New Music
Soccer Mommy & Friends Singles Series Launches with Jay Som: Stream
Sophie Allison, aka Soccer Mommy, has announced the new Soccer Mommy & Friends Singles Series. Every two weeks she’ll be releasing a paired set of covers. First up is Jay Som taking on Soccer Mommy’s “Lucy”, with Soccer Mommy returning the favor for the 2016 track “I Think You’re Alright”. To tackle Soccer Mommy’s Color Theory-standout “lucy”, Jay Som digitally manipulated her voice to drop it down an octave, while also occasionally accompanying herself in her normal register. This creates a kind of uncanny valley effect, so that the melody sounds lovely and just slightly wrong. “I had an extremely fun time recording the ‘lucy’ cover,” Jay Som said in a statement. “Sophie has such a special way of entwining catchy melodies and sometimes dark chord progressions. I feel very lucky t...
Margo Price Drops Perfectly Imperfect at The Ryman
Margo Price has released a special live album that will take fans back to her three-night, sold-out headlining stint at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville in 2018. Entitled Perfectly Imperfect at The Ryman, the record features special appearances from Emmylou Harris, Sturgill Simpson and Jack White. “Two years ago today I headlined at @theryman and it was something I had dreamed of since I was a little girl,” she wrote in an Instagram post. “We did three nights in a row and recorded all of them. I am so excited that we are releasing it on Bandcamp today- the recordings are rough and the performances are raw, but there was a magic there and the band was on fire.” Net profits from the first four weeks of album sales on Bandcamp will be donated to MusiCares COVID-19 Relief Fund. In March, Pric...
Wilco Debut New Song “Tell Your Friends” on Colbert: Watch
Wilco fans were treated to a brand new song during Wednesday night’s edition of the Late Show with Stephn Colbert. Each of the band’s members appeared virtually from their respective homes and were joined by their families for the premiere of “Tell Your Friends”. “We miss each other. So we wrote a song about it to sing with each other, to sing to each other,” Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy said in a statement. Proceeds from the song’s digital download, available now on Bandcamp, will benefit the World Central Kitchen, a not-for-profit and non-governmental organization providing meals to underprivileged communities during the COVID-19 pandemic. Along with “Tell Your Friends”, Tweedy also delivered a solo acoustic rendition of Wilco’s classic track “Jesus Etc”. Replay both performances below. Wilco rel...
Carly Rae Jepsen Surprises Everyone With Uplifting Dedicated: Side B
Carly Rae Jepsen fans have been waiting for the rumored LP that would partner with her 2019 album, Dedicated. And today (May 21), she’s finally delivered. Dedicated Side B is a collection of 12 songs that she hope makes “yah dance your pants off!” And who doesn’t want to dance away all the bad vibes away right now? “New tunes for your blues,” Jepsen captioned her Instagram announcement. “If this helps in any small way – I’m relieved. Sending you all my love and sharing dis damn side B I’ve been storing in my cheeks.” Jepsen is no stranger to B-side albums. She did something similar with her 2015 record, E•MO•TION and dropped E•MO•TION: Side Be. Listen to Jepsen’s Dedicated: Side B below. You Deserve to Make Money Even When you are looking for Dates Online. So we reimagined what ...
Squid Unravel on New Single “Broadcaster”: Stream
Back in March, Brighton post-punk band Squid announced their signing to Warp Records by releasing a new single called “Sludge”. Today, they’re sharing its follow-up, a marvelously unraveling tune called “Broadcaster”. Beginning with a synth loop that recalls Stereolab or Kraftwerk, the song gradually expands as vocalist/drummer Ollie Judge’s grumbly delivery gets louder and more eccentric. As the song reaches its climax, the synth line boils over and Judge holds a sustained yell that’s positively captivating. Hear it for yourself below. According to Judge, the track’s lyrics were inspired by the visual artist Naim June Paik and his TV Garden installation, which juxtaposes living plants with video monitors. “I thought it blurred the lines between a dystopian and utopian vision,” he explaine...
Jeff Rosenstock Drops Surprise New Album NO DREAM: Stream
Just as he did with his stellar 2018 album POST-, Jeff Rosenstock has released its follow-up without any advanced notice. Yes, there’s a brand new Jeff Rosenstock album out in the wild: It’s called NO DREAM and it’s now streaming in full via Apple Music, Spotify, and all other digital music providers. A vinyl version of the album will be available August 21st (pre-orders are now ongoing). Spanning 13 tracks, NO DREAM marks Rosenstock’s first release since re-locating to Los Angeles. Working alongside producer Jack Shirley (Deafheaven, Hard Girls, Joyce Manor) at Oakland’s Atomic Garden, he recorded directly to tape with outboard gear and mixed the album entirely himself. “It was feeling like a very personal record for me,” says Rosenstock of NO DREAM. “A lot of it was stemming from the anx...
Sia Shares New Song “Together” from Upcoming Directorial Debut: Stream
Sia’s last proper album, This is Acting, hit shelves more than four years ago. The pop superstar has been quite busy since then, though — and not just with her music. Not only is she working on the soundtrack to a movie she herself directed, she has also expanded her own family by adopting two 18-year-old boys. Marking Sia’s feature directorial debut, the forthcoming film is called Music. Co-written by Sia and children’s author Dallas Clayton, it’s based on a short story the singer penned in 2007. The story follows the life of an autistic teenager (Maddie Ziegler) who is cared for by her drug-dealing half-sister (Kate Hudson). If you’ll recall, actor and dancer Ziegler often appears in Sia’s music videos, including the now-classic clip for “Chandelier”, one of the best hits of the 201...
Kendall Roy’s Succession Rap “L to the OG” Gets an Official Release: Stream
During Season 2 of Succession, the character Kendall Roy (Jeremy Strong) tried to honor his father Logan with a lot of effort and no self-awareness by writing the octogenarian a rap song. Now you can relive that cringeworthy moment, as HBO and WaterTower Music have released the official studio version of “L to the OG”. Written by Succession composer Nicholas Britell, who also plays DJ Squiggle on the show, “L to the OG” is an intoxicating mix of simple rhymes, brown-nosing lyrics, and one of the whitest characters in TV history appropriating black vernacular. “Yo, bitches be catty, but the king’s my daddy,” he raps, “Rock all the haters while we go roll a ’rati/ Squiggle on the decks, Kenny on the rhyme / And Logan big ballin’ on Hamptons time.” In an interview with Vulture,...
Julianna Barwick Announces New Album Healing Is a Miracle, Shares “Inspirit”: Stream
Julianna Barwick has announced a new album called Healing Is a Miracle just in time to help soothe our global anxiety. It’s her first record in four years and is due out on July 10th via Ninja Tune. To celebrate, she’s shared the lead single, “Inspirit”, along with a scenic music video that captures the mood. Healing Is a Miracle was built on improvisation, reflection, and collaboration. In particular, the latter takes shape in the form of some very notable guest features by Jónsi of Sigur Rós, Nosaj Thing, and Mary Lattimore. While this may appear like a departure from her past work, the press release assures that Healing Is a Miracle is a natural evolution from her previous albums, including 2016’s Will and 2013’s Nepenthe. Barwick began drafting ideas for Healing Is a Miracle last sprin...
Sia Enlists Maddie Ziegler, Kate Hudson and More for Rainbow-Filled ‘Together’ Video
Sia has just added a little sunshine to our quarantine days with the new video for her song, “Together,” which is the first single from her upcoming directorial debut, Music. Directed by Sia, the video is an explosion of color and choreography with dancer Maddie Ziegler, who’s starring in the film (and is often seen in Sia’s videos), is dressed as a praying emoji dancing around. She’s later joined by other Music cast members Kate Hudson, dressed as the peace hand sign emoji, and Leslie Odom Jr., who’s best known for portraying Aaron Burr in the Broadway hit, Hamilton. Actor Héctor Elizondo, who is also in the film, has a quick cameo, as well. Music is based on a children’s book by Dallas Clayton. Sia is directing in addition to writing the 10 songs on the film’s soundtrack. And while many ...
Arca Announces New Album KiCk i, Featuring Björk, Rosalía, and More
Arca has formally announced her new album, KiCk i. The follow-up to 2017’s self-titled LP is due out June 26th via XL Recordings. The forthcoming 12-track effort sees experimental producer Alejandra Ghersi teaming up with prominent guests Björk and Rosalía, as well as SOPHIE and Shygirl. This fourth full-length continues a long-running collaborative streak for Arca and Björk; Arca previously contributed heavily to the Iceland icon’s albums Vulnicura (2015) and Utopia (2017). KiCk i represents a new and transformative chapter for Arca, who now identifies as a Latinx trans woman comprised of more than one “self-state.” “I’m asking for recognition that we have multiple selves without denying that there’s a singular unit,” she told Paper recently, “I want to be seen as an e...
Posthumous Jason Molina Album Eight Gates Due Out This Summer
Secretly Canadian has announced Eight Gates, a new posthumous album from Jason Molina. Due for release on August 7th, it’s believed to the final collection of solo material the lo-fi songwriter recorded before his death in 2013. The upcoming effort was recorded in 2008 while Molina was residing in London. According to a statement, the musician said he penned the album’s nine songs as he recovered from a “debilitating” spider bite. “I was in the hospital here in London,” the Songs: Ohia mastermind noted in a letter. “Saw six doctors and a Dr. House-type guy. They are all mystified by it, but I am allowed to be at home, where I am taking a dozen scary Hantavirus type pills a day that are all to supposedly help — but they make me feel like shit.” The same letter also saw Molina claim tha...
