music
Dean & Britta and Sonic Boom Cover John Lennon’s “Happy Xmas (War is Over)”: Stream
Earlier this week, Alanis Morissette festively covered the timeless John Lennon single “Happy Xmas (War is Over)” on Jimmy Kimmel Live. Now, Dean & Britta, the musical duo comprised of Galaxie 500’s Dean Wareham and Britta Phillips, have put their own spin on the holiday classic in collaboration with English producer Sonic Boom. Additionally, Sonic Boom has released his own song dedicated to the season. Jingling bells rattle throughout the warm and faithful rendition of “Happy Xmas”. But there’s also an echoing effect draped over the entire cover, giving it an almost trippy wall-of-sound sensation. According to a statement, Sonic Boom, a.k.a. Pete Kemper of Spacemen 3, came up with the idea for this version and mixed it himself at New Atlantis Studios in Portugal. As for Sonic Boo...
Melvins Announce “New Year’s Evil” Livestream Event
The Melvins have announced “Melvins TV: Volume 1, New Year’s Evil”, a livestream event to ring in 2021. The virtual show will feature a five-song performance by the Melvins, interviews, extras, and an opening set by Void Manes. The stream goes live on December 31st at 3:00 p.m. ET / noon PT, and tickets cost $5 each. “‘Melvins TV, New Year’s Evil’ is as close to a live show as we can get during this hideous pandemic,” Buzz Osborne said in a press announcement. “We’ll be doing more of these so tune in and enjoy! Happy New Year!” The Melvins lineup for the stream will consist of the band’s core trio of Osborne, Dale Crover, and Steven McDonald (of Redd Kross fame). A commemorative limited-edition poster and T-shirt designed by Junko Mizuno and Mackie Osborne will be available exclusively to ...
Grimes Changes the Album Artwork for Miss Anthropocene
When Grimes rolled out her excellent fifth studio album Miss Anthropocene back in February, it was clear that the full-length was an ambitious passion project bursting with imagination. Little did we know that nine months later it would get a new creative twist. As caught by FADER, the album artwork for Miss Anthropocene has been replaced with a painting by artist Rupid Leejm on all streaming platforms. When Miss Anthropocene was initially released, the album repped a black and pink graphic akin to a screenshot of Photoshop mid-assignment. As Grimes later clarified, the visual was an image of the software that the “new Gods” use to design the simulation, and the project they were designing was the record’s titular character. Now, streaming platforms like Spotify and Apple Music display a b...
The Voidz and Dua Lipa Perform, Paul McCartney Guests on Fallon: Watch
Thursday night was a busy one over on The Tonight Show, as Jimmy Fallon welcomed Paul McCartney, The Voidz, and Dua Lipa. Each musician was there in a different capacity, with Macca serving as the featured interview. The Beatle discussed his new album, McCartney III, which came together while he was locked down with the family of his eldest daughter, Mary. “I’d have a drink before dinner… and the kids are running around. And once one of them would say, ‘What’d you do at the studio today?’ And I’d say, ‘Ah,’” the legendary artist recalled. “Pull my phone out, get the little boom box going, and I’d play it to them. So they got a preview of the whole album a day at a time. It made it kind of more fun, really. It was like I was just making it for them.” He also touched briefly on a...
Foo Fighters and Billie Eilish to Headline Virtual ALTer EGO Festival
Billie Eilish and Foo Fighters are set to headline iHeartRadio’s virtual ALTer EGO festival in early 2021. Taking place on January 28th, the event also promises archival performances from Beck, The Black Keys, The Killers, Coldplay, MUSE, Blink-182, Cage the Elephant, and Mumford and Sons. ALTer EGO 2021 will livestream for free on LiveXLive.com and on the LiveXLive mobile and OTT apps for iOS, Android, Roku, Amazon Fire TV and Apple TV, and broadcast live across more than 80 alternative and rock iHeartRadio stations on January 28th starting at 9pm ET/ 6pm PT. The virtual festival goes down just a week prior to the release of Foo Fighters’ new album, Medicine at Midnight, which drops on February 5th. Though they’ve been unable to tour in support of the album’s impending release, they have ...
Toro y Moi Remixes HAIM’s “3AM”: Stream
Earlier this month, Toro y Moi remixed Caroline Polachek’s “Hit Me Where It Hurts” with help from Deftones frontman Chino Moreno. The chillwave artist also known as Chaz Bundick has returned today with another reworking — this time for the three sisters of HAIM. Toro y Moi reimagined HAIM’s “3AM”, which appears on their Grammy-nominated album Women in Music Pt. III. While the original version saw the HAIM siblings play around with space and sparseness, this new remix is all about the layers and textures. Toro y Moi folds in echoes of electric guitar and fills voids with heavier bass. The whole thing reverberates with the kind of energy associated with a 6 a.m. wake-up call rather than a low-key, middle-of-the-night hang. Hear it for yourself below. Editors’ Picks Women in Music Pt. I...
Maggie Rogers Shares Notes from the Archive: Recordings 2011 – 2016: Stream
Maggie Rogers has uncorked a collection of old and never-before released songs on her new collection Notes from the Archive: Recordings 2011 – 2016. Scroll onwards to stream it using Apple Music and Spotify. While many artists build a career out of dingy venues, cramped van rides, and the slow accumulation of fans, Rogers had one of those classic A Star Is Born moments. In 2016, Pharrell Williams gave a master class at New York University, and when a 22-year-old Rogers played him “Alaska”, he spent the entire duration of the song shaking his head in disbelief and mouthing “wow” to the cameras. Since then she’s been on a steady upwards ride that culminated in a Grammy nomination for Best New Artist this year. But while her major label debut Heard It in a Past L...
Eminem Drops Music To Be Murdered By – Side B (Deluxe Edition): Stream
At the top of 2020, Eminem dropped his eleventh studio album, Music To Be Murdered By. Now, as the year comes to a close, he’s unveiled an expanded deluxe edition of the album. Take a listen below via Apple Music or Spotify. Officially titled Music To Be Murdered By – Side B (Deluxe Edition), the release boasts an additional 16 tracks, including new collaborations with Dr. Dre, Ty Dolla $ign, DJ Premier, and Skylar Grey. They’re followed on the tracklist by the album’s original 20 songs. Over the summer, Eminem joined Big Sean on a new song called “The Adventures of Moon Man and Slim Shady”, and was forced to defend himself against a home invader. More recently, he made a surprise cameo on Saturday Night Live. Music To Be Murdered By – Side B (Deluxe Edition) Artwork: <img data-att...
slowthai Pops Off on New Song “Thoughts”: Stream
UK rapper slowthai gives us a piece of his mind on the new song “Thoughts”. While the artist born Tyron Frampton recently announced his sophomore album TYRON, “Thoughts” did not appear on the tracklist. This apparent loosie finds the volatile MC spitting a stream of consciousness flow. “There’s a fine line between love and hate,” is how he begins, and this tension infuses all that follows. Early on, he raps, “Couple times I’ve contemplated killin’ my folks,” then later he says, “Knock on wood that my family’s good.” He contemplates a life that’s perceived as, “Too black for the whites, too white for the blacks,” and his childhood traumas are balanced against a recently fat wallet (“Check my account, won’t believe I was poor once”). slowthai’s “Thoughts” is revealing and deeply persona...
Caroline Polachek Shares Studio Cover of The Corrs’ “Breathless”: Stream
Chances are, if you caught Caroline Polachek live during her Pang tour, then you saw the alternative pop artist bust out a cover of The Corrs hit “Breathless”. In the event you missed out on that electric performance, however, Polachek has dropped an official studio cover version of the 2000 bop today. As is to be expected from the former Chairlift singer, Polachek’s rendition is a little weirder and a little bit less blown-out than the bombastic original, which featured triple harmonies from the three Corr sisters. Polachek handles all of the singing on this one, pitching up her voice to accentuate its sticky hook and add more angular dimensions to this Grammy-nominated number. Take a listen to both Polachek’s cover and the original version of the song below. Editors’ Picks Luckily ...
Dave Grohl and Greg Kurstin Cover The Velvet Underground’s “Rock and Roll”: Watch
It’s the eighth and final night of Hanukkah, and Dave Grohl and Greg Kurstin are going out with a bang. The Foo Fighters frontman and Grammy-winning producer have celebrated the holiday by covering a song by a different Jewish artist each night, and for their final act they’ve busted out a rendition of The Velvet Underground’s “Rock and Roll”. “As 2020 comes to a close and another Hanukkah ends (my first!) I am reminded of the two things that have gotten me through this year: music and hope,” wrote Grohl in a note posted to Foo Fighters’ Twitter account. “The project, which initially began as a silly idea, grew to represent something much more important to me,” Grohl added. “It showed that the simple gesture of spreading joy and happiness goes a long way, and as a we look forward...
Cardi B Is The Only One Allowed To Have Acrylics In Ballet Class
Much of the rapper Cardi B’s early success might be traced to the VH1 reality series Love & Hip Hop: New York. Her drive and undeniable flow have brought from that point to the top of the charts, nailing hit after hit, from “Bodak Yellow” to the slickest song of the summer, “WAP.” Now, at the height of her game, she’s making her return to the small screen — the smallest screen, in fact. Cardi B launched her new, eight-episode reality series Cardi Tries on Wednesday (December 17). As its title suggests, the show will follow the rap star as she challenges herself Simple Life-style with sports, stunt car racing, sushi-slinging — basically, anything she hasn’t tried before. The first episode takes Cardi to a dance school helmed by the legendary actress and choreographer Debbie Allen, where...
