New Music
Tiana Major9 Shares Enchanting New Single ‘Lucky’
Tiana Major9’s magic touch isn’t a roll of the dice at all. London’s latest soul riser and the recent Motown signee proves on her latest single “Lucky,” which is out tonight, that the grooviness of her previous releases wasn’t luck… She hasn’t missed yet. The enchanting track, featuring Tiana dishing out melodies catchy enough to have a classroom of preschoolers singing along, channels the best of early ’00s R&B: crispy harmonies, a flex of percussion and a voice we’re glad made its way to the U.S. It will be on her forthcoming EP. “’Lucky’ is a song about feeling ‘lucky in love,’” Tiana says. “Things are very heavy right now for Black people everywhere — we’re grieving and experiencing trauma simultaneously. Although it was written before the double pandemic (COVID-19 and Lynchi...
RMR Teams Up with Young Thug for “RASCAL” Remix: Stream
RMR may be semi-anonymous thanks to his mysterious masked persona, but that hasn’t stopped the hip-hop vocalist from trying to scale the hype charts rather quickly this year. First came his breakout song “RASCAL”, which he followed up last week with his debut EP, Drug Dealing Is a Lost Art. Now, RMR has dropped a remix for his hit single featuring the inimitable Young Thug. RMR — pronounced Rumor — found viral fame this spring with “RASCAL”, a song that opens with a beautiful a cappella rendition of Rascal Flatts’ “These Days” before launching into an interpolation of country classic “Bless the Broken Road”, complete with new lyrics about staying close to your crew and flipping off the boys in blue. In this remix, “RASCAL” gets a new, moving verse from Young Thug that reworks the trac...
J. Cole Drops New Single “Snow on tha Bluff”: Stream
J. Cole, photo by Ben Kaye J. Cole has released a surprise new single called “Snow on tha Bluff”. Stream it below. The track takes its name from the 2011 Damon Russell film Snow on tha Bluff, a drama about real-life drug dealer Curtis Snow. Russell shot the movie as if it were a documentary, leading some — including the Atlanta Police Department — convinced it was real. On his track, J. Cole turns that concept of perceived reality in on himself, wondering if he’s being active enough in the current Black Lives Matter movement. “He was like ‘Cole, ‘preciate what you been doin my nigga, that’s real,’” he raps in the rapid-fire cut. “But damn, why I feel faker than Snow on Tha Bluff?/ Well maybe ’cause deep down I know I ain’t doing enough.” Throughout the ruminative number, J. Cole cons...
The Microphones Returns with First Album in 17 Years
Phil Elverum has been more recently associated with Mount Erie. However, his previous musical project, the Microphones, has been revived and will be releasing its first new album in 17 years. Buzz around the Microphones’ return started when Elverum performed the first Microphones show since 2003 last year. But it looks like he’s ready to drop more music under the moniker. Entitled Microphones in 2020, the record won’t be a collection of track. Instead, it will be “made entirely of one, 44-minute song,” which he worked on between May 2019 and May 2020. “I used to call my recordings a different name. A small clump of albums from 1997-2002 were called ‘the Microphones,’ including some popular ones,” Elverum said in a statement (via Stereogum). “But the essence of this project has never really...
Alekhine’s Gun Premiere New Song “21”: Stream
Brooklyn band Alekhine’s Gun, fronted by Jessica Pimentel, have been working on the follow-up to 2014’s …And Things Will Fall EP. The group is now premiering its new single, “21”, exclusively via Heavy Consequence. The track picks up where the band left off in 2014. Building from an angular riff, the song is blast of blackened death metal, with improved production over past Alekhine’s Gun releases. The six-year hiatus paid dividends for the band, which sounds as strong as ever on “21”. Pimentel, best known for her role as Maria Ruiz during all seven seasons of Orange Is the New Black, offered some conceptual background on the song’s lyrical themes. Like on prior records, Pimentel mines the spiritual and philosophical for her weighty, literary subject matter. She says of the track: “Inspire...
Alison Mosshart Announces Sound Wheel, Drops ‘Returning The Screw’
After releasing a number of singles earlier this year, Alison Mosshart has finally announced her first solo project. But it won’t be what you think. While fans of The Kills and Dead Weather singer are hoping for some music, the new project will actually be a spoken word album. Sound Wheel “is an album about cars, rock n’ roll, and love. It’s an album about America, performance, and life on the road. It’s an album about fender bender portraiture, story tellin’ tire tracks, and the never-ending search for the spirit under the hood,” said a press release. Mosshart explains the project in a statement, which you can read below. “When I was writing Car Ma, there were some passages I struggled to get right, and I got in the practice of reading them out loud and recording them, to hear and feel wh...
Anthrax’s Charlie Benante and DMC Team Up on New Charity Collab
Over the past few months, artists have been getting creative with bringing live performances to their fans. Anthrax’s Charlie Benante has been doing just that and has recently collaborated with DMC of Run DMC, Suicidal Tendencies bassist Ra Diaz and former Anthrax / current Volbeat guitarist Rob Caggiano on a new track. Benante revealed that he’s always wanted to play a Run-DMC medley. So he arranged it back in March, and “CB’S RUNDMC JAM” was born. Charlie explains more about how this music came together on the song’s Bandcamp page, which can read below. “I always wanted to do a medley of RUN DMC songs, so back in March I decided to put an arrangement together and asked these amazing people to be a part of it. How can you do a RUN DMC medley without the KING of ROCK- Darryl McDaniels DMC....
Bully Announce New Album Sugaregg, Share Chumbawamba-Inspired “Where to Start”: Stream
Last month, Bully released quarantine-style covers of Nirvana and Orville Peck, as well as teased that a forthcoming album was on the way. Today, the CoSigned rock outfit has formally announced their new record: Sugaregg is due out August 21st through Sub Pop. The new LP is Bully’s third overall and follow-up to Losing from 2017. It was mixed with studio veteran John Congleton (St. Vincent, Cloud Nothings) and represents a shift in approach for leader Alicia Bognanno. “There was a change that needed to happen and it happened on this record,” she told Rolling Stone. “Derailing my ego and insecurities allowed me to give these songs the attention they deserved.” Compared to its predecessor, Sugaregg features “more songs about erratic, dysfunctional love in an upbeat way, like, ‘I’m going down...
Margo Price Covers Bob Dylan, Performs “Letting Me Down” on CBS This Morning: Watch
Margo Price served as the latest guest on CBS This Morning: Saturday. She performed her new single “Letting Me Down”, as well as a cover of Bob Dylan’s “Things Have Changed”, and her own b-side, “Drifter”. For an artist who made her name in Americana and country, she put together a surprisingly rocking set. “Letting Me Down” is already among Price’s most muscular songs, with a ripping electric guitar that keeps the track locked in fifth gear. And while she could’ve chosen a folksier Bob Dylan cover, she instead opted for “Things Have Changed”, the Academy-award winning original song from the 2000 film Wonder Boys. “Things Have Changed” is upbeat and bluesy, and Price pushes her voice outside of its comfort zone. She puts some grind into her phrasing, punctuating her usual cr...
Chromeo Release Cheeky EP for the Pandemic Era, Quarantine Casanova: Stream
Chromeo have just delivered the funkiest release of the coronavirus era so far. Stream the cheeky 10-track Quarantine Casanova EP below. The collection began somewhat haphazardly during the early days of the pandemic lockdown. Chromeo’s Dave 1 and P-Thugg kicked off quarantine by freestyling a song called “Clorox Wipe”, simply to bring some playfulness to folks who were suddenly thrust into such uncertainty. The response was overwhelmingly positive, with fans begging for more. Chromeo obliged, and eventually the Quarantine Casanova EP was born. Tracks take on love in the time of social distancing (“6 Feet Away”), embrace ennui (“Stay in Bed (And Do Nothing)”), and namedrop Dr. Anthony Fauci (“‘Roni Got Me Stressed Out”). There are five new songs in total, coupled with the in...
Built to Spill Reveal New Daniel Johnston Tribute Album: Stream
Daniel Johnston (photo by Amy Price) and Built to Spill (photo by David Brendan Hall) Built to Spill have released their new covers album dedicated to Daniel Johnston. Stream Built to Spill Plays the Songs of Daniel Johnston in full below via Bandcamp. Out via Ernest Jenning Record Co., their tribute to the lo-fi songwriting legend spans 11 tracks. All the recordings — which include takes on “Tell Me Now”, “Life in Vain”, and “Impossible Love” — were taken from rehearsal sessions Built to Spill held in 2017 while serving as the backing band on Johnston’s final tour. “It was pretty special for us,” Built to Spill frontman Doug Martsch told Rolling Stone. “Basically we wanted to get good documentation of what our rehearsals were like. It was a lot heavier than what I thought it would be.” Ac...
Neil Young Unearths Homegrown Track “Vacancy”: Stream
It took 46 years, but next Friday (June 19th) finally brings the release of Neil Young’s Homegrown. The “unheard bridge between Harvest and Comes A Time,” the 12-track LP was recorded between June 1974 and January 1975, but was ultimately locked away as Young “wanted to move on” following his separation from actress Carrie Snodgress. Now, though, Homegrown will finally receive release on June 19th through Reprise Records. To preview the release, Young previously unveiled the album track “Try”. Now, he’s unveiled a second offering in “Vacancy”. Take a listen below. Of the 12 tracks featured on Homegrown, five of them would later find homes on other albums. “Try”, “Vacancy”, and five other songs have been been issued before. You can pre-order Homegrown on vinyl here. [embedded cont...
