Rock
Frederick ‘Toots’ Hibbert, Early Ska and Reggae Legend, Dies at 77
Frederick Hibbert, better known by his “Toots” alias as leader of the legendary ska outfit The Maytalls, died on Friday. (Sept. 11). His death was announced on his eponymous band’s social media accounts, saying that the singer/songwriter “passed away peacefully tonight, surrounded by by friends and family at the University Hospital of the West Indies in Kingston, Jamaiaca.” No cause was given, but last week, it was reported that Toots was in an intensive care unit as he awaited results of a test for COVID-19. He was 77 years old. Toots was born to Seventh-day Adventist preachers in Jamaica in the early ’40s, and as a teenager, moved to the Trenchtown neighborhood of Kingston, commonly known as the birthplace of reggae music. There, he met Ralphus “...
Beastie Boys’ ’90s Punk Record ‘Aglio E Olio’ Hits Streaming Services: Listen
The Beastie Boys are back, sort of. The Hall of Fame inducted hip-hop crew have finally released Aglio E Olio on streaming services, a quarter century after they cut it. Aglio E Olio represents the Beasties in full-on punk mode. Its eight tracks are raw, high-octane and, at just 11 minutes in total, the EP has more pace than Usain Bolt. Think “Heart Attack Man” from Ill Communication, their classic album from 1994. Recorded the following year, in 1995, the EP was originally released on CD and 12″ vinyl record by the band’s now-defunct label Grand Royal. Amery “AWOL” Smith, drummer with Los Angeles thrash veterans Suicidal Tendencies, guests on the record alongside Ad-Rock, Mike D and the late MCA. Next month sees the release of Beastie Boys Music, a 20-son...
The Flaming Lips Return to Earth on Devastatingly Beautiful American Head: Review
The Lowdown: Looking back now, it feels safe to say that the ’10s represent something of a lost decade in the long, strange journey of The Flaming Lips. After ushering in the new millennium with a pair of unlikely mid-career classics (1999’s The Soft Bulletin and 2002’s Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots) and closing out the ’00s with unexpectedly muscular rock fanfare (2009’s Embryonic), Wayne Coyne and his merrymakers spent most of the next 10 years getting into tabloid feuds, recording scattershot side projects, and cosplaying as Miley Cyrus’ acid-casualty uncles. The Flaming Lips records they did manage felt like dispatches relayed from a derelict space station, about sonic landscapes too grim (2013’s The Terror) or fried (2017’s Oczy Mlody) or daft (2019’s The King’s Mouth) to warrant re...
Marilyn Manson’s ‘We Are Chaos’ Album Is Here: Stream It Now
The year 2020 has been filled with chaos. Today, Marilyn Manson bring his own special brand. The goth-rock icon drops We Are Chaos, his 11th studio album and the followup to 2017’s Heaven Upside Down. Manson’s Chaos is a reflection of these difficult times. “When I listen to We Are Chaos now, it seems like just yesterday or as if the world repeated itself, as it always does, making the title track and the stories seem as if we wrote them today,” Manson said of the new album, which he reportedly completed in April. The rocker finished all 10 tracks without any additional, outside input. “There is most definitely a side A and side B in the traditional sense,” he continues. “But just like an LP, it is a flat circle and it’s up to the listener to put the last piece of the puzzle into the pictu...
Here Are All the Livestreams & Virtual Concerts to Watch During the Coronavirus Crisis: Week of September 8
Labor Day Weekend has come and gone, but the livestream concerts show no signs of slowing down. Most live events and large gatherings remain in hold throughout the country due to the coronavirus crisis, leading artists to continue the trend of livestreaming shows to connect with fans. With music venues still shut down from coast to coast, here’s your guide to the best live-streamed music content right now, for the week of Sept. 8. As additional events are announced for the week, we’ll add them to this list. Check out the list of shows and musical events to stream from the comfort of your home this week below. September 8: Pop singer Shura will have a live chat with fellow musician Austra, with both taking questions from fans, on Twitch at 5:00 p.m. ET. September 11:&n...
‘Julie and the Phantoms’: TV Review
Kenny Ortega’s Netflix tween musical follows a grief-stricken high schooler who joins an all-ghost rock band. I am just old enough for High School Musical to have been a threat to my personal dignity. Kenny Ortega’s kiddie megafranchise, which debuted January 2006, juggernauted into cultural relevance just as I turned 17 — frankly, only three years after Disney Channel ceased being the white noise of my everyday existence. I saw vulgarity in HSM‘s plastic funk and robotic pop, its earnest romance and “follow your dreams” hamminess. You see, I was far too mature and alternative for HSM‘s chintzy charms. I recall eye-rolling aplenty while babysitting my little cousins the summer before freshman year of college, bravely enduring the film’s ubiquitous ...
Hatebreed Is Cooking up Something Different With ‘Jasta Pasta’
Hatebreed’s Jamey Jasta is rocking out on a new venture. Pasta. The Bridgeport, Connecticut natives and their frontman flip the script with the Jasta Pasta brand, which sounds like everything you never associated with them: “Simple ingredients, the slow process and the wholesome experience.” From 5pm ET today (Sept. 8), 15 oz bags of “Perseverance Penne” are racked on the Martyr Store, alongside death metal and deathcore merch and goodies, from shirts, beer mugs and more. According to the blurb, Jasta Pasta is made from flour “sourced from North Dakota, where some of the highest-quality Durum Semolina wheat is grown.” Each bag will set you back $8. The Grammy-nominated metalcore veterans have also been busy cooking up new music. A new, eighth studio album Weight of the Fal...
The Cranberries Remember Dolores O’Riordan on Late Singer’s 49th Birthday
The Cranberries paid tribute to Dolores O’Riordan on what would’ve been the late singer’s 49th birthday. Members of the Irish rock band took to social media on Sunday (Sept. 6) to honor the memory of O’Riordan, who died in January 2018. She was 46. “Happy Birthday Dolores, you’re in our thoughts and in our hearts, always,” the Cranberries’ Fergal Lawler, Noel Hogan and Michael Hogan wrote in a tweet. O’Riordan was found submerged in her bathtub at a London hotel at the time of her death. It was later determined that she accidentally drowned while intoxicated from alcohol. The Cranberries split after completing a final album featuring vocals by O’Riordan. The band plans to re-release its 1994 album, No Need to Argue, on Nov. 13 through Island Records/UMe. The r...
Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder Shares How ‘Simple, Secure’ It Is to Vote by Mail
Eddie Vedder wants you to rock the vote this November. The Pearl Jam frontman, who recently joined Instagram, shared with his followers not only his thoughts on voting by mail, but also a lesson on how to do it. “Lest there by any confusion, here is how simple, secure and verifiable it is to Vote By Mail,” he wrote in the first of a series of posts on Sept. 2, with several showing him holding his ballot in July for the Washington State primary, which was held Aug. 4. “Piece of cake. In regards to something so huge as taking part in our democracy and putting your voices to great use, nothing could be easier. And at this intense time of a global pandemic, even more importantly, nothing could be SAFER.” Another post shows the rocker reading through the voters’ gu...
Sech, ASH & More Set For Billboard Live At-Home Sessions: See Schedule
It may be a shorter work week due to Labor Day Monday, but Billboard is still giving you a full slate of performances for our Live At-Home concert series, which streams live on Billboard‘s Facebook page. The week kicks off with not one but two performances on Tuesday (Sept. 8). Rockers ASH — known for their 1996 hit “Goldfinger” — will start off the day. Sech — who recently released a remix of his track “Relacion” featuring Daddy Yankee, J Balvin, Rosalia and Farruko — performs later in the day. On Wednesday, Rebelution takes the home stage, and singer-songwriter Jeremy Zucker wraps up the week’s performances on Thursday. See the full schedule below, and check back after the sets to revisit the performances. Tuesday (Sept. 8)ASH &...
Billy Joel Won’t Return to Madison Square Garden Until Late 2021
As the coronavirus crisis stretches onwards, Billy Joel has announced that he won’t return to his monthly Madison Square Garden concerts until November 5th, 2021. The news affects six concerts cancelled by the coronavirus crisis earlier this year. They were initially supposed to take place between March 19th and August 3rd, and were already pushed back once already, to take place from September 26th through February 3rd, 2021. Well, that plan proved too optimistic. Now Joel is giving health officials plenty of time to roll out a vaccine before he tries again; those same six concerts will run from 2021 to 2022 starting on Friday, November 5th, and continuing through Monday, December 20th, Friday, January 14th, Saturday, February 12th, Thursday, March 24th, and finishing on Friday, April 8th...
Here’s Metallica’s Key to Longevity, According to Lars Ulrich
Metallica has been a mainstay of rock music since the early 1980s, but what is the key to decades-long success? Lars Ulrich gave his thoughts during a wide-ranging interview on Thursday (Sept. 3) with Zane Lowe on Apple Music. “So obviously you know, in all seriousness, that we wear our age proud and yes, we are hitting 40 as a band next year,” he explained. “I think for the last few weeks as I’ve heard myself talk about the state of Metallica, the state of the world, and this next record. Just so much of our energy and our focus is always in the future. Sometimes even too much in the future where I’d say sometimes it feels like you should pay more attention to the present. But the one place we spend the least amount of time is in the past.̶...
