New Music
Vic Mensa Releases Surprise V TAPE EP: Stream
Chicago is being represented well this New Music Friday thanks to Vic Mensa. The rapper has dropped off a surprise EP called V TAPE, and it’s streaming below via Apple Music or Spotify. The unexpected collection consists of seven all-new songs. Among them are collaborations with SAINt JHN, BJ the Chicago Kid, Snoh Aalegra, Eryn Allen Kane, and Chance the Rapper associate Peter Cottontale. Meanwhile, Hit-Boy, Thelonious Martin, Keyon Christ, Stefan Ponce, and C-Sick provide production alongside Smoko Ono, SC, and TRAKGIRL. As to be expected from the always thought-provoking and outspoken activist-rapper Mensa, V TAPE weaves in themes of social justice and suffering. For example, lead single “MACHIAVELLI” and its corresponding “vignette” offer an intimate look at Chicago’s South S...
Erasure Release New Album The Neon: Stream
Longtime synthpop duo Erasure are back with a new album called The Neon, and they’ve released it in full today. Stream it below via Apple Music and Spotify. This year marks Erasure’s 35th anniversary as a band (!) which is a pretty remarkable feat to hit, especially since they’ve never stopped innovating along the way. Not only is The Neon their follow-up to 2017’s World Be Gone, but it’s also their 18th album overall. Before releasing the record, Erasure gave listeners of taste of what was to come with “Shot A Satellite” and the lead single “Hey Now (Think I Got A Feeling)”, which also serves as the album opener. Editors’ Picks The 10-track album was written and produced by Erasure, with recording taking place in Atlanta earlier this year. According to Andy Bell, both he and bandmat...
Pharrell Enlists Jay-Z for Powerful New Single ‘Entrepreneur’
Pharrell wasn’t “<a href="http://” target=”_blank” rel=”noopener”>Frontin” when he announced his new track with Jay-Z on Thursday. Just hours later, the legendary Neptunes producer has shared his most recent Hov link-up, “Entrepreneur.” The single was released as part of Skateboard P’s Time Magazine curated cover, The New American Revolution, which features conversations with Angela Davis, Tyler the Creator, Naomi Osaka, Geoffrey Canada and others about systemic issues faced by the Black community in the U.S., as the public figures discuss how we can achieve a more equitable future. The New American Revolution is a special project by @Pharrell featuring a curation of essays and conversations examining Ame...
McCall is in Denial on New Song “Nothing Even Wrong”: Stream
Rising songwriter McCall has shared the lusciously neurotic new song “Nothing Even Wrong”. It’s off her On Self Loathing EP, which has now been given the release date of September 18th. Having offered a couple of previews of On Self Loathing, it’s safe to say that McCall is branching out in a slightly different direction. Her breakout 2019 EP Under the Reign showed a rare ear for melody, but it dressed those toplines in rock-accented pop. As “Nothing Even Wrong” continues to demonstrate, she’s become interested in swelling choruses made of just her voice, as well as cutting-edge studio wizardry. The path she’s going down has been explored by the likes of Imogen Heap and Bon Iver, but her perspective is so different from those artists that her music can’t help but s...
Dan Deacon Releases Original Score for HBO’s Well Groomed: Stream
This past January saw Dan Deacon drop his first album in four years, Mystic Familiar. The Baltimore-based musician is back now with his second project of 2020: his original score for HBO’s Well Groomed. Well Groomed is a documentary about the colorful and wonderfully absurd subculture of competitive dog grooming. The film premiered on HBO in late 2019, but today marks the official release of Deacon’s accompanying soundtrack. Much like the doc, the music is playful and fun in nature. Its 14 arrangements also find the electronic music producer Deacon expanding his sound palette by dabbling with more earthy and organic instrumentation. Previous collaborators like pianist M.C. Schmidt of Matmos, vibraphonist Rich O’Meara, and guitarist Steve Strohmeier assisted Deacon in creating the soni...
The Avalanches Head to Space in Cosmic New Video for “Wherever You Go”: Watch
The Avalanches have released a new music video for “Wherever You Go”, their collaborative single with Jamie xx, Neneh Cherry, Mick Jones of The Clash, and CLYPSO. It marks the first time members Robbie Chater and Tony DiBlasi have ever appeared in a video in the band’s 23-year-long career. A collaboration with The International Space Orchestra, the clip is filled with fun space science, planets, and even musical spacecrafts. “We are forever grateful to Dr. Nelly Ben Hayoun [ISO director] and the International Space Orchestra for a truly magical, inspiring and connective experience,” The Avalanches commented in a statement. “During a hard lockdown, it has renewed our faith in music, humanity and the power of connection, science and love.” Watch below. For those...
London Grammar Return with New Single “Baby It’s You”: Stream
Even during these dismal times, London Grammar have managed to find a little light. The British trio return today with the uplifting “Baby It’s You”, their first single in three years. Co-produced by George FitzGerald (Foals, Moby), the track is a soothing listen about the grounding power of love. “All these lights are changing/ See ’em everywhere/ In my veins like lightning/ I don’t even care,” sings Hannah Reid, her vocals robust and enveloping like a weighted blanket. “All these colors in me, but all I wanna see you/ And nothing else matters/ You, baby it’s you.” Between Reid’s soaring presence, the snappy percussion, and the song’s feel-good message, “Baby It’s You” seems like the ideal anthem to blast throughout an arena. Stream the new track below and get those lighters ready. Editor...
Phoenix Return With ‘Identical,’ Discuss New Album Details
It’s been a few years since Phoenix’s 2017 LP, Te Amo. But the French band is back with “Identical.” Bringing the synths and high energy, “Identical” will also appear on the soundtrack to the new Sofia Coppola film, On the Rocks, starring Bill Murray, Rashida Jones and Marlon Wayans. Aside from “Identical,” which you can also hear featured in the movie trailer below, Phoenix also wrote the score and put together the soundtrack — making it the band’s fifth collaboration with Coppola. “Too Young,” off their 2000 debut LP, United, appeared in her 2003 movie Lost in Translation, kicking off their creative partnership. While “Identical” is meant for a film, singer Thomas Mars said that the track will likely be on their upcoming new album — despite the fact that it goes in a different sonic...
Dirty Projectors Announce Super João EP, Share “Holy Mackerel”: Stream
Dirty Projectors are currently two installments into a planned five-EP series they’re releasing over the course of the year. Each four-song collection features a different band member taking lead: For March’s Windows Open, it was Maia Friedman, while Felicia Douglass stepped forward for June’s Flight Tower. Now, Dirty Projectors mastermind Dave Longstreth has announced his own contribution, the Super João EP, and shared the lead single, “Holy Mackerel”. Arriving September 4th, Super João has the sort of smooth samba sounds you’d expect from an effort named after bossa nova pioneer João Gilberto, who passed away last year. Longstreth co-wrote the lyrics with Little Wings’ Kyle Field before recording direct to tape with Kyle Thomas of King Tuff, who happens to be his neighbor in Los Angeles....
Brasstracks Share the Origins of New Single “Golden Ticket” with Common, Masego: Stream
In our new music feature Origins, we asks artists to take a moment to reflect on the backstory of their latest single. Today, Brasstracks tell us how they cashed their “Golden Ticket” with Common and Masego. Rising from their jazz school backgrounds, Brasstracks have already accomplished more than most duos made of just horns and drums could dream of. Mark Ronson essentially has them on speed dial, they’ve got some GRAMMY shine thanks to their work on Chance the Rapper’s “No Problem”, and they’ve collaborated with everyone from Wyclef Jean to Anderson .Paak. Oh, and they only formed six years ago. But now Ivan Jackson and Conor Rayne are really ready to grab the spotlight with their debut album, Golden Ticket. Due out August 21st, the full-length follows their 2019 EP Before...
Sonic Youth, Mudhoney Members Share Previously Unreleased Cover of The Stooges: Stream
Back in 1997, director Todd Haynes convinced a bunch of indie rock and punk pillars to join forces and soundtrack Velvet Goldmine, his 1998 homage to the glam-rock era. That supergroup was named Wylde Ratttz, and it consisted of The Stooges’ Ron Asheton, Sonic Youth’s Thurston Moore and Steve Shelley, Mudhoney’s Mark Arm, The Stooges and Minutemen‘s Mike Watt, Sean Lennon, Don Fleming, and Jim Dunbar. Years later, it looks like one of the songs they recorded, a cover of The Stooges’ track “Fun House”, has just been finally unearthed for the first time, reports Spin. Wylde Ratttz uploaded their “Fun House” cover to Bandcamp to celebrate the 50th anniversary of The Stooges’ second album, Fun House. Their rendition features Asheton, Moore, Watt, Shelley, Arm, and saxophonist Sabir Mateen draw...
Carly Rae Jepsen Pays Tribute to Her Bandmates With ‘Me and the Boys in the Band’
Carly Rae Jepsen won’t be touring anytime soon for obvious reasons. And she’s sad not only about being unable to perform but she also misses hanging out with her bandmates. So, she wrote a song, “Me and the Boys in the Band” about how much they have meant to her and just shared a fun video that features the guys playing from their homes. The clip also shows Jepsen lounging around and trying to entertain herself at home as well as photos and clips from previous times on tour. She talked about the song in a statement: “On the road. That was the life. I miss travel and performing and my band mates who over the years have become my adopted brothers. Through romantic relationships good and bad I have always found myself again in the late-night conversations with my band. Here’s to all the shows...
