music
Phil Elverum Announces The First Microphones Album in 17 Years, Microphones in 2020
Phil Elverum has reactivated The Microphones for the project’s first album in 17 years, Microphones in 2020. The effort — comprising a single, 40-minute-long song — is due out August 7th via the musician’s own P.W. Elverum & Sun. The Microphones’ last release was 2003’s Mount Eerie, a name which Elverum began performing under not long after. In a press release, Elverum said that regardless of the name, his work has always been about “exploring autobiographically in sound and words with occasional loose participation from friends.” Last year, he delivered a rare performance as The Microphones for “no big reason.” However, the attention and interest garnered by that show at the small “What the Heck?” event in Anacortes, Washington inspired him to “step back into ...
Roger Waters Announces US + Them Live Album
Today brings the digital home release of Roger Waters’ latest concert film, US + Them, chronicling his 2017-2018 world tour of the same name. Come October 2nd, the Pink Floyd legend will release a companion live album, as well as a physical version of the film on Blu-ray and DVD. The concert film follows Waters as he embarked on a massive 156-date tour around the world. Waters co-directed the film with Sam Evans, using footage from his dates in Amsterdam and the UK. It captures the spectacle of the “Us + Them” tour, with its dizzying image projections and trippy rainbow laser pyramid. The setlists, too, were something to behold, chock-full of Pink Floyd’s greatest hits from The Wall, Wish You Were Here, and Dark Side of the Moon, as well as rarely performed tracks ...
Eminem Reveals His List of Greatest Rappers of All Time
Eminem revealed a new list of iconic MCs that he considers to be the greatest rappers of all time. Mr. Mathers first waded into the G.O.A.T. debate on the 2002 song “‘Till I Collapse”. “I got a list,” he spit. “It goes Reggie [Redman], Jay-Z, 2Pac and Biggie/ André from OutKast, Jada, Kurupt, Nas, and then me.” Now, 18 years later, he’s provided an update, albeit in non-rhyming form. YouTuber NoLifeShaq precipitated the discussion, posting a video in which he DM’ed 30 rappers asking who they believe is the best. Eminem chose to answer publicly, replying to NoLifeShaq on Twitter. Over a series of posts, he wrote, “For me, in no particular order… Toss up between wayne, pac, royce, jay, redman, treach, g. rap, biggie & king crook….Plus redman, LL, nas, joyner, ken...
DMC Joins Anthrax, Volbeat, Suicidal Tendencies Members for Run-DMC Quarantine Medley: Watch
Rapper Darryl “DMC” McDaniels celebrated his legendary hip-hop group Run-DMC with a quarantine performance featuring members of Anthrax, Volbeat, and Suicidal Tendencies. Anthrax drummer Charlie Benante has arranged a number of socially distant performances during the pandemic. For this one, he was joined by his former Anthrax bandmate and current Volbeat guitarist Rob Caggiano and Suicidal Tendencies bassist Ra Diaz, as they back McDaniels on a medley of Run-DMC classics. “I always wanted to do a medley of Run-DMC songs, so back in March I decided to put an arrangement together and asked these amazing people to be a part of it,” explained Benante in the YouTube description. “How can you do a Run-DMC medley without the King of Rock — Darryl McDaniels DMC.” The drummer added, “I have been a...
System of a Down’s John Dolmayan Calls Democrats the “True Bigots” While Wishing Trump a Happy Birthday
Despite being antithetical to the sociopolitical ideals that have long been presented in his band’s music, System of a Down drummer John Dolmayan keeps doubling and tripling down on some far-right viewpoints. Now, he has gone so far as to call Democrats the “true bigots” in his latest Instagram rant. At this point, it may seem like Dolmayan is just trying to get a rise out of the band’s fans, but he has made it clear that he stands on the opposite end of the political spectrum than his bandmates, especially singer Serj Tankian. Already the two have expressed very different views about the ongoing protests, with Dolmayan hailing President Trump as the “greatest friend to minorities” and Tankian calling for the Trump regime to resign. Last week, Dolmayan followed up his initial comments by d...
UK “Quarantine Raves” Result in Death, Rape, Multiple Stabbings
Manchester, England was the site of two illegal “quarantine raves” on Saturday, June 13th. Attended by some 6,000 people total, the events resulted in one suspected overdose death, three stabbings, and the rape of an 18-year-old-woman. As reported by the BBC, the two separate events took place in Daisy Nook Park and Carrington, both within Greater Manchester County. 4,000 people piled into the park at Daisy Nook, including the 20-year-old man who is believed to have died of a drug overdose. An additional 2,000 people raved at Carrington, and it was this smaller event that hosted the rest of the weekend’s tragedies. Three separate stabbings took place, one of which left an 18-year-old man in critical condition. Police officers gave him first aid before paramedics arrived, and his healt...
Fiona Apple to Donate Two Years’ Worth of Song Royalties to Charity
Last year, Fiona Apple donated $90,000 worth of royalties from TV and movie placements of her hit song “Criminal” to While They Wait Fund, an organization that provides refugees with legal services and basic necessities. Apple is now launching a similar charitable campaign using two songs off her superb album Fetch the Bolt Cutters. According to a statement, Apple said that for the next two years she will pledge all royalties from TV and movie placements of “Shameika” and “Heavy Balloon” to a pair of nonprofit organizations. Royalties for the former will be given to the Harlem Children’s Zone, which helps support the higher education of kids. Earned royalties for the latter, meanwhile, will benefit Seeding Sovereignty, an Indigenous-led collective working to dismantle imperialist instituti...
How Wallows Powered Through Quarantine With Group Texts, Iced Coffee, And Jams
In this age of self-isolation and quarantine, it’s never been more important to check in on each other and to connect. This goes for artists, too, who have been social distancing alongside us: livestreaming concerts and hangouts, creating their own talk shows, and… well, that’s what we want them to tell us, with Remote Access. As of mid-May, the last time Dylan Minnette, Braeden Lemasters, and Cole Preston — known together as pastel pop-rock band Wallows — had seen each other in person was when they filmed a music video in March. The visual, which brings their jaunty tune “OK” to vibrant life, doubles as a showcase for the trio’s fellowship. They shot it in a single day in Los Angeles, cruising around in a van, jamming, scooting around on Heelys, and eve...
Rammstein Working on New Songs While in Lockdown
Rammstein would have been in the middle of a European tour right now had it not been for the pandemic, but the industrial metal veterans are not sitting around twiddling their thumbs. Instead, the legendary German band is working on new music. In an interview with Germany’s “Bosshoss” podcast on Rodeo Radio, drummer Christoph Schneider was asked what the band has been up to during the lockdown. Schneider responded, “Last week, we were supposed to play our first 2020 concert and then we said, ‘Let’s meet and think about what we could do this year.’” He continued, “We still have so many ideas lying around, so many unfinished songs. We met and we’re working on new songs. We want to work on songs, but whether it’s going to be a new record, nobody knows.” It took Rammstein roughly 10 year...
Penny Lane from The Beatles Song “in Danger of Being Renamed” over Possible Slavery Ties
As the Black Lives Matter movement continues to surge worldwide, citizens and governments alike are being forced to reconsider monuments to heritages of racism. In America, everyone from GWAR to Taylor Swift is calling for the removal of confederate statues, with one petition proposing they be replaced with ones of Dolly Parton. Meanwhile, over in Liverpool, England, folks are seeking to rename the famed Penny Lane — immortalized in the classic song by The Beatles — over its purported connection to the slave trade. It seems many believe the road was named for James Penny, a slave merchant who spoke against abolition in Parliament. Last week, as protests over racial injustice and inequality gripped the country, signs for the street were defaced and graffitied, with “racist” being sprayed ab...
Garth Brooks Announces Concert Event at 300 Drive-in Movie Theaters
Garth Brooks has announced a one-off concert event which will be simulcast at 300 drive-in movie theaters across North America on June 27th. Tickets are priced at $100 per car and go on sale beginning Friday, June 19th at 12:00 p.m. ET via Ticketmaster. Due to the limited capacity of drive-ins, tickets are limited and will likely go quickly. A full list of participating theaters can be found here. The event is being billed as the “the largest ever one-night show to play at outdoor theaters across the United States and Canada.” Speaking to Good Morning America on Thursday, Brooks commented, “They’re going to run it just like a regular concert, but this is going to be all over North America, one night only. We are excited because this is a reason to get out of the house, but at the...
Metallica’s Lars Ulrich Surprises Nurse on Kimmel, Announces S&M2 Box Set
Throughout the pandemic, Jimmy Kimmel has been paying tribute to healthcare workers on his late-night talk show by having celebrities surprise them during their video chat sessions. Last night, Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich surprised pediatric nurse Tracey Bednar, and also spilled the beans on a new box set capturing last year’s “S&M2” performances with the San Francisco Symphony. When Kimmel introduced Bednar, who is a pediatric ICU nurse in Long Island, New York, the two initially discussed the effects of COVID-19 on children. Kimmel asked her what she does to relax while working such a stressful job, and Bednar responded, “I actually play golf, I love yoga, and the best thing I do is, on my way home from work, when it’s my own private time, I play my radio really, really loud.” The ...
