Deck the halls with boughs of holly, and stream the new holiday project from chamber pop extraordinaire Tori Amos. Her Christmastide EP is officially out today and can be found below via Apple Music or Spotify. Out through Decca Records, Christmastide serves as Amos’ first new solo material since the 2017 full-length Native Invader. It features four original tracks, including lead single “Better Angels”. According to Amos, she hopes the EP can be a jubilant “safe space” from these turbulent times. “With Christmastide it was important to be positive and to try and lift people’s spirits,” she commented in a statement. “It’s a time of year that should be joyful with family and friends but also can sadly be a very lonely place for some.” Editors’ Picks “Many families will ...
Genre-bending rapper Rico Nasty has finally released her first full-length album, Nightmare Vacation. The highly-anticipated debut is a fitting end to 2020, which has felt like a year-long nightmare. Stream it below via Apple Music or Spotify. Today’s new effort follows mixtapes like Sugar Trap in 2016 and the 2019 Kenny Beats collaboration Anger Management. It features standout singles in “iPhone” and “OFHR?”, both produced by Dylan Brady of experimental pop outfit 100 gecs. The tracklist also includes “Own It”, as well as the Gucci Mane and Don Toliver joint cut “Don’t Like Me”. Other guests include Aminé (“Back & Fourth”) and Trippie Redd (“Losers”). In an interview with the Recording Academy, Rico talked about her evolution over the years and how that impacted the LP. “I definitely...
Last month, Green Day revived their secret new wave side-project The Network and dropped a brand new EP out of nowhere. Now, they’re keeping that momentum going by releasing Money Money 2020 Part II: Told Ya So!, their first new album under the moniker in nearly 17 years. Stream it below via Apple Music or Spotify. Part II: Told Ya So! follows The Network’s debut release, Money Money 2020, which came out back in 2003. This new record sees the trio pick up where they left off by poking fun at dystopic futures, technology, and the mind-melting abilities of culture in general over the span of 25 (!) new songs. Looking at song titles like “Pizzagate” and “Hey Elon”, it’s clear that Billie Joe Armstrong, Mike Dirnt, and Tré Cool decided to have fun with the songwriting process, which in tu...
Sigur Rós have unveiled their long-anticipated orchestral album Odin’s Raven Magic. Stream it below via Apple Music and Spotify. The eight-song composition has been a mythical piece of the Icelandic band’s catalog for almost two decades now, so it’s a pretty momentous occasion for it to finally see the light of day. It was originally commissioned by the Reykjavik Arts Festival in 2002 and has only been performed a handful of times since then. The version that you hear on the album was recorded during a concert in Paris in the early 2000s. Odin’s Raven Magic is an elaborate collaboration with the revered Icelandic musician Hilmar Örn Hilmarsson (and an ordained ‘chief goði’ of the pagan Norse religion Ásatrúarfélagið) and respected fisherman and chanter Steindór Andersen. However, desp...
There’s only four weeks until 2021 begins, but that isn’t stopping The Weeknd from making these last moments count. He just released a new remix of “Blinding Lights” featuring Rosalía, and it’s available to stream below. Despite having to postpone his massive tour, 2020 has arguably been The Weeknd’s biggest year ever — especially due to the sheer willpower of “Blinding Lights”. The After Hours single dominated the radio, was Spotify’s most-streamed single of the year, and has spent a full year on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. No wonder it earned our coveted spot as the best song of 2020. Of course, all of this is in addition to the other cool things he’s done in support of After Hours. The Weeknd performed an augmented reality concert on TikTok, literally lost his head in the “Too Lat...
Billie Eilish took on the poignant George Harrison-penned Beatles song “Something” during a SiriusXM Alt Nation performance tonight (Dec. 3). She also performed acoustic versions of her hits “Therefore I Am,” “Everything I Wanted” and “Ocean Eyes.” [embedded content] Eilish and her brother/collaborator FINNEAS also chatted with host Jeff Regan about forthcoming music they’ve recorded during quarantine, with Eilish saying the “project’s goals are to be cohesive and make sense, but not just be a repeat and clone of every other song. Everything about every song is very different.” The young singer-songwriter also talked about the toll huge success can take: “It’s especially hard on an undeveloped brain,” she says. You Deserve to Make Money Even When you are looking for Dates On...
2020 has been another massive year for beloved K-pop band BTS, what with their first-ever music Grammy nomination and history-making single “Dynamite”. But as any celebrity will attest, global domination can take a major mental and physical toll on you. That’s where BTS member Jin currently finds himself. Ahead of his 28th birthday, the Bangtan Boy has released a new solo single titled “Abyss”, inspired by his recent reflections on worldwide fame and the group’s loyal #BTSARMY. Jin explained on the BTS blog, writing, “Recently, in a press conference, I said: I don’t like to share my sad feelings with the fans. This is because I only want to show them the good things. However, I feel differently if it’s through music. I don’t like to share it through my everyday actions, but I think it woul...
La Chica is a French/Venezuelan singer, songwriter, and pianist who makes dazzling art-pop that feels like a living, breathing being. Today, she’s released one of these musical creatures, “La Loba”, which perfectly encapsulates the spine-tingling beauty of her work. The new song uses a combination of eerie piano and tense hand claps to create a mood that brings to mind Fiona Apple’s manic Fetch The Bolt Cutters and FKA twigs’ ghostly Magdalene. Most of the track is delivered in tongue-trilling Spanish, but the menacing phrase “I pick up the bones” come through in deadpanned English for pointed emphasis. Its accompanying video is similarly captivating, featuring shots of La Chica coated in blood while screaming, striking poses next to wolves, and lounging back in a chair to puff on a c...
Run the Jewels have shared a new remix that was done by British rockers Royal Blood for “The Ground Below,” which hails from the duo’s RTJ4 album. Featuring a smattering of guitars that are far heavier than the original sample, the “Royal Jewels” remix version features vocals from Royal Blood’s Mike Kerr. Listen to the remix below. [embedded content] It’s been a big year for Run the Jewels. RTJ4 was released in June (you can read our review here). Last month, the duo unveiled their video for “No Save Point” during the Adult Swim Festival. In October, Killer Mike and El-P performed their new album in full as part of their Holy Calamavote special on Adult Swim (it was the first-ever music broadcast on the network). From RTJ4, they’ve shared a video fo...
Back in October, Elvis Costello released his 31st album Hey Clockface, which included a song called “No Flag” that was partly inspired by Iggy Pop. Today, Pop has returned the favor by releasing a cover of the tune that’s sung almost entirely in French. In a Rolling Stone conversation between the two rock legends, Costello expressed his surprise that nobody picked up on “No Flag” being a nod to Pop’s classic track “No Fun”. “[The title] should have been a clue right away,” Costello told Pop. “It shared one word and one letter with a famous song of yours [“No Fun”], but nobody spotted where it was drawing from because nobody expects me to take a cue from you.” To drive the connection home, Costello decided to enlist the Godfather of Punk to put his own spin on the track ...
Rap royalty Run the Jewels have linked up with the rockers of Royal Blood for the new remix “The Ground Below (Royal Jewels Mix)”. “The Ground Below” is the ninth track on RTJ4, and it was already built around crunchy guitars that came courtesy of Gang of Four’s “Ether”. But the original mix kept the strings in the background, the better to accent those thumping drums. Now, the “Royal Jewels Mix” flips that script, easing off the percussion and placing a more muscular guitar front-and-center. RB vocalist Mike Kerr sings the refrain “Your love never meant much to me!” and provides some heavenly “Oohs!” Check out “The Ground Below (Royal Jewels Mix)” below. RTJ4 is one of our favorite albums of 2020, and the Jewels aren’t resting on their laurels. Last month, Killer Mike and...