music
Kanye West Holds First Campaign Presidential Rally in South Carolina
Kanye West held his first presidential campaign rally at Exquis Event Center in North Charleston, South Carolina on Sunday. The event began at 5:00 p.m. ET. Kanye took the stage wearing a bulletproof vest and with his head shaved to say, “2020”. During the early portion of the rally, Kanye invited fans to the stage to speak about the issues that matter to them. In between these remarks, Kanye offered his own personal andecdotes. Notably, he accused social media and prescription drugs of brainwashing culture. Additionally, Kanye boasted about having a 132 IQ and how he went “to the hospital because my brain was too big for my skull.” He also said Harriet Tubman “didn’t free the slaves, she had them go work for other white people.” He explained his stance against Planned Parenthood, at one p...
Shamir Announces New Self-Titled Album, Premieres “I Wonder”: Stream
Despite the pandemic, Shamir is gearing up to release his second album of 2020. Following March’s Cataclysm, the indie artist is readying a self-titled record for October 2nd. According to a statement, Shamir finds the Philly-based musician swapping his R&B and pop palette for something with a little more grit. Shamir specifically looked “toward the post-hardcore ’90s for further inspiration — from Olympia, Washington cult heroes Unwound to bands of the Kill Rock Stars orbit.” The shift in musical direction may be a bit surprising to fans. But for Shamir, it’s a natural evolution and one that places him at his most centered. “I felt like it didn’t need a name [for the album], cuz it’s the record that’s most me,” Shamir says of the LP, which he also considers his most accessib...
Hayley Williams Covers Björk’s “Unison”: Watch
During the onset of the outbreak, Hayley Williams delivered her rendition of Phoebe Bridgers’ “Smoke Signals” from quarantine. The Paramore leader is back this week with another homemade cover, this time taking on the Icelandic queen herself, Björk. Performing from her own couch, Williams offered up an acoustic version of “Unison”, a track off Björk’s 2001 album Vespertine. “I’d actually hoped to cover a different song of hers live this year, but I guess that will have to wait until some other time,” Williams wrote on Twitter. “anyway, this one has to be in my top 5”. We’re curious to know what songs make up the rest of her Björk list, but we’ll settle for this magical cover in the meantime. Watch video footage below. Editors’ Picks This past spring saw Williams release Pet...
Consequence of Sound Announces AC/DC Back in Black 40th Anniversary Virtual Celebration
Rock’s biggest-selling album ever — AC/DC’s Back in Black — is turning 40 years old this month, and Consequence of Sound is celebrating in a big way. In a joint effort with Gibson Guitars, we’re presenting “Back in Black 40th Anniversary: A Virtual Celebration”. The online stream will take place Friday, July 24th, premiering at 5:00 p.m. ET across the CoS social channels, with an amazing giveaway launching today. Hosted by guitar virtuoso Jared James Nichols, the streaming event will include AC/DC testimonials or tutorial performances from Slash, Dee Snider, and members of Cage the Elephant, Anthrax, Lamb of God, Refused, Airbourne, GWAR, and more, as well as friends and fans of the band. We’ll also get an inside look at some of the gear that guitarist Angus Young used to get his signature...
The Once-Called “Herd Immunity Fest” Happened and Here’s What Went Down: Video + Photos
The once-named “Herd Immunity Fest” made national headlines when it was announced last month, and now the three-day rock gathering is in the books. The festival took place Thursday (July 16th) through Saturday (July 18th) outside the Q&Z Expo Center in Ringle, Wisconsin, and a smattering of social media posts and YouTube clips offer a glimpse of what it looked like. The “Herd Immunity Fest” faced backlash when it was first announced in late June, not only for its name but for the fact that it was going to be staged in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite organizers quickly renaming the event the “July Mini Fest”, a handful of bands dropped off the bill, including Nonpoint, Royal Bliss, Kaleido, and Blacktop Mojo. Things looked sketchy this past week when organizers reached out t...
Rare 1979 Version of Prince’s “I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man” Has Been Unearthed: Stream
This September brings a massive reissue of Prince’s 1987 tour de force, Sign O’ the Times. The expanded collection boasts 63 unreleased tracks, as well as a previously unseen concert film recorded at Paisley Park on New Year’s Eve that same year. Fans were already treated to one of the reissue’s many rarities, “Witness 4 The Prosecution (Version 1)”, back in June. Today, Warner Records and The Prince Estate are sharing a never-before-released 1979 version of “I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man”. This iteration was recorded at Hollywood Sound Recorders, Studio A on May 23rd, 1979. According to a press statement, it’s “the oldest recording” found on the upcoming reissue.”The track was retrieved from the vault by Prince in June 1986 and re-recorded, with Prince adding a guitar solo...
Pig Destroyer Announce New EP The Octagonal Stairway, Share Video for “The Cavalry”: Stream
Grindcore vets Pig Destroyer have announced a new EP, The Octagonal Stairway. In advance of its release, the band has shared the music video for the track “The Cavalry”, featuring fan-submitted footage from early on in the COVID-19 pandemic. The six-track EP, which arrives August 28th, collects previously released one-off singles and “B-side noise cuts.” The EP takes its title from the spiraling 2013 single “The Octagonal Stairway”, included here alongside 2019 songs “The Cavalry” (initially released via the Decibel Flexi Series) and “Cameraman”. The second half of the EP contains the previously unreleased songs “News Channel 6”, “Sound Walker”, and “Head Cage” (which shares a name with the band’s 2018 album, but was not on the LP’s tracklist). The EP also features former Sepultura drummer...
The Replacements Announce Pleased to Meet Me Deluxe Edition with 29 Unreleased Tracks
The Replacements have announced a new deluxe box set of their acclaimed fifth studio album, Pleased to Meet Me. Due out October 9th from Rhino, the collection showcases 29 never-before-released tracks from the band, including their final recordings with guitarist Bob Stinson. Remastered by Justin Perkins (who handled the same duties on last year’s excellent Dead Man’s Pop box), the Pleased to Meet Me deluxe edition is spread across three CDs and one 12-inch vinyl record. The first CD features the original LP along with B-sides and rarities, capped off with a Jimmy Iovine remix of the classic “Can’t Hardly Wait”. Disc 2 captures the summer 1986 sessions at Minneapolis’ Blackberry Way Studios that led up to the final album. Amongst the 15 demos are 11 previously unreleased recordings, t...
The Killers Set New Album Release Date for Imploding the Mirage
The Killers have finally landed on a release date for Imploding the Mirage. The new album is due out in just a little over a month on August 21st through Island Records. “COVID-19 monkey wrenched us. But we persevered. Folks, mark your calendars,” the band wrote on Instagram. Originally slated to drop in May, The Killers’ sixth full-length was put on hold “due to delays in finalizing the album.” It was recorded in Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and Park City, Utah, and co-produced by the group with help from Shawn Everett (Alabama Shakes, Julian Casablancas) and Foxygen’s own Jonathan Rado. Imploding the Mirage marks the first Killers LP to be released since the band members left their much loved hometown of Las Vegas. As previously noted, the follow-up to 2017’s Wonderful Wonderful features...
Kanye West Announces New Album in Since-Deleted Tweet
2020 presidential candidate (?) Kanye West may be releasing a new album next Friday, July 24th. In a since-deleted tweet, Kanye tweeted the tracklist for a new album called Donda. The tweet contained a hand-written tracklist listing 20 songs, including the previously revealed title track as well as the Travis Scott collaboration, “Wash Us in the Blood”. Kanye previously said “Wash Us in the Blood” would appear on a new album called God’s Country. It’s unclear whether he’s simply changed the name of that album, or if Donda is a separate release altogether. Whatever the case, if Kanye does indeed follow through with plans to release a new album next Friday, it’ll serve as the follow-up to 2019’s Jesus Is King and its companion LP, Jesus Is Born. In related news, Kanye still appears to be run...
Linkin Park Gets Trump’s “In the End” Video Pulled From Twitter
While it may seem like small potatoes compared to all the other crimes he’s committed while in office, Donald Trump has proven himself to be a blatant abuser of artists’ copyrights. Whether on stage at a campaign rally or via a video decimated on Twitter, Trump and his gang of deplorables have routinely play songs against the wishes of the musicians who created them. The latter such example of this occurred on Saturday when Trump tweeted a fan-made campaign video soundtracked by Linkin Park’s “In the End”. As the late Linkin Park frontman Chester Bennington previously called Trump “a greater threat to the USA than terrorism,” the band’s surviving members were quick to file a takedown notice with Twitter. Within hours, Twitter obliged with the band’s request, pulling the video from Trump’s ...
The Chicks Unleash the Comeback Album Gaslighter: Stream
The Chicks, formerly the Dixie Chicks, have released their comeback album Gaslighter. Stream it below via Apple Music or Spotify. For a high-definition listening experience, you can sign up for a 60-day free trial of TIDAL HiFi. While The Chicks are no longer whistling dixie (they changed their name last month in the aftermath of Black Lives Matter protests) this is still the same trio that tore up country radio at the turn of millennium, and it’s the same group that ran smack into the W. Bush war propaganda machine. Lead singer Natalie Maines’ 2003 comments about the impending invasion of Iraq — “We do not want this war, this violence, and we’re ashamed that the President of the United States is from Texas” — led to the most forceful music backlash in decades. Fans burned their ...
