New Music
Zakk Sabbath Premiere Cover of Black Sabbath’s “The Wizard” from Vertigo Album: Stream
Zakk Sabbath, led by guitar virtuoso Zakk Wylde, are set to unleash Vertigo, a faithful recreation of Black Sabbath’s iconic 1970 self-titled debut album. In advance of the LP’s release on Friday (September 4th), Zakk Sabbath have teamed up with Heavy Consequence to premiere their rendition of “The Wizard”. Wylde formed the cover band Zakk Sabbath in 2014 as a way to honor his beloved Black Sabbath, playing shows over the past several years. The trio is rounded out by bassist Rob “Blasko” Nicholson (a member of Ozzy Osbourne’s touring band alongside Wylde), and drummer Joey Castillo (Queens of the Stone Age, Danzig). With the album Black Sabbath celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, Zakk Sabbath hit the studio to record a track-for-track recreation of the groundbreaking LP. “We recor...
A.G. Cook Shares New Song “Xxoplex”: Stream
A. G. Cook, photo by Alaska Reid With his forthcoming album Apple about to drop, A. G. Cook has shared the new single “Xxoplex”. The founder of PC Music has also announced the “Appleville” livestream on September 12th featuring Charli XCX, 100 Gecs, Clairo, Kero Kero Bonito, and more. This is only the latest dish coming out of Cook’s kitchen. In addition to his work as Charli XCX’s bandleader, executive producing her wonderful new album How I’m Feeling Now, Cook just put out the 49-song 7G collection last month. “Xxoplex” is the sound of a man who won’t slow down, and perhaps can’t — it’s a compulsively catchy melody, distilled down to its glitchy, bleeping essence. In a statement, Cook referred to “Xxoplex” as the “dark, industrial heart” of Apple. He ca...
Jesse Draxler Premieres Reigning Cement Album Featuring Chelsea Wolfe, Greg Puciato, VOWWS, and More: Stream
Los Angeles-based artist Jesse Draxler’s audio-visual project and compilation album, Reigning Cement, arrives Friday (September 4th), featuring contributions from nearly two dozen musicians including Chelsea Wolfe, Full of Hell’s Dylan Walker, The Dillinger Escape Plan’s Greg Puciato, Uniform, VOWWS, and more. A 100-page book of photography will accompany the album’s release. Below, you can stream Reigning Cement in full exclusively via Heavy Consequence. You may have seen Draxler’s striking artwork adorning recent albums by Daughters and Poppy. Steeped in black-and-white, his work is stark and uncompromising. Reigning Cement certainly bears his artistic stamp, with stark photographs of cop cars, crumbling cityscapes, and urban melancholy adorning pages within the book. For the music,...
Ace Frehley Shares Cover of The Beatles’ “I’m Down” Featuring John 5: Stream
Founding KISS guitarist Ace Frehley is returning with a new album of cover songs, Origins Vol. 2, on September 18th. First we heard his take on Deep Purple’s heavy “Space Truckin’”, and now Frehley is sharing a cover of The Beatles’ 1965 B-side nugget “I’m Down” featuring Rob Zombie guitarist John 5. The track selection shows Frehley’s appreciation for the Fab Four. The guitarist dug out a deep cut from The Beatles’ power-pop heyday of ’65, giving the song a hard-rock update for his Origins version. When it comes to reinterpreting the songs of others, Frehley is master of sorts, turning the Russ Ballard-penned “New York Groove” into a hit for KISS back in 1978. Like the initial Origins project in 2016, the tracklist for the new album depicts an autobiographical backstory of his influ...
King Khan Announces First-Ever Jazz Album The Infinite Ones, Shares “Wait Till The Stars Burn”: Stream
After putting out garage rock records for the last two decades, King Khan is looking to try something new on his next effort. Enter: The Infinite Ones, his first-ever jazz album, due out October 30th via Ernest Jenning Record Co. and Khannibalism. The 11-track effort boasts contributions from Sun Ra Arkestra members Marshall Allen and Knoel Scott. Calexico bandmates John Convertino and Martin Wenk also appear on select songs. According to King Khan, The Infinite Ones comes from “a place from deep within the soul” and serves as a tribute to iconic composers like Alice Coltrane, Ennio Morricone, Miles Davis, Sun Ra, John Carpenter, and Quincy Jones. The Canadian musician explained further, “In my 23 years of being a composer of music I have had the great opportunity to score severa...
Hop Along’s Frances Quinlan Releases more songs from 2005 EP: Stream
Earlier this year, Hop Along frontwoman Frances Quinlan issued her excellent debut under her own name, Likewise. The album quickly became one of our favorite of the year — though technically speaking it wasn’t her first solo release. She initially launched Hop Along as a solo project, dropping the freshman year LP back in 2005. Today, in celebration of that record’s 15th anniversary, Quinlan has released it to streaming services for the very first time, in addition to sharing a brand new EP of tracks from that era called more songs from 2005. The sessions that led to freshman year and (eventually) more songs from 2005 were as DIY as can be. Quinlan recorded in her parents basement in the Pennsylvania suburbs, with additional backing vocals and field sounds picked up everywhere from a house...
Supergroup Killer Be Killed Announce New Album, Unleash “Deconstructing Self-Destruction”: Stream
Supergroup Killer Be Killed have announced their second album, Reluctant Hero. The band — featuring The Dillinger Escape Plan’s Greg Puciato, Soulfly’s Max Cavalera, Mastodon’s Troy Sanders, and Converge’s Ben Koller– also shared the first single “Deconstructing Self-Destruction”. As one would expect from such an all-star collaboration, Killer Be Killed are a well-oiled metal machine. The new song sees them hitting on all cylinders, with Cavalera Sanders, and Puciato all providing vocals to the track. Reluctant Hero will arrive via Nuclear Blast on November 20th, six years after the band’s 2014 self-titled debut. During that gap, each member remained busy with their main bands, but somewhere along the line, they snuck in time to finish the Josh Wilbur-produced Reluctant Hero. “This has bee...
Julia Stone Reveals New Song “Unreal”, Produced by St. Vincent: Stream
St. Vincent (photo by Ben Kaye) and Julia Stone (photo by Brooke Ashley Barone) Julia Stone returned this past July with her first solo single in eight years, “Break”, produced by St. Vincent. It turns out there’s quite a lot more to come from this pair, as a “greater body of work” is eventually coming down the line, according a statement. As another preview of this larger collaborative project, Stone and St. Vincent are now sharing a new track called “Unreal”. Not unlike her previous offering, Stone again sidelines her folk roots here, leaning further into synthpop territory. It’s a new look for the veteran Australian songwriter, but one that works in much the same way acts such as Sylvan Esso have built electronic music using the foundation of folk stylings. According to Stone, this late...
Zeal & Ardor Announce New EP, Unveil Singles “I Can’t Breathe” and “Vigil”: Stream
Zeal & Ardor have announced a new six-song EP titled Wake of a Nation. In advance of the EP’s October 23rd release date, the avant-metal act has unveiled two tracks, “I Can’t Breathe” and “Vigil”. As implied by those titles and the EP’s artwork — featuring two police batons — it’s a politically charged record from Zeal & Ardor, composed during months of unrest in the United States following the death of George Floyd in police custody and other similar incidents. The group had originally planned to release an album next year, but these songs couldn’t linger and were unleashed without hesitation. As frontman Manuel Gagneux wrote on the band’s Facebook page: “Wake of a Nation‘s intent and context should be obvious. I like to revel in ambiguity and in room for interpretation. This is n...
Saint Bodhi Pops Off on New Song “Gold Revolver”: Stream
Dual threat rapper/singer Saint Bodhi pops off on a cheating partner in the new song “Gold Revolver”. A former ghostwriter, the 27-year-old SoCal native earned her stripes collaborating with Beyoncé, Kevin Gates, Erykah Badu, A$AP Rocky, and more. Now a solo artist signed to Def Jam, she first made waves in August of 2019 with the hard-luck R&B of “FlowerChild”, and then returned in the spring of this year with the balls-to-the-wall banger “Bad Mood”. “Gold Revolver” is her most exciting release yet. Over haunting pipes and head-nodding drums, Saint Bodhi raps a tale of violent madness worthy of early Eminem. “Yo, I have a n—- hogtied to the furnace/ Bitch should’ve watched his words/ I’m slipping in my mental/ I’m whispering to the birds.” The narrator’s unfaithful partner is in for a...
Nina Hagen Teams Up with George Clinton for New Song “Unity”: Stream
George Clinton (photo by Raj Gupta) and Nina Hagen (photo by Christliches Medienmagazin) Nina Hagen, a longtime fixture of Germany’s punk and new wave scenes, has teamed up with funk legend George Clinton for a new song called “Unity”. It’s the first single she’s released in nearly nine years. According to Hagen, “Unity” was written and recorded following the murder of George Floyd and the subsequent protests that took place worldwide. As such, she intended for the song to serve as an “homage to the Black Lives Matter movement,” reports Pitchfork. Musically, “Unity” is a trippy dub number that sees Hagen and Clinton getting lost in an atmospheric beat. While gentle keys and hi-hat stutters guide the song, Hagen sings about people coming together for the greater good in equal parts rasp and...
Arca Shares Ambient New Song “Mallorca”: Stream
Arca returned this past spring with her acclaimed new album called KiCk I, which touts high-profile collaborations with Björk, Rosalía, and SOPHIE. Now, to coincide with Bandcamp Friday, the electronic music producer has unveiled the latest installment in her Mutants Mixtape compilation series, and it features a new solo offering called “Mallorca”. Clocking in at two-and-a-half minutes, the track finds Alejandra Ghersi conjuring an ambient yet shapeshifting world — one that’s fluid and multi-faceted in nature, much like Arca herself. “I’m asking for recognition that we have multiple selves without denying that there’s a singular unit,” Arca told Paper earlier this year, in a discussion about her identity as a Latinx trans woman. “I want to be seen as an ecosystem of minor self-states ...
