music
The Network Perform “Threat Level Midnight” on Fallon: Watch
Last month, Green Day revived their secret new wave side-project The Network for the release of a brand new album. Entitled Money Money 2020 Part II: Told Ya So!, it marked their first new album under the moniker in some 17 years. On Friday night, the group supported its release with a late-night TV appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. Part of The Network’s bit is that they refuse to acknowledge themselves as Green Day, and any insinuation that they are is met with am explicit rebuttal from both the band and their fans. (This post, for example, will no doubt generate a litany of comments from Green Day fans informing us that The Network is not Green Day). To add their mythology, The Network’s members use aliases — Fink, Van Gough, The Snoo, and Bal...
Is the Media Still Cashing in on Britney Spears’ Trauma?
In the past month, the steadily growing #FreeBritney movement became a mainstream phenomenon following the release of The New York Times Presents documentary Framing Britney Spears. The documentary dissects the pop star’s controversial conservatorship, which placed her under the strict supervision, financially and personally, of conservators like her father, James “Jamie” Spears, among others since 2008. Acting as a thorough introduction for newcomers, Framing Britney Spears provides a heartbreaking portrait of both the rise of the wide-eyed teen singer from Louisiana and her fall from grace, including that infamous head-shaving, umbrella-wielding night anyone who lived through 2007 saw footage of at least a million times over. Framing Britney Spears casts a much kinder, more sympathetic l...
Facebook’s New App Bars Lets You Rap Over Premade Beats
The follow-up era to SoundCloud rappers may well be upon us. As noted by TechCrunch, Facebook is releasing an app that will let users rap over premade beats and share a video of it with their community. It’s called Bars, and it’s currently available to download in closed beta form. From the sound of it, Bars is an app geared towards beginner rappers and freestyle pros alike. Users can choose from a rolodex of beats already available to use on the app, rap over them for 60 seconds, and then post the video to a “TikTok-style feed” where fellow Bars users can watch it and mark it as “fire” if they like it. Bars reportedly offers “studio quality vocal effects,” including everybody’s favorite AutoTune feature, too. Those in need of a creative boost should be pretty pleased with Bars because it ...
Justin Bieber Announces New Album Justice
Justin Bieber has announced the release of a new album called Justice, which will arrive on March 19th via RBMG/Def Jam Records. Justice marks Bieber’s sixth album to date and arrives a little more than a year after its predecessor, Changes. In a statement announcing the release of Justice, Bieber said his goal was “to make music that will provide comfort; to make songs that people can relate to, and connect to, so they feel less alone.” “In a time when there’s so much wrong with this broken planet, we all crave healing – and justice – for humanity,” Bieber commented. “In creating this album, my goal is to make music that will provide comfort; to make songs that people can relate to, and connect to, so they feel less alone. Suffering, injustice and pain can leave people feeling helpless. M...
Tomahawk (Mike Patton) Unleash New Song “Dog Eat Dog” with Brutal Music Video: Stream
The Mike Patton-fronted alternative metal act Tomahawk has unveiled the second single from its upcoming album Tonic Immobility, due out March 26th. The new song, titled “Dog Eat Dog”, comes with a brutal music video. The track is another crisp slice of heavy melodies, following the sound outlined on the previous single “Business Casual”. The inexhaustible Patton is never one to skimp on his vocal performances, and he delivers another strong outing on “Dog Eat Dog”. Lyrically, the new song offers a humorously pro-canine stance, with Patton stating, “Dogs patiently wait, obediently, for humans to snuff each other out…so they can take over the world. Dogs rule!!!!” The accompanying video, directed by Eric Livingston, takes a more serious look at the inherent competition in our society — ...
Freddie Gibbs Covers Gil Scott-Heron’s “Winter in America”: Stream
Gary, Indiana rapper Freddie Gibbs has released a cover of influential poet Gil Scott-Heron’s 1975 song, “Winter in America”. Check out the song below. Shining a light on American colonialism, the absence of democracy, and racism, “Winter in America” first appeared on Gil Scott-Heron, Brian Jackson, and the Midnight Band’s 1975 album, The First Minute of a New Day. In his version, Gibbs pays tribute to Scott-Heron by singing in a spoken-word flow. Unfortunately, the lyrics are just as applicable today as they were 45 years ago. “Just like the cities staggered on the coastline / In a nation that can’t take much more,” he croons. “Like the forest buried underneath the highway / Never had a chance to grow.” “Winter In America” appears on Black History Always – Music For The Movement Vol. 2, t...
Marianne Faithfull Shares New Song “She Walks In Beauty”: Stream
Next month, Marianne Faithfull will release a new spoken-word album called She Walks In Beauty that was made in collaboration with Warren Ellis. She announced the record back in January, but today she’s giving fans their first taste by sharing its title-track. The album, which features additional performances from Nick Cave and Brian Eno, will see the 74-year-old recite iconic poems from the 19th century British Romantics over sound collages that Ellis constructed. The whole project was titled after Lord Byron’s classic of the same name, and Faithfull presents the poem with her own unique delivery on the title-track. The first half of the song gradually crescendos from sparse piano and chirping birds to lush strokes of mosaic ambience. Suddenly, Faithfull’s weather...
Lady Gaga’s French Bulldogs Recovered Safely by Police
Lady Gaga’s two French Bulldogs, who were stolen at gun point during a robbery earlier this week, have been recovered unharmed. According to The Associated Press, a woman brought the dogs to a Los Angeles Police Department station on Friday evening. Lady Gaga’s representatives went to the station and identified the dogs as belonging to her. The woman who dropped off the dogs appears to be “uninvolved and unassociated” with the robbery, according to detectives. However, it was not immediately clear how she obtained the dogs. The dogs — Koji and Gustav — were stolen during a brazen attack in Hollywood on Wednesday evening. Surveillance footage captured a white sedan pulling up to Lady Gaga’s assistant, Ryan Fischer, who was walking her three dogs at the time. Two men...
UK Music Festivals Are Selling Out After Government Releases Plan to End Lockdown
Music festivals in the UK are selling out in record numbers after the country’s government unveiled a timeline for ending lockdown restrictions before the summer. However, festival organizers are still wary of cancellations that could lead to detrimental financial losses without a government-backed insurance policy. On Monday, Boris Johnson announced his government’s plan to ease out of lockdown, which is set to conclude with the complete removal of social distancing restrictions on June 21st. As The Guardian reports, the news has led to major festivals like Field Day and Reading & Leeds selling out at historic rates, as demonstrated by a 600% rise in Ticketmaster traffic. “We’ve had around 2 million fans on our site with half a million visits to the Ticketmaster Festival Finder g...
Foo Fighters, Carly Simon, Perry Farrell, More to Play Rock ‘N’ Relief Livestream
The non-profit CORE (Community Organized Relief Effort) has announced the two-day Rock ‘N’ Relief livestream to raise funds for COVID-19 aid in Los Angeles. Foo Fighters, Carly Simon, Perry Farrell, and more will perform. CORE was founded more than a decade ago by Ann Lee and actor Sean Penn to help the victims of Haiti’s 2010 earthquake. The program has taken up many causes over the years, most recently the novel coronavirus. CORE is currently helping to operate the mass vaccination site at Dodger Stadium, in addition to providing “equitable access to free testing and vaccines across Los Angeles.” The Rock ‘N’ Relief livestream is being curated by Linda Perry, the former leader of 4 Non Blondes, who has gone on to write songs for Christina Aguilera, P!nk, and Gwen Stefani, among others. P...
Big|Brave Announce New Album Vital, Share Video for “Half Breed”: Stream
Atmospheric metal trio Big|Brave have announced their new album, Vital, will be out April 23rd via Southern Lord. The band has also offered up the video for the epic nine-minute lead single, “Half Breed”. Big|Brave have built a smoldering and majestic post-metal track with the new single, perfecting the meditative tones that perked our ears when we first heard Big|Brave as the support act for Daughters in 2019. The track is highlighted by the powerful vocal performance of Robin Wattie. The music video for “Half Breed” is also striking, depicting a single continuous shot of a prone figure being covered with dirt. As the traffic in the background zooms by, the individual appears to be getting buried alive until the final notes ring out and the protagonist rises. “The action of shoveling dirt...
Facepalm Along with Justin Bieber to His Godawful New Album Art
When your eyes first alight on the cover artwork for Justin Bieber’s new album Justice, you might think to yourself, “I’ve been that hungover,” or “I, too, hate having my picture taken,” or, “This new Teenage Mutant Turtles reboot looks sick.” But only true Beliebers could see such a collection of questionable design decisions and have faith in the accompanying music. Here it is, in all its slime-hued glory: <img data-attachment-id="1109356" data-permalink="https://consequenceofsound.net/2021/02/justin-bieber-announces-new-album-justice/justin-bieber-justice-artwork/" data-orig-file="https://consequenceofsound.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Justin-Bieber-Justice-artwork.jpeg?quality=80" data-orig-size="1200,1200" data-comments-opened=&qu...
