music
Abstract Mindstate Return with New Album Dreams Still Inspire Produced by Kanye West: Stream
Abstract Mindstate have unveiled their new album, Dreams Still Inspire. Stream it below on Apple Music and Spotify. Produced by none other than Kanye West and released on his YZY SND imprint, the 14-track collection marks Olskool Ice-Gre and E.P. Da Hellcat’s first full-length studio set since breaking up in 2005, and was preceded by lead single “A Wise Tale.” The LP also contains collaborations with Tony Williams (“Move Yo Body”), Jonquia Rose (“Salutations [Intro]”), Deon Cole (“Voice Mail [Interlude]”), and West himself (“The Brenda Song”), in addition to a pair of skits featuring Luka Sabbat (“YZY SND [Skit]” and “Lambo Truck Podcast [Skit]”). Advertisement Related Video Dreams Still Inspire arrives in conjunction with an accompanying documentary detailing how West talked the Chicago h...
With King’s Disease II, Nas’ Second Reign Is Better Than His First
A good sequel is rare. Every now and then, we get a part two on par or better than the original, but for every Dark Knight, there are 50 Hangover Part IIs. It’s a feat even more challenging in music, because each album is about a particular time in an artist’s life. Asking for a new version of that same thing is basically asking them to hop in a time machine and relive the past. Which, until someone says otherwise, is impossible. Never one to shy away from an impossible task, Nas surprised the world when he announced King’s Disease II, a sequel to his Grammy-winning 13th album, just one week ago. Out today, August 6th, it finds the rapper and producer Hit-Boy continuing their flourishing tag-team partnership. Their first endeavor, released in August 2020, felt designed to make fans fo...
Boldy James and The Alchemist Share New Song “Turpentine/Steel Wool”: Stream
Last month, repeat collaborators Boldy James and The Alchemist shared “First 48 Freestyle,” a teaser for their upcoming album, Bo Jackson. Now, the rapper and producer have unveiled a new video for the songs “Turpentine/Steel Wool,” along with details about the much-anticipated record, which is out August 13th. Bo Jackson includes collaborations from Freddie Gibbs, Earl Sweatshirt, Benny the Butcher, Curren$y, Stovegod Cooks, and Roc Marciano. Notably, “First 48 Freestyle” doesn’t appear on the tracklist; instead, the final song is called “Another 48 Freestyle.” As for “Turpentine/Steel Wool,” it’s a single music video for two Bo Jackson tracks. The first half is a virtuoso display of bars, as Boldy James raps, “She a ballerina, Boy Meets World after Topanga/ Told me sh...
CHVRCHES and John Carpenter Remix Each Other on “Good Girls” and “Turning the Bones”: Stream
CHVRCHES and John Carpenter head into the weekend with a pair of special surprises for fans: the pop trio and composer decided to swap tracks and give each other’s work a remix. For his part, The Horror Master delivered a new take on CHVRCHES’ “Good Girls,” giving the latest single off the band’s upcoming Screen Violence a menacingly spooky vibe by replacing the original’s electro-synth sonics with a haunting organ pulse. “Killin’ your idols is a chore/ And it’s such a f–king bore/ Cause I don’t need them anymore/ So maybe if you just got some guts/ We kill ’em with a thousand cuts/ And say we did it out of love,” Lauren Mayberry sings on the opening verse over Carpenter’s arrangement. Meanwhile, CHVRCHES chose to re-work the Halloween director’s “Turning the Bones,” an album cut from his ...
Aimee Mann Announces New Album Queens of the Summer Hotel, Shares Song: Stream
Indie folk-and-piano icon Aimee Mann has just announced a new album. It’s called Queens of the Summer Hotel and it’s due out November 5th via Mann’s own label SuperEgo. Apparently it came about after Mann started developing music for a stage adaptation of Girl, Interrupted in 2018. To preview the record, she’s sharing the album’s lead single, “Suicide Is Murder,” along with a music video below. According to a press release, Queens of the Summer consists of “a song cycle constructed from music that Mann wrote for the show.” It’s sung by Mann and orchestrated with her longtime collaborator Paul Bryan. As a nod to the project’s theatrical origins, the album features strings and woodwinds in addition to Mann’s usual style of piano playing. It spans 15 songs in total and serves as the follow-up...
Song of the Week: The Weeknd Returns With the Heart-Pounding “Take My Breath”
Song of the Week breaks down and talks about the song we just can’t get out of our head each week. Find these songs and more on our Spotify Top Songs playlist. For our favorite new songs from emerging artists, check out our Spotify New Sounds playlist. This week, The Weeknd successfully leaves us breathless. “Take My Breath,” the latest from The Weeknd, confirms it: the disco resurgence that’s been permeating the airwaves since early 2020 isn’t going away any time soon. Over the past year, smashes like Dua Lipa’s Future Nostalgia and beloved collections like Jessie Ware’s What’s Your Pleasure? have leaned into the sounds and aesthetics of a sparkling dance floor. Even as recently as last week, Silk Sonic shared yet another track that doesn’t shy away from the ’70s energy — and why should t...
Foxing Share New Album Draw Down the Moon: Stream
Foxing, the St. Louis trio whose music spans emo to prog rock and beyond, have just released their excellent new album Draw Down the Moon. Stream it below via Apple Music and Spotify. Draw Down the Moon is Foxing’s fourth album overall and their first since releasing the epic Nearer My God in 2018. Although it only spans 10 tracks, this new record is enormous in scope and sound. It sees Foxing drawing inspiration from everything imaginable—Dungeons and Dragons, Kate Bush, Joe Pera, overwhelming grief, deep gratitude, and more—and fitting it into sprawling, visionary songs that magically work well together. “It’s about the idea of your cosmic significance,” said frontman Conor Murphy in an earlier statement. “The way you feel like a tiny speck in the grand scheme of the universe, that’...
Foghat’s Roger Earl on the Band’s New Live Album and Guitar Hero’s Impact on “Slow Ride”
Listen via Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google Podcasts | Stitcher | Pocket Casts | Radio Public | RSS Foghat’s Roger Earl catches up with Kyle Meredith about the band’s new live album, 8 Days on the Road, and how Guitar Hero impacted their legacy. The band’s co-founder and drummer talks about connecting with their classics through the years, how new members change the dynamics, and when “Humble Pie joined Foghat” with Charlie Huhn’s hiring. Advertisement Related Video Earl also takes us back to the ’70s when Foghat wrote the title track of this new live album and the lasting impact of “Slow Ride,” especially with younger fans when it arrived on Guitar Hero. He then dives into their 1981 album Girls to Chat & Boys to Bounce, which f...
Sparks Release Annette Soundtrack Featuring Adam Driver and Marion Cotillard: Stream
A month after making its premiere at Cannes, the new musical Annette has hit North America along with its star-studded soundtrack. With the majority written and recorded by art-pop duo Sparks, the Annette soundtrack is just as dynamic as the film that accompanies it — which is to say, these aren’t your mother’s show tunes. Stream it below via Apple Music or Spotify. Annette stars Adam Driver and Marion Cotillard, who do most of their own singing across the bulk of the soundtrack. It spans 15 songs in total, including preview singles like “So May We Start” and “We Love Each Other So Much.” Considering the music that became the Annette soundtrack was originally conceptualized as the next Sparks album, fans of the band will recognize their trademark idiosyncratic and theatrical approach to so...
Kam-Bu Announces New Album Black on Black, Shares “Stuck”: Stream
South London rapper Kam-Bu has announced his debut album Black on Black. To herald the August 20th release date, he’s now shared the single “Stuck” featuring Rachel Chinouriri. The 10-track effort comes with production from Leon Vynehall, Pullen, Hylnu, Tom Henry, and Knucks, who also contributes vocals to the song “Call Me Back.” Kam conceived Black on Black as an ode to the Windrush generation: those who arrived in the UK between about 1948 and 1971 from Caribbean countries. In 2018, the government threatened many legal citizens with deportation because they had no official paperwork, in an event that has come to be known as the Windrush scandal. As Kam said in a statement about his new album, “It’s a thank you for the risk they took and the culture they brought, which we ...
Live Nation to Require Vaccination or Proof of Negative Test Result for US Concerts: Report
Live Nation will require COVID-19 vaccines or proof of a negative test result for US concerts, according to an internal memo obtained by Variety. The document, which was purportedly signed by Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino, says Live Nation will be adopting the same practices implemented at Lollapalooza last weekend for all US shows going forward. “Our teams have worked together to put new processes in place so that artists doing shows with Live Nation in the US can require all attendees and staff to be fully vaccinated or show a negative test result for entry, where permitted by law,” Rapino said. “We believe this is a great model, and we have already implemented this successfully at many major shows including Lollapalooza.” Advertisement Related Video The memo did not specify when the po...
Kississippi’s Mood Ring Merges Kitsch And Tragedy
By Grant Sharples The image on Kississippi’s new album cover is striking: a chewed-up piece of pink bubblegum in an engagement-ring box. It’s the epitome of songwriter Zoe Renyolds’s music, which brims with neon overtones and dismal subtexts, and the bubblegum is a visual representation of the overt pop direction she took with this record. The Philadelphia-based artist says the artwork for Mood Ring, out today (August 6), merges kitsch and dark themes as the music itself speaks to the push and pull of relationships and love at large. “It reminded me of Helga Pataki from Hey Arnold!,” Reynolds tells MTV News of the symbolic cover. “It just gave me this crushy vibe of swapping gum with your crush or something like that. I just thought it was really cute for those reasons, but it also has a d...
