music
Unborn Baby Records Debut Album
For decades, musicians have recorded music with the specific intent of helping foster child development in utero and teach soon-to-be kids iconic rap hooks. Now the tables have turned: an unborn baby has recorded her debut album, presumably for the enjoyment of full-grown humans. The baby, named Luca Yupanqui, is the soon-to-be child of Psychic Ills bassist Elizabeth Hart and Lee “Scratch” Perry collaborator Iván Diaz Mathé. Yupanqui created the songs on her album using biosonic MIDI technology that translated her in-utero movements into sound. The MIDI device was hooked to Hart’s stomach, recorded the vibrations created by Yupanqui, and transcribed them into Mathé’s synthesizers, a meditative process that took place over five hour-long sessions. Hart and Mathé then edited and mixed the re...
Rostam Shares New Solo Song “These Kids We Knew”: Stream
Last month, Rostam set Amanda Gorman’s now-famous Inauguration poem to music using piano arrangements. The former Vampire Weekend member is back today, this time with a dazzling original song of his own dubbed “These Kids We Knew”. Stream it below. This new offering revolves around a musical pulse meant to reflect the innocence of youth and the impermanence of stability. According to a press release, Rostam wrote “These Kids We Knew” in a “fever-dream state” in March of last year — during which he was recovering from COVID-19 — while reflecting on the push and pull of societal responsibility. “I was thinking of three generations while I was writing this song,” he explained. “There’s a generation of adults who don’t see global warming as their problem because they think they won’t...
Puma Blue’s Dreamland Dispatches
Saying Jacob Allen appears front and center on his new album cover isn’t technically wrong. But it’s obfuscation, much like the image of the artist himself. You can spot a foot and a baggy pant leg bent on a bed, and then Allen’s torso vanishes behind a pink curtain. Curving across the entire scene is the album’s title, In Praise of Shadows, a thesis statement for its contents taken from an essay by Japanese thinker Jun’ichirō Tanizaki. Allen, who records and releases music under the name Puma Blue, might as well count those shadows and intrigue as collaborators in his liner notes. In his jazzy, rhythmic, and ethereal takes on R&B and downtempo café music, as on the cover of his debut album (out February 4), he’s there, but he’s immaterial. He’s like mist, or a dream, or the pale...
Meskerem Mees Unveils New Song “Seasons Shift”: Stream
21-year-old songwriter Meskerem Mees drew international attention with her first single “Joe”, and now she’s proving she’s a talent to watch with her new song “Seasons Shift”. Mees enchants from the moment she opens her mouth, with an ethereal voice and cosmopolitan accent (she’s Belgian with Ethiopian roots). Alongside her friend the cellist Febe Lazou, she crafts gentle music out of turbulent emotions. “Seasons Shift” is more about a variable person than the changing weather, with lyrics that track differences over time. She sings of someone who “got serious in December/ Lonely in July, though you wouldn’t tell me why/ It might have been easier just to call me but you preferred to cry.” At first she seems to be sketching out a failed relationship, but as the song progresses, her co...
YouTuber Masterfully Performs Depeche Mode’s “Personal Jesus” as a Motörhead Song: Watch
YouTuber Denis Pauna imagines an alternate universe where hit songs were recorded by different artists. For his latest hypothetical, Pauna pondered, “What if Motörhead wrote ‘Personal Jesus’ by Depeche Mode?’” That’s the title of the Croatian musician’s latest pseudo-mashup cover. As if to discover the answer to his own question, he dressed up in full Motörhead regalia — even donning Lemmy Kilmister’s signature mutton chops — and played Depeche Mode’s classic in the vein of the British heavy metal pioneers. As Pauna proves, if Motörhead had written “Personal Jesus”, it would have still been an awesome song. Over a propulsive riff and the crushing Kilmister bass tone — all played by Pauna himself — hearing the chorus rendered through his spot-on Lemmy bark is truly satisfying. It made us cu...
Steven Wilson Transforms into Brad Pitt, David Bowie, Donald Trump, and More in “Self” Video: Watch
Prog rocker Steven Wilson has unveiled a disturbing deepfake music video for his latest single, “Self”. The track appears on Wilson’s new album, The Future Bites, which was released last week. Following the post-modern dystopia theme of the album, Wilson used deepfake facial mapping technology for the video, transforming himself into a motley crew of notable celebrities, politicians, and musicians. If you’ve ever wanted to see Donald Trump go prog, now’s your chance. The likes of Joe Biden, David Bowie, Hillary Clinton, Brad Pitt, Mark Zuckerberg, Robert Downey Jr., and more appear in Wilson’s influencer choir. The deepfake imaging falls somewhere between convincing and downright terrifying — maybe more toward the latter, since Wilson’s face changes but his hair stays the same, resulting i...
Russell Louder Shares Origins of New Track “Home”: Stream
In our new music feature Origins, artists are asked to give listeners unique insights into their latest track. Today, Russell Louder explains how they found “Home”. For Russell Louder, the most basic definition of ‘home’ would be Prince Edward Island. Though they were raised on the nautical Canadian province, they now split their time between PEI and Montreal. Factor in the journey the singer has gone on as a trans individual, and you can understand how the idea of ‘home’ is a bit fluid for them. But while discovering your place of supreme comfort is often seen as a daunting challenge, Louder finds excitement in the quest on her new single, “Home”. Over a beat buzzing and clanging with retro synth sounds, they sing not just of the terrible uncertainty of “finding home,” but the boundless p...
Marilyn Manson Removed From Two TV Series Following Evan Rachel Wood’s Abuse Allegations
The fallout continues for Marilyn Manson following abuse allegations from actress Evan Rachel Wood and four other women. The veteran rocker has now been removed from two TV series as a result of the accusations. Manson had already appeared in the Season 3 premiere of the Starz series American Gods as the frontman of Viking death metal band called Blood Death. In the wake of the allegations, he will be removed from a future episode. “Starz stands unequivocally with all victims and survivors of abuse. Due to the allegations made against Marilyn Manson, we have decided to remove his performance from the remaining episode he is in, scheduled to air later this season,” the network said in a statement. The shock rocker was also set to appear in the upcoming second season of Creepshow on AMC’s st...
Cannibal Corpse Announce New Album Violence Unimagined
Death metal pioneers Cannibal Corpse have announced their 15th studio album, Violence Unimagined — one of our most anticipated heavy albums of 2021. They also premiered the lead single, “Inhuman Harvest”, on Monday (February 1st) via SiriusXM’s “Liquid Metal” program. Needless to say, Cannibal Corpse haven’t let up over their 30-plus year career, and “Inhuman Harvest” is as brutal as ever. George “Corpsegrinder” Fisher spews forth his vocals offer a bed of necrotic downtuned death metal. It’s classic Cannibal Corpse, and we wouldn’t want it any other way. That said, it’s uncertain whether troubled guitarist Pat O’Brien is on the recording. All signs indicate that O’Brien — who was involved a bizarre incident involving over 80 firearms and human skulls in 2018 — was not in the studio when C...
Marilyn Manson Calls Abuse Allegations “Horrible Distortions of Reality”
Marilyn Manson has issued his first public comments in response to allegations of abuse levied against him by five women, including actress Evan Rachel Wood. In a statement posted to Instagram on Monday evening, Manson called the allegations “horrible distortions of reality.” “Obviously, my life and my art have long been magnets for controversy, but these recent claims about me are horrible distortions of reality,” Manson wrote. “My intimate relationships have always been entirely consensual with like-minded partners. Regardless of how — and why — others are now choosing to misrepresent the past, that is the truth.” Earlier Monday, Wood and four other women accused Manson of sexual assault, psychological abuse, and coercion. “The name of my abuser is Brian Warner, also known to t...
“Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae)” Rapper Silento Arrested for Murder
Silento, the Atlanta rapper best known for the viral hit “Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae)”, has been charged with murdering his cousin. The Atlanta Journal Constitution reports that Silento (born Ricky Lamar Hawk) was arrested by DeKalb police on Monday. Hawk’s cousin, Frederick Rooks, was shot and killed on the morning of January 21st. “After a thorough investigation, DKPD detectives identified Hawk as Rooks’ cousin, and the person responsible for Rooks’ murder,” according police spokeswoman Michaela Vincent. Detectives are still working to establish a motive. The 23-year-old Hawk has had several previous run-ins with the law. In August, he was arrested twice on domestic violence and gun charges. Then in October, he was booked after being clocked speeding at more than 140 mph. Hawk achieved ...
Dolly Parton Twice Turned Down the Presidential Medal of Freedom
Despite saving a little girl’s life, powerfully backing the Black Lives Matter movement, and funding the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine, country music icon Dolly Parton somehow is still without a Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor. But it’s not because her big heart and philanthropic spirit haven’t been noticed by the White House. Donald Trump’s Administration actually attempted to give her the highest civilian honor not once, but twice — however, Parton turned him down both times. The legendary “Jolene” singer revealed the news on The Today Show on Monday, noting that her decision to twice decline the Presidential Medal had more to do with bad timing than politics. “I couldn’t accept it because my husband was ill and then they asked me again about it an...
