music
Nicole Atkins, Erika Wennerstrom, Neon Dreams to Play Sound Mind’s Rhythm & Reset Livestream: Watch
Heartless Bastards’ Erika Wennerstrom ( photo by Charlie Pearce), Nicole Atkins (photo by Ben Kaye), and Neon Dreams As if the holiday season wasn’t already stressful enough, this is still 2020, when everything bad is doubled. That’s why Sound Mind Live is offering some respite and promoting community self-care with their livestream benefit event Rhythm & Reset. Taking place Thursday, December 17th at 8:00 p.m. ET, Rhythm & Reset will feature artists performing intimate sets while also speaking out about their own experience with mental health. Nicole Atkins, Heartless Bastards’ Erika Wennerstrom, and Neon Dreams are all set to appear. In addition, the artists will join a panel of mental health experts to share tips for self-care and resources for coping with isolation as we ...
Kamaiyah Opens Up on Her Own Terms with No Explanations: Review
The Lowdown: Since 2016’s A Good Night in the Ghetto and her inclusion in the coveted 2017 XXL Freshman Class, Kamaiyah has been one of rap’s most consistent and exciting players. The Oakland-born and -raised rapper has hyphy written all over her music as part of the Bay Area’s highly influential scene, one that has birthed some of the most iconic gangster rap and party anthems. Kamaiyah exists in between the “hard” and the hyphy, taking the infectious, cocky grooves of Mac Dre and Too $hort into a new age for a wider audience without yielding to current trends. After departing from Interscope Records due to release disputes, the Bay Area star used 2020 to release multiple projects, No Explanations being the third. Despite a quiet release, due in part to the end of the year lull, Kamaiyah ...
Older Gentleman Delivers Amazing Cover of Slipknot’s “Snuff”: Watch
YouTube singer-songwriter Frank Watkinson might seem like an unlikely Slipknot fan for his age. Yet, his thoughtful cover of the band’s 2008 track “Snuff” proves that Watkinson knows at least one of the band’s songs to its core. The already slow track is rendered even more emotionally direct through the simple combo of Watkinson’s powerful voice and an acoustic guitar. Sitting in his living room, he delivers a rendition worthy of an actual concert audience. The clip originates from August but made the rounds over the past couple days (via Metal Injection). While the original track is a ballad by Slipknot standards, Watkinson strips the song even further to its bare chords and sentiment, harnessing a simplicity that genuinely conveys the song’s intended message and atmosphere. Watkinson’s c...
David Bowie’s Unreleased Covers of John Lennon and Bob Dylan Will Finally Be Unearthed for 74th Birthday
Even beyond the grave, David Bowie continues to gift us new music. On January 8th, what would have been his 74th birthday, two previously unreleased covers will be made available to the public for the very first time. The first is Bowie’s take on “Mother”, the 1970 track from John Lennon. This cover was originally recorded in 1998 with the Thin White Duke’s longtime producer Tony Visconti. It was supposed to appear on a Lennon tribute collection, but the release never came to fruition. Meanwhile, the second offering is a cover of Bob Dylan’s “Tryin’ to Get to Heaven”, taken from his 1997 Grammy-winning album Time Out of Mind. Bowie also recorded his reimagining in 1998 while working on his live album LiveAndWell.com that came out the following year. Editors’ Picks The new Bowie cover...
Florence Welch Shares Gorgeous Cover of “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas”: Stream
The holiday season is well underway, and Florence Welch is celebrating by lending her voice to a Christmas classic. As part of The Stars Come Out to Sing for Christmas, an annual charity event by Nordoff-Robbins, the Florence and the Machine singer shared a gorgeous cover of “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas”, which you can hear below. For her rendition, Welch stayed true to the original, singing gently over a bare piano melody that’s slightly faster than Judy Garland’s 1944 version. Of course, the power in her cover comes from her extraordinary vocal range. Instead of flaunting her skills, Welch takes a subtle approach, singing the iconic falsettos with graceful dexterity and charming casualness. Thankfully, Welch’s performance was captured live in a beautiful video that sets the sc...
As I Lay Dying Singer Tim Lambesis Hospitalized with Burns to 25% of His Body
As I Lay Dying singer Tim Lambesis is in the hospital after a bonfire accident left him with burns to 25% of his body. The controversial metal vocalist, who notoriously served time for attempting to hire a hitman to murder his estranged wife, posted about his condition Wednesday (December 16th) on Instagram. The metalcore singer shared a photo of himself in the hospital, fully bandaged but with a smile on his face as he was about to undergo a procedure to remove dead skin. Along with the picture, Lambesis offered details about the incident and his road to recovery: “Keep your head up no matter what! I’m doing the best I can to make a thumbs up on my way to surgery (in about 30 minutes). I apologize to my friends that I have not had the time to fill in yet on what happened. The entire gas c...
Dave Grohl and Greg Kurstin Cover The Knack’s “Frustrated”: Watch
It’s night seven of Hanukkah, and Dave Grohl and Greg Kurstin are still going strong with their covers song series. Over eight crazy nights, the Foo Fighters frontman and Grammy-winning producer are tackling a different song by a prominent Jewish musician. For entry number seven, they’re tackling The Knack’s “Frustrated”. “Tonight we’re featuring 4 nice Jewish boys whose biggest hit was a song about a nice Jewish girl… ‘My Shalom-a’ or something like that,” Grohl and Kurstin wrote in a tweet posted to Foo Fighters’ Twitter. “We’re huge fans of New Wave (as well as the ‘old wave’ that came after Moses parted the Red Sea) so we are psyched to present…The Knack! Previously, the duo paid tribute to Jewish greats like the Beastie Boys (“Sabotage”), Drake (“Hotline Bling”), Mountain (“Missi...
Rick James Biographical Series in the Works
Rick James has one of the craziest life stories in music history, and now a TV show is in the works to tell it. Universal Studio Group’s UCP is developing a limited series called Super Freak that will detail the late soul icon’s music career and myriad legal issues. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the studio is describing the series “a funkadelic mix of music biopic and true crime” that will trace the singer’s come-up in the ’60s, the “Super Freak” years of the ’80s, and his mid-90s comeback that was derailed by kidnapping and assault charges and a debilitating crack addiction. Randy McKinnon (author of Notes From a Young Black Chef and screenwriter for Netflix’s Grand Army) has been tapped to write and co- executive produce the series alongside a host of other EP’s. Am...
Creed Singer Scott Stapp to Play Frank Sinatra in Ronald Reagan Biopic
Scott Stapp (via “My Sacrifice” video), Frank Sinatra (via Nothing But the Best album cover) We’ve been inundated with some unforeseeable headlines in 2020, and here’s one more before the year ends: Creed singer Scott Stapp is playing Frank Sinatra in an upcoming biopic on Ronald Reagan. Yes, the rock vocalist is portraying the legendary crooner in the movie Reagan, starring Dennis Quaid as the 40th president of the United States. Stapp already filmed the role, telling Billboard, “Sinatra in performance mode was an exercise in restraint. He had this steely, stylish swagger and his sheer presence commanded a room. I was excited to join the cast and blown away by the on-set attention to detail, style, and overall production.” His performance as Sinatra comes during a scene in whi...
CupcakKe Drops Epic Diss Track “How to Rob (Remix)”: Stream
Leave it to Chicago rapper CupcakKe to start some drama right before the year’s end. In a nod to 50 Cent’s debut single “How to Rob”, she’s released her own diss track called “How to Rob (Remix)” where she goes after more than 20 rappers. Stream it below. CupcakKe sets the scene by opening the song with cheeky insults and friendly digs, saying, “It’s all motherfuckin’ love, don’t take shit personal.” From there, she wastes no time calling out Cardi B, Megan Thee Stallion, DaBaby, Lil Baby, 6ix9ine, Lizzo, Offset, Migos, Wiz Khalifa, Tory Lanez, Young M.A., Doja Cat, Sukihana, Lil Durk, City Girls, Lil Kim, Chief Keef, G Herbo, Mulatto, Flo Milli, Sada Baby, and DreamDoll. The one-liners she shoots off, ranging from “Drop Offset’s body in the jungle since he wanna be a cheetah” to “Is that ...
Kacey Musgraves Joins English-Language Voice Cast of Studio Ghibli’s Earwig and the Witch
With just one week to go before Christmas, Kacey Musgraves has been granted her so-called “biggest heart dream”: a role in a Studio Ghibli film. The Grammy-winning country star has just joined the cast of the English-language version of Earwig and the Witch, Studio Ghibli’s first fully-CGI film. Musgraves is set to voice the mother of protagonist Earwig. She will also perform her own version of the movie’s theme song “Don’t Disturb Me”. According to a tweet Musgraves posted on Tuesday, she has wanted to work with the renowned Japanese animation studio since she was a child. “My dad brought a VHS tape of [My Neighbor] Totoro home when I was about 9, and I’ll never ever forget the comfort and the magic that movie (and many other Ghibli films) have given me,” Musgraves, now 32 years old, wrot...
Johnny Brennan on the Origins of the First Jerky Boys Album in 20 Years: “It’s a Whole Different Game Today”
Something about being kept away from typical entertainment outlets this year led to a surge in nostalgia content. Pop culture reunions grew from one-off virtual gatherings to fully-scripted streamable events. That made it somewhat fortuitous that 2020 happened to be the year Johnny Brennan decided to return with his classic prank project The Jerky Boys. Brennan recently released the first Jerky Boys album in 20 years, a long-demanded effort that’s been met with the warmest of welcomes by fans. All the favorites like Sol, Frank, and the rest are back, alongside new characters ringing up everyone from Social Security scammers to iRobot customer service reps to college admissions offices. Speaking with Brennan over the phone — where he does his best work, after all — the comedian and voice ac...
