Benny the Butcher (photo by Setor TsiKudo), Lil Wayne (photo by Ben Kaye), and Big Sean (photo by Philip Cosores) Benny the Butcher has announced a new album called Burden of Proof, due out next week. As an early look, the Griselda rapper is sharing a collaboration with fellow rap veterans Lil Wayne and Big Sean that’s appropriately titled “Timeless”. Benny’s prolific label mates, Conway the Machine and Westside Gunn, have each already dropped three albums (!) in 2020 alone, but the New York-bred MC is slowly but surely catching up: Burden of Proof marks his second effort of the year following his joint record with DJ Drama from July. Clearly going for a quality over quantity approach, Benny enlisted renowned beatmaker Hit-Boy (Kanye West, Beyoncé) to produce the entire project. ...
Caleb Giles has announced a new album, Meditations, due out October 21st. As a preview, the New York rapper is a sharing fresh single today titled “No Difference”. While Giles moonlights as a saxophonist in the jazz-rap outfit Standing on the Corner, Meditations is entirely his own project and follows solo records Under the Shade (2019) and There Will Be Rain (2018). He hasn’t revealed a tracklist or cover art for it just yet, but we do know that the LP is 28 minutes long and features production from Alexander Spit, Beatnick Dee, Lastnamedavid, Bluezy, and Giles himself. First look “No Difference” is a terrific slice of indie rap that sees Giles rapping tactfully and singing with a composed yet soulful croon. The self-produced beat contains mournful piano lines and a trippy underwater effe...
After a number of social media teases, AC/DC have unveiled their first new song in six years. The track, “Shot in the Dark”, is the first single from the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame act’s upcoming album, Power Up. Moreover, the band has officially revealed the tracklist, artwork, and release date for the new LP. Power Up, the band’s 17th studio album, will arrive on November 13th. The LP contains 12 songs, and was produced by Brendan O’Brien. Pre-orders, including a limited-edition deluxe version, are available via AC/DC’s online store. The standard vinyl and CD editions can be pre-ordered via Amazon, as well. “Shot in the Dark” marks the official return of classic members Brian Johnson, Phil Rudd, and Cliff Williams, who rejoin Angus Young in the legendary band. The lineup is rounded out...
Indie trio Palberta will kick off the new year with a new full-length album. Titled Palberta5000, it marks the group’s fifth overall and follow-up to Roach Going Down from 2018. Over the course of their last few records, the New York natives have earned a reputation for idiosyncratic, hard-to-categorize rock — the kind that mashes together experimental, surf rock, post-punk, punk, and more. For their forthcoming effort, however, Ani Ivry-Block, Lily Konigsberg, and Nina Ryser are pumping in more pop melodies. Palberta elaborated in a statement, “While punk music was our first love, pop music has become our fixation. Throughout the making of Palberta5000, we were focused on making music that people could not only sing along to but get stuck in their heads… that and attempting to make s...
The War on Drugs have announced a new live album. Titled LIVE DRUGS, it’s due out November 20th through frontman Adam Granduciel’s own Super High Quality Records. According to a statement, the 10-track effort was “culled from over 40 hard drives” of concert recordings. There are selections from across the indie rock band’s impressive catalog — including the 2008 debut Wagonwheel Blues, 2014’s Lost in the Dream, and A Deeper Understanding from 2017 — but many are captured like never before. For example, their live rendition of “Under the Pressure” features 20,000 audience members singing along to the extended guitar melody. Another inclusion, “Eyes to the Wind”, has “grown wholly independent” of the final album version. Editors’ Picks “As a band leader, I always want to know...
The Kills have shared a previously unreleased demo called “Raise Me”. The song is taken from the band’s newly announced rarities collection, Little Bastards, arriving December 11th via Domino. The compilation comprises recordings dating from The Kill’s earliest 7-inch singles in 2002 through 2009. Featuring remastered B-sides, demos, and covers, Little Bastards collects many tracks originally recorded for bonus inclusion on CD singles. As that format vanished in the wake of digital streaming, most of those songs were abandoned — hence the title Little Bastards. The name is also a reference to the drum machine the duo used to expand their sound during the early days of their career, lovingly dubbed Little Bastard. “It was a Roland 880,” The Kills’ Jamie Hince explained in a statement, “whic...
Way back in March of last year, Johnny Brennan confirmed he was working on the first new album from The Jerky Boys in two decades. Now, he’s confirmed its imminent release and shared the first prank call from the comedy collection. The self-titled LP is set for release on November 27th, Black Friday, via Comedy Dynamics. Available exclusively on streaming services, the album will see the return of many of Brennan’s classic characters, including Frank Rizzo, Jack Tors, Mike Derucki, and Sol Rosenberg. In the first clip from the effort (via Rolling Stone), good ol’ Sol dials up the iRobot customer service line with a uniquely deadly issue. “I duct-taped a very sharp knife to the iRobot and he’s outside the bathroom door now,” complains Sol (the basis for the Family Guy character Mort Goldman...
Griselda mastermind Westside Gunn has provided details for his next album, Who Made the Sunshine. His major-label debut arrives this Friday, October 2nd through Shady Records. Westside is surely one of the few people on this blessed Earth who can call 2020 his best year yet. April’s Pray for Paris was an early contender for rap album of the year, and he followed that up in July with the solid, though occasionally uneven mixtape FLYGOD Is An Awesome God II. Even beyond that, his labelmate and real-life brother Conway the Machine put out the excellent Griselda effort From King to a God, while recent signee Armani Caesar made waves with her new tape The Liz. Now Mr. Gunn is ready to put a bow on 2020 with his debut on Shady Records. Who Made t...
Sure, Dolly Parton and Andrew Bird have holiday albums coming down the chimney this year, but 2020 deserves a darker sort of seasonal sing-a-long. Thankfully, Mark Lanegan is here to abide with his new Christmas album, Dark Mark Does Christmas 2020. Due out exclusively via Rough Trade record stores, the album is actually the ex-Screaming Trees frontman’s second holiday release under the Dark Mark moniker. The first, Dark Mark Does Christmas 2012, was a tour-only 12-inch EP featuring six tracks: “The Cherry Tree Carol”, “Down in Yon Forest”, “O Holy Night”, “We Three Kings”, “Coventry Carol”, and a cover of “Burn the Flames” by Roky Erickson. Five of those, including the Erickson cover, will make it onto the new LP, along with five freshly recorded songs. The new material comprises covers, ...
Earlier this year, Bon Iver released “PDLIF”, a COVID-19 benefit single featuring production from Jim-E Stack. Now, the two artists have teamed up once again for “Jeanie”, a new single off Stack’s forthcoming album Ephemera. October may be within sight, but today’s collaboration practically screams summer. Dripping in Autotune, Justin Vernon’s vocals seem weightless like a late-night August breeze. “Don’t want you to feel too much,” he sings, as though kissing off a seasonal fling. Stack’s multicolored, synth-stacked production, meanwhile, provides just the right dose of wistfulness, comfort, and groove. Hear it for yourself below. Ephemera, which also features Empress Of, Dijon, and Kacy Hill, officially arrives October 30th via AWAL. In recent months, Stack also had a hand in Charli XCX’...
21 Savage and Metro Boomin have announced Savage Mode 2, the follow-up to the 2016 trap blockbuster Savage Mode. The sequel arrives this Friday, October 2nd, and in the anticipation, the duo have shared a trailer narrated by none other than Morgan Freeman. The original EP came at a pivotal time in both men’s careers. Metro Boomin was 22 years old and already had half a dozen big hits under his belt. He may have been an in-demand beat-maker, but everybody knows Metro Boomin wants some more, and the collaboration with 21 Savage allowed him a chance to executive produce and expand his empire. As for Savage, he was a 23-year-old rising rapper in Atlanta with a pair of mixtapes to his name. After the co-sign from Metro Boomin, he became a star almost overnight. The Savage Mode 2 ...