Last year, legendary Nigerian drummer Tony Allen was working on a new album when he suffered an aortic aneurysm and passed away at the age of 79. His collaborators have finished what he began, and the posthumous release There Is No End will arrive on April 30th, the anniversary of his death. You can catch a preview with lead single “Cosmosis”, which was co-written by Damon Albarn and features Skepta and Ben Okri. Allen pioneered the Afrobeat sound, drawing influences from American jazz, Ghanian highlife, and Yoruba polyrhythms to develop new grooves that continue to resonate today. He built his towering reputation by collaborating on over 30 albums with Fela Kuti, and his skills were so advanced that when he left to pursue a solo career, Kuti hired four drummers to replace him. Allen ...
Spoon’s Britt Daniel (photo by Heather Kaplan) and Tom Petty (photo by Philip Cosores) Spoon have shared covers of the late Tom Petty’s “Breakdown” and “A Face in the Crowd”. Stream both songs below. The Texas indie rockers recorded both tracks live at the Catacomb in Austin, with “Breakdown” originally being broadcast as part of Tom Petty’s 70th Birthday Bash, a virtual tribute concert that took place last fall. Back in 2017, Spoon lead singer Britt Daniel explained to Stereogum why “A Face In The Crowd” is his favorite Tom Petty song. “Divine Fits (Daniel’s other band) played ‘You Got Lucky’ at just about every gig we had. What an insane single. It’s got an intense lyric and the most powerful, creepy guitar riff and somehow Dan was able to tap into that attitude every time. It was ...
Selena Gomez has unveiled her first Spanish-language record, the Revelación EP. Stream it below using Apple Music or Spotify. Her first studio release since 2020’s Rare, Revelación is a pop and reggaeton project that features DJ Snake, Rauw Alejandro, and Myke Towers. According to Gomez, this celebration of her Mexican heritage may never have come together if not for the coronavirus pandemic. The singer has long struggled with anxiety and depression, and in 2015 she was diagnosed with lupus, a condition that required chemotherapy and a kidney transplant. When she wasn’t feeling sick, she felt pressure to keep working, and as she explained in an interview with the Los Angeles Times, the enforced rest of quarantine caused a shift in her perspective. She said, “The Spanish reco...
Chicago-born producer and singer Ace Hashimoto has recruited fellow multi-hyphenate Thundercat for his new song “VAPORWAVES”. Stream it below. The breezy track has a funky bassline and features Hashimoto and Thundercat contemplating the meaning of life. “After the end of the world, when it’s all said and done,” Hashimoto sings. “There’s no sign of life, but somehow life will still carry on / Could it mean our existence not grand as we thought?” Hashimoto originally released “VAPORWAVES” earlier this week as an exclusive on his Patreon page, and warned fans it would only be available on YouTube “for a limited time only.” In a lengthy update, the musician shared his inspiration for the song. “This song is about existential crisis and I believe it was that concept that led me to feeling free ...
After four long years with no new music, The Horrors have just released their highly anticipated new EP, Lout. Stream it below via Apple Music and Spotify. Lout is the first record The Horrors have put out since their 2017 studio album V. On the new EP, the indie punk rockers embrace a darker, industrial metal sound with ominous hooks (“Lout”), gritty bass (“Org”), and some unrelenting drumming (“Whiplash”). It’s a welcome sound that they sport well, and allegedly it came pretty naturally to the band. “There’s something about it which feels like a return to a heavier sound but really it’s a million miles away from anything we’ve done,” said keyboardist Tom Furse in a statement. “Keeping the sound aggressive and the beats heavy was a central tenet, everything seemed to fall around that.” “I...
BLACKPINK’s Rosé has unveiled two new solo songs titled “On the Ground” and “Gone”. Together, the singles make up the K-Pop sensation’s debut solo project, R, which she announced earlier this month. Back in January, Rosé gave fans their first taste of her work as an individual when she performed “Gone” during BLACKPINK’s triumphant livestream concert, The Show. She had been teasing an impending solo project since June of last year, and then on the March 1st she finally announced the release and began dropping clips of the “On the Ground” music video. Now both of them have finally arrived in full, and fans of BLACKPINK’s neon K-Pop will certainly appreciate their sound and style. The 24-year-old superstar is still riding the high of her group’s massively successful 2020 record, Th...
Alabama rapper Chika has released a new EP called Once Upon A Time. Stream it below via Apple Music or Spotify. The 24-year-old is nominated for Best New Artist at this Sunday’s Grammys, so this new joint serves as a celebration of how far she’s come in just a few years. The six-song effort follows her well-liked 2020 EP Industry Games, and the handful of singles she released last year. Only one of those — the lustful “FWB” that she originally dropped back in December — appears on Once Upon A Time, while the others are all fresh cuts. As its storybook title and castle-adorned cover art imply, Once Upon A Time has a fairytale concept weaved through it. The first song, which features BJ The Chicago Kid, is literally called “FAIRY TALES”, and there are two other tracks cal...
Kenny Mason turned Atlanta hip-hop on its ears with last year’s debut album, Angelic Hoodrat. The genre-mashing artist is now set to keep his momentum going with a new project dubbed Angelic Hoodrat: Supercut, which features the new single “Pup”. Due out April 16th, Supercut consists of 12 new tracks and a quartet of features. Denzel Curry, a frequent collaborator who has emerged as something of a mentor to Mason even though he’s only a year older, appears on “A+”, while Freddie Gibbs drops in on “Much Money”. Alongside those heavy-hitters, Mason welcomes a pair of fellow risers, with Dallas’ Angel White featuring on “Titan” and bi-lingual New Jersey singer-songwriter contributing to “Breathe”. The new collection was first teased last month with “Partments”, a low-key track that further pe...
To celebrate the tenth anniversary of her 2010 album Epic, Sharon Van Etten is reissuing it as a double LP featuring a front-to-back covers album. Dubbed Epic Ten, our first sample of the reimagined tracks came from Justin Vernon and Aaron Dessner’s Big Red Machine’s take on “A Crime”. Today, the second single has arrived, as SVE has shared IDLES’ cover of “Peace Signs”. The British outfit keeps things as close to the original as their post-punk sensibilities will allow them, with all the familiar progressions still in place. In IDLES’ hands, however, they’re riddled with anxieties and the searing tension of shredding guitars. Certainly the screaming repetition of “Peace signs” hits different coming from Joe Talbot’s growl rather than Sharon Van Etten’s voice. Take a listen to the cov...
Danny Elfman is keeping his promise to release a new song every month this year. Following January’s “Sorry” and last month’s “Love in the Time of COVID”, the beloved composer has returned with another new tune called “Kick Me”. After releasing his first solo song in 36 years last fall, the 67-year-old got the bug and pledged to unleash a brand new recording on the 11th day of each month. His previous two songs met at the crossroads of progressive metal and Broadway pageantry, but “Kick Me” is his shortest, heaviest, and most straightforward yet. Featuring frenetic drumming and punk-ish guitars, it sounds like a cross between System of a Down, Primus, and one of his Tim Burton scores. Meanwhile, its lyrics see Elfman playing the part of a tone-deaf celebrity, unloading narcissistic pleas f...