lead single “As It Was” is the best-seller on both sides of the Atlantic, and around the globe. So Styles, with his effortless style, great hair, adoring fanbase and growing list of movie credits would have been a natural to play Elvis Presley in Baz Luhrmann’s new biopic, Elvis? Well, no. The Australian director reckons audiences would struggle to see past the Brit. Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news “Harry is a really talented actor,” Luhrmann tells Fitzy & Wippa, the breakfast radio team at Sydney’s Nova. “I would work on something with him…” but “the real issue with Harry is, he’s Harry Styles. He’s already an icon.” There’s n...
Skylar Grey is the songwriter behind such hit singles as as Eminem and Rihanna’s “Love the Way You Lie” and Diddy’s “Coming Home.” Recently, she was forced to sell the rights to his entire musical catalog in order to finance her divorce from ex-husband, Elliott Taylor. “Since 2017 I was going through a divorce and lawsuit, that was just wrecking me emotionally and financially,” Grey told Variety, explaining that her radio silence in recent years was due to the legal dispute. “This past year, 2021, we finally resolved it, settled, I had to sell my catalog in order to afford the settlement, which was very sad in a way, because those songs like ‘Love the Way You Lie’ and Coming Home,’ those are my babies. But at the same time, nobody can tell me I didn’t write those songs just ’cause I don’t ...