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Yoko Ono reacts to ‘Imagine’ being used in Olympics opening ceremony

Yoko Ono has reacted to her and John Lennon‘s classic, ‘Imagine’, being used during the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in Tokyo.

READ MORE: The Beatles’ split 51 years on: the best songs from the solo careers

Kicking off today (July 23), the ceremony marked the official opening of Tokyo 2020, a year later than planned, after it was postponed due to the global coronavirus pandemic.

Held at Tokyo’s new Olympic Stadium, socially distanced and masked athletes walked out and waved to empty stands – something acknowledged by Thomas Bach, president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

“Yes, it is very different from what all of us had imagined,” he said during the ceremony. “But let us cherish this moment because finally we are all here together.”

After the athlete parade, a number of drones formed a globe above the stadium, after which John Legend and Keith Urban joined Spanish performer Alejandro Sanz, Beninese singer-songwriter Angelique Kidjo and the Suginami Children’s Choir for a moving virtual rendition of Lennon and Ono’s ‘Imagine’. You can see a snippet below.

John Lennon thought Imagine was going to be remembered for 10 years because it was "just a song" but here we are today and it's much more than that. Today, perhaps more than ever, John is not alone, we all dream the same dream#IMAGINE50 ☁️#Olympics pic.twitter.com/QMwjxfS6Pd

— Mariana #IMAGINE50 ☁️ ((°⍸°))? (@marianabrickman) July 23, 2021

An array of singers, including John Legend and Keith Urban, have performed “Imagine” at the opening ceremony of the Tokyo Olympics. #TeamAustralia pic.twitter.com/EtyjtykUEK

— JOE ?? (@Joeontheloose) July 23, 2021

Following the performance, Ono took to Twitter to react and share her thoughts on what ‘Imagine’ embodied to her and Lennon.

“IMAGINE. John and I were both artists and we were living together, so we inspired each other,” she wrote. “The song ‘Imagine’ embodied what we believed together at the time. John and I met – he comes from the West and I come from the East – and still we are together.”

Take a look at Ono’s tweet below:

IMAGINE.
John and I were both artists and we were living together, so we inspired each other. The song ‘Imagine’ embodied what we believed together at the time. John and I met – he comes from the West and I come from the East – and still we are together.#IMAGINE50 #Olympics pic.twitter.com/mj2wJEUIiV

— Yoko Ono ☁️ (@yokoono) July 23, 2021

Last month, War Child UK released ‘Dear John’, a tribute album marking John Lennon‘s 80th birthday which features new interpretations of the late artist’s classic tracks.

The record is a live recording of last year’s virtual charity concert which was organised by Blurred Vision vocalist Sepp Osley.

Meanwhile, the mini-documentary about John Lennon and Yoko Ono, titled 24 Hours: The World Of John And Yoko, is now available to stream on Amazon Prime Video US.

The 30-minute film is available to watch in full for the first time since its initial release on the BBC back in 1969 through the Coda Collection on Amazon.

Alice Coltrane Kirtan: Turiya Sings

The recent popularity of Alice Coltrane’s music among a new generation of listeners can be a puzzle to longtime admirers of her late husband’s work. A distinguished John Coltrane scholar who teaches at an American university told me earlier this year that, while his students are extremely enthusiastic about Alice, they listen to John and don’t understand what the fuss was about. And one of the less ecstatic reviews of the recent Floating Points/Pharoah Sanders album observed that the music seemed to be doing little more than trying to replicate the mood of Alice’s recordings at their most trance-like and undemanding.

ORDER NOW: The Beatles are on the cover of the September 2021 issue of Uncut

Yet from the work of her nephew Steven Ellison (Flying Lotus) to explicit homages paid by Paul Weller, Laura Veirs, Sunn O))) and others, the textures and flavours of the albums Alice made between her husband’s death in 1967 and her own departure for other planes of being in 2007 are now a common resource, forming a part of the fabric of modern music and an object of reverence for exponents and admirers of “spiritual jazz”.

What does the enthusiasm for spiritual jazz really amount to? A sceptic would say that its protagonists are looking for an easy way to enjoy or play jazz, entering through a gate beyond which lies little of the challenge that characterised the music of Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, Ornette Coleman and, of course, John Coltrane himself, whose late work will provoke heated arguments for as long as people still listen to recorded jazz.

But it was Alice’s husband who can be credited with laying the foundations for spiritual jazz – not least with a composition called Spiritual, included on an album called Coltrane “Live” At The Village Vanguard in 1961. The grave incantation of its slow, hymn-like melody by Coltrane’s tenor saxophone established a mood of solemn meditation that he would develop over the ensuing four years and into his masterpiece, A Love Supreme, which countless other artists, from Pharoah Sanders to Jan Garbarek and Kamasi Washington, would take as the basis of their personal explorations.

Alice McLeod and John Coltrane were married in 1965, when she was a modern jazz pianist with a minor reputation and he was receiving global acclaim. She replaced McCoy
Tyner as the “classic quartet” broke up and a new lineup veered into freer and more expansive, exploratory realms that were seemingly influenced by John’s experiences with LSD, as well as by a search for spiritual fulfilment already made explicit in album titles such as Meditations and Ascension.

By this time, John was allowing even semi-pro musicians to join the band on stage and occasionally prefacing a performance with the Sanskrit chant of Om-mani-padme-hum. To some, the presence of Alice was an unwelcome symbol of the break with the rules, routines and conventions that had kept her husband’s music within the boundaries of jazz even as it pushed against them.

After his death, her music began to incorporate the sound of the concert harp that he had given her. Its sweeping glissandi both emphasised the reassuring stability of modal harmonies and evoked sounds of other musical cultures, notably the drone of the Indian tambura and the rippling of the Japanese koto. Thus suggestions of Hindu and Buddhist religions were combined with the Christian traditions within which both Coltranes had grown up, and which formed a part of John’s pantheistic beliefs. The music that Alice made after his departure could be seen, according to Ben Ratliff, his biographer, as the product of his most devoted disciple.

In the early ’70s, Alice became attached to the teachings of Swami Satchidananda – whose followers also included Carole King – and her music gradually moved further away from the relatively straightforward jazz represented by her early solo recordings, such as A Monastic Trio and Huntington Ashram Monastery. The acquisition of a Wurlitzer organ and an Oberheim synthesiser gave her the tools with which to create cinematic soundscapes illustrating the spiritual journey that she was on, further expanded on Universal Consciousness, Lord Of Lords and World Galaxy by the use of string orchestras.

She was searching, she said, for music that didn’t require pauses for breath: “The instruments which require breathing are more in line with what’s happening on an earthly level. But the instruments that can produce sound that’s continuous, to me express the eternal, the infinite.”

Away from the public eye, however, her music was being constructed on a different scale, first in the Vedantic Centre she set up for her family and fellow devotees in Woodland Hills above Malibu in Southern California and then in an ashram in nearby Agoura Hills. Having taken the name Turiyasangitananda, she was performing bhajans and kirtans, songs of praise to the deity: some of them sung as solos accompanied by a keyboard, others as choral chants with percussion accompaniment, occasionally featuring other solo singers from within the community. She recorded many of these in the 1980s and ’90s, making them available to fellow adherents on cassettes whose titles included Divine Songs and Infinite Chants. A selection of them received a wider airing when Luaka Bop released a compilation titled The Ecstatic Music Of Alice Coltrane Turiyasangitananda in 2017.

Kirtan: Turiya Sings is drawn from the same source as the 1982 cassette Turiya Sings, but is a very different affair. Here the concentration is entirely on solo songs, stripped of all the decoration – the strings and synthesisers – from their original incarnations, leaving just Alice’s voice and her Wurlitzer organ. Something like the opening Jagadishwar benefits greatly from the removal of the trimmings. It might be blasphemous to say so but the result is curiously reminiscent of hearing Nico performing the material from The Marble Index and Desertshore in concert, the clarity and directness of her voice and harmonium revealed in the absence of John Cale’s arrangements.

Funnily enough, the comparison is not entirely inappropriate, even if the artistic intentions were wholly different. Alice’s singing voice is also a deep contralto, strong and sure, notable for an absence of inflection, although never strident. Similarly, the organ is required to do no more than play sustained chords with a modest, rustic, harmonium-like tone. The songs are slow-paced and even in cadence, their repetitive melodies and simple harmonies generally held within such tightly defined limits that the slightest variation – as in the modest melodic wandering of Krishna Krishna – comes almost as a shock.

The listener is drawn into a world of solitary devotion, very unlike the infectious choral chanting, banging and rattling on display in the Luaka Bop album (and also familiar from the chants of the followers of Krishna who once operated in London under George Harrison’s patronage). Any spiritual ecstasy on offer here appears to be of a more private kind, although no doubt offering a glimpse of the divine to believers.

On other listeners, particularly those unfamiliar with Sanskrit and either ignorant or dismissive of the belief system of which these songs are an expression, its effects will be less certain. But the longer you listen, the more you’re drawn in and the less aesthetically confining the music’s self-imposed restraints seem. What’s clear to sympathetic listeners is the direct emotional link between John Coltrane’s pioneering Spiritual of 1961 and the sound of his wife’s songs released 60 years later: very different means, same search.

Chris Barber A Trailblazer’s Legacy

By any yardstick, Chris Barber was one of the most influential figures in 20th-century British popular music. His death in March, just before his 91st birthday, inspired tributes to a man whose instincts and enthusiasms helped lay the foundations for just about everything that happened in the 1960s and beyond. This set of four CDs, meticulously compiled and copiously annotated by Alyn Shipton, handsomely illustrated and limited to 1,000 copies, presents an unanswerable and probably definitive case for his significance.

ORDER NOW: The Beatles are on the cover of the September 2021 issue of Uncut

Barber played trombone, but that was the least important of his accomplishments. A natural-born bandleader, he was an encourager, a facilitator, an enabler. The 69 tracks making up A Trailblazer’s Legacy, ranging over his entire career, demonstrate the breadth of his interests, his inclusive approach to making music, and his knack of playing a part in events that would later be seen as historic.

The Hertfordshire-born son of left-leaning parents – an insurance statistician and a headmistress – arrived on the British jazz scene just after the start of the New Orleans revival, forming his first amateur band in the late 1940s. While recording an album in 1954, Barber included a track reflecting his habit of presenting a short set of skiffle songs as an interlude in a club or concert appearance. Rock Island Line featured the singing of the band’s banjo and guitar player, Lonnie Donegan, with Barber on bass and Beryl Bryden on washboard. Released as a single under Donegan’s name, it fired the imagination and reshaped the thinking of an entire generation.

Soon Barber would be risking the wrath of Britain’s traditional jazz purists with such heresies as expanding his band’s repertoire to include compositions by Duke Ellington, inviting the Jamaican saxophonists Bertie King and Joe Harriott to make guest appearances, persuading the Musicians’ Union to let him bring Muddy Waters, Sister Rosetta Tharpe and the duo of Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee over to make their first UK appearances, and recording with a host of other American musicians, mostly with a New Orleans background, such as the veteran clarinetist Edmond Hall and the singer-pianists Eddie Bo and Dr John. All except Waters are represented here, along with other distinguished guests including Louis Jordan and Van Morrison.

What Barber understood was that jazz was never a purist’s music, and therein lay its
special quality. The only purity it needed was an authentic feeling for its core components:
the rhythm, the blues, and the directness of emotional expression in evidence at all the many thousands of performances in which, over the course of more than 60 years, he shared his unquenchable enthusiasm. Long before the invention of postmodernism, Barber and several generations of skilled sidemen were persuading audiences to see the music’s many strands as threads of a single cloth.

Read the tracklisting for Bob Dylan’s Bootleg Series Vol. 16

The latest instalment in Bob Dylan’s Bootleg Series is released on September 17.

Springtime In New York: The Bootleg Series Vol. 16 (1980-1985) focusses on Dylan’s albums Shot Of Love, Infidels and Empire Burlesque and will come complete with previously unreleased outtakes, alternate takes, rehearsal recordings, live performances and more.

ORDER NOW: The Beatles are on the cover of the September 2021 issue of Uncut

You can hear “Too Late (Band Version)”, an outtake from the Infidels sessions, below:

Uncut has written extensively about this period in Dylan’s career before – click here to read Part One and Part Two of Dylan in the Eighties.

Springtime In New York will be released by Columbia/Legacy on a number of formats: a deluxe 5CD boxset (with book, memorabilia, photos and more) as well as 2CD and 2LP sets. Pre-order here.

The sleeve notes are written by Uncut’s Damien Love. You can read Damien’s review of Dylan’s Shadow Kingdom livestream by clicking here.

Third Man Records will release a 4LP version of Bob Dylan – Springtime In New York: The Bootleg Series Vol. 16 (1980-1985) as part of their Vault Series.

ORDER NOW: The Complete Bob Dylan: a meticulous, left-field guide to Bob’s outstanding output since 1962

Here’s the tracklisting.

2-DISC VERSION
DISC 1
1. Angelina – Shot of Love outtake
2. Need a Woman – Rehearsal
3. Let’s Keep It Between Us – Rehearsal
4. Price of Love – Shot of Love outtake
5. Don’t Ever Take Yourself Away – Shot of Love outtake*
6. Fur Slippers – Shot of Love outtake
7. Yes Sir, No Sir – Shot of Love outtake
8. Jokerman – Infidels alternate take
9. Lord Protect My Child – Infidels outtake
10. Blind Willie McTell – Infidels outtake
11. Don’t Fall Apart on Me Tonight [version 2] – Infidels alternate take
12. Neighborhood Bully – Infidels alternate take
13. Too Late [band version] – Infidels outtake

DISC 2
1. Foot of Pride – Infidels outtake
2. Sweetheart Like You – Infidels alternate take
3. Someone’s Got a Hold of My Heart – Infidels outtake
4. I and I – Infidels alternate take
5. Tell Me – Infidels outtake
6. Enough is Enough [live] – Slane Castle, Ireland
7. Tight Connection to My Heart (Has Anybody Seen My Love) – Empire Burlesque alternate mix
8. Seeing the Real You at Last – Empire Burlesque alternate take
9. Emotionally Yours – Empire Burlesque alternate take
10. Clean Cut Kid – Empire Burlesque alternate take
11. New Danville Girl – Empire Burlesque outtake
12. Dark Eyes – Empire Burlesque alternate take

2-LP VERSION
LP 1 – Side A
1. Jokerman – Infidels alternate take
2. Need a Woman – Rehearsal
3. Fur Slippers – Shot of Love outtake

LP 1 -Side B
1. Someone’s Got a Hold of My Heart – Infidels outtake
2. Don’t Fall Apart on Me Tonight [version 1] – Infidels alternate take
3. Blind Willie McTell – Infidels outtake

LP 2 – Side A
1. Too Late [band version] – Infidels outtake
2. Sweetheart Like You – Infidels alternate take
3. Seeing the Real You at Last – Empire Burlesque alternate take

LP 2 – Side B
1. New Danville Girl – Empire Burlesque outtake
2. Dark Eyes – Empire Burlesque alternate take

DELUXE VERSION
DISC 1
1. Señor (Tales of Yankee Power) – Rehearsal
2. To Ramona – Rehearsal
3. Jesus Met the Woman at the Well – Rehearsal
4. Mary of the Wild Moor – Rehearsal
5. Need a Woman – Rehearsal
6. A Couple More Years – Rehearsal
7. Mystery Train – Shot of Love outtake
8. This Night Won’t Last Forever – Rehearsal
9. We Just Disagree – Rehearsal
10. Let’s Keep It Between Us – Rehearsal
11. Sweet Caroline – Rehearsal
12. Fever – Rehearsal
13. Abraham, Martin and John – Rehearsal

DISC 2
1. Angelina – Shot of Love outtake
2. Price of Love – Shot of Love outtake
3. I Wish It Would Rain – Shot of Love outtake
4. Let It Be Me – International 7″ Single B-side*
5. Cold, Cold Heart – Shot of Love outtake
6. Don’t Ever Take Yourself Away – Shot of Love outtake*
7. Fur Slippers – Shot of Love outtake
8. Borrowed Time – Shot of Love outtake
9. Is It Worth It? – Shot of Love outtake
10. Lenny Bruce – Shot of Love alternate mix
11. Yes Sir, No Sir – Shot of Love outtake

DISC 3
1. Jokerman – Infidels alternate take
2. Blind Willie McTell – Infidels outtake
3. Don’t Fall Apart on Me Tonight [version 1] – Infidels alternate take
4. Don’t Fall Apart on Me Tonight [version 2] – Infidels alternate take
5. Neighborhood Bully – Infidels alternate take
6. Someone’s Got a Hold of My Heart – Infidels outtake
7. This Was My Love – Infidels outtake
8. Too Late [acoustic version] – Infidels outtake
9. Too Late [band version] – Infidels outtake
10. Foot of Pride – Infidels outtake

DISC 4
1. Clean Cut Kid – Infidels outtake
2. Sweetheart Like You – Infidels alternate take
3. Baby What You Want Me to Do – Infidels outtake
4. Tell Me – Infidels outtake
5. Angel Flying Too Close to the Ground – Infidels outtake
6. Julius and Ethel – Infidels outtake
7. Green, Green Grass of Home – Infidels outtake
8. Union Sundown – Infidels alternate take
9. Lord Protect My Child – Infidels outtake
10. I and I – Infidels alternate take
11. Death is Not the End [full version] – Infidels outtake*

DISC 5
1. Enough is Enough [live] – Slane Castle, Ireland
2. License to Kill [live] – Late Night with David Letterman, March 22, 1984
3. I’ll Remember You – Empire Burlesque alternate take
4. Tight Connection to My Heart (Has Anybody Seen My Love) – Empire Burlesque alternate mix
5. Seeing the Real You at Last – Empire Burlesque alternate take
6. Emotionally Yours – Empire Burlesque alternate take
7. Clean Cut Kid – Empire Burlesque alternate take
8. Straight A’s in Love – Empire Burlesque outtake
9. When the Night Comes Falling from the Sky [slow version] – Empire Burlesque alternate take
10. When the Night Comes Falling from the Sky [fast version] – Empire Burlesque alternate take
11. New Danville Girl – Empire Burlesque outtake
12. Dark Eyes – Empire Burlesque alternate take

Super Furry Animals share isolated audio of Paul McCartney chewing celery

Super Furry Animals have shared an isolated audio track of Paul McCartney chewing celery after they collaborated with him on a 2001 track.

The Beatles legend’s unique cameo came on the song ‘Receptacle For The Respectable’, which is being reissued as part of a series of 20th anniversary celebrations for the Welsh band’s 2001 album ‘Rings Around The World’.

After meeting the band at the NME Awards in 2000, McCartney agreed to provide ‘carrot and celery’ percussion to ‘Receptacle For The Respectable’, and the recording is now available in its fully glory and on its own.

The band’s keyboardist Cian Ciarán recalled: “He was going to come to the studio and then decided not to for some reason. So, we sent him stereo backing tracks so he
could keep time, then he sent the tape back with a message that started with a really dodgy Welsh accent.

“Then he goes, “I hope you like it” – the next thing you know you just hear this chewing sound!”

Listen to McCartney’s ‘Macapella’ chewing below:

The Mercury Prize-nominated ‘Rings Around The World’ is set to be reissued across two dates later this year. Physical versions, which include 180g gatefold double vinyl and triple CD options, will land alongside part one of the digital release on September 3. Part two of the digital release will follow on September 24.

Alongside the full remastered album, the reissue package will also include 75 “curiosities from the vaults” including remixes, demos, outtakes and more. Pre-order the physical versions of the album here.

Last year, Super Furry Animals campaigned for their track ‘The Man Don’t Give A Fuck’ to re-enter the charts in response to the government’s handling of Dominic Cummings’ lockdown controversy.

Boris Johnson’s former chief of staff faced widespread backlash after the government confirmed he had travelled across the UK in March 2020 amid the coronavirus lockdown.

Low share new single “Disappearing”, announce UK and Ireland tour

Low have shared the latest taste of their forthcoming 13th record Hey What in the form of slow-burning new single “Disappearing”.

ORDER NOW: The Beatles are on the cover of the September 2021 issue of Uncut

You can hear the track below, along with an elegant video centred around a life model, directed by and starring the multi-disciplinary artist Dorian Wood.

Wood said that the video was inspired their personal experience posing for virtual life drawing classes during lockdown.

“I borrowed a friend’s empty guest room and twice a week I would set up my laptop and lights and pose for three hours at a time,” they said. “During these long stretches of time, I’d lose myself in thought while delivering poses that best showcased all this fat brown beauty.

“In my mind, I travelled to places and memories, and in the case of ‘Disappearing’, I not only visited the ocean in my mind, I became it.”

“Even at its most empowering and meditative, a modelling session was often a reminder of how lonely one can feel when the other humans in the room immediately vanish once the laptop shuts down. And still, a semblance of hope always lingered,” they added.

“There’s a lot of ‘coming home’ love in this video. I’m honoured to be able to share this love.”

The Minnesota band have also announced details of a world tour in support of ‘Hey What’, including a number of UK and Ireland shows which are as follows:

April 2022

Monday 25 – Edinburgh, Queen’s Hall
Tuesday 26 – Dublin, Vicar Street
Wednesday 27 – Manchester, Manchester Cathedral
Thursday 28 – Brighton, St. George’s Church
Friday 29 – London, St. John at Hackney Church
Saturday 30 – Bristol, Trinity

“Disappearing” is the second taste of Hey What, and follows lead single “Days Like These” which appeared last month. The album will be released via Sub Pop on September 10.

In April, Low appeared on Uncut’s exclusive Bob Dylan covers CD with their take on “Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door” – listen to it here.

Nick Cave and Warren Ellis announce autumn 2021 UK tour

Nick Cave and Warren Ellis have announced they will head out on their first-ever UK tour as a duo this autumn.

ORDER NOW: The Beatles are on the cover of the September 2021 issue of Uncut
READ MORE: Review: Nick Cave & Warren Ellis – Carnage

The Bad Seeds duo will play 20 shows across September and autumn in support of their acclaimed album Carnage, which arrived earlier this year.

While not a full Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds record, the album is the latest from nearly 25 years of collaboration between the pair. Ellis has been a Bad Seeds member since 1997 and has been Cave’s songwriting partner for many years, including work as side-project Grinderman and many film, TV and theatre scores and soundtracks.

Cave and Ellis will be joined on stage by musician Johnny Hostile and backing singers Wendi Rose, T Jae Cole and Janet Ramus.

You can view the tour dates in full below, including two nights at London’s Royal Albert Hall, ahead of tickets going on sale here from this Friday (July 23) at 10am BST.

New documentary on George Martin’s legendary Montserrat studio on the way

A trailer has been released for new music documentary Under The Volcano, which is set to tell the story of Sir George Martin’s famous AIR Studios on Montserrat.

READ MORE: Obituary: Sir George Martin, 1926-2016

Directed by Gracie Otto (The Last Impresario) and produced by Cody Greenwood, the film will chart the rise and fall of the studio built by Martin – often regarded as the “fifth Beatle” for his long career producing the band – in 1979. Elton John, Duran Duran, and many other famous acts of the era recorded at the studio during its heyday.

The tiny studio in the British overseas territory in the eastern Caribbean was where a string of iconic hits were recorded in the ’80s. It also formed the backdrop to several major events in music history including the break-up of The Police, the reunion of The Rolling Stones and Paul McCartney‘s comeback after the murder of John Lennon.

Under The Volcano features interviews with The Police, Mark Knopfler, Nick Rhodes, Midge Ure and more, and will be released via digital, DVD and Blu-ray on July 26. Watch the trailer below.

Built in the shadow of an active volcano, the studio was also the birthplace of huge hits such as ‘Money For Nothing’ and ‘Every Breath You Take’.

After a decade of hits, and at the peak of its popularity, the studio was destroyed when the island was hit by a series of devastating natural disasters.

In other news, last week (July 12) Peter Jackson explained why Beatles fans are likely to be surprised by his new docuseries Get Back.

Discussing the format of the new project, which focuses more on conversations than music, Jackson said the series will be very “intimate”.

Biz Markie, ‘Just A Friend’ Rapper And Hip-Hop Icon, Dead At 57

Biz Markie, the rapper behind the iconic 1989 single "Just a Friend" who later found success as a DJ and producer, has died at age 57. His manager, Jenni Izumi, confirmed Markie's death to multiple outlets.

"Biz created a legacy of artistry that will forever be celebrated by his industry peers and his beloved fans whose lives he was able to touch through music, spanning over 35 years," Izumi said in a statement, per CNN. No cause of death was given, but Markie had a history of diabetes, and TMZ notes his death comes after "a series of complications."

Markie, born Marcel Theo Hall in New York City, found Top 10 chart success in his mid-twenties through "Just a Friend"'s memorably wailing chorus and a notable video that saw him dressed as Mozart pounding at a piano. He wrote and co-produced the song, which hit No. 9 on the Billboard Hot 100 and went platinum in 1990.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9aofoBrFNdg

Before that, Markie had been a successful beatboxer and rapper in New York's emerging powerhouse hip-hop scene. "I started out as a human beatbox, and then I progressed into a rapper," he told MTV News in 1990. He shined as part of the rap collective Juice Crew alongside Big Daddy Kane and influential producer Marley Marl. "Just a Friend" made him a pop star — and by 1996, he appeared on DJ Kool's "Let Me Clear My Throat" remix with Doug E. Fresh, cementing his place in another iconic pop-culture moment; the song lives on in sports arenas and party soundtracks.

In the early 1990s, hip-hop was still an emerging, mutating genre, and one of its biggest battles came via producers' and rappers' use of samples. A series of landmark lawsuits brought this to the fore, including one by Irish songwriter Gilbert O'Sullivan that targeted Markie for his 1991 song "Alone Again," which sampled O'Sullivan's "Alone Again (Naturally)" form 1972.

The ruling from the case, Grand Upright Music, Ltd. v. Warner Bros. Records Inc., stated that unauthorized samples are a form of copyright infringement, forever changing the music industry and, most directly, hip-hop. Markie, known as much for his sense of humor as his musical prowess, named his 1993 album All Samples Cleared!.

In total, he released five albums throughout his career, the last of which, 2003's Weekend Warrior, featured collaborations with Diddy and DJ Jazzy Jeff. He was a frequent guest on Beastie Boys albums, appeared on Will Smith's 1999 album Willennium, and took center stage on The Avalanches's 2016 psychedelic song "The Noisy Eater."

Markie found plenty of success as a DJ and even made a few film and television appearances, including a notable scene in 2002's Men in Black II where he beatboxes to Smith and Tommy Lee Jones as an alien postal worker. More recently, he appeared on Empire and Black-ish, and plenty of SpongeBob fans have pointed out on social media that he voiced Kenny the Cat. His "Look Around" song from a 2010 Yo Gabba Gabba! episode is an absolute smasher.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CRaK4FZrWQg/

Throughout his career, Markie always knew who he was. "My style of music is funky and unpredictable," he told MTV News, "but you always can see that it will be a hit."

Friends, fans, and collaborators — including Missy Elliott, Q-Tip, Mark Ronson, and more — have paid tribute to the late rapper on social media.

https://twitter.com/MissyElliott/status/1416371029056835588

https://twitter.com/Timbaland/status/1416228217900335107

https://twitter.com/QtipTheAbstract/status/1416190723142127617

https://www.instagram.com/p/CRaH4EdFhKX

https://twitter.com/Bootsy_Collins/status/1416192153760452619

https://twitter.com/flea333/status/1416193470247563266

https://twitter.com/tmorello/status/1416224630117859331

https://twitter.com/FINALLEVEL/status/1416221930978521094

https://twitter.com/wyclef/status/1416195636630786048

https://twitter.com/MarkRonson/status/1416216162086555651

https://twitter.com/MagicJohnson/status/1416250492707954693

The Flatlanders Treasure Of Love

Beholden to no-one but themselves, The Flatlanders’ dogleg career is impossible to second guess. Joe Ely, Jimmie Dale Gilmore and Butch Hancock first got together in 1972, but their proto-Americana – a porous blend of country, folk, rock’n’roll and western swing – fell largely on deaf ears outside their home state of Texas. They were done in a little over a year, the band taking on semi-mythic status (their aborted debut eventually landed in 1990) as each member advanced into a successful solo career.

ORDER NOW: The Beatles are on the cover of the September 2021 issue of Uncut

Treasure Of Love, their first studio effort in 12 years, might not have happened at all if it hadn’t been for the pandemic. The trio began recording these tracks some time ago, only finding time to revisit them when the touring circuit shut. Co-produced by longtime collaborator and fellow Lubbock legend Lloyd Maines, it’s a wondrous celebration of the music that’s sustained them over the decades, much of it part of their stage repertoire.

The Flatlanders exude joy here. Popularised in the late ’50s by The Everly Brothers, Long Time Gone is a faultless distillation of timeless honky-tonk; Johnny Cash’s Give My Love To Rose takes on the requisite Tennessee Two chug; country licks
and pedal steel spark the engine of Leon Russell’s exuberant She Smiles Like A River. Hancock’s own Moanin’ Of The Midnight Train, revived from his ’90s solo catalogue, feels of a piece too, with its raw swing and spacious Texan groove.

The trio’s ability to fully inhabit these songs is masterful. Their take on Snowin’ On Raton, Townes Van Zandt’s cursed road hymn, manages to sound both expansive and vulnerable, its conflicted sentiments measured out in aching peals of slide guitar. Similarly, Paul Siebel’s The Ballad Of Honest Sam is reconfigured into something that Hank Williams might have deemed worthy of cutting for MGM. But the indomitable spirit of Treasure Of Love is best captured on the Mississippi Sheiks’ Sittin’ On Top Of The World, a rollicking live favourite that feels like a paean to lasting friendship.

Paul McCartney reveals he has more “story songs” like ‘Eleanor Rigby’

Paul McCartney has revealed that he still has unreleased “story songs” that were written in the style of ‘Eleanor Rigby’.

The NME Big Read: Paul McCartney: “The Beatles were brothers arguing; that’s what families do”

Penned by McCartney and John Lennon, the aforementioned classic track appears on The Beatles‘ 1966 studio album, ‘Revolver’.

Speaking to Uncut magazine for its September 2021 issue, McCartney explained there are some similar “story songs” that remain in his archive to this day.

“I’ve still got a few that I haven’t released,” he said. “Because I don’t think they’re that good.”

McCartney continued: “It’s quite a fun thing to do, to just dream up a name of a character and try and write the story of that character and then make it fit with another character. ‘Eleanor Rigby’, I did it with just the few. Father McKenzie and Eleanor.”

Macca went on to say that the darker tone of ‘Eleanor Rigby’ is the reason it is more popular than some of the more lighthearted “story songs” in his collection.

“With my story songs, a lot of them, besides ‘Eleanor Rigby’, tend to be comedy,” he said. “It’s me doing the tongue-in-cheek thing, whereas ‘Eleanor Rigby’ was more serious. I think that’s why it was more successful.”

McCartney released his latest solo album, ‘McCartney III’, last December. Written and recorded in lockdown, the collection marks the third part of his ‘McCartney’ trilogy (following 1970’s ‘McCartney’ and 1980’s ‘McCartney II’).

Meanwhile, Paul McCartney will break down his music career in-depth with Rick Rubin for a new documentary series, McCartney 3,2,1. The show premieres this Friday (July 16) on Hulu.

St. Vincent announces ‘Down And Out Downtown’ livestream concert

St. Vincent has announced her first-ever livestream concert, ‘Down And Out Downtown’ – see more details below.

READ MORE: St. Vincent: “I wanted to tell my story with humour and compassion”

In support of her acclaimed sixth album ‘Daddy’s Home‘, the singer (real name Annie Clark) will perform songs from the record, as well as new arrangements of hits and deep cuts from her back catalogue, in a special virtual gig.

A synopsis for the show reads: “‘Down And Out Downtown’ is a sepia toned tour de force of gritty grooves, hungover glamour and spellbinding musicality. From rollicking full band rave-ups to delicate acoustic interludes, ‘Down And Out Downtown’ brings the 70s-inspired sensibilities of ‘Daddy’s Home’ to life in a celebration of unforgettable songs and peerless musicians.”

The gig will see Clark perform alongside her Down And Out Downtown Band, comprised of Justin Meldal-Johnsen (bass), Jason Falkner (guitar), Rachel Eckroth (keys), Mark Guiliana (drums), and backing vocalists Nayanna Holley, Sy Smith and Neka Hamilton.

Join me for Down and Out Downtown the concert event August 4th & 5th! I've got a killer band and we're playing cuts from my albums like you've never heard before. Tickets on sale now globally: https://t.co/fTo2qvMmsz

Brought to you by @momenthouse & @zaikoio. pic.twitter.com/IMMFAJ7PqY

— St. Vincent (@st_vincent) July 13, 2021

Airing via digital live platform Moment House on August 4 and August 5 (depending on territory), you can find out more information and buy tickets here.

You can see the dates and times for the livestream by territory below:

North & South America
August 4, 6pm PDT

Australia & New Zealand
August 5, 7pm AEST

Asia
August 5, 8pm JST

Europe, UK & Africa
August 5, 6pm BST

Earlier this month, St. Vincent announced details of a UK and European tour for 2022.

Alongside previously announced festival appearances at Mad Cool in Madrid and NOS Alive in Lisbon, she will now be hitting the continent for a run of her own shows next June – including her biggest UK headline show to date at London’s Hammersmith Eventim Apollo.

Speaking to NME about the upcoming tour, St. Vincent said: “Honestly, the reason people go to see live shows is the same reason why people go to church. It’s to be taken some place else for an hour and a half.”

She continued: “In not being on the road for a long time, I’ve definitely realised that there is absolutely no substitute for the communion, the mystery, the high stakes, the feeling that anything could happen and that connection. You can’t beat it.”

Uncut September 2021

CLICK TO GET THE NEW UNCUT DELIVERED TO YOUR DOOR

The Beatles, Lindsey Buckingham, Big Red Machine, Leon Bridges, Bruce Springsteen, Steve Gunn, Curtis Mayfield, Shannon And The Clams, Mercury Rev, The Sugarcubes, Ripley Johnson, The Beach Boys and The Lovin’ Spoonful all feature in the new Uncut, dated September 2021 and in UK shops from July 15 or available to buy online now. As always, the issue comes with a free CD, this time comprising 15 tracks of the month’s best new music.

THE BEATLES: Is it any wonder that The Beatles nearly named their seventh studio album after a magical invocation? After all, no other word captures the feats of creative alchemy that transpired on Revolver… Fifty-five years on, Uncut has assembled a crack team of Beatles heads – including Johnny Marr, Brian Wilson, Graham Nash, Roger McGuinn, Rickie Lee Jones, Sean Ono Lennon, Dhani Harrison, Steve Cropper, Margo Price and Wayne Coyne – to explore their favourite tracks from this, the Fabs’ finest body of work. Even Paul McCartney is on hand to tell Uncut about the origins of his experimental side.

OUR FREE CD! HEAVY ROTATION: 15 fantastic tracks from the cream of the month’s releases, including songs by Son Volt, Liam Kazar, Nathan Salsburg, Bnny, Shannon And The Clams, Suzie Ungerleider, The Scientists, Villagers and more.

This issue of Uncut is available to buy by clicking here – with FREE delivery to the UK and reduced delivery charges for the rest of the world.

Inside the issue, you’ll find:

LINDSEY BUCKINGHAM: There’s not much that can keep this singer-songwriter down. Not heart surgery, the pandemic or even his exit from Fleetwood Mac. As he resumes his solo career as one of rock’s most discreet musical radicals, Buckingham tells Uncut about false starts, his “crisp and dirty” new songs, the death of Peter Green and the ongoing soap opera around his alma mater. “Who knows, maybe the five of us will end up doing something…”

CURTIS MAYFIELD: He covered a vast amount of ground during the ’60s with The Impressions – but as a solo artist he went into overdrive. Bandmates and family tell Graeme Thomson about the soul superstar’s creative peak in the early ’70s – from pioneering anthems of empowerment to killer live sessions, a blaxploitation soundtrack and beyond…

BIG RED MACHINE: Deep in upstate New York, The National’s Aaron Dessner is masterminding the next phase of Big Red Machine – the musical collective he founded with Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon. Friends and contributors – including Fleet Foxes’ Robin Pecknold and Anaïs Mitchell– join Laura Barton to discuss community, collaboration and creative “mess”… Reveals Dessner, “We’ve never had a master plan!”

LEON BRIDGES: Blending avowedly ‘retro’ R&B with lo-fi garage grit, Leon Bridges became a Grammy-winning Texan success story. Back home in Fort Worth, he tells Stephen Deusner of the nocturnal LA sessions that birthed his third album Gold-Diggers Sound. “It’s hard to unlock a sexy vibe at 11am,” he reasons.

THE SUGARCUBES: It is 1987 and the Sugarcubes’ extraordinary debut single, “Birthday” is galloping up the charts. As the band put the finishing touches to their breakthrough album Life’s Too Good, Melody Maker’s Chris Roberts learns the Icelandic art of creation, and inspiration from Björk, Einar and their cohorts.

BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN: The Boss’ acclaimed autobiographical show makes an emotional return to Broadway.

MERCURY REV: From their base in the cosmic Catskills, Jonathan Donahue and Grasshopper recall rolling with Alan Vega, deafening Bob Dylan and a ruckus at the Royal Albert Hall.

THE LOVIN’ SPOONFUL: The making of “Summer In The City”.

RIPLEY JOHNSON: Album by album with the eccentric star.

STEVE GUNN: New album Other You is a beguiling and mercurial folk gem.

CLICK TO GET THE NEW UNCUT DELIVERED TO YOUR DOOR

In our expansive reviews section, we take a look at new records from Shannon And The Clams, David Crosby, Son Volt, Sault, Nathan Salsburg, Liars, Liam Kazar, and more, and archival releases from The Beach Boys, George Harrison, Aztec Camera, Christine Perfect, Jackie Leven and others. We catch Eliza and Martin Carthy and Black Country, New Road live; among the films, DVDs and TV programmes reviewed are Riders Of Justice, Summer Of Soul and Night Of The Kings; while in books there’s Baxter Dury and Genesis P-Orridge.

Our front section, meanwhile, features Bruce Springsteen, Karen Black, Edward Bell, and Juni Habel, while, at the end of the magazine, Martha Wainwright reveals the records that have soundtracked her life.

You can pick up a copy of Uncut in the usual places, where open. But otherwise, readers all over the world can order a copy from here.

CLICK TO GET THE NEW UNCUT DELIVERED TO YOUR DOOR

Listen to unreleased George Harrison demo ‘Cosmic Empire’

An unreleased acoustic George Harrison demo has been released today (July 9) – you can listen to ‘Cosmic Empire’ below.

READ MORE: Why George Harrison is the coolest Beatle

The track will appear on the late Beatles guitarist’s recently announced 50th anniversary boxset of his classic album ‘All Things Must Pass’.

As part of the new release, due out August 6, demos of 30 tracks from the ‘All Things Must Pass’ sessions, including a handful of songs that didn’t make the album, are set to be released for the first time.

The 1971 album has been completely remixed from the original tapes, with Harrison’s son Dhani serving as executive producer. Mixing comes from engineer Paul Hicks, whose credits include recent re-workings of The Rolling Stones‘ ‘Goat’s Head Soup’ and John Lennon‘s ‘Gimme Some Truth’.

“The new mix transforms the album by sonically upgrading it – making it sound brighter, fuller and better than ever before,” a press release for the new version reads.

Listen to the unheard demo ‘Cosmic Empire’ below:

The reissue will also be released as an eight LP or five CD plus one Blu-ray set, as well as in triple vinyl and double CD versions. All will be released on August 6 and are available for pre-order now.

The Harrison estate previewed the reissue last November, sharing a new stereo mix of the album’s title track.

“We’ve been digging through mountains of tapes, and they just kept coming – boxes and boxes of them,” Dhani Harrison said of the process of putting together the new reissue.

“Making this album sound clearer was always one of my dad’s greatest wishes and it was something we were working on together right up until he passed. But with the help of new technology and the work of Paul Hicks on this project, we are now able to make that happen.”

Elsewhere, it was announced Peter Jackson’s new documentary The Beatles: Get Back is being re-moulded into a three-part series set for Disney+.

The Beatles film will focus on the making of the band’s penultimate studio album ‘Let It Be’ and will showcase their final concert as a band, on London’s Savile Row rooftop, in its entirety. It was cut from 55 hours of unseen footage, filmed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg in 1969, and 140 hours of mostly unheard audio from the recording sessions.

Bop Shop: Songs From Lolo Zouaï, Mariah The Scientist, Taylor Swift, And More

The search for the ever-elusive "bop" is difficult. Playlists and streaming-service recommendations can only do so much. They often leave a lingering question: Are these songs really good, or are they just new?

Enter Bop Shop, a hand-picked selection of songs from the MTV News team. This weekly collection doesn't discriminate by genre and can include anything — it's a snapshot of what's on our minds and what sounds good. We'll keep it fresh with the latest music, but expect a few oldies (but goodies) every once in a while, too. Get ready: The Bop Shop is now open for business.

Lolo Zouaï: "Galipette"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yu9WioI4zgI

Lolo Zouaï covers a ton of ground in "Galipette"'s head-spinning two minutes. A quaint French-pop intro yields to world-rattling bass as Zouaï asserts herself — "Baby got a new M.O. / Since I took a trip to the candy store" — throughout the bilingual bop. It sounds like the future even as it plays with the past. Must be Zouaï's present. —Patrick Hosken
Joan: “Come Over”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0oXZq0UigWM

“Forgive me if I come off strong / I don't wanna wait too long,” vocalist Alan Benjamin Thomas prefaces the chorus of this cheeky single from synth-pop duo Joan. Confident in his charms, he boldly asks his date to come over. If the lyrics are any indication, they’ve only just met, but the track’s retro-sounding instrumentals make the invitation to “dance under the kitchen light” feel enchanted. —Sam Manzella
Big Red Machine ft. Taylor Swift: “Renegade”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_wr-9X47ao

A year ago, we didn’t know Taylor Swift’s indie-pop masterpiece Folklore (which she crafted with the help of Justin Vernon and Aaron Dessner) existed, let alone that it would be the creative collaboration that keeps giving. Swift lends her vocals and vulnerability to “Renegade,” the latest offering from Vernon and Dessner’s joint project Big Red Machine, allowing what would have been a standout track on either of her latest records its own moment of shine. The trio takes their time with the four-minute track, allowing the emotion and instrumentation to swell and falter, and the sparse but complex production allows Swift’s wordplay to cut deeper than ever before. While we’ve seen Taylor take the offensive in love songs before, we’ve never quite heard her come from such a brutally wounded place, letting casually clever lyrics like “Are you really gonna talk about timing in times like these” and “Make me your future history” go for the jugular. It’s all groundwork for perhaps her most candid zinger yet: “Is it insensitive for me to say / ‘Get your shit together, so I can love you.’” —Carson Mlnarik
L Devine: “Girls Like Sex”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7iEml6DaZE4

“Are you stupid or did you forget?” This pop song initially starts off as sweet and innocent with dreamy sounds but then becomes tough and assertive with its explicit chorus (“Shut the fuck up and just kiss my neck”). The queer singer-songwriter L Devine gives a gleeful “fuck you” to misogynistic, slut-shaming standards forced on women by singing a catchy sex-positive anthem for all girls who should not be ashamed of their sexuality or desires. —Athena Serrano
Christian Leave: “Hard Wad Body”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3fbONwnne8Q

Eighty-nine seconds into "Hard Wad Body," Christian Leave has begun to scream. It’s a throat-shredding wail at the edge of his lungs, a furious call of anger and desperation and need and the guitar is throttling past the sound barrier and the drums are clenched fists decimating a brick wall punch by punch. It’s guttural, visceral angst, a violent experience that stops as suddenly as it began, when he has no more left to give. In the comparable quiet, Leave desperately explores the hopeless curse of being alone in his skin. “Too much pressure killed the kid,” he reveals, “and now I’m forced to walk around in his body.” You hear him take one sharp, focused breath. And then he’s screaming again. —Terron Moore
Michael Love Michael and Chelsea Wolfe: “Have”

In this duet, Michael Love Michael and Chelsea Wolfe make the most of every line with meandering, aching harmonies, which give the song a sense of weight, a sweltering gloom punctuated by rage. The subject matter, however, is liberatory. Michael wrote "Have" thinking about the ways Black, queer, and trans people are harmed by patriarchal norms, ultimately concluding here that those forces “can't have me.” —Coco Romack
Mariah the Scientist: "Aura"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tgu3RayqsE8

In the many months since "Beetlejuice" and "Always n Forever" announced her as a stratospheric talent, Mariah the Scientist has kept the rockets launching. On "Aura," a standout from her latest project, Ry Ry World, the indefatigable R&B voice truly floats, unspooling an ode to someone who makes her feel close to the divine: "I'll use up my minutes / To tell you how I believe you are a rainbow / All the heaven I need to see." Ry Ry World is out today featuring collaborations with Young Thug and Lil Baby. —Patrick Hosken
Chelsea Collins: “Open Your Mouth”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wiLuDDJv0N4

Chelsea Collins brings a sense of ‘90s/2000s teen-pop nostalgia, but she also incorporates rock elements to the new “Open Your Mouth.” With Mean Girls-inspired visuals and “…Baby One More Time” vibes, Collins sings about a distant partner who is loving and affectionate at first but then keeps going MIA without notice (“Why do you hold me when I feel afraid? / Wipe all my tears and kiss my face / But tomorrow you will be acting strange / And disappear without a trace”). Collins is freaking out. But the song is a good soothing start. —Athena Serrano
The Mountain Goats: “Lizard Suit”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQwnD-LMH50

Who but John Darnielle could make musical magic out of lizard people? In this slow-building track off Dark in Here, The Mountain Goats’s latest album, the prolific singer-songwriter unfolds a curious tale about… well, wearing “a lizard suit” to a party. “It’s so hard to get noticed in this town,” Darnielle complains in his trademark croon. The cryptic lyrics fade into a chaotic full-band jam session accented by piano flourishes. Is the lizard suit a metaphor or a nod to the infamous conspiracy theory? I don’t know, but I physically cannot stop listening. —Sam Manzella
Huron John: “Trapped in a Lava Lamp”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGm6PuQ84pk

There’s nothing hotter than when I recommend someone a Huron John track, and they’ve already heard it. The Chicago-based indie-pop singer, who produced, wrote, and engineered his latest record Cartoon Therapy on his own, has been a rising voice in the space since his 2018 debut, churning out buzzworthy tracks that secured him spots on Spotify’s coveted “Lorem” playlist as well as a healthy handful of fans. Through his eclectic visuals and mysterious online persona, he’s built his own universe, and “Trapped in a Lava Lamp” is the perfect example of what makes a Huron John song just that. With blips, pops, vocal distortions, and a sprinkle of pop-culture references, his neon and noisy tunes seem to encapsulate what it means to be growing and alive in 2021. His hyper-specific lyrics, which throw it back to therapy visits and “when everybody told me Tyler, the Creator was not cool,” sit in contrast with groovy and chill beats, creating bops for the lonely, lost, and underrated. Though what his technicolor world seems to understand the best is that it’s not only possible to feel a lot of emotions at once, but it’s OK, too. —Carson Mlnarik
Courtney Barnett: "Rae Street"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUXvlpS0TvE

Great things happen when Courtney Barnett looks out the window. When we first met her eight years ago, she opined, "It's a Monday / It's so mundane"; on her latest confessional, "Rae Street," she languidly paints the scene: trash collection, bike riding, house painting, and more. If it sounds a bit uneventful, especially as she packages it over jangly chords and an unhurried rhythm, she wisely reminds, "Time is money / And money is no man's friend." It sounds like a lost track from Lotta Sea Lice, her 2017 collaboration with Kurt Vile, and it's a most welcome reprieve from the torrent of life getting back to its usual bustle. —Patrick Hosken
Almost Monday: “Til the End of Time”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFsK3adDAP0

“We could go somewhere tonight / Electric feeling in your eyes,” vocalist Dawson Daugherty sings to his love interest. The funk-inspired elements represent the idealization of the relationship, and he believes the stars are aligning for them both: “I’ve been looking at your star sign / Wanna put it next to mine / Ooh, it makes everything so clear.” The indie-pop band brings an upbeat optimistic love song perfect for joy riding with your lover ‘til the end of time. —Athena Serrano
Central Heat Exchange ft. Varsity: "Directly Down"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MUixdu5aBaI

It's hard to map out exactly how far-reaching music collective Central Heat Exchange is, even as a press release labels them "a collaborative project by musicians spread throughout the U.S. & Canada, primarily in the Central Time Zone." Some of the co-conspirators on their upcoming album include folks from Broken Social Scene, Lala Lala, Sun June, and more. But on the hazy "Directly Down," it's simply CHE with peppy cohorts Varsity wading into a swamp of noise until they submerge. What a fun way down. —Patrick Hosken
Jade Bird: "Now Is the Time"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xibm3LhWJa8

Out of all the radiant moments on Jade Bird's upcoming Different Kinds of Light album, "Now Is the Time" is particularly glowing. On the tune's cheery chorus, her vocal melody runs alongside a mimicking lead guitar line like they’re running a race to the hook. When she sings about "gray skies in my head," you know she's speaking hypothetically. This one's all golden sunshine. —Patrick Hosken

Anthony Joseph The Rich Are Only Defeated When Running For Their Lives

Should there be any doubt about the primacy of language in Anthony Joseph’s worldview, there’s cast-iron proof of it in the epic Language (Poem For Anthony McNeill), from his fourth solo album. In what’s essentially a secular riff on the beginning of John’s Gospel, he declares, “It is language which calls all things to creation and language is the origin of the world/The word was a great mass of a black star exploding…”

ORDER NOW: The August 2021 issue of Uncut

Joseph’s words, meanwhile, don’t so much explode on The Rich Are Only Defeated… as illuminate, recollect, bear witness, question and – crucially – enthral; his poems are energetic yet nuanced flows of richly imaginative language in masterful control, not flashy displays. A Trinidadian who moved to London in 1989, Joseph has made the written and spoken word his life’s work on multiple fronts. He’s released three studio albums with The Spasm Band (whose players included Shabaka Hutchings and Keziah Jones), the first being 2007’s Leggo De Lion. It set Joseph’s recitations of lyrics from his novel The African Origins Of UFOs against a backdrop of jazz, Afrobeat and stripped-down, heavily percussive funk. He’s also recorded three solo albums, published numerous works of poetry and prose and currently teaches creative and life writing at De Montfort University. If one UK figure is currently the ne plus ultra of experimental writing and spoken-word performance rooted in Caribbean identity, it’s surely Joseph.

His new record takes its title from The Black Jacobins, a book by Trinidadian historian CLR James published in 1938. It tells the story of Toussaint L’Ouverture, who led enslaved black labourers to victory in the Haitian Revolution. But it’s in no way a concept album – in the mix are personal reminiscences, homages to Joseph’s Caribbean literary progenitors (Sam Selvon, Anthony McNeill, Kamau Brathwaite) and particular narratives that carry universal truths. Nor is it strictly solo: Joseph is backed by a cast of musicians that includes woodwind players Denys Baptiste, Hutchings, Colin Webster and Jason Yarde (who also produces) and French pianist/organist Florian Pellissier. Joseph told Uncut he was initially aiming for more of a “spiritual jazz vibration” than on his two previous LPs but that Covid and the murder of George Floyd saw the sound become infused with “a more righteous rage”.

That rage, though set on a languid simmer, is evident on Calling England Home, where Joseph relates personal immigrant experiences that echo those of so many before him: “I worked in the basement/But I soon learned to tie my apron in a way that retained some dignity/And in my first summer above the corner shop I listened to rare groove on pirate radio/I was flung so far from any notion of nation/How long do you have to live in a place before you can call it ‘Home’?” And righteous anger certainly ripples through Swing Praxis, a taut, metatextual jam that has Joseph calling on his people to harden their resolve in the struggle for equality and justice (“Either we vote or protest or tremble or march or fight”) and extolling the power of swing “as method, as action, as rubric, as heritage, as a black and combative orchestra with terrible bees and whistles and teeth”. All this to a thrilling mix of cool and hot jazz, where the urgent honking of multiple saxophones, in both celebration and protest, whips up a raucous finale.

Joseph may be part of a broad fellowship that includes Gil Scott-Heron, whose vocal tone and socio-political focus he recalls, but his speech rhythms and vernacular mark him out. He’s cited the hymns of his grandparents’ Baptist church, calypso and the magical nature of the Trinidad carnival as influences and describes himself as “essentially a Caribbean surrealist poet”. This is most striking in Maka Dimweh, which tells of a Guyanese soldier dispatched to clean up after the Jim Jones horror show: Joseph taps Trinidadian English Creole, his flow like a riptide before it gives way to a woodwind squall, with some tense guitar work. The dazzling Language (Poem For Anthony McNeill) follows, waves of tumultuous improv heaving and crashing around Joseph’s marvelling, as he considers a firefly’s tail and various kinds of soil, that “we have names for everything now”.

If naming is a kind of creation, then The Rich Are Only Defeated… conjures a singular universe. Its idiosyncratic educational power is just one of its attributes; overwhelmingly, it’s the sound of Joseph reveling in the power of language and the possibilities of poetry and music in concert.

Ice Cube says he’s not interested in taking part in ‘VERZUZ’

Ice Cube has stated that he’s not interested in taking part in a VERZUZ matchup, but if he ever did he’d rather it be “a lovefest” than a battle.

READ MORE: Timbaland and Swizz Beatz on VERZUZ battle series: “We want to celebrate the architects of good music”

VERZUZ is the popular entertainment series that pits producers, songwriters and artists against each other in a rap battle style format on Instagram Live and Triller.

Competitors take it in turns playing a song from a list of 20 from their discography, as fans, friends and fellow artists watch on. A winner is later decided by Timbaland and Swizz Beatz.

Kicking off in March last year after Timbaland and Swizz Beatz issued challenges to one another, artists that have taken part so far have included: T-Pain, Alicia Keys, John Legend, Brandy, Monica, Method Man, Redman, Rick Ross, DMX, Snoop Dogg, D’Angelo, Bow Wow, Soulja Boy, Bobby Brown, Keith Sweat and many more.

In a new interview with The Breakfast Club, Ice Cube was asked if he would ever take part in a VERZUZ.

“Not really. It’s a great idea, great concept, but it’s nothing that’s like, on my bucket list or wish list or nothing like that,” the former NWA rapper said.

“It started off on an adversary tip and then it showed a lot of love in VERZUZ so I like how it’s evolved because guys shouldn’t be really going up there putting catalogue against catalogue. That right there to me ain’t what it’s about.”

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by The Breakfast Club (@breakfastclubam)

Cube went on to say that he feels the focus of VERZUZ should be about “showing love” for artists, before sharing how he would have done things if it was his idea.

“My version of VERZUZ would have been, I pull somebody out there like Chuck D or Public Enemy or something, and I play all the songs I love from him and he play all the songs he love from me,” Cube said. “It’s a lovefest. But, it’s not something that I’m thinking about doing. If it comes about, who knows. I ain’t sayin’ yeah, I ain’t sayin’ no.”

Elsewhere in his interview with The Breakfast Club, Ice Cube delivered an update on new music from Mt. Westmore, the supergroup he formed last year alongside Snoop Dogg, E-40 and Too $hort.

The four rappers originally announced plans to release their debut album back in March, but it failed to materialise. However, Cube has said the group are still preparing to drop their debut album.

Adele leads entertainment world reactions to England’s Euros victory over Denmark

Adele is one of many figures from the entertainment world celebrating the England football team’s latest Euro 2020 victory.

READ MORE: Why ‘Three Lions’ is still the ultimate football anthem

The singer took to Instagram after the game to share a clip of Harry Kane scoring the winning goal alongside the caption: “IT’S BLOODY COMING HOME” – her take on the famous refrain from ‘Three Lions’, the 1996 track by David Baddiel, Frank Skinner, and the Lightning Seeds.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Adele (@adele)

Joining Adele in referencing the iconic track, which has become one of the country’s most enduring football anthems, were the likes of Dua Lipa, Liam Gallagher, Glass Animals, Keir Starmer, Michael Dapaah, and Sex And The City actor Kim Cattrall, the latter of whom wrote: “It’s coming closer to home.” You can see the posts below.

??????? IT’S COMING HOME ??????? pic.twitter.com/7P9Xr4IC7v

— DUA LIPA (@DUALIPA) July 7, 2021

It’s coming home

— Liam Gallagher (@liamgallagher) July 7, 2021

i think… https://t.co/8YfWntsVTH

— Glass Animals (@GlassAnimals) July 7, 2021

#ItsComingHome pic.twitter.com/55z232kHpG

— Keir Starmer (@Keir_Starmer) July 7, 2021

England ??????? Squad to everyone who doubted them #ItsComingHome pic.twitter.com/3cdRPCKbQx

— Michael Dapaah (@MichaelDapaah) July 7, 2021

It’s coming closer to home… #England #EURO2020 pic.twitter.com/GO7BSRinIF

— Kim Cattrall (@KimCattrall) July 7, 2021

England beat Denmark two goals to one at Wembley Stadium this evening (July 7) after extra time, sending them through to the final of the competition for the very first time.

Following the win, Stephen Fry said he was worried about the final on Sunday, tweeting: “Phew! The tenacious terriers outran and outfought the wonderful Great Danes. But now there’s Sunday to worry about… my poor old heart…”

Whereas rapper Not3s is already picking his outfit out for Sunday, revealing that he is “gonna wear a full kit down to the shin pads for the final”.

Phew! The tenacious terriers outran and outfought the wonderful Great Danes. But now there's Sunday to worry about… my poor old heart…

— Stephen Fry (@stephenfry) July 7, 2021

Gonna wear a full kit down to the shin pads for the final on Sunday

— Not3s (@Not3sofficial) July 7, 2021

Other celebrities posting their reactions included Backstreet Boys‘ Kevin Richardson, Skin of Skunk Anansie, Martin Kemp, Greg Jame, KSI, and more.

The official account for Peaky Blinders also got in on the action once again, sharing a photograph of Arthur Shelby pouring a cocktail and tweeting: “Live scenes across England.”

Live scenes across England. #PeakyBlinders #ENGDEN

? Robert Viglasky pic.twitter.com/aG3DxpDN7v

— Peaky Blinders (@ThePeakyBlinder) July 7, 2021

Congratulations England! #euro #EURO2020 #footballscominghome pic.twitter.com/n8bitIMKkH

— Kevin Richardson (@kevinrichardson) July 7, 2021

Current feeling! WELL DONE Eng-get-Lan!! ??????? ok, where we watching the final? #makingplans #thebeautifulgame #itscominghome https://t.co/ECEyUuGyq3

— skin (skunk anansie) (@skinskinny) July 7, 2021

Go on England… what a game!
Roll on Sunday!! pic.twitter.com/WTLwlo085u

— Martin Kemp (@realmartinkemp) July 7, 2021

Never in doubt. https://t.co/JPPyxaAOP4

— LORD KSI (@KSI) July 7, 2021

I wouldn’t have got through that stress if it wasn’t for @bbcjohnmurray. A moment of appreciation for the best in the business. That whole evening was insane wasn’t it. John made it all OK and oh my GOD England are in the final and we’re gonna bloody win aren’t we ??‍♂️ #FullFoden

— Greg James (@gregjames) July 7, 2021

It’s coming home guys

— Yungen (@YungenPlayDirty) July 7, 2021

COMMMMEEEEE ONNNNN!!!!!!! ??????? ????????????????????????

— Dylan Cartlidge ♫ (@DylanCartlidge) July 7, 2021

Well it’s about time….

— Frankie Heartstrings (@FrankieStrings) July 7, 2021

YESSS!! The shitter we get as a country the better we get at football!! Thank you lads!!! #SouthgateYoureTheOne

— Shaun Keaveny ? (@shaunwkeaveny) July 7, 2021

pic.twitter.com/NLceRk91io

— SKINT GANG CEO (@LethalBizzle) July 7, 2021

Speechless. That aged me 20 years. I might cry. Fucking hell, football ?????????????????????

— Woody (@Woodythedrum) July 7, 2021

Meanwhile, unheard rap segments from New Order‘s football anthem ‘World In Motion’ are going up for auction.

The track was first released to mark the 1990 World Cup in Italy, and features vocal contributions from that year’s England Football Team and memorable bars from striker John Barnes.

Ahead of tonight’s Euros semi-final clash, it was announced “three never before heard ‘World In Motion’ raps from Barnes, Gazza [Paul Gascoigne] and (you have to hear this) Peter Beardsley” will go under the hammer via Omega Auctions.

BTS share teaser for ‘Permission To Dance’ music video

K-pop juggernauts BTS have shared a teaser for their upcoming music video for ‘Permission To Dance’.

READ MORE: Watch BTS’ colourful performances of ‘Butter’ and ‘Dynamite’ for SiriusXM

HYBE, the South Korean boyband’s agency, released the clip at midnight KST earlier today (July 7). The teaser features the group dancing and having fun outside of a laundromat in the desert, alongside a short snippet of the forthcoming track.

“We don’t need permission to dance,” the boyband sing over what seems to be a disco-inspired sound. HYBE previously described ‘Permission To Dance’ as a song “that will make your heart beat to the rhythm of BTS’s positive energy” on the group’s official Weverse page.

‘Permission To Dance’ was written by Ed Sheeran alongside Steve Mac, Snow Patrol member and Sheeran collaborator Johnny McDaid and Jenna Andrews. The song was produced by Mac, Andrews and Stephen Kirk.

The song will be released this Friday (July 9) and will also be featured on the CD version of the group’s recent chart-topping single ‘Butter’. The upcoming ‘Butter’ CD will also be the group’s first physical music release since last November’s ‘Be’, which was their fifth Korean-language full length album.

Yesterday (July 6), HYBE’s community platform app Weverse announced plans to launch special edition K-pop credit cards in partnership with with South Korean credit card company Shinhan Card.

In other news, the boyband also recently became the K-pop act with the most Top 10 hits in the UK. ‘Butter’, which made its debut on the UK Official Singles Chart at number three, is the group’s third Top 10 song on the chart, breaking the two-song record held by PSY since 2013.

BTS tease new Ed Sheeran collaboration ‘Permission To Dance’

BTS‘ new collaboration with Ed Sheeran is set to arrive later this month, it has been confirmed.

READ MORE: BTS’ ‘Butter’ is a cool, crisp summer anthem that doubles as a potent shot of self-confidence

Sheeran revealed last week that he had written a new song for the K-Pop group, having earned a credit on their 2019 single ‘Make It Right’ (from ‘Map Of The Soul: Persona’). He described the seven-piece as “super, super cool guys”.

Today (July 1), BTS’ management company Big Hit Music announced on Twitter that the track is called ‘Permission To Dance’ and will feature on a CD version of the group’s recent single ‘Butter’.

A colourful animated video reveals the tracklist, which also includes instrumental versions of both the aforementioned songs. Big Hit then shared the official CD single cover for ‘Butter’ – see the posts below.

‘Permission To Dance’ was written by Sheeran alongside Steve Mac, Johnny McDaid (Sheeran’s collaborator and member of Snow Patrol) and Jenna Andrews. It was produced by Mac, Andrews and Stephen Kirk.

#BTS #방탄소년단 'Butter' CD Single – Cover #BTS_Butter #PermissiontoDance pic.twitter.com/9LDLJGCrXO

— BIGHIT MUSIC (@BIGHIT_MUSIC) July 1, 2021

Sheeran previously said that the team-up would appear on BTS’ next record, which is also rumoured to arrive this month.

Announcing the upcoming ‘Butter’ CD in June, Big Hit Music said that the then-unknown second track “will make your heart beat to the rhythm of BTS’s positive energy”. The physical release coincides with the eighth “birthday” of the ARMYs, BTS’ official fanbase.

According to preview images, the CD will be available in two styles: an orange “peaches” version and a yellow “cream” version.

Earlier this week, BTS’s ‘Butter’ topped the Billboard Top 100 chart for the fifth consecutive week – smashing the record previously held by Aerosmith’s 1998 hit ‘I Don’t Want To Miss A Thing’.

Ed Sheeran, meanwhile, recently returned with his new single ‘Bad Habits’.

JoBoxers announce first gigs in 35 years to take place in 2021

JoBoxers have announced their first gigs in 35 years, which will take place later this year, following their 2020 reunion.

The new wave group formed in 1982 after the demise of Subway Sect. JoBoxers’ line-up includes that band’s guitarist Rob Marche, keyboardist Dave Collard, bassist Chris Bostock and drummer Sean McLusky, who were joined by American singer Dig Wayne.

READ MORE: The 10 best gigs and tours to look forward to this autumn

The band broke up in 1985 after releasing two albums, ‘Like Gangbusters’ and ‘Skin And Bone’. They announced their reunion last year, sharing plans to headline London’s 100 Club.

Now, JoBoxers have added more dates to their schedule, which will kick off in November. The original line-up will return at the below dates:

NOVEMBER
Tuesday 2 – Brighton, Concorde 2
Wednesday 3 – Liverpool, The Cavern
Thursday 4 – Colchester, Arts Centre
Friday 5 – London, The 100 Club
Satruday 6 – Bristol, Fiddlers

Tickets for the tour are on sale now and can be purchased here.

During their three years together, JoBoxers scored a UK Top 20 debut album with ‘Like Gangbusters’, which was later re-released in 2012. They also racked up two Top 10 singles in the UK with ‘Boxerbeat’ and ‘Just Got Lucky’.

The latter track also entered the Top 40 in the US and would later appear on the soundtracks for the movies The 40-Year-Old Virgin and Lindsay Lohan’s Just My Luck.

In the years since JoBoxers broke up, McLusky and Marche formed the indie band If?, while Bostock joined Eurythmics’ Dave Stewart in The Spiritual Cowboys. Wayne released one solo album before moving into acting, later returning to music with the group Dig Wayne And The Chisellers. Collard, meanwhile, joined The The.

The Best Of 2021 Halftime Report

First off, a gentle reminder that our excellent new issue of Uncut is in the shops now, featuring Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic on Nirvana, plus Sly Stone, Paul McCartney, Amy Winehouse, Altın Gün, Grateful Dead, The Jam, Will Sergeant, Rodney Crowell, Sparks, Rodrigo Amarante and more. Full details about the new Uncut are here, in case you missed them.

As is tradition abound now, I tried to round up my favourite albums from so far; specifically releases from January until the end of June. I’ve listed them here in (roughly) order of release – just to be painfully clear, this is very much my personal choice and is in no way representative of the Uncut writers in general.

UPDATE! Okay, a quick couple of amendments. Firstly, I’ve removed one of the duplicate entries for The Coral and also added two albums I can’t believe I forgot to include: Nick Cave & Warren Ellis’ Carnage (thanks for the spot, Robert Franks) and also Field Works’ Cedars.

Follow me on Twitter @MichaelBonner

ORDER NOW: The August 2021 issue of Uncut

1. Black Country, New Road – For The First Time (Ninja Tune)
2. The Weather Station – Ignorance (Fat Possum)
3. Ryan Dugre – Three Rivers (11A)
4. Altın Gün – Yol (Giltterbeat)
5. Sunburned Hand Of The Man – Pick A Day To Die (Three Lobed)
6. Ryley Walker + Kikagaku Moyo – Deep Friend Grandeur (Husky Pants)
7. Cory Hanson – Pale Horse Rider (Drag City)
8. Teenage Fanclub – Endless Arcade (PeMa)
9. SUSS – Promise (Northern Spy)
10. Israel Nash – Topaz (Loose)
11. Jane Weaver – Flock (Fire)
12. Julien Baker – Little Oblivions (Matador)
13. Natalie Bergman – Mercy (Third Man)
14. Tindersticks – Distractions (City Slang)
15. Lael Neale – Acquainted With Night (Sub Pop)
16. Besnard Lakes – Besnard Lakes Are The Last Of The Great Thunderstorm Warnings (Full Time Hobby)
17. Elori Saxl – The Blue Of Distance (Western Vinyl)
18. Chuck Johnson – The Cinder Grove (VDSQ)
19. Bobby Lee – Origin Myths (Natural Histories Records)
20. Mason Lindahl – Kissing Rosy In The Rain (Tompkins Square)
21. Valerie June – The Moon And Stars: Prescriptions For Dreamers (Fantasy)
22. Renée Reed – Renée Reed (Keeled Scales)
23. Hiss Golden Messenger – Quietly Blowing It (Merge)
24. Janet Simpson – Safe Distance (Cornelius Chapel Records)
25. Julius Eastman – Femenine performed by ensemble 0 (Sub Rosa)
26. Marianne Faithfull with Warren Ellis – She Walks In Beauty (BMG)
27. Dinosaur Jr – Sweep It Into Space (Jagjaguwar)
28. Rhiannon Giddens – They’re Calling Me Home (Nonesuch)
29. Jakob Bro, Arve Henriksen, Jorge Rossy – Uma Elmo (ECM)
30. Satomimagae – Hanazono (RVNG Intl/Guruguru Brain)
31. Ballaké Sissoko – Djouru (Nø Førmat!)
32. Whitney K – Maryland (Maple Death Records)
33. Floating Points, Pharoah Sanders & the London Symphony Orchestra – Promises (Luaka Bop)
34. Four Tet – Parallel (Text)
35. Pino Palladino & Blake Mills – Notes With Attachments (New Deal / Impulse!)
36. Dean McPhee – Witch’s Ladder (Hood Faire/Cargo)
37. The Coral – Coral Island (Run On Records/Modern Sky UK)
38. Angel Bat Dawid & The Brotherhood – Live (International Anthem)
39. Matt Sweeney & Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy – Superwolves (Domino)
40. Rose City Band – Earth Trip (Thrill Jockey)
41. Ryley Walker – Course In Fable (Husky Pants)
42. Chris Forsyth & The Solar Motel Band – Rare Dreams: Solar Live 2.27.18 (Cafe Oto)
43. Natural Information Society With Evan Parker – Descension (Out Of Our Constrictions (Aguirre Records)
44. Damon Locks Black Monument Ensemble – NOW (International Anthem)
45. Sarah Louise – Earth Bow (Earth Bow)
46. Mdou Moctar – Afrique Victime (Matador)
47. Lucy Dacus – Home Video (Matador)
48. Lamchop – Showtunes (City Slang)
49. Joana Serrat – Hardcore From The Heart (Loose)
50. Andrew Tuttle & Padang Food Tigers – A Cassowary Apart (Bedroom Suck Records)
51. BLK JKS – Abantu/Before Humans (Glitterbest)
52. Daniel Bachman – Axacan (Three Lobed)
53. Six Organs Of Admittance – The Veiled Sea (Three Lobed)
54. Marisa Anderson/William Tyler – Lost Futures (Thrill Jockey)
55. Dorothea Paas – Anything Can’t Happen (Telephone Explosion)
56. Shabason, Krgovich & Harris – Florence (idée fixe)
57. David Grubbs & Ryley Walker – Fight Of Flight Simulator (Takuroku)
58. Chuck Johnson – Alpenglow (Bandcamp)
59. Faye Webster – I Know I’m Funny ha ha (Secretly Canadian)
60. Nick Cave & Warren Ellis – Carnage (Goliath)
61. Melt – Blank Gloss (Kompakt)
62. Brooklyn Raga Massive – Quarantine Dreams (Bandcamp)
63. Arooj Aftab – Vulture Prince (New Amsterdam Records)
64. Amaro Freitas – Sankofa (Far Out)
65. Birds Of Maya – Valdez (Drag City)
66. Marina Allen – Candlepower (Fire)
67. Sault – Nine (Forever Living Originals)
68. Field Works – Cedars (Temporary Residence)

Miley Cyrus And Maren Morris Slay ‘Dancing Queen’ Cover In Matching Magenta

Miley Cyrus and Maren Morris are digging the “Dancing Queen” during Pride Month.

On Wednesday (June 23), Miley posted a sneak-peek clip of her and Morris performing a cover of the iconic ABBA hit for the Miley Cyrus Presents Stand By You concert. Both are donning matching a magenta wardrobe, and Cyrus refers to her singing partner as “Queen Maren” at one point.

https://twitter.com/MileyCyrus/status/1407667255530360832?s=20

The one-hour Pride concert, previously hosted and filmed at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville for vaccinated attendees on June 8, will be streaming exclusively on Peacock this coming Friday (June 25) at 5 p.m. PT / 8 p.m. ET.

Cyrus asked her fans to give cover suggestions for her to perform. Another song Cyrus covered in the event is Cher’s “Believe,” which she posted in full online. There will also be updates on other classic hits by Madonna (“Music,” “Express Yourself,” and "Like a Prayer”), Cyndi Lauper (“True Colors”) and Mariah Carey (“We Belong Together”).

https://youtu.be/G46CwUscRpA

Cyrus shows her love for the LGBTQ+ community in a performance of her 11-year-old song “My Heart Beats For Love” from her album Can’t Be Tamed, writing in a caption that she “will never give up on the fight for justice, equality, & acceptance for everyone.”

https://twitter.com/MileyCyrus/status/1407047400603230211?s=20

The Stand By You event also spotlights other country artists who are either members or allies of the LGBTQ+ community. These include the music group Little Big Town, duo Brothers Osborne, Orville Peck, and Mickey Guyton, who are all performing as well.

In addition to posting several sneak peeks of the concert, Cyrus has been quite busy lately. On Tuesday (June 22), she dropped a Metallica cover of “Nothing Else Matters,” a major all-star collaboration with the band’s own bassist Robert Tujillo, Elton John, producer and musician Watt, cellist Yo-Yo Ma, and Red Hot Chilli Peppers drummer Chad Smith. The cover will be included in the companion set of the 30th anniversary of Metallica’s Black Album.

https://youtu.be/DqoQY9bobow

“Honored to be in the company of some of the greatest to ever do it,” she wrote on Instagram.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CQbGzdwJh9n/

Cyrus revealed back in October to Interview magazine she is also working on her own Metallica cover album, but a release date, tracklist, and title have yet to be announced.

NTIA calls for UK government to reopen Night Time Economy businesses on July 5

The Night Time Industries Association (NTIA) has called for the UK government to reopen Night Time Economy businesses on July 5 as anger mounts following the delay of the country’s roadmap.

READ MORE: The beat goes on: how the UK dance scene’s DJs, clubs and festivals are fighting for survival

Earlier this week (June 14), Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced that the date of June 21, in which all coronavirus restrictions would be lifted in England, will now be delayed until July 19.

The PM told a press conference that they had seen “more infection and more hospitalisation” of late, with the Delta variant of COVID-19 spreading faster than the third wave that was predicted when the roadmap was first drawn up back in February.

He said that there was a “real possibility that the virus would outrun the vaccine” and cause “thousands more deaths” unless the country waited longer to meet all four steps for the final stage of reopening.

The news marks a significant blow for the nighttimes industry, which has spent significant time and money on ensuring their safe return, having been largely shuttered since the UK went into its first coronavirus lockdown in March 2020.

Boris Johnson has announced that the country’s roadmap out of lockdown will now be delayed until July 19. CREDIT: Hannah McKay/Getty Images

The NTIA argued earlier this month that “the industry has spent millions in preparation for June 21, and 95 per cent of businesses have already made financial commitments and logistical preparations to reopen”.

Now, in a new statement, NTIA CEO Michael Kill is calling for the government to reopen the Night Time Economy businesses on July 5, “as part of the promised two week review, without further hesitation”.

“Anger is mounting from industries that are unable to trade due to the government delay in the roadmap, coupled with the announcement by government of 2500 invited VIP’s without isolating, and the blatant disregard for restrictions shown in pictures and footage we’ve seen today of football supporters and race goers celebrating across London and royal ascot, all without social distancing,” Kill said.

“All of this in light of nightclubs, events and festivals who have been heavily criticised for being environments which are not COVID safe, with restrictions that have lost thousands of businesses and jobs, suffering the overbearing scrutiny of regulators, fined and being publicly chastised for COVID breaches.”

Kill continued: “Our industry is on the verge of breaking, people have had enough and this very obvious disregard for these sectors leading up to Monday 21st June, the day we were due to be released from restrictions is going to see many take direct.

“The government must let us open on the 5th July, as part of the promised two week review, without further hesitation!”

Earlier this week, the NTIA lent its support to an open letter to UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, threatening legal action should there be any further delay to the lifting of lockdown restrictions.

Elsewhere, music venue bosses are also now calling on the government for urgent clarity and support to help them survive until July 19.

Blondie share new live versions of ‘Rapture’ and ‘Long Time’ from Havana concert film

Blondie have shared two new live versions of ‘Rapture’ and ‘Long Time’ – you can listen to them below.

READ MORE: Miley Cyrus: her best rock cover songs, from Blondie to Nine Inch Nails

Released today (June 18), both tracks are set to feature on ‘Blondie: Vivir En La Habana’, a special six-track EP soundtrack, which is due to arrive on July 16 via BMG.

The soundtrack is from a new short film of the same title capturing the group’s 2019 live debut performance in Havana, Cuba. Directed by Rob Roth, the film was premiered at the Sheffield Doc/Fest earlier this month.

The EP will feature special guests Carlos Alfonso, Ele Valdés and María del Carmen Ávila of Cuba’s Síntesis and includes performances of ‘Heart Of Glass’, ‘The Tide is High’ and ‘Wipe Off My Sweat’.

“We had wonderful Cuban musicians join us for the performances – vocalists, percussionists, horn players – they added a terrific level of excitement to our songs,” lead singer Debbie Harry said of the live performances.

“On ‘The Tide Is High’, Síntesis vocalists Ele Valdés and Maria del Carmen Avila sang with me and did the original harmonies that John Holt had put on the song, it was incredibly beautiful.”

She added: “Latin music has always been part of the feel of New York, so it was amazing to finally be able to put a very personal touch on the heartbeat of Cuba. VIVA!”

You can listen to the new live versions of ‘Rapture’ and ‘Long Time’ below:

‘Blondie: Vivir En La Habana’ tracklisting:

01.’ The Tide Is High’
02. ‘Long Time’
03. ‘Wipe Off My Sweat’
04. ‘Heart Of Glass’
05. ‘Rapture’
06. ‘Dreaming’

Meanwhile, Blondie have been announced as one of the headliners for rescheduled Cruel World festival in 2022.

Interpol have “been working on new music since last summer”

Interpol have revealed that they’ve been working on new music remotely for the last year, and have recently started developing tracks in person.

READ MORE: Interpol tell us about their new ‘A Fine Mess’ EP: “This is about taking the party by the horns”

In a post on Instagram, the band said that due to the coronavirus pandemic “we had to use the internet to circulate ideas and collaborate remotely. This was a new experience for us.

“Fortunately, in recent months, we’ve had the opportunity to get together in person and continue to develop those ideas the old-fashion way: loud and in the flesh.”

They continued: “We recently completed our second round of in-person writing, this time in a house in the Catskills,” and added that coronavirus restrictions “have informed our music positively, we feel. We took it as a chance to grow and made the best of it.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Interpol (@interpol)

“Hopefully this work shows that when one is forced to find new ways to meet familiar challenges the results can be unexpected and beautiful.”

The band said it will be “a little while” until they release new tracks, but that “It’s gonna be magical to play live and be together with our fans again! Fully epic.”

Although they released the ‘A Fine Mess EP’ in 2019, Interpol’s last studio album was 2018’s ‘Marauder’. However, frontman Paul Banks has been quite busy in the time since.

His band Muzz, formed with Walkmen drummer Matt Barrick and multi-instrumentalist Josh Kaufman, played their first ever live shows last November, and he has also announced the resurrection of his Banks & Steelz project with Wu-Tang Clan‘s RZA.

Last month, meanwhile, a GoFundMe campaign to restore the creepy puppet from Interpol‘s ‘Evil’ video outstripped its target.

The puppet, which appeared badly beaten in the original video, is said to be in an even worse state 17 years down the line

Uncut August 2021

CLICK TO GET THE NEW UNCUT DELIVERED TO YOUR DOOR

Nirvana, Paul McCartney, Amy Winehouse, Altın Gün, Sly Stone, Grateful Dead, The Jam, Will Sergeant, Rodney Crowell, Sparks, Rodrigo Amarante, Lump, Jakob Dylan and PJ Harvey all feature in the new Uncut, dated August 2021 and in UK shops from June 17 or available to buy online now. As always, the issue comes with a free CD, this time comprising 15 tracks of the month’s best new music.

NIRVANA: Thirty years after Nevermind transformed Nirvana from adolescent punks to global superstars, Uncut revisits this era-defining classic in the company of its surviving creators. In brand new interviews, Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic trace the album’s remarkable journey from a rented barn in Tacoma to the stage of Seattle’s Paramount Theatre and beyond, while producer Butch Vig reveals the secrets of the band’s working practices. There are cameos from Neil Young’s producer, aspiring cast members of Annie – The Musical and an ill-fated blue Datsun B210. And what of Kurt Cobain, you might ask? “He was vastly underrated as a comedian.”

OUR FREE CD! ENTERTAIN US: 15 fantastic tracks from the cream of the month’s releases, including songs by Mega Bog, Rodney Crowell, Juni Habel, The Grid / Fripp, Charlie Parr, The Black Angels, Dot Allison, Los Lobos and more.

This issue of Uncut is available to buy by clicking here – with FREE delivery to the UK and reduced delivery charges for the rest of the world.

Inside the issue, you’ll find:

PAUL MCCARTNEY: Photographer Harry Benson was nonplussed when he received a commission to cover The Beatles in 1964. All the same, travelling from London to Paris and New York during this breakthrough year, he struck up a rapport with the band – and McCartney in particular – that endured through several decades. With a new collection of his images due for publication, Benson shows us McCartney at work and at play – backstage, in hotel rooms and on private jets.

ALTIN GÜN: From their base in a former Cold War nuclear bunker, the psych warriors are busy reinventing the deep and mystical sounds of Anatolian rock. Their tools? Fuzz pedals, electronics, and ancient instruments once used in shamanic rituals. But their message, they tell Uncut, is universal: “Songs about love, hate, tragedy, death, war… it’s all basic human emotions…”

SLY STONE: It is 1969 and the singer is on the brink of superstardom. Ensconced in his Bel Air mansion, he has begun work on a new album. But surrounded by dealers, groupies and gangsters, it takes over two years to finish the record – during which time the life-affirming utopianism of his music is replaced by darkness, drugs and isolation. Fifty years on, band members recall the turbulent making of a masterpiece: There’s A Riot Goin’ On. “Fame attracts wonderful people,” hears Michaelangelo Matos. “But fame also attracts guns and dogs.”

SPARKS: Fifty years after releasing their first album as Halfnelson, Sparks are finally ready for their close-up. A new documentary, The Sparks Brothers, directed by Edgar Wright, pays tribute to the indomitable, pioneering spirit of music’s oddest couple. “People expect us to try to alienate them from time to time…”

GRATEFUL DEAD: Dead freaks unite! 1971 was a momentous year for the Californian band – involving landmark shows, bizarre ESP experiments, French Acid Tests, hypnosis, new faces and emotional farewells. Bob Weir, Bill Kreutzmann and other eyewitnesses share tales from this momentous journey with Uncut: “We were just coming alive.”

THE JAM: Previously unseen photos of the English mod band show Weller and co’s impatient evolution.

RODNEY CROWELL: The Americana star on wild times with Guy and Townes, the generosity of Johnny Cash and the sex life of the Tennessee cicadas.

AMY WINEHOUSE: The making of “Back To Black”.

ANGELIQUE KIDJO: Album by album with the Afro-fusion artist.

RODRIGO AMARANTE: On new album Drama, the Brazilian songwriter crafts an exquisite sonic world marked by global rhythms, cinematic textures and playful takes on tradition.

CLICK TO GET THE NEW UNCUT DELIVERED TO YOUR DOOR

In our expansive reviews section, we take a look at new records from Lump, John Murry, The Flatlanders, Kings Of Convenience, Sleater-Kinney, Yola, John Frances Flynn, and more, and archival releases from Alice Coltrane, Laura Nyro, PJ Harvey, The Shins, Michael Small, Chris Barber, Aretha Franklin and others. We catch Songlines Encounters Festival and Gruff Rhys live; among the films, DVDs and TV programmes reviewed are Martin Eden, Punk the Capital: Building A Sound Movement and Rockumentary: Evolution Of Indian Rock; while in books there’s Sinéad O’Connor and Nico.

Our front section, meanwhile, features The Jam, Will Sergeant, Ellen Folley, Roy Harper and Arooj Aftab while, at the end of the magazine, Jakob Dylan reveals the records that have soundtracked his life.

You can pick up a copy of Uncut in the usual places, where open. But otherwise, readers all over the world can order a copy from here.

CLICK TO GET THE NEW UNCUT DELIVERED TO YOUR DOOR

Olivia Rodrigo makes UK chart history with three Top 5 singles

Olivia Rodrigo has today (June 11) made UK chart history in the Official Singles Chart.

READ MORE: Olivia Rodrigo – ‘Sour’ review: this year’s breakout star channels ’90s alt-rock

Rodrigo has become the first female artist to have three singles in the top five slots of the singles chart in the same week.

As OfficialCharts.com reported, ‘Good 4 U‘ remains at Number 1 following 96,000 chart sales, including 11.2 million streams. ‘Deja Vu’ meanwhile is at Number 4 whilst ‘Traitor’ reached Number 5.

Other male acts to have achieved this in the past include John Lennon, Justin Bieber, Ed Sheeran, and Drake.

Olivia Rodrigo (Picture: Hanina Pinnick for NME)

Last week (June 4), Rodrigo claimed her second week at Number One on the official UK albums chart for ‘Sour‘ alongside ‘Good 4 U’ in the singles chart.

The US singer-songwriter first scored the chart double last month (May 28), and became the youngest ever artist to do so, beating top-spot album competition in the midweeks from Easy Life and Texas.

An artist has not achieved the UK Number One double on their debut album since 2015 when Sam Smith reached Number One with ‘In The Lonely Hour’ and their single ‘Lay Me Down’. The last act to bag the double UK Number One was Ariana Grande, whose latest length ‘Positions’ and its title track both topped the chart in 2020.

Today (June 11), Wolf Alice overtook Rodrigo, scoring their first UK Number One album with ‘Blue Weekend’. They also have claimed the biggest opening week for a British group in 2021.

The London band’s new album, which arrived last week (June 4), debuted at the top spot with over 36,000 chart sales – 14,700 of which were vinyl copies.

The group also overtook Royal Blood to claim the biggest opening week for a British group in 2021 so far.

Rogér Fakhr Fine Anyway

Before Beirut was wrecked by the civil war fought in its streets between 1975 and 1990, it was called “the Paris of the East”. It was a city of bars and boulevards, philosophers and poets – and, it could readily be imagined, wry and reflective singer-songwriters of the calibre of Rogér Fakhr, crooning in some cool café amid mists of arak fumes and Gauloises smoke.

ORDER NOW: The July 2021 issue of Uncut

The tracks on Fine Anyway were recorded in Beirut in 1977 and Paris in 1978. Fakhr was, by then, living between the two, busking on the Metro in the latter: balancing, like many Lebanese of the time, the danger of home against the loneliness of exile. It’s unclear just how much this melancholy disorientation directly informed his material, but these songs do not want for a sense of melancholy disorientation. Reference points, contemporary and subsequent, include John Prine, Gordon Lightfoot, Lee Hazlewood, Elliott Smith and Gene Clark. Crucially, Fakhr would not be out of place in their company.

The greatest of these songs are extraordinary. Fakhr created this music against rather considerable odds, which may go some way towards explaining why it has barely been heard. Some of these recordings were originally circulated on cassettes among a mere handful of cognoscenti (and they have the background hiss to prove it), some of them have never been released at all.

Fakhr’s own modesty has also been an obstacle. But after he agreed to contribute to a Habibi funk compilation in aid of Beirut following last year’s explosion in the city’s port, he agreed to this.

It’s difficult, on listening to Fine Anyway, to altogether suppress outrage that this fine material has been so long unavailable. The more straightforwardly singer-songwriter cuts set Fakhr’s husky, plaintive voice to intricately picked acoustic guitar, occasionally augmented by flute, piano or tambourine. Some, such as Lady Rain and My Baby, She Is As Down As I Am, are exquisitely mournful. Others, like Insomnia Blue and Everything You Want, are more upbeat, gently essaying a slight country-rock swagger (there’s a parallel universe in which either or both of these were covered by Emmylou Harris and made Fakhr wealthy beyond imagining). With a band in tow, Fakhr gets funkier: “Had To Come Back Wet” includes busy bass that buoys a surging electric piano; The Wizard sounds like something left in error off an early-’70s Byrds album.

Little ties these recordings explicitly to the Lebanon of its time, give or take the coda of gunfire and air raid sirens on Keep Going. Fakhr seems to have been too ambitious to be
a mere protest singer or a chronicler of events. He did not see why Lebanon’s circumstances should confine him – and, on the evidence of these wonderful songs, they didn’t.

A colossal boxset reissue of George Harrison’s ‘All Things Must Pass’ is on the way

A huge boxset reissue of George Harrison‘s first post-Beatles solo album ‘All Things Must Pass’ has been announced to mark 50 years since its release.

READ MORE: The best Beatles biopics… ranked!

The album has been completely remixed from the original tapes, with Harrison’s son Dhani serving as executive producer. Mixing comes from engineer Paul Hicks, whose credits include recent re-workings of The Rolling Stones‘ ‘Goat’s Head Soup’ and John Lennon‘s ‘Gimme Some Truth’.

“The new mix transforms the album by sonically upgrading it – making it sound brighter, fuller and better than ever before,” a press release for the new version reads.

The £859.99 ‘Uber Deluxe’ edition of the reissue comes with eight 180g vinyl LPs, five CD and one Blu-ray audio disc, housed in an artisan designed wooden crate. As well as the original album, it contains 47 demos and outtakes (42 of which are previously unreleased). The Blu-ray disc contains high-res stereo of the album in 5.1 surround sound.

The crate also contains two books: a 96-page scrapbook designed by Harrison’s widow Olivia, and a 44-page book of archival interviews with notes from the period.

The set features a wooden bookmark made from the oak of a tree felled at Harrison’s Friar Park, 1/6 scale replicas of Harrison and some gnomes as seen on the album’s cover, a copy of Paramahansa Yogananda’s Hindu text ‘Light from the Great Ones’ and some Rudraksha beads.

The reissue will also be released as an eight LP or five CD plus one Blu-ray set, and as more modest triple vinyl and double CD versions. All will be released on August 6 and are available for pre-order now.

The Harrison estate previewed the reissue last November, releasing a new stereo mix of the album’s title track.

Last month, meanwhile, musician, artist and Beatles collaborator Klaus Voorman – who contributed a new illustration to the Uber Deluxe set – remembered a 17-year-old Harrison as a “cocky little boy […] very different to how he was later.”

The Rolling Stones join campaign calling for better streaming revenues for artists

The Rolling Stones have joined Tom Gray’s #BrokenRecord campaign which is calling for better streaming revenues for artists.

READ MORE: Streaming – what happens next? Artists demand “a shift in the way business is done”

Back in April, over 150 artists – including Paul McCartney, Kate Bush, Damon Albarn, Chris Martin, Noel Gallagher and Wolf Alice – signed an open letter to Prime Minister Boris Johnson asking to help reform the streaming economy.

Proving unsuccessful, the first letter that went to Johnson received an “interested but non-committal reply” from a junior minister in the business department.

The campaign has now enlisted the help of the Stones, Tom Jones, Barry Gibb of the Bee Gees, Emeli Sandé, Alison Goldfrapp and Pulp’s Jarvis Cocker, as well as the estate of the late Clash frontman Joe Strummer, in the hope that they will help change Johnson’s mind.

The addition of the new signatories means that four of the eight performers Johnson chose for his Desert Island Discs in 2005 are now urging him to take action: members of the Beatles, the Rolling Stones and the Clash, as well as Van Morrison.

The Rolling Stones have joined the #BrokenRecord campaign. CREDIT: Dave J Hogan/Getty Images

“For too long, streaming platforms, record labels and other internet giants have exploited performers and creators without rewarding them fairly,” the letter due to be sent to Downing Street tomorrow (June 7) reads. “We must put the value of music back where it belongs — in the hands of music makers.”

It continues: “By addressing these problems, we will make the UK the best place in the world to be a musician, producer or a songwriter, allow recording studios and the UK session scene to thrive once again, strengthen our world leading cultural sector, allow the market for recorded music to flourish for listeners and creators, and unearth a new generation of talent.

“We urge you to take these suggestions forward and ensure the music industry is part of your levelling- up agenda as we kickstart the post-Covid economic recovery.”

You can read the letter in full here.

Jarvis Cocker has also joined the #BrokenRecord campaign. CREDIT: Daniel Cohen

Pressure continues to mount to mount following a recent government investigation. Run by the Department for Culture Media and Sport since November last year, Parliament’s Inquiry into the Economics of Music Streaming committee met seven times, hearing from representatives across the industry.

During the various hearings, artists told MPs that low streaming payments were “threatening the future of music” with emerging acts complaining that they faced “massive competition” from classic artists due to algorithms.

Spotify meanwhile, warned that raising subscription prices could push people to online piracy, while MPs accused one major label boss of “living in cloud cuckoo land” after he claimed that artists were happy with the existing music streaming model.

Speaking to NME in April, Gray, who is also a member of Southport band Gomez, said that while he accepted that “there is no silver bullet” to resolve the streaming income gap, “the dominant music system ought to be putting money in the pockets of British musicians”.

“The present scheme is total revenue split up by total streams, and that is how you get your per stream rate,” Gray said, while saying that in a user-centric model “they just take your personal subscription and divide it up among whatever you listen to, just by what you listen to.”

He argued that this “small redistribution of wealth” is “a much fairer way to pay out consumers’ money.”

Bop Shop: Songs From B.I, Wrabel, Queen Naija And Ari Lennox, And More

Queen Naija ft. Ari Lennox: "Set Him Up"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dxXYrQjUeA

Over the past year, we’ve seen some of the best female team-ups in music history – from “Rain on Me” to the “Savage” remix – but no one has taken us on a ride as wild as Queen Naija and Ari Lennox’s new team-up. The track starts as a raunchy girl gossip session, with lyrics like “Your man must be nasty just like mine” and “He ate it like a cake / Then we broke the headboard” sounding like butter, thanks to the duo’s smooth dueling vocals. But after realizing some glaring inconsistencies in their men’s stories, the real drama starts. Its luscious video shows us just how wide these ladies are smiling underneath every sensual and sassy line, and we’re having just as much fun as they are. —Carson Mlnarik
B.I : “Illa Illa”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5GaVA3ebKCo

We’ve reached the point in the year where art begins to imitate life and songs about beaches, islands, and sunshine start to make their way onto our playlists. Though B.I’s “Illa Illa” does just that — it is definitely not your classic Song of the Summer. Accompanied by a more poetic, arthouse-esque visual, “Illa Illa” balances melancholy, emotional lyrics with an upbeat melody bound to get stuck in your head. B.I’s comeback shows a clear distinction between old and new, displaying a sort of rebirth both sonically and visually. On this new track, B.I lets the tears fall like waves but also finds strength and hope for brighter days, singing, “Though I know it will crumble, I’ll probably build a sandcastle again.” —Sarina Bhutani
Jodi: “Go Slowly”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqbE2QWCgaM

“Go Slowly” moves like its own respiratory system, gently inhaling and exhaling as it alternately gathers and releases strength. In that way, it’s meditative — an infinity symbol set to music by singer-songwriter Nick Levine. Their self-described “queer country” project Jodi shines with moments of quiet grace, especially between the breaths of “Go Slowly.” —Patrick Hosken
Wrabel: “Nothing But the Love”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDMZDtcRGjw

“Nothing But the Love” is a prime example of what Wrabel does best: earnest, piano-backed pop ballads that tug at the strings of even the most jaded, lovelorn hearts. The soulful cut doubles as the first single off These Words Are All for You, the years-in-the-making debut studio album from the smooth-voiced singer and seasoned songwriter (Kesha’s “Woman,” anyone?). —Sam Manzella
OG Bobby Billions & Blueface: “Outside (Better Days)”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BNcFDmQ7YM

Rising Dallas rapper OG Bobby Billions’s single “Outside” taps into Black music’s long legacy of lyrical testimony. A poignant hook supported by a choir tells the story of losing friends and loved ones to gun violence and juxtaposes feelings of anger, sadness, and the desire for revenge against biblical teachings. “You hear that church up in my verses / That's just how we raised,” Billions sings. Now on its third iteration following the original and a collaboration with the late rapper MO3, the latest release taps Blueface. Part prayer and part vendetta, “Outside” plays like a page ripped from a private journal, spotlighting the multifaceted nature of humanity, the duality of right and wrong, and the emotional debris gun violence always leaves behind. —Virginia Lowman
Smoothboi Ezra: “Stuck”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2YEiLZllSfI

A dreary ode to being in limbo, “Stuck” travels a great sonic distance in its mere three-minute runtime. Led in by longing picking, lo-fi bedroom-folk maestro Smoothboi Ezra redoubles their voice by the song’s end, asking a fragile and devastating question: “Do you feel stuck?” —Patrick Hosken
Bob Sinclar ft. Molly Hammar: “We Could Be Dancing”

https://youtu.be/kauqBzcqPFM

Grab your most camp ensemble and make your way to the dance floor, because summer is here, outside is open, and Bob Sinclar’s “We Could Be Dancing” is summoning us into action. Disco meets EDM and electro-pop in this trippy kaleidoscope of sound. It’s a made-for-summer tune that practically writes the script for what’s to come as the mercury rises. “We don’t have to have each other / We can live and learn,” Molly Hammar sings, reminding us that life is our for the living and we should dance through it all. —Virginia Lowman
Michaela Jaé: “Something to Say”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=veCVnmnUqqY

As Pose launches into its final season, star Mj Rodriguez, a.k.a. Michaela Jaé, brings an empowerment anthem co-written with Earth, Wind & Fire’s Verdine White and John Paris, as well as iconic producer Neal Pogue. The result is an ecstatic, kinetic force of a tune that’ll find itself a fixture of every summer playlist. —Patrick Hosken
MistaJam ft. Vula: “Make You Better”

https://youtu.be/yl9m9Od2QiM

If summer 2021 is about passion and life untamed, the soundtrack for the times is definitely “Make You Better.” The EDM bop mixed by English DJ MistaJam features iconic vocalist Vula, and taps into the ‘80s and early-‘90s club scene with a hypnotizing beat reminiscent of La Bouche’s “Be My Lover.” The heavy beat almost commands your hips to move, your brow to sweat, and your heart to race. For two and a half minutes, you’re present, fully tapped in, and ready for whatever surprises summer has in store. —Virginia Lowman

Benny Blanco, Ed Sheeran, Halsey and Khalid sued for copyright infringement

Benny Blanco, Halsey, Khalid and Ed Sheeran, as well as their respective labels, are being sued for copyright infringement over Blanco’s debut single ‘Eastside’.

‘Eastside’, which was co-written by Sheeran, was released in 2018 and featured guest vocals from Khalid and Halsey. Now, Konstantine Lois and Shane Williams of the band American XO are alleging the track has strong similarities to their 2015 song ‘Loveless’.

According to TMZ, Lois and Williams claim the songs share similar note dyads, note intervals and tempos, as well as a familiar beat. They allege that Blanco must have come across ‘Loveless’, and copied parts of it for ‘Eastside’.

READ MORE: Pop powerhouse Benny Blanco: “Do I consider myself a ‘hitmaker’? I think I’m a loser!”

Listen to both songs below:

‘Eastside’ is lifted from Blanco’s debut album, ‘Friends Keep Secrets’. The record was reissued earlier this year with seven additional songs, including ‘Lonely’ featuring Justin Bieber and ‘You’ featuring Marshmello and Vance Joy.

NME has reached out to representatives for Benny Blanco, Halsey, Khalid and Ed Sheeran for comment.

The new lawsuit follows similar copyright infringement cases filed against Sheeran. In 2016, Sheeran was sued by songwriters Martin Harrington and Thomas Leonard, who claimed the former’s track ‘Photograph’ derives from the pair’s song ‘Amazing’. The matter was settled out of court.

In the same year, Sheeran was sued for allegedly copying ‘Let’s Get It On’, written by Marvin Gaye and Ed Townsend, for his track ‘Thinking Out Loud’.

Bow Wow and Soulja Boy say their upcoming Verzuz battle is “bigger than life”

Bow Wow and Soulja Boy have teased their upcoming Verzuz battle, saying that the competition is going to be “bigger than life”.

READ MORE: Timbaland and Swizz Beatz on ‘Verzuz’ battle series: “We want to celebrate the architects of good music”

Verzuz is the popular entertainment series that pits producers, songwriters and artists against each other in a rap battle style format on Instagram Live and Triller.

Competitors take it in turns playing a song from a list of 20 from their discography, as fans, friends and fellow artists watch on. A winner is later decided by Timbaland and Swizz Beatz.

“This shit gon’ be bigger than life,” Bow Wow told Soulja Boy in an Instagram Live ahead of the battle, which takes place on June 26. “I’m happy to celebrate with you cause I was telling Tim, I don’t know nobody … they was throwing O in there, I saw a lot of Omarion, but that’s my brother. He’s an R&B singer. I’d like to see O go against Mario, me personally.”

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by DJ Akademiks (@akademiks)

He added: “Me and you brother make so much sense. We’ve been on tour together, me and you got a whole muthafuckin’ mixtape together, me and you got a hit record together. We on tour right now! And on top of that, you got a hot new record out.”

Back in March, Timbaland and Swizz Beatz signed a deal to be streamed through Triller, with Wu-Tang Clan MCs Raekwon and Ghostface Killah going head to head in the first battle streamed on the platform.

Kicking off in March last year after Timbaland and Swizz Beatz issued challenges to one another, artists that have taken part so far have included: T-Pain, Alicia Keys, John Legend, Brandy, Monica, Rick Ross, DMX, Snoop Dogg, D’Angelo and many more.

Last month, fans remembered the late DMX by sharing footage from his 2020 Verzuz battle.

In July 2020, the legend took part in the rap battle series, going up against Snoop Dogg for one of the most-viewed instalments in the series at the time.

The battle broke viewing records for Verzuz, with more than 525,000 concurrent viewers on Instagram and over 2million viewers overall. On Apple Music, it drew in more than 600,000 concurrent viewers and over 1.4million overall.

Noel Gallagher says the first High Flying Birds album had meant to be “the next Oasis album”

Noel Gallagher has revealed in a new interview that his 2011 debut solo album had meant to be “the next Oasis album”.

‘Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds’ was released in October 2011, marking Gallagher’s first LP release since the break-up of Oasis in 2009.

READ MORE: James McClelland on playing Noel Gallagher in Creation Stories: “It was fucking mad”

Speaking to MOJO, Gallagher was asked if the first High Flying Birds album had always intended to be a solo project, to which he replied: “No, that was going to be the next Oasis album.”

“On the last [Oasis] tour I wrote ‘If I Had a Gun’, ‘Everybody’s On the Run’ and ‘(I Wanna Live In A Dream In My) Record Machine’,” he recalled.

“‘AKA… What A Life!’ was the last thing I wrote. That’s my birth as a solo artist.”

Gallagher also said that he felt frustrated by his bandmates’ unwillingness to experiment musically towards the end of Oasis’ time together.

“It’s difficult to make this statement without sounding like I’m slagging Liam [Gallagher] off but… he was way more conservative in his tastes than I am,” Noel said. “He literally listens to The Beatles and John Lennon and that’s it.”

Noel continued: “When we were doing [2000 Oasis album] ‘Standing On The Shoulder of Giants’, Spike [Stent], who was producing, got the drum machines out and I said: ‘Our kid will be up in 40 minutes. Have them out of the room before he gets here because it will frighten him. All these flashing lights will freak him out.’”

Reflecting on how Oasis “were such a brand”, Gallagher said that, musically, “it was difficult to step outside that”.

“Bonehead and Guigs never really said why they left but I think they thought: ‘This music is changing and it’s not the way that it was,’” he remarked.

“[But it was] not enough for me. When you play a song to your bandmates, you need them all to stand up and say: ‘That’s amazing.’ If one of them is going ‘Pthrrrrt’ and that one happens to be the singer, forget it, it isn’t happening. It’s like you want the love of a parent. You do things to please people.”

Last week Gallagher suggested that he would consider reforming Oasis for an offer of £100 million, though added: “Ludicrous. What is funny, though, is that I think Liam actually believes it.”

Klaus Voormann on George Harrison: “The Quiet One? He wasn’t quiet at all…”

The new issue of Uncut includes a candid interview with Klaus Voormann about his encounter with a 17-year-old George Harrison, during The Beatles’ formative residencies in Hamburg. The German artist and Plastic Ono Band member tells Graeme Thomson tales involving fish finger diets, late-night phone calls from “Herr Schnitzel”, and the making of George’s very own masterpiece…

ORDER NOW: Read the full interview with Klaus Voormann in the July 2021 issue of Uncut

The thing to remember about George Harrison is that he was a Gemini. The twin sign. Yin and yang. On Revolver you have “Love You To” and “Taxman”. Two sides. He could be really living this spiritual life – into meditation and getting up at 5am to see the sun come up – and doing it very extensively. Then suddenly he would go crazy! He could swap from the one extreme to the other, and he could find ways to make himself believe that it was the good thing to do. He would talk himself into it. This is why he was always searching for something – because he knew himself well enough to know that he needed something to hold onto.

The first time I saw George he was only 17 years of age. He was very different to how he was later. He was a cocky little boy! This band he was with was completely unknown. It was the autumn of 1960. In this club in Hamburg, the Kaiserkeller, they played for people to dance. George was singing all those funny songs, which he did later on a little bit, when he sat around and played ukulele. He was into songs like I’m Henry The Eighth, I Am, singing it all cockney. He would sing all those Eddie Cochran numbers too, like Twenty Flight Rock.

It took some time to get to know them. We had gone to concerts and jazz clubs, but this scene was completely new to us. We went many times. They had started looking over to us – “There they are again, those Existentialists!” – and we were looking at the stage all the time, seeing all the details. “Look at George, he’s got big ears, hasn’t he! And he has funny teeth – he has those Dracula teeth!”

They were talking on stage in English and our English was not so hot. Eventually [Astrid and Jürgen] said to me, “Klaus, you speak English. Why don’t you make contact so we can meet them?”

John was standing by the stage, and I went over and took the record cover I had designed with me, which was Walk… Don’t Run – by The Typhoons, not The Ventures. I showed it to John, and he said, “Go to Stuart, he’s the artistic one.” Because John was the rock’n’roller, he didn’t want anything to do with art. So I went over to Stuart [Sutcliffe] and we got on like the world on fire. It was amazing, we talked about everything. It was only natural then that in the breaks between shows we went out with Stuart and the others came along, and we’d watch them eat their cornflakes.

We became friends. All of them were very much into music. Rock and roll was the most important thing. The list of songs they were able to play was the largest of all the bands in Hamburg. They were so busy and eager, listening to the records again and again until they got it down. At this stage, all you could see is that they played those songs really well. They were a great rock and roll band, with three great voices. I didn’t know anything about them writing songs, that came much, much later.

READ THE FULL INTERVIEW IN UNCUT JULY 2021

Fans react to The Smile’s Glastonbury debut: “Thom Yorke unleashing his inner demented punk”

The Smile, the new band comprised of Radiohead’s Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood and Sons Of Kemet’s Tom Skinner, gave their debut live performance tonight (May 22).

The new group played as part of Glastonbury’s Live At Worthy Farm livestream event, which was filmed at various spots across the iconic festival site.

READ MORE: Emily Eavis on the Glastonbury livestream: “There might be subtle hints towards the future”

The Smile’s involvement was only announced hours before the livestream began, while the set offered fans the first chance to hear music by the new project, which Yorke dubbed “a collaboration with Nigel Godrich”.

Yorke said little during the performance but did offer an explanation of the band’s name, which was inspired by a Ted Hughes poem. “Ladies and gentlemen, we are called The Smile,” he said at one point.

“Not The Smile as in ‘aaah!’, more the smile of the guy who lies to you every day.”

During and after the band’s performance, fans took to Twitter to share their reactions to the set and songs. “Fantastic, but The Smile just sound like a pared back Radiohead???” One Twitter user wrote. Later, after more songs had been aired, they added: “Un-fucking-real. Yorke unleashing his inner demented punk. Love it.”

Un-fucking-real ?
Yorke unleashing his inner demented punk. Love it ?#thesmile #Glastonbury #LiveAtWorthyFarm https://t.co/cVyM31yx3y

— Derval McCloat (@DervSwerve) May 22, 2021

“I see Thom Yorke and The Smile keeping a nice party atmosphere,” another wrote.

I see Thom Yorke and The Smile keeping a nice party atmosphere #glastonburylive

— Susi Brooks (@SusanBrooks_1) May 22, 2021

“OK I am in LOVE with The Smile,” someone else added. “Love the vibe, love the songs, vocals, LOVE THE THOM BASS. All amazing.”

Ok I am in LOVE with The Smile. Love the vibe, love the songs, vocals, LOVE THE THOM BASS. all amazing

— Aaron (@ChummyNose) May 22, 2021

See more reactions below now.

Really enjoyed #thesmile on #LiveAtWorthyFarm but think they missed a trick by not calling themselves Thom-Tom Club. Best Radiohead side project.

— J (@Gwladys_Knight) May 22, 2021

I NEED THE SMILE ALBUM. I NEED THE SMILE ALBUM NOW. LET'S GET THE SMILE'S DEBUT LP TO NUMBER ONE.

— hazel xoxo (@LiamUrARelevant) May 22, 2021

that last track of The Smile at Glastonbury. i feel alive again. i missed Thom and Jonny

— Piotr Jakubowski (@Anon11m) May 22, 2021

The #TheSmile set from #GlastonburyFestival was sublime. #Radiohead at their best and then some.

— John Reade (@DrJohnReade) May 22, 2021

Well that set from The Smile was something a bit unexpectedly awesome. #GlastonburyLive pic.twitter.com/Q98rujPYYb

— Meester Glenn ? (@168_Seconds) May 22, 2021

Well that was next level #thesmile

— Toby (@TobyPhilbin) May 22, 2021

The Smile is one of the coolest wee projects I have seen in a long time. Excellent. That last song was genius.

— ?️ cₐᵣₑₗₑₛₛ wᵢₛₚₐ ? (@moggyroe) May 22, 2021

Bloody hell! that was amazing from #thesmile Thom and Johnny swapping in & out on bass & guitar – a big stew of afrobeat, jazz & krautrock. #LiveAtWorthyFarm

— Steve – Upwards@45 blog (@mrtree2245) May 22, 2021

the smile remind me of a cross between radiohead, thom yorke and johnny greenwood

— Gavin Monks (@Monksey_Boy) May 22, 2021

Wow. This wasn't what I expected. Wild. Raw. Angry. #TheSmile #Glastonbury ?

— silvia (@dieZypresse) May 22, 2021

'The Smile', the new project by Thom Yorke & Jonny Greenwood, is a bit more krautrock/jazzy than what we know them by, but it's again exciting, technically excellent music

— St⭕nehead (@stonehead) May 22, 2021

Before the livestream kicked off, organiser Emily Eavis said the Glastonbury team were “truly honoured that Thom and Jonny have chosen our livestream event to premiere their brand new project”.

The Live At Worthy Farm livestream faced technical difficulties this evening, with thousands of fans unable to enter the stream with their access codes. Eavis later apologised for the issues and promised the full concert would be re-shown tomorrow (May 23).

The The announce multi-format project ‘The Comeback Special’

The The have announced a new multi-format project called ‘The Comeback Special’.

READ MORE: Live albums are pointless – so why do bands insist on releasing them still?

The band’s forthcoming release documents their Royal Albert Hall concert from June 5, 2018, and will be accompanied by a live album, film and book.

A press release reads: “What started as an unforgettable live experience, and one of the band’s first performances after 16 years, now turns into an extraordinary live album, film & book as Matt Johnson’s London-based Cinéola label teams up with Hamburg-based international rock and pop label, earMUSICfor a series of exciting and exclusive releases.”

The The will also be launching a variety of other exclusive products, including an exquisitely designed 136-page Art Book, featuring six discs, exclusive photos, audio content plus director Tim Pope’s “beautifully shot, unobtrusive film” of the show.

To accompany the news, ‘Sweet Bird of Truth’ has been made available on all streaming services – listen to it here. You can watch the Tim Pope directed live video version below.

See the tracklist for ‘The Comeback Special’ below:

1. ‘Global Eyes’
2. ‘Sweet Bird Of Truth’
3. ‘Flesh & Bones’
4. ‘Heartland’
5. ‘The Beat(en) Generation’
6. ‘Armageddon Days (are here again)’
7. ‘A Long Hard Lazy Apprenticeship’
8. ‘We Can’t Stop What’s Coming’
9. ‘Phantom Walls’
10. ‘Love Is Stronger Than Death’
11. ‘Dogs Of Lust’
12. ‘Helpline Operator’
13. ‘This Is The Night’
14. ‘This Is The Day’
15. ‘Soul Catcher’
16. ‘Bugle Boy’
17. ‘Beyond Love’
18. ‘Slow Emotion Replay’
19. ‘(Like a) Sun Rising Thru My Garden’
20. ‘Infected’
21. ‘I’ve Been Waiting For Tomorrow (all of my life)’
22. ‘True Happiness (this way lies)’
23. ‘Uncertain Smile’
24. ‘Lonely Planet’

The band’s Royal Albert Hall concert was the first of three London shows during ‘The Comeback Special’ tour – the others took place at Brixton Academy and The Troxy.

Last month, The The frontman Matt Johnson took part in one of Tim Burgess‘ online listening parties.

Johnson, who rarely likes to look back at old work, teamed up with The Charlatans frontman to revisit The The’s acclaimed 1986 album ‘Infected’.

Blondie releasing EP to accompany new Havana concert film

Blondie are set to release a Cuba-inspired EP to accompany a film about their 2019 performance in Havana, Cuba.

READ MORE: Debbie Harry on a life like no other: “I have a stubborn will to survive”

The six-soundtrack EP, ‘Blondie: Vivir En La Habana’ will be released on July 16 ahead of the film’s premiere which will take place at Sheffield Doc/Fest later this year. Directed by Rob Roth, the short film documents their 2019 live debut in Cuba.

The EP will see feature special guests Carlos Alfonso, Ele Valdés and María del Carmen Ávila of Cuba’s Síntesis and includes performances of ‘Heart Of Glass’, ‘Rapture’ as well as ‘The Tide is High’ and ‘Wipe Off My Sweat’.

Speaking about the EP, Blondie’s Debbie Harry said: “We had wonderful Cuban musicians join us for the performances – vocalists, percussionists, horn players – they added a terrific level of excitement to our songs. On ‘The Tide Is High’, Síntesis vocalists Ele Valdés and Maria del Carmen Avila sang with me and did the original harmonies that John Holt had put on the song, it was incredibly beautiful.”

The ‘Blondie: Vivir En La Habana’ track-listing:
1.’ The Tide Is High’
2. ‘Long Time’
3. ‘Wipe Off My Sweat’
4. ‘Heart Of Glass’
5. ‘Rapture’
6. ‘Dreaming’

Harry added: “Latin music has always been part of the feel of New York, so it was amazing to finally be able to put a very personal touch on the heartbeat of Cuba. VIVA!”

Drummer Clem Burke added: “This was a great opportunity to experience the sights and sounds of Cuba. It is such a beautiful and friendly country. There is so much appreciation for art, music and nature. The Cuban people have a joy for life, and it was amazing to experience that first hand.”

An official statement says of the film: “It is a dream-like portrait of this legendary band’s first experience in Havana and of the magical exchange between musicians from the two cities each call home and their intertwined influence.”

Director Rob Roth added: “When this opportunity came up I could not imagine not documenting it. I knew it was going to be special somehow…we managed to pack in some really beautiful moments.”

Meanwhile, Blondie are set to appear in their own graphic novel later this year. Blondie: Against The Odds will combine “an imaginative take on an oral history of the band, interspersed with artistic interpretations of 10 songs from their catalogue,” according to a synopsis.

A Crowdfunder to restore the creepy puppet from Interpol’s ‘Evil’ video is nearing its total

A GoFundMe campaign to restore the creepy puppet from Interpol‘s ‘Evil’ video is close to reaching its target.

The puppet, which appeared badly beaten in the original video, is said to be in an even worse state 17 years down the line according to organiser John Kolbek.

“He’s had a rough 17 years. Being passed around as a Halloween ornament, to ending up in someone’s storage shed. The good news is, he’s found a new caring home, the bad news is, he’s pretty messed up. BUT with your help, and the help of Lunas Puppets, we can fully restore him back to his former glory,” he wrote.

Many fans have been contributing to its restoration which is now close to reaching its $3,000 (£2,119) target. You can contribute to the campaign here.

Last year Wu-Tang Clan‘s RZA and Interpol frontman Paul Banks announced that they were reviving their project Banks & Steelz.

“Well, that’s something that happened during quarantine, me and Paul have been sending each other tracks,” RZA told NME at the time.

“We got a song that we just finished right before this movie campaign, called ‘The Pains of Love’. And I think in Covid, the song is funny, because the pains of love is something that we’re willing to endure.

“And that’s people who are locked up with each other and can’t go out for months. Can you endure that? The joy of love? Well how about the pain of love?”

Banks & Steelz first formed in 2013, and released the album ‘Anything But Words’ in 2016.

Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young Déjà Vu: 50th Anniversary Deluxe Edition

Sometimes, the only way to follow-up a best-selling critically acclaimed album is to do it all over again, only bigger. That’s the approach Crosby, Stills & Nash took in 1970 with their follow-up to May 1969’s Crosby, Stills & Nash. They enlisted Neil Young to expand the trio into a quartet and spent six months hammering out arrangements in the studio, but in most other ways they simply repeated their magic trick of combining “big personalities, pristine voices and achingly personal lyrics”, as Cameron Crowe summarises it in his liner notes. The same but bigger also describes this set, which comes either in a 4CD/1LP version or across five LPs. As well as the original album, there are 38 additional songs, many of which are previously unreleased.

ORDER NOW: The July 2021 issue of Uncut

These are divided into three categories, Demos, Outtakes and Alternates. They confirm two things about the sessions: firstly, that all four of the quartet were in the middle of a hot streak where songs were simply pouring out of them; and second, that Neil Young was divided from the rest of the group by more than just an ampersand. He’s always been a noncommittal presence on Déjà Vu, contributing his own two songs – “Helpless” and “Country Girl” – sharing a credit for “Everybody I Love You” with Stills, and adding the occasional guitar lick, but otherwise the junior partner. That feeling doesn’t change after exposure to this edition’s many extras, which again show Young ploughing a lone furrow. There’s a perfect “Birds” with Nash on harmony, which Young was in the process of recording for After The Gold Rush, an alternative version of “Helpless” with harmonica that has been released on Archives 1, and he adds occasional musical support to some of Stills’ compositions. But the bulk of the material comes from Crosby, Nash and especially Stills. These include early versions of several tracks that would soon appear on the trio’s own solo albums.

If Neil Young has always been elusive, Joni Mitchell has previously felt excluded. She was a ghost behind the machine of Déjà Vu, another massive talent only half-inside the tent as the inspiration for Nash’s “Our House” and the writer of “Woodstock”, which was memorably covered by Stills to close Side One. Here, delightfully, she finally has a physical presence thanks to one of two demos of “Our House”, which sees her singing a duet with Nash, giggling when he fluffs a line. It’s one of the highlights of the set, a real peek behind the corner into the soap-operatic personal lives that made Déjà Vu such a hit.

The CSNY sessions started in June 1969 with rehearsals at 3615 Shady Oak Road in Studio City, in a house that Stills had bought from Peter Tork. The trio needed an instrumentalist to fill out their live sound. John Sebastian, Steve Winwood and Mark Naftalin of the Paul Butterfield Blues Band were all discussed before Ahmet Ertegun, head of Atlantic, talked Stills into asking Young, who had walked out on Buffalo Springfield three times in two years.

The first studio session was on July 15 at Wally Heider’s in LA, with Young taking keyboard on a thrilling run through the feisty “Know You Got To Run”, which appears on this set for the first time. The song was later edited together with “Everybody We Love You” to become Déjà Vu’s closing number, “Everybody I Love You”. The next day they recorded two versions of Stills’ haunting “4 + 20”. The first take went on the finished record but the second – included here – is just as good, with a vocal that’s technically superior. Recording switched to San Francisco after CSNY’s appearance at Woodstock, with the final sessions taking place on December 28, 1969 – not quite the last day of the ’60s but close enough for those who enjoy a metaphor.

Stills was a perfectionist – that’s the main cause of his clashes with one-take Neil – so over time the band recorded multiple versions of every song. As well as alternative versions of every album track bar “Country Girl”, including a fab “Woodstock” with an earthshaking Stills vocal and a frantic, fragile “Déjà Vu”, there are numerous songs that would later appear on solo albums, future CSN records or, sometimes, disappear for good. These were often recorded as solo demos, but other members of the group are sometimes present. There’s Nash’s “Questions Why”, a fine lilting McCartney imitation in the classic Nash naïf style, which seems never to have been re-recorded, as well as an early version of “Sleep Song” that he recorded again for his 1971 solo debut, Songs For Beginners. Crosby gives us splendid early versions of “Laughing” and “Song With No Words” – two songs that he would later record for If I Could Only Remember My Name. Some of these were recorded in September for publishing demos by Crosby a few weeks before his girlfriend, Christine, died in a car crash.

Stills’ numerous contributions include the stellar “She Can’t Handle It”, which he recorded as “Church (Part Of Someone)” for Stephen Stills, but the progress of others is less easy to track such is his habit of rewriting and editing lyrics, or taking two fragments and making them into a single song. We know that “Bluebird Revisited”, for instance, later appeared on Stephen Stills 2, but a song like the organ-heavy “I’ll Be There” seems to have vanished. “30 Dollar Fine” is another Stills original that feels half-written – the vocal is unclear and the music is much more of a jam than you usually get with CSNY – but a version did turn up as “$20 Fine” on the posthumous Jimi Hendrix release Both Sides Of The Sky. Another song with a great guitar part is “Ivory Tower”, which was completely rewritten and recorded as “Little Miss Bright Eyes” by Manassas – Stills had written the original lyric about his bandmates and felt he’d been a little harsh, so took his eraser to it. There are more Stills rarities – “Same Old Song”, “Right On Rock’N’Roll” – and the musician accounts for seven of the eleven songs on the outtakes CD, making this something of a Stills mother lode.

Added to these are several completed CSN tracks, complete with the harmonies that brought them together in the first place. Nothing beats “Carry On”, which boasts one of CSN’s most miraculous harmonies. There’s a gorgeous alternative version here with a more pronounced guitar solo, but it’s the voices that compel. Even Neil Young was amazed, telling an interviewer: “There’s a new song called ‘Carry On’ that Stephen wrote,” he said. “And they do a vocal thing in the middle that is one of the best vocal things I’ve ever heard on record… It’s just incredible, man… It sounds like a choir. It’s unbelievable.”

Uncut July 2021

CLICK HERE TO GET THE NEW UNCUT DELIVERED DIRECT TO YOUR DOOR

Prince, Liz Phair, Bobby Gillespie, George Harrison, Lambchop, Ann Peebles, Kurt Vile, Jackson Browne, Gary Bartz, Tracey Thorn, Faye Webster, BLK JKS, The Orb and Joni Mitchell all feature in the new Uncut, dated July 2021 and in UK shops from May 20 or available to buy online now. As always, the issue comes with a free CD, this time comprising 15 tracks of the month’s best new music.

PRINCE: For decades, his vaults have been rock’n’roll’s own El Dorado – a mythical place filled with untold treasures. We carry out an extensive archaeological survey into this legendary archive and discover – via revelatory eyewitness accounts from 3rdeyegirl, Pepé Willie, Dez Dickerson, Shelby Johnson, Matt Thorne and Paisley Park Records’ manager Alan Leeds – a trove of lost albums, mysterious side-projects and secret gigs that amount to an entire parallel history stretching far back to his earliest days in Minneapolis.

OUR FREE CD! DIAMONDS & PEARLS: 15 fantastic tracks from the cream of the month’s releases, including songs by Liz Phair, Lambchop, Faye Webster, Lucy Dacus, Loscil, Billy F Gibbons, Anthony Joseph, Rose City Band and more.

This issue of Uncut is available to buy by clicking here – with FREE delivery to the UK and reduced delivery charges for the rest of the world.

Inside the issue, you’ll find:

LIZ PHAIR: After an 11-year absence, she has returned to reclaim her title of fearless songwriting superstar. But how has a song about Lou Reed, a country-rap crossover hit and her own trailblazing debut helped prepare her to re-enter the fray? “I’ve had to pick myself up from being dead many times…”

BOBBY GILLESPIE: Primal Scream’s inveterate rabble-rouser has written a memoir about his early life and recorded an album of heartworn duets inspired by the country greats. He’s even – finally – come to terms with his early records. But where is all this soul-searching heading? “People want us to take their heads off. But I don’t know if that’s the kind of music I want to keep on making.”

LAMBCHOP: The pandemic has brought back into focus the qualities that inspired Kurt Wagner to make music in the first place. But as a new album ushers in yet another new era for his band, there’s no danger of him dwelling on his many former glories. “Hopefully, I can live up to the future…”

JACKSON BROWNE: From Greenwich Village to LA’s Troubadour and beyond, Jackson Browne has always written songs about love, hope and defiance – but with his new album Downhill From Everywhere these themes have taken on a bold, new urgency. “I’ve always been connected with people who are trying to make things better…”

GEORGE HARRISON: He was a “cocky little boy” of 17 when he met Klaus Voormann during The Beatles’ formative residencies in Hamburg. They remained close confidants and Voormann enjoyed a ringside seat – as friend, flatmate and collaborator – during the Fabs’ imperial phase and, later, Harrison’s own blossoming solo career. Uncut listens as Voormann recalls tales involving fish finger diets, late-night phone calls from “Herr Schnitzel” and the making of George’s very own masterpiece…

KURT VILE: On his role in a brand new tribute to The Velvet Underground. “It was powerful as hell…”

TRACEY THORN: The Everything But The Girl star answers your questions on the New Romantics, working with Paul Weller and how her knitting is going…

ANN PEEBLES: The making of “I Can’t Stand The Rain”.

GARY BARTZ: Album by album with the lifelong sax explorer.

FAYE WEBSTER: New album I Think I’m Funny haha is reviewed at length, while the wunderkind sheds light on her favourite guitar, fake fadeouts and the beauty of Atlanta.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE NEW UNCUT DELIVERED DIRECT TO YOUR DOOR

In our expansive reviews section, we take a look at new records from Lucy Dacus, BLK JKS, John Grant, Faye Webster, Billy F Gibbons, Vincent Neil Emerson, David John Morris, Anthony Joseph, and more, and archival releases from Spirits Rejoice, Joni Mitchell, The Yardbirds, Hailu Mergia & The Walias Band, Squarepusher and others. We catch Tame Impala and Moses Boyd live online; among the films, DVDs and TV programmes reviewed are First Cow, In The Earth, 1971: The Year That Music Changed Everything and My Name Is Lopez; while in books there’s Buzzcocks, Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers and Kristin Hersh.

Our front section, meanwhile, features Jim Morrison, Kurt Vile, Dot Allison and Cedric Burnside while, at the end of the magazine, The Orb’s Alex Paterson reveals the records that have soundtracked his life.

You can pick up a copy of Uncut in the usual places, where open. But otherwise, readers all over the world can order a copy from here.

Motörhead’s Mikkey Dee on his last conversation with Lemmy: “He wanted to be onstage”

Former Motörhead drummer Mikkey Dee has recalled his last conversation with the band’s frontman Lemmy Kilmister shortly before his death.

READ MORE: Ian Fraser ‘Lemmy’ Kilmister 1945-2015 – A Life in Rock N Roll

Lemmy died aged 70 on December 28, 2015 after the first half of a European tour. His cause of death was later confirmed to be prostate cancer.

“We played the last show the 11th of December in Berlin, and he passed just two weeks later,” Dee said in an interview on the podcast Waste Some Time With Jason Green.

“And that tells you, the guy died with his boots on. Both me and Phil [Campbell, guitarist] were trying to talk him out of starting the second part of the European tour after Christmas. But there was no way in hell we could do that.”

He continued that he told Campbell: “‘Let’s not push him anyway. Let him decide what he wants to do. He knows best what he wants to do.’ And he wanted to be onstage.”

Dee said that before the band discussed future setlist ideas immediately after what would be their final show.

“And I said, ‘Let’s hook up after Christmas.’ Because it was the 11th of December at that time, and I figured we’d talk between Christmas and New Year’s Eve and decide which two songs that we agreed on on playing on that next leg.”

Dee added: “And that was it. He had no intention of not coming back to Europe and touring. So we did a little finger hook, as we always did, and that was the last time I saw him, actually. Very sad.”

Earlier this year, meanwhile, Ozzy Osbourne revealed that he was “one of the last people” to speak to Lemmy before his death.

Introducing the Ultimate Music Guide to Creedence Clearwater Revival

Buy the Ultimate Music Guide to Creedence Clearwater Revival now!

When I first picked up a copy of Willy & The Poor Boys in the 1980s, I’m not sure whether I ever got much further than “Fortunate Son”. The riff, the righteous self-definition, the rhythm driving the song forwards. It was excellent, and it seemed – to someone then far too uptight to choogle – to give me all I needed to hear.

Over 30 years later, it’s not unreasonable to think John Fogerty didn’t need to get much beyond “Fortunate Son” either. It forms the title of his autobiography, of course, and was one of the key battlegrounds on which his recent conflict with the former president of the United States was fought. It’s an urgent and passionate rock ‘n’ roll record, but also a faintly misleading one – it might sound raw, but it was anything but thrown together. Fogerty didn’t just write the songs: he gave out the parts, woodshedded his band, and also produced the records.

As you’ll discover over these 124 pages of new and archival writing about Fogerty and Creedence Clearwater Revival, this approach was the fuel for an 18 month hot streak in which many of his Creedence classics – “Bad Moon Rising”, “Proud Mary”, “Lodi”… the Dude-pleasing list goes on – were written. As contemporary reporters observe in these pages with a mixture of puzzlement and delight (“Bayou Beat” is one attempted definition of what the band are up to), the group became, in a world struggling to accustom themselves to their absence, a band as big as The Beatles were. As one contemporary observer has it in these pages: the place where The Beatles were trying to get back to is where Creedence started out.

How simple it all sounds. Fogerty’s relationship to his music, however, has proved a complex and conflicted one. As Creedence records sold in their millions, he jostled with other band members about his tight control of the music, and faced tough questions about his management of the group. His brother left the band. Having created joyful music, Fogerty began to question the terms he and the band were working under, the whole enterprise becoming intractably linked to poisonous business disagreements. After creating a one man bluegrass band, Fogerty effectively retired from music, not emerging until the triumphant Centrefield album in 1985.

His has been a unique journey, marked by periods of intense activity followed by long retreats and deep reflection on his work. In recent years, he has been revitalised by wife Julie and his family, which has lately culminated in his role as a rock Lord of Lockdown, and great Fogerty’s Factory record in which he revisits some of his Creedence classics in the company of his “family band”. His latest release, “Weeping In The Promised Land”, meanwhile, finds a blue collar American hero calling the powerful to account. As we speak, he is restless again, hard at work on preparing a new album.

Come with us, as we hitch a ride to the end of the highway.

The Ultimate Music Guide to Creedence Clearwater Revival is in shops now, or you can buy it directly from us by clicking here – with free P&P for the UK.

Fraser T Smith on the next James Bond theme: “It could be a rapper. It’s time isn’t it? It could be Stormzy”

Fraser T Smith has expressed his desire to write a James Bond theme song in the future, adding that “it’s time” the film franchise invited a rapper like Stormzy to perform such a track.

The producer and songwriter was speaking on the new podcast series For Your Ears Only, which has been produced by the SPYSCAPE Podcast Network and features insights from influential musicians, composers, directors and actors into their favourite film and television music.

READ MORE: Fraser T Smith on debut album ‘12 Questions’, that Foo Fighters cover and his pride in Stormzy and Dave

Smith is one of a number of guests on the first season of the podcast, which also features contributions from producer and songwriter Paul Epworth, Ludwig Göransson, Anna Calvi, Nile Rodgers of Chic and Duran Duran‘s John Taylor.

Speaking on For Your Ears Only ahead of the upcoming release of the next Bond film No Time To Die – the theme for which has been co-written and recorded by Billie Eilish – Smith expressed his ambition to one day pen a Bond theme song of his own.

“I’d love to take elements of John Barry and to have that huge sound, but I think there could be something electronic that could work within that as well,” he said.

Smith said that he would be keen to work with a rapper on his Bond theme, adding: “It’s time, isn’t it?”

“It could be Stormzy,” he said about who could perform a Bond theme in the future. “With a John Barry-esque futuristic beat. It already sounds like something!”

Back in March Stormzy and Kwesi Arthur teamed up to collaborate with the rising Ghanaian rapper Yaw Tog for a remix of his break-out song ‘Sore’.

Ryley Walker Course In Fable

Load a promotional copy of Ryley Walker’s fifth solo album into iTunes and the descriptor “prog fucking rock” appears beneath the title and his name. It’s a slyly humorous detail that speaks volumes; most obviously, about his deep, oft-declared love for that music, which has a role here, but also his habit of self-mocking. Whether it’s in interviews, onstage chat or his Twitter feed, Walker is always ready with a pin, to prick truth’s painful swelling or any hint of pretentiousness.

If there’s a place where that self-consciousness falls away and Walker roams (almost) free, it’s in the authentic present of his music. It was the absence of what he called “smoke and mirrors” that first drew him to Bert Jansch, Nick Drake and John Martyn for 2014’s All Kinds Of You, which introduced a guitarist skilled beyond his 24 years, undisguised influences or no. A year later, Primrose Green confirmed him as a striking songwriting and instrumental talent committed to the cause, with an irresistibly sun-glazed, stoner jazz-folk style that leaned heavily on Pentangle and Tim Buckley as well as the mystic flow and vocal tics of Van Morrison.

As a comparison of the Primrose Green and Astral Weeks covers shows, Walker’s image played to retro romance and the idea of the gilded prodigy. That might have seen a lesser artist forever shackled to his sources but Walker soon moved on. After the all-instrumental Land Of Plenty (one of two fine hook-ups with Bill MacKay) came 2016’s Golden Sings That Have Been Sung, which was to some degree a transitional album. Its opener, “The Halfwit In Me”, showed that although ’70s UK folk still loomed large, Walker was keen to explore his other interests, namely Chicago-school experimentalism, improv jazz and chamber pop.

It was with Deafman Glance in 2018, though, that he stepped out of the shadow of his heroes and into the leftfield contemporary sunlight. As Walker said at the time: “I really can’t go back to making a Fairport Convention-sounding record.” “Telluride Speed”, especially, is significant: starting with spry, finger-picked guitar and pastoral flute, it then establishes an urgent, post-rock-ish motif that opens up into abstract pastoralism, allowing him to chuck in a couple of minutes of psych guitar vamping. However, Deafman Glance is not the only evidence that Walker has really been stretching his legs of late: in recent years, he has made two records with free-jazz drummer Charles Rumback and, in February, he joined Japanese psych rockers Kikagaku Moyo for a live album. For anyone still finding it hard to mentally reconfigure Walker, it’s worth noting that since he moved to New York in 2019, there have been improv hook-ups with David Grubbs, JR Bohannon and Garcia Peoples, among others. Staying in his lane has never appealed.

All of which makes Course In Fable a clear case of natural evolution, rather than calculated reinvention – and a record that opens a fresh chapter in Walker’s story. It’s a short (just 41 minutes), ineluctably lovely set, light, bright and often dizzyingly joyful, but also thrillingly unpredictable, with complex, jazzy arrangements against which Walker’s phrasing gently pushes and pulls. His lyrics are as poetic, poignant and sometimes droll as they are difficult to parse, although as always, they capture the writer’s experiential instant. It seems that his “now” is less painful than it has been for some time. The music sees him drawn back to his formative years in Chicago, reconnecting with its rich underground history and the likes of Gastr Del Sol/Jim O’Rourke, Isotope 217 and Tortoise, whose John McEntire produces.

Bill MacKay, touring buddy Andrew Scott Young and Ryan Jewell (a Walker mainstay live, who also played on Golden Sings) serve on guitar/piano, bass/piano and drums, respectively. It’s an ensemble effort, born from trust and intuitive flair, but the Young/Jewell team deserve respect for the balletic grace and buoyancy present in …Fable. There are understated strings, synths and (crucially) space to turn cartwheels. Explaining his choice of players, Walker told Uncut his trick is “to just be around folks I love and see what sticks. There’s a fearlessness when I hear Andrew, Bill and Ryan play music. I follow their lead. There’s a revolving door of a dozen or so folks over the years who humble me and keep me listening and learning.”

Walker claims that although Course In Fable fulfilled his desires to make a record on his own timescale and with his own money, on his own label, it wasn’t the album that he originally planned. That was “a double LP prog epic”. It withered on practicality’s vine but there’s more than an undercurrent of prog on “A Lenticular Slap”, which runs to nearly eight minutes and recalls Kiran Leonard’s knotty yet delicate compositions. The set opens with the seductive “Striking Down Your Big Premiere”, where stiff-breeze pacing is punctuated by a booming three-chord coda and some sweet finger-picking gives way to Walker’s rueful note – in a tone that recalls ’70s Elton – that “You send me pulse from God knows where/Antenna has changed its air from shortwave to ballistic cruise” and that he’s “always shit-brained when [he’s] pissed”.

It’s followed by the lightly fried circular folk orchestrations of “Rang Dizzy”, where strings rise and fall against piano-and-guitar dialogue and Walker exclaims in wonder and relief: “Fuck me, I’m alive”. The terrific “Axis Bent” surprises in its manifestation of Stephen Malkmus as a kindred spirit (Grateful Dead are the connecting point), with echoes of West Coast ’70s fusion, a blown-out guitar motif and a dash of freeform skronk. Its name suggests anything but a freewheeling, Laurel Canyon-ish beauty but that’s what “Clad With Bunk” is, albeit pulled off course by what sounds like half a dozen guitars in effortlessly fluent interplay, a burred blues phrase and a ripple of psych rock.

It’s only keening, luminous closer “Shiva With Dustpan” that clearly points back to where he’s been. But here, he and his band refract Nick Drake’s chamber folk through a ’70s cosmic Cali lens – Crosby, perhaps. It’s a fine combination, the sound of paths made familiar by constant tread plus intuitive choices enabled by years of improv discipline, intersecting. It’s also where Walker can’t resist a sardonic spit into his own poeticism. “Walk my cobbles, ash anywhere/Shiva with dustpan, collect no fare,” runs the chorus, perhaps in reference to the vagabond life of an independent musician. Then in the final verse: “Beg and choose in the land of opposition/I declare a happy birthday to every mouth full of shit”. As always, Walker’s expression is both plain-spoken and opaque; he’s the anti-hero of his own stories but a “character” only in the colloquial sense.

If Course In Fable sees Walker in a more relaxed, less self-conscious mode (“upbeat” might be pushing it), going where the evolutionary drift takes him, it’s partly because he’s come “home” to the Chicago sounds of his youth and has the same trusted team, but also because he simply has less to prove with each record. “Sounds or direction are never calculated,” he tells Uncut. “I hope to diverge from anything I’ve ever done on each new record. My style is fake until I make it, with smoke breaks in between.” Where the future takes him now is anyone’s guess – ruling out even that double album of “prog fucking rock” might be unwise.

Course In Fable by Ryley Walker

Squid release live staple ‘Pamphlets’ as latest single from debut album ‘Bright Green Field’

Squid have released another taste of their debut album ‘Bright Green Field’: the single ‘Pamphlets’.

READ MORE: Squid: “I don’t think people take us seriously enough to think we’re ‘pretentious’”

The eight-minute song is the closing track off the Brighton five-piece’s upcoming album ‘Bright Green Field’, which arrives May 7 via Warp Records. The track follows previous singles ‘Narrator’ and ‘Paddling’.

‘Pamphlets’ about “all the rubbish right-wing propaganda you get through your front door,” Squid vocalist, drummer and lyricist Ollie Judge said in a statement. “It imagines a person with that as their only source of news being taken over by these pamphlets.”

In a separate statement on the song, Squid say that ‘Pamphlets’ “is one of our songs that has shape-shifted the most and has always been a staple of our live show when we were able to tour”.

They added, “Out of all the music on Bright Green Field, we’ve played ‘Pamphlets’ the most, and some people might remember it from our gigs. It’s a song that’s also has come full circle, we started it in Chippenham and finished it in Chippenham. An ode to Wiltshire? Possibly – but it was always the song that we knew would finish our first album.”

Listen to ‘Pamphlets’ below.

Squid have also announced a US tour, adding eight Stateside dates in November to an extensive list of gigs in the UK and Europe starting May. Find the full list of Squid’s US tour dates below. Tickets go on sale this Friday.

After Squid release the album, they will embark on the Fieldworks tour of the UK, where they will play work-in-progress music to socially-distanced crowds. Tickets go on sale here at 10am today.

The band will also embark on a headline tour of the UK and Europe from September to October.

Today we’re also finally announcing dates for a US tour later this year! Tickets for the US dates will be live this Friday

+ with so many posters flying around we’ve collated ALL the places you can catch us this year, inc. in the digital realmhttps://t.co/2rOw45YngL pic.twitter.com/dms4LIrwNG

— Squid (@squidbanduk) April 27, 2021

The band promise to preview new music for audiences on tour, previously adding, “We thought that this little tour of places, off the beaten track, would be a great opportunity to show you all some new tunes and some REALLY new tunes.”

Last month, Squid spoke to NME about ‘Bright Green Field’, which they worked on together virtually. “When you’re playing in a room together, you take for granted everyone’s slightly different approaches, but when you’re doing it through .wav files, you can really zoom in on the individual characters,” said guitarist Louis Borlase.

Squid’s 2021 US tour dates are:

NOVEMBER 2021

9 – Philadelphia, PA @ Johnny Brenda’s
10 – New York, NY @ Mercury Lounge
12 – Cleveland, OH @ Beachland Tavern
13 – Chicago, IL @ Empty Bottle
17 – Los Angeles, CA @ Moroccan Lounge
19 – Santa Ana, CA @ Constellation Room
20 – San Francisco, CA @ Rickshaw Stop
22 – Portland, OR @ Doug Fir
23 – Seattle, WA @ Crocodile

Kanye West and Balenciaga’s DMX tribute shirts reportedly raise over $1million for late rapper’s family

A run of DMX tribute shirts designed by Balenciaga and commissioned by Kanye West‘s fashion brand Yeezy have reportedly raised $1million for the late rapper’s family.

The long sleeve shirts feature a graphic of DMX on the front with “R.I.P” printed above him, and crosses on either side. One sleeve sports the date he was born, and the other the date of his death.

READ MORE: DMX, 1970 – 2021: hip-hop giant who shone brightest in the darkness

According to TMZ‘s sources close to West, the shirts raked in more than $1million after going up for sale during DMX’s memorial service over the weekend, priced at $200 USD each. They were launched on the website DMX-tribute.com, selling out in just 24 hours.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by DMX (@dmx)

In addition to commissioning the shirts, West was also among the artists who performed at DMX’s memorial service, “DMX: A Celebration of Life”, in Brooklyn on Saturday (April 24).

West opened the event with his Sunday Service Choir, singing Soul II Soul’s ‘Keep On Movin’, the Clark Sisters’ ‘You Brought The Sunshine’, the hymn ‘Jesus Loves Me’ and their original song ‘Excellent’.

Other performers at the service included Nas, Eve and Swizz Beatz. DMX’s 12-year-old daughter Sonovah also rapped a version of her father’s song ‘Slippin’, from his 1998 album ‘Flesh of My Flesh, Blood of My Blood’.

In an emotional tribute, DMX’s eldest son Xavier Simmons said “our father is a king, our father is an icon”.

“I am so honoured to have a father like we have. This man deepened my ability to love.”

DMX passed away on April 9 from a heart attack at the age of 50. Tributes have flowed for the rapper since his death, with Snoop Dogg, AJ Tracey, Swizz Beatz and the team behind Rick and Morty among those to honour him.

An Audience With J Mascis of Dinosaur Jr

To celebrate the release of Dinosaur Jr’s supersonic new album Sweep It Into Space, here’s an Audience With J Mascis from the September 2014 issue of Uncut (Take 208). Kevin Shields, Mark Arm and TV Smith pose the questions as we discover how Mascis almost joined Nirvana but stood in with GG Allin instead: “Fine in theory, but when he’s actually shitting onstage beside you, it’s not fun!”

—–

“Portugal aren’t coming back from that,” exclaims J Mascis with unexpected enthusiasm. Presently, the notoriously reticent Mascis is sitting in a hotel bar in London watching Germany beat Portugal in the World Cup on a giant television screen. His surprising outburst, he explains, is because he has a vested interest in the outcome of this particular game: Mascis’ wife is German. She is currently in Berlin with their son where, it transpires, they are watching the match on a big screen, in the church where his brother-in-law is a minister.

Meanwhile, Mascis is in the UK to promote his latest solo album, Tied To A Star. Despite his woolly appearance – faded black Cactus T-shirt, trucker cap and purple-rimmed glasses, grey hair, beard – Mascis is on sharp form as he answers your questions on subjects ranging from his favourite guitar riffs to the existence of some deep Dinosaur Jr rarities and exactly what happened when Kurt Cobain asked him to join Nirvana…

Hi, J. You’ve got a reputation for being difficult in interviews, do you think some people misunderstand your sense of humour?
Kevin Shields
I’ve learned from being interviewed and dealing with people that I talk slower than a lot of people. If a person’s really wired and ADD, and I don’t answer fast enough, they write me off as an asshole in that second where I’m not answering them. Then, that’s it. How long have I known Kevin? Since we first came to England. We opened for Primal Scream and then played at ULU. I think he was there. Someone told me to buy My Bloody Valentine, and the “You Made Me Realise” EP had just come out. We’ve seen each other pretty much every time I’ve come to England. Coming to Europe back then was great for us. They’d give us food and somewhere to stay and people actually liked us. We were pretty hated where we lived in Western Massachusetts.

Is it true you turned down Kurt Cobain’s invitation to join Nirvana?
Stan Maloney, New York
Yeah, Kurt asked me to join. I was with Thurston Moore at this Nirvana show at Maxwell’s in Hoboken. I was talking with Kurt, and he said, “You should join my band.” I think he was kind of sick of the guitar player at the time, Jason [Everman]. I was like, “Oh, yeah.” That was kind of it. You know, I wanted to go to college in Seattle and I didn’t get in. So I could have been there before all them. Imagine how different history would have been. I had gone to a semester in Amhurst. I hated college so I didn’t do too well. When I applied to Seattle, they weren’t too impressed. What was I studying? Nothing. You can do that in America. I took a lot of Hitler-inspired classes. I had a teacher who was an SS officer and another who was a Jew who escaped. They were both in the same history department, which was weird.

What do you remember about your earliest gigs in Boston?
Sheryl Dillon, Cardiff
When we started, we were too loud and we had no fans. That’s a bad combination when you’re trying to play shows in these bars and the bartender can’t hear the people trying to buy drinks. “Who are these guys?” So we’d get banned from all the clubs around there. In Boston the soundman threw a bottle at us. We were playing with Salem 66 or something. In Boston, in [Mascis’ early-’80s hardcore punk band] Deep Wound, people liked us in the hardcore scene but the hardcore scene did not like Dino when we started. But what are you gonna do? I guess the first time we went to New York, which was three hours away, that’s when we first met Sonic Youth and found some people who actually liked us. It was our home away from home. We’d spend a lot of time in New York.

J, even your acoustic guitar sounds loud. How do you do it? I’ve been trying to persuade sound technicians to make mine louder for years…
TV Smith, The Adverts
Travel with your own soundman, I guess. It’s a battle, if you don’t have your own soundman, to try and communicate what you’re trying to do to some other guy. I think TV Smith could make it happen. Yeah, I’m a total fan of British punk. What are the differences between British and American punk? The production was much better in England. I guess most US punk bands never recorded in real studios. English punk seemed better for some years, until probably ’81 when hardcore happened. It all came together perfectly at that age. I could relate to Minor Threat. They had more suburban problems, like me. You know, being pissed for no reason. “Oh, my parents are OK, I’m not starving, nothing is apparently wrong, but I’m still depressed and pissed off at everything. I have no reason to be.” You get jealous of people with real problems.

I’m a massive fan of the first three Dinosaur Jr albums. Are there any unreleased studio recordings from this era (“Center Of The Universe”, for example), and if so, what are the chances of them being released?
Bennett Sandhu
No, across the board. “Centre Of The Universe” was an early Lou [Barlow] song. It didn’t appear on any album, he didn’t want to play it. It could have been on our first album, but he decided he hated it immediately. There might be some practice tape of the song, but not that I have. I guess we could always re-record it now.

What was it about GG Allin that made you think, ‘I want to be in a band with that guy?’
Mark Arm, Mudhoney
Yeah… that’s a weird one. Gerard Cosloy, who went on to Matador fame, went to college in my town and became my band [Deep Wound]’s manager, for a minute, then we broke up. He said he’d put out the Dinosaur record when we formed, so we already knew we could make a record. But he was putting together this GG Allin band, and he asked me to be in it. I was excited, until the reality set in. I often thought it was kind of like how Kurt Cobain must have felt about Courtney Love. It’s like this punk idea that seems cool ’til you’re doing it. You like GG Allin in theory, but then when he’s actually shitting onstage and you’re standing there, it’s not fun and you think, ‘Wow, this is a bad scene.’

How many guitars do you own, J?
Craig Parsons, Hemel Hempstead
Quite a few. Under 100, but more than 50. That’s a good answer. Where do I keep them all? They’re pretty much everywhere. I like to try to get every conceivable rock guitar sound you could possibly need. The Wipers sound, the Keith Richards sound, the Fast Eddie sound. I’m just trying to cover all the bases. They all sound slightly different. Some for recording and some for playing. You hope some guitars have different songs in them you can just get out by playing them. That’s one crazy justification for buying them. It’s harder to justify to my wife, of course. The oldest guitar I’ve got is a Martin from the 1930s.

Question: Master Of Reality or Vol. 4? (Paranoid is not an answer.)
Jonathan Poneman, Sub Pop
Vol. 4, definitely. This is Sabbath, who I just saw for the first time. In fact, Jonathan helped me get in to the show. They played in Berlin. Tony Iommi has now gone to the top of my guitar list, Top 5 guitarists I’ve ever seen. I love Sabbath, I was maybe 12 years old when I first heard them, but I never considered Tony to be as good a guitarist as he evidently is. I was blown away when I saw him do “Supernaut” from Vol. 4. I always thought that solo was impossible to play. I’ve seen people try, but no-one can do it. Then to see Tony play it live, that was awesome. Do I think Bill Ward should be back in the band? The new guy kicked them in the ass a bit, gave them some energy, but he’s not so good it takes away from Bill. He’s ballpark.

Which of your album sleeves do you like the most – and why?
Peter Fors, Stockholm
Green Mind is a good one. It’s a cool photo. It seems to resonate. This ’70s icon of the kid. It’s got that over-the-edge look of teenage rebellion. Why do I like green and purple so much? They’re my favourite colours. I have some purple clothing, but it’s very hard to get for men. I’ve designed some purple trainers (below). They came with a 7” cover of Mazzy Star, “Fade Into You”. Will that ever get a proper release? Yeah, I think it’ll appear on this record, like a B-side maybe. I played it live first time the other day. It was pretty good. I’ll probably play it on this tour. It went on for a while. A lot of noodling. But if it’s good, let it noodle.

If you could only play one riff for the rest of your life, what would it be?
Patrick Proctor, Manchester
Maybe “City Slang” by Sonic’s Rendezvous Band. Is that a riff? Sorta. What makes a good riff? It’s memorable, you want to sing it and play it. What’s a favourite riff of mine? I like “Sludgefest” and “Out There”. “Out There” being more of what you’d consider a riff. It seems a bit complicated for me to play and sing, so I’m impressed. It seems a bit over my ability.

What are your memories of the 1992 Rollercoaster tour?
Debbie Williams, London
It was fun. I remember I was surprised that The Jesus And Mary Chain were even more socially retarded than I was. We didn’t speak until maybe the last show. They’d hide in the dressing room. That was impressive somehow. I was already friends with My Bloody Valentine, so we’d hang out. Blur were the most sociable, the Mary Chain the worst, then us, then MBV. Did we drink a lot at that time? I don’t think I was drinking. It was a cool tour. I’d never really heard Blur before, but obviously they became huge. Last time I was here, I saw the guitarist in Wagamama right over the road.

Hello J! Do you remember filming the “Freak Scene” video in my back garden in Manchester?
John Robb, The Membranes/Goldblade
Yes, I do. It was pretty exciting. We shaved our soundman’s head for the video. Dancing around in weird costumes with all the papier mâché stuff he had lying around his house. Our label edited out everything like that from the video and just had us playing in the garden. I was furious. The real version only came out when we re-released the LP. How did we end up in John’s garden? It’s Manchester, that’s what happened in those days.

How did you end up reforming the classic earlier lineup of Dinosaur Jr in 2005?
Matt Barlow, via email
We finally got the reissues to come out and got them away from SST, so we put it on Merge and my then-manager thought we could do something to promote it. I was the hard one to convince. Lou and Murph were on board but it took a bit of Lou mellowing out after being so angry with me for so long. I’d see him, and he’d still be angry. Then at some point he mellowed and it opened the door for apologies… we saw each other in the intervening years. I’d gone to Sebadoh shows when he was in town, but he’d never go to any show that I’d do. Was I on the guestlist? I’d never pay, so I must have got in somehow. Things are doing all right. It has its ups and downs, but it’s not as extreme.

Floating Points, Pharoah Sanders & The London Symphony Orchestra Promises

Even by his own over-achieving standards, Sam Shepherd has pulled off an impressive coup with his latest pan-generational opus. Over the past decade, the classically trained Mancunian polymath composer behind Floating Points has traversed the outer limits of jazz, electronica and orchestral post-rock, DJ-ed at achingly cool clubs and worked with numerous stellar talents. Meanwhile, lest we forget, he also completed a PhD in neuroscience. But Shepherd surpasses himself on Promises by scoring an increasingly rare collaboration with living legend and towering tenor sax innovator Pharoah Sanders, who turned 80 last year, with classy back-up from the string section of the London Symphony Orchestra.

Closer in form and mood to the expansive electro-orchestral reveries of his 2015 debut album, Elaenia, than to its more eclectic, club-friendly 2019 sequel, Crush, Shepherd’s latest release pays unashamed homage to the spiritually inclined “astral jazz” of the late 1960s and early 1970s. Of course, as a former collaborator with both John and Alice Coltrane, Sun Ra, Ornette Coleman and other immortals, Sanders himself was a pioneer in this field, moving from frenetic free jazz into more meditative, cosmic, ambient fusion territory. With its woozy lava-lamp tempo, Quaalude-fuzzy warmth and emphatically analogue feel, Promises could almost be some long-lost modal jazz classic from 1972. The only surprise is that Shepherd did not sprinkle the sound mix with authentically retro vinyl crackle.

Promises first began to take shape five years ago as an improvised jam session in LA featuring Sanders and Shepherd, which was commissioned by Luaka Bop, the globalised fusion-pop label founded by David Byrne. Shepherd later embroidered this sparse conversation between piano and saxophone into a rich tapestry of vintage acoustic and electronic instruments including harpsichord, Hammond B3 organ, EMS Synthi, ARP 2600, Buchla 200e and more. As with previous Floating Points albums, the studio gear list alone will be pure geek-porn for analogue-synth nerds.

Just last year, Shepherd completed this long-gestating project by convening the LSO strings for a socially distanced session in London. Though they never dominate the album’s sound, the string players give it extra ballast and bandwidth, couching the core modal melody in supple arrangements that alternate between delicate tonal retouching and drenching widescreen lyricism.

Despite being pretentiously packaged as a suite in nine movements, Promises is essentially a single long composition topped off with a short surprise coda. The gently hypnotic heartbeat running through the album is Shepherd’s spare keyboard motif, a recurring ripple of broken chords that steadily lap and ebb like becalmed waves on a sheltered beach. Over these amniotic undulations, Sanders initially lays hesitant vapour trails of saxophone, breathy and reedy, intimate and warm-blooded. “It was like the instrument was an extension of his being,” Shepherd recalls in the accompanying press notes, “a megaphone for his soul.”

But as the piece expands, with voluptuous LSO strings and lush electronica swamping the main melody, Sanders shifts into a more assertive gear, striking off on choppy free-jazz tangents, melismatic volleys and blues-inflected licks. As Shepherd’s keyboard noodling swells into cosmic lounge-jazz mode, Sanders also adds some half-submerged vocalese burbles, sleepy-voiced scats and falsetto ululations that sound more like spontaneous responses to the music than pre-planned interjections. These are very human touches, fleeting but charming. More of these playful interjections would have been very welcome.

Hitting its feverish peak around the 30-minute mark, Promises becomes a ravishing symphony of glissando synth sirens, melting portamento chords, hovering strings and twinkling birdsong effects. There are countless musical ghosts at this feast, from the mind-bending celestial visions of mid-period Miles and Alice Coltrane to the cumulative avant-minimalism of Gavin Bryars and William Basinski. Sanders finally gets to let rip here with some thrilling, energised, discordant honking before Shepherd dims the lights again for a slowly receding fade-out of low drones and deepening silence. A hidden coda lurks in the afterglow, rearing up from the shadows with a shiny effusion of strings. Far more modern classical than jazz in style, this brief encore is a bracing but oddly incongruous afterthought.

Promises rewards repeat listens with its immersive, densely layered, quietly mesmerising beauty. But it is also an unusually slender piece of work for Shepherd, especially when set against the kaleidoscope range and dynamism of Crush. Beneath its ornate instrumentation, this elegant exercise in retro pastiche never quite shirks the sense of being a single skeletal composition stretched a little too thinly across 40-plus minutes, a watercolour sketch dressed up as a grand canvas.

With fairly limited room for textural variation or harmonic progression, Sanders also feels underused in places, more guest player than equal collaborator. And while it would be unfair to expect a veteran jazz revolutionary to break new ground so deep into his autumn years, Shepherd’s tastefully manicured moodscapes would have benefited from a little more Pharoah input in general, even in his current mellow grandfatherly mode. Promises is an impressive collision of talents, and sublimely lovely in places, but also frustratingly slight. A minor addition to the canon of its two main authors, it earns the double-edged compliment of all half-great albums: it leaves you craving more.

Rina Sawayama says she’s already begun work on second album

Rina Sawayama has given fans an update on the progress of her second album, following the one year anniversary of her debut ‘SAWAYAMA’.

READ MORE: Rina Sawayama – ‘SAWAYAMA’ review: deeply personal self-portrait lays waste to genre constraints

Taking to Twitter, Sawayama revealed that work on the follow-up to her debut, which is yet to have a known title, has already begun with producer Clarence Clarity.

“I’ve already started album 2 with @clarenceclarity and I love it,” Sawayama said.

“put next to SAWAYAMA its gonna cover all musical bases.”

btw I've already started album 2 with @clarenceclarity and I love it. put next to SAWAYAMA its gonna cover all musical bases

— RINA SAWAYAMA (@rinasawayama) April 17, 2021

The tweet came as part of a thread looking back on the success of ‘SAWAYAMA’, released on April 17 last year, where she thanked her fans – or ‘pixels’ – and her label, Dirty Hit, for supporting her.

“This album literally changed my life,” she wrote.

“I remember being scared + insecure whilst writing this album, cos I felt like an outsider to the pop world. this feeling was exacerbated by countless meetings with labels who weren’t into it.”

“but I knew that I had to do it the way I wanted to otherwise I would get sad,” she continued.

“this was an album that was written with a tiny team, on a tiny budget, and at one point before it finally got signed I was about to run out of money cos I was funding every single thing.”

it the way I wanted to otherwise I would get sad. this was an album that was written with a tiny team, on a tiny budget, and at one point before it finally got signed I was about to run out of money cos I was funding every single thing.

— RINA SAWAYAMA (@rinasawayama) April 17, 2021

Sawayama scored a huge win earlier this year, after a history-making campaign to get the BRITs and Mercury Prize to change the rules around eligibility.

The Japanese-born Sawayama does not have British citizenship, but has indefinite leave to remain in the UK. Current rules in Japan prevent her from dual citizenship.

Previously, solo artists must have had British or Irish nationality and proof of citizenship to be eligible for BRIT awards or the Mercury Prize. Now, that rule has been altered to extend eligibility to those who have resided in the UK for at least five years.

READ MORE: Rina Sawayama on changing BRITs rules: “This is the UK I know – one of acceptance and diversity”

Following the eligibility change, Sawayama was nominated for the 2021 BRITs Rising Star Award, but was beaten out by Griff.

Two days ahead of the one year anniversary of ‘SAWAYAMA’, Sawayama released a remix of album track ‘Chosen Family’ featuring Elton John. The pop icon had previously called ‘SAWAYAMA’ his favourite album of 2020.

Sawayama will finally be touring album around the UK later this year, including her biggest headline show to date.

New Age Steppers Stepping Into A New Age

Founded by visionary producer Adrian Sherwood and Slits singer Ari Up, aka Munich-born Ariane Daniela Forster, New Age Steppers were a loose collective featuring a rich talent pool: among them, Mark Stewart and Bruce Smith from The Pop Group, reggae crooner Bim Sherman, Aswad bassist George Oban, experimental improviser Steve Beresford, future pop queen Neneh Cherry, drummer Lincoln “Style” Scott and more. Notable for releasing both the first ever single and album on Sherwood’s long-running underground label On-U Sound, the Steppers relished the seemingly infinite new possibilities and fertile tensions opened up by post-punk, blending covers of obscure Jamaican imports with psychedelic dub sonics, free jazz, industrial funk and musique concète collage, mostly cooked up in a cramped dungeon studio below east London’s Berry Street.

Reissued both as individual albums and as a five-disc boxset, this lavishly repackaged retrospective confirms the Steppers, 40 years on, as tireless analogue explorers and forerunners to sci-fi soundscape masters like Burial, Andrew Weatherall and Flying Lotus. Released in January 1981, their self-titled debut still crackles with Ari’s thrillingly untamed vocals, all hard Teutonic consonants and crazy-paving tangents, which sound beautifully incongruous on swooning lovers rock serenades like Sherman’s “Love Forever”. Elsewhere, Stewart’s anguished political sermon “Crazy Dreams And High Ideals” gets lost in Sherwood’s Radiophonic fog of echo, hiss and clank.

The covers-heavy Action Battlefield, also released in 1981, and its 1983 sequel Foundation Steppers nudged the band towards more conventional melody and production. Ari Up effectively took charge, living and recording in Jamaica before bringing tapes back to London for Sherwood to finish. Alongside Ari’s mellow reggae numbers and ramshackle renditions of standards like “Stormy Weather”, a teenage Neneh Cherry makes her studio debut on the sweetly wonky bluebeat doo-wop skank “My Love”. Bim Sherman also lends his velvet croon to several tracks, notably the sublime “Misplaced Love”.

In October 2010, Ari died of breast cancer at the cruelly young age of 48. Posthumously completed by Sherwood and released in 2012, the final Steppers album, Love Forever, is both sombre memorial and refreshing restatement of the band’s progressive manifesto, adding dubstep, trip-hop and bashment elements to the fissile mix. Meanwhile, Ari’s riot grrrl howl on kinetic dub-punk beasts like “My Nerves” and “Musical Terrorist” recall her Slits heyday.

The most welcome and useful disc here is Avant Gardening, a newly compiled retrospective of rare mixes, B-sides and restored offcuts from the early 1980s. Sherwood’s sonic alchemist side is strongly represented, not least on the magnificent title track, a trippy inner-space odyssey of deconstructed dubtronica, wistful melodica and haunted music-hall piano. The sole “new” addition is Ari’s slight but warm-hearted take on Atlantic Starr’s bittersweet break-up ballad “Send For Me”, salvaged from a long-lost 1983 John Peel session.

Four decades later, many of these innocent youthful experiments still radiate more forever-fresh futurism and genre-dissolving ambition than most 21st-century avant-rock artists.

DMX hospitalised and in critical state after suffering overdose

DMX has been rushed to hospital and is in a critical state after suffering an overdose, it is being reported.

According to TMZ, the overdose happened on Friday night (April 2) around 11pm and the rapper was then taken to a hospital in White Plains, New York and is currently in the critical care unit.

Sources have told the publication that the overdose triggered a heart attack. One source has reported that X has “some brain activity”, while another has said he’s in a “vegetative state” and doctors have cautioned that he might not pull through.

The Ruff Ryders rapper has a long history of battling substance abuse that he said began when he accidentally smoked a blunt laced with cocaine at the age of 14. In the years following, he was in and out of prison for a variety of drug-related charges as he battled an addiction to cocaine.

He was arrested in 2010 for regularly using drugs and violating the conditions of his probation, and had his jail sentence extended in 2011 due to drug possession behind bars.

In October, 2011, he claimed that he had finally conquered his drug addiction, saying he had “let the cocaine go” in order to help him be a better father to his children.

“It was something that drew me in, and trapped me, and just had a hold on me for a long, long time,” X told Dr. Phil during an interview in 2013.

In the same interview he admitted that he still smoked marijuana “every once in a while”, but hadn’t been high in over a year. He added: “I’m always going to be an addict. I’m going to be an addict until I die. It doesn’t mean I have to get high.”

In 2017, he canceled three shows in California in order to check into a rehab facility. Later that same year, he continued to work on his issues by checking into another substance abuse facility in New England.

DMX has visited rehab several times. His last stint came in 2019 after cancelling a series of shows before checking himself in.

“In his ongoing commitment to putting family and sobriety first, DMX has checked himself into a rehab facility. He apologizes for his cancelled shows and thanks his fans for their continued support,” a member of X’s team communicated via Instagram.

DMX was released from prison in January 2019 after serving time following a guilty plea he entered for federal tax evasion charges in November 2017.

Since being released, X has kept himself busy. His comeback has included a 20th anniversary tour of his classic debut album ‘It’s Dark and Hell Is Hot’, performances at major festivals such as SXSW and Rolling Loud: Miami, and a high-profile interview with GQ.

Swizz Beatz and DMX. CREDIT: Johnny Nunez/WireImage

For the past couple of years DMX has been busy working on his much anticipated comeback album, the proper follow-up to 2012’s ‘Undisputed’.

Speaking in a number of interviews, he’s revealed that the album will include features from Lil Wayne, Snoop Dogg, Alicia Keys, Usher, several members of the Griselda crew, and the late Pop Smoke.

In February, he also announced that he has a collaboration with U2’s Bono on the way called ‘Skyscrapers’.

Olivia Rodrigo’s Roaring Return, Lil Nas X’s Celestial CGI, And More Songs We Love

Get ready: The Bop Shop is now open for business.

Olivia Rodrigo: “Deja Vu”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cii6ruuycQA

As we've come to expect from Olivia Rodrigo, the details make all the difference. On "Deja Vu," the slightly psychedelic follow-up to 2021-defining hit "Drivers License," the following pop-culture detritus is shouted out by name: Glee reruns, Billy Joel's "Uptown Girl," strawberry ice cream, and Malibu day trips. It's all in service of the larger narrative of heartbreak and hard questions that permeate such an endlessly listenable song. And that outro? It just might give you deja vu. —Patrick Hosken
Lil Nas X: “Montero (Call Me By Your Name)”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6swmTBVI83k

If Lil Nas X, national treasure and proud peddler of the gay yeehaw agenda, is going to hell, then he’s getting there in style. A lusty bop with nods to the rapper’s given name and Luca Guadagnino’s popular 2017 gay drama, “Montero” sees the chart-topping rapper of “Old Town Road” fame assure his lover that he can “call me when you want, call me when you need / Call me out by your name, I’ll be on the way.” But his overt references to queerness don’t end there. The single’s celestial CGI visuals see a scantily clad Nas X descend via stripper pole into the underworld and give the devil a lap dance. Unsurprisingly, “Montero” has attracted the ire of the religious right — and as far as Nas X is concerned, they can stay mad. —Sam Manzella
The Band Camino: “1 Last Cigarette”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MjsNWUBEMpQ

The Band Camino at their most raucous is them at their absolute best: “1 Last Cigarette” screeches with resentment for waking up lost, friendless, and hungover, but damn, being a completely reckless fuckboy isn’t supposed to feel this thrilling. It’s the soundtrack to the morning that precedes a night you’ll never remember: anthemic mantras (“All my friends!!! They hate me again!!! I get too drunk!!! When I get depressed!!!”) that read like self-loathing misery, but hit your ear in raging, breathless screams, like sworn promises, like no other life could ever be more glorious. —Terron Moore
Lana Del Rey: “White Dress”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJuV8PDwvC8

Lana Del Rey pushes her patented aesthetic further Midwest with her latest album, Chemtrails Over the Country Club, crafting a collection that sounds like her previous records purchased a cowboy hat, cracked open a carton of cigarettes on a long drive, and reflected on it all. Instead of beginning with a bop, she opts for the slow burn with “White Dress,” weaving a lyrical tapestry of nostalgia over references to Kings of Leon, the White Stripes, and a gold-hued era of anonymity that wasn’t that long ago. With a breathy and heavy whisper, she reminds us how she’s become the melancholy queen we know her to be. Who else could make a lyric like “down at the Men in Music Business Conference” sound like the tipping point for all-consuming wistfulness? —Carson Mlnarik
BTS: “Film Out”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFT3f9biz68

BTS return after virtually no break (seriously, team no sleep) with “Film Out,” the first single off their new Japanese-language album, BTS, the Best. Co-written by the Golden Maknae himself, Jungkook, the rest of the members explore time, space, and memory, both sonically and visually, in “Film Out,” with heart-wrenching lyrics contrasting a melody that builds in tempo — a race against an hourglass. Regardless of language or location, the Bangtan Boys always find a way to pull right at the heartstrings of ARMY all around the world. —Sarina Bhutani
Janette King: "Airplane"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6brJ5C3-wAE

You have to let Janette King do it her way. An enthralling listen, new single "Airplane" draws its power from a steady synth rhythm and an icy house beat that pair up to help King's voice bounce off the rafters. —Patrick Hosken
Isaac Dunbar: “Kissy Kissy”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QtxKZ2fyBt8

It’s marvelous just how deeply “Kissy Kissy” swells and crashes with '90s punk rock nostalgia, as 18-year-old Isaac Dunbar croons over soaring electric guitars for even the slightest bit of attention, as if the promise of true love literally hangs on his vocal cords. It hits every emotion critical to the pure teenage cynical angst of an unrequited crush: raw, newfound desire, brimming with fear, punctured by feigned nonchalance, all building into pure sonic bliss. “Write your name in my journal,” he sweetly sighs to himself. Then: “I should burn it, right?” —Terron Moore
Flock of Dimes: "One More Hour"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLzaYBKGPx4

A new Flock of Dimes album means another chance to hear Jenn Wasner do what she does best: construct dreamy choruses from her incredibly adaptive voice while exploring a handful of musical styles. On "One More Hour," the through-line is colorful, kaleidoscopic synth patterns; elsewhere on Head of Roses (out today), there's plenty more ear candy to indulge in. —Patrick Hosken
The Orphan The Poet: “The Moxie”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwjMLhtqOiw

Spring has finally arrived, which means we’re all literally and figuratively melting in our own way. Thankfully, Ohio alternative outfit The Orphan The Poet’s new track “The Moxie” is extremely alive and rocks hard enough to shake away your winter blues. With casual references to Keanu Reeves, guitar licks that spin, handclaps, and tastes of a heavenly chorus, it’s almost unfathomable that they were able to squeeze so much into this sonic journey, but it’s not a total surprise. After all, they’ve got it: the moxie. —Carson Mlnarik
St. Lenox: "Deliverance"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDFqlRofa6Y

Here on Good Friday, Andrew Choi stands alone. His latest album as St. Lenox, Ten Songs of Worship and Praise for Our Tumultuous Times, is inherently religious, but as "Deliverance" reveals, his POV is less someone kneeling in the pews than standing in the parking lot, weighing whether or not to make an entrance. Shades of Stephin Merritt and John Darnielle abound here, both in the storytelling and the direct vocals, but Choi is also his own kind of performer – muscly, not showy, economical, and completely unforgettable. —Patrick Hosken

Pharrell calls for “transparency, honesty and justice” after cousin shot and killed by police

Pharrell is calling for “transparency, honesty, and justice” following the death of his cousin in a shooting incident by police.

In a social media post to Instagram, Pharrell revealed that his cousin Donovan was recently killed following a series of shootings on Virginia Beach in the US.

Pharrell wrote: “The loss of these lives is a tragedy beyond measure. My cousin Donovon was killed during the shootings.

“He was a bright light and someone who always showed up for others. It is critical my family and the other victims’ families get the transparency, honesty and justice they deserve.

“Virginia Beach is the epitome of hope and tenacity and, as a community, we will get through this and come out even stronger.”

You can see the full post below:

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Pharrell Williams (@pharrell)

A number of Pharrell’s fellow artists and collaborators including The Weeknd, Swiss Beatz, Kenya Barris and more paid their condolences in the comments on the post.

As reported on Sky News, Donovon Lynch, who was 25, was shot and killed in Virgina Beach last Friday (March 26) by a police officer amid a series of three separate “chaotic shootings” in the area. Two people including Lynch were killed whilst eight others were injured in another separate event.

In a statement, Virginia Police Beach Department said that homicide detectives had carried out interviews with an officer involved in the shooting of Lynch, as well as an officer who witnessed the incident as well as an “independent witness.”

CORRECTION #VPBD Update to the March 26, 2021, Officer Involved Shooting pic.twitter.com/L1EPV4eK8Q

— Virginia Beach PD (@VBPD) March 29, 2021

VBPD releases 2nd update to overnight shootings. @CityofVaBeach pic.twitter.com/KrN0XGmzNf

— Virginia Beach PD (@VBPD) March 27, 2021

The statement added that both of the offers claimed Lynch was “brandishing a handgun at the time of the shooting” and that it was “recovered from the scene.”

A 28-year-old woman, Deshayla E Harris, died of a gunshot wound in another shooting that night, with police believing that she was an innocent bystander.

Eight further people were injured in a separate shooting that occurred just after 11pm on Friday. All were taken to local hospitals with their conditions ranging from “serious to life-threatening.”

Mr Lynch was shot dead by a police officer in a third incident – which happened when, as Sky reports, “officers were investigating the original shootings and shots were fired nearby.”

The case has sparked controversy after it was revealed that the officer who killed Lynch was wearing a body camera but for “unknown reasons”, according to the police chief, it was not switched on.

The officer who shot Lynch has now been placed on administrative leave.

Garbage return with ‘The Men Who Rule The World’ from new album ‘No Gods No Masters’

Garbage are back with ‘The Men Who Rule The World’, as well as announcing their long-awaited seventh album ‘No Gods No Masters’.

Produced by longtime collaborator Billy Bush, ‘No Gods No Masters’ will arrive in June. Dealing heavily in “capitalism, lust, loss and grief”, the follow-up to 2016’s acclaimed ‘Strange Little Birds’ comes with lead single ‘The Men Who Who Rule The World’.

Described as “a critique of the rise of capitalist short-sightedness, racism, sexism and misogyny across the world,” the bold and industrial track also comes with a cinematic video made by Chilean film director, animator and painter Javi.MiAmor.

“This is our seventh record, the significant numerology of which affected the DNA of its content: the seven virtues, the seven sorrows, and the seven deadly sins,” said Garbage frontwoman and NME Icon Award winner Shirley Manson.

“It was our way of trying to make sense of how fucking nuts the world is and the astounding chaos we find ourselves in. It’s the record we felt that we had to make at this time.”

Garbage return with new album 'No Gods No Masters'. Credit: Press — Garbage return with new album ‘No Gods No Masters’. Credit: Press

Back in 2019, Manson told NME that Garbage’s upcoming new material would be “sort of cinematic-sounding” while containing some “pretty personal” lyrics.

“It’s dark, of course! But I’m not sure I want it to be. I read recently that pop music has become really dark, sad and troubled, and my immediate desire was to do the complete opposite,” she told NME. “Unfortunately, it’s just not my forte to write really upbeat and amazing pop music. I wish it was!”

She continued: “It’s like [past single] ‘No Horses’ [2017] because it’s a little softer, and more expansive. There are Roxy influences in there. Butch Vig [drummer and producer] of course, was formerly the President of The Roxy Music Fan Club in Madison, Wisconsin.”

READ MORE: Garbage’s Shirley Manson: “I don’t give a fuck about fame, I don’t give a fuck about legacy”

Manson added: “So far, it’s all pretty personal. People think I’m going to come out raging about politics, but it’s not political at all. I’ve always talked a lot about the themes that are being talked about now, and I feel like I’ve already fucking said my piece. I’m old and watching my friends die and that changes everything. Everything changes with every season and that’s as exciting as it is heartbreaking. It feels necessary. That lights a burning torch inside you.”

‘No Gods No Masters’ will be released on June 11, along with a deluxe CD/digital version featuring covers of David Bowie’s ‘Starman’ and Because the Night, written by Patti Smith and Bruce Springsteen. Pre-orders are available here.

The deluxe album includes rare Garbage tracks ‘No Horses’, ‘On Fire’, ‘Time Will Destroy Everything’, ‘Girls Talk’, ‘The Chemicals’ and ‘Destroying Angels’- the latter three feature Brody Dalle, Brian Aubert and John Doe and Exene Cervenka respectively.

Garbage have announced a tour with Blondie. Credit: Press — Garbage, 2020 Credit: Press

The Men Who Rule the World tracklist is:

The Creeps
Uncomfortably Me
Wolves
Waiting for God
Godhead
Anonymous XXX
A Woman Destroyed
Flipping the Bird
No Gods No Masters
This City Will Kill You

The ‘No Gods No Masters’ deluxe edition tracklist is:

The Men Who Rule the World
The Creeps
Uncomfortably Me
Wolves
Waiting for God
Godhead
Anonymous XXX
A Woman Destroyed
Flipping the Bird
No Gods No Masters
This City Will Kill You
No Horses
Starman
Girls Talk feat. Brody Dalle
Because the Night feat. Screaming Females
On Fire
The Chemicals feat. Brian Aubert
Destroying Angels feat. John Doe & Exene Cervenka
Time Will Destroy Everything

The band will also be heading out on a UK tour dates with Blondie this winter. Full dates are below and tickets are available here.

NOVEMBER

Saturday 6 – M&S Bank Arena, Liverpool
Monday 8 – Utilita Arena, Birmingham
Tuesday 9 – AO Arena, Manchester
Thursday 11 – Bonus Arena, Hull
Friday 12 – Motorpoint Arena, Nottingham
Sunday 14 – The Brighton Centre
Tuesday 16 – Motorpoint Arena, Cardiff
Thursday 18 – The O2 Arena, London
Saturday 20 – The SSE Hydro, Glasgow
Sunday 21– First Direct Arena, Leeds

Previously unreleased Joe Strummer recording of ‘I Fought The Law’ used for song’s new music video

A previously unreleased live recording of ‘I Fought The Law’ has been released for a new version of the song’s music video as part of Joe Strummer‘s ‘Assembly’.

The posthumous compilation of Strummer’s career-best work, including The Clash rarities and re-mastered tracks, was released yesterday (March 26). With the compilation comes a new music video for ‘I Fought The Law’, The Clash’s 1979 cover of The Crickets’ 1961 original song.

Animated visuals accompany a freshly unearthed live recording of the track performed by Strummer and his backing band The Mescaleros at London’s Brixton Academy on November 24, 2001. You can watch below.

Strummer, who died in 2002, fronted The Clash from 1976 until their disbandment in 1986. He then went on to perform as a solo artist and with The Mescaleros.

‘Assembly’ released on George Harrison’s Dark Horse Records, which is now run by the late Beatle’s son Dhani Harrison and manager David Zonshine.

The 15-track best-of album also contains a live performance of ‘Rudie Can’t Fail’ from the same Brixton show.

In addition to tracks such as ‘Coma Girl’, ‘Johnny Appleseed’, ‘Yalla Yalla’ (with The Mescaleros) and a cover of Bob Marley’s ‘Redemption Song’, ‘Assembly’ also features three unreleased versions of classic tracks by The Clash, including the never-before-heard ‘Junco Partner (Acoustic)’.

Last Christmas, a 2021 calendar featuring an array of images of the late Joe Strummer was released.

The new offering arrived courtesy of The Joe Strummer Foundation, an organisation set up in the singer’s memory to develop new music talent in the UK and overseas.

Meanwhile, Rafferty Law has said that he would love to play Joe Strummer in a biopic.

The 4th Uncut New Music Playlist Of 2021

Hopefully by now you will have had a chance to zone out to our magnificent new Sounds Of The New West Presents Ambient Americana CD, free with the latest issue of Uncut – if not, you can grab yourself a copy here. Anyway, this playlist picks up where the CD leaves off, with a brand new track by Marisa Anderson and William Tyler from their upcoming collaborative album Lost Futures.

There are similarly blissed-out new sounds from Red River Dialect’s David John Morris – written during a nine-month retreat at a Buddhist monastery in Nova Scotia – as well as from Lea Bertucci, Abdullah Ibrahim, Sven Wunder and Carlos Niño. Plus there are welcome returns for Rosali and Gruff Rhys, a new recording of an old song by Judy Collins, and Lucinda Williams covering Sharon Van Etten. Enjoy!

MARISA ANDERSON & WILLIAM TYLER
“Lost Futures”
(Thrill Jockey)
Lost Futures by Marisa Anderson/William Tyler

DAVID JOHN MORRIS
“New Safe”
(Hinterground Records)

JUDY COLLINS
“White Bird”
(Wildflower Records)

ROSALI
“Mouth”
(Spinster)
No Medium by Rosali

LUCINDA WILLIAMS
“Save Yourself”
(Ba Da Bing)

SAMBA TOURÉ
“Sambalama”
(Glitterbeat)

SVEN WUNDER
“En Plein Air”
(Piano Piano)

MATT BERRY
“Aboard”
(Acid Jazz)

GRUFF RHYS
“Loan Your Loneliness”
(Rough Trade)

SQUID
“Paddling”
(Warp)

RURAL TAPES
“Pardon My French”
(Smuggler Music)

DOROTHEA PAAS
“Anything Can’t Happen”
(Telephone Explosion)

LUCY DACUS
“Thumbs”
(Matador)

LEA BERTUCCI
“On Opposite Sides Of Sleep”
(Cibachrome Editions)

ABDULLAH IBRAHIM
“Did You Hear That Sound?”
(Gearbox)

CARLOS NIÑO
“Pleasewakeupalittlefaster, please… (featuring Jamael Dean)”
(International Anthem)
More Energy Fields, Current by Carlos Niño & Friends

GROWING
“Down + Distance”
(Silver Current)

Method Man and Redman to face off in upcoming ‘VERZUZ’ battle

Longtime rhyme partners Method Man and Redman have been announced as the next two artists to face off in the popular VERZUZ battle series.

READ MORE: Timbaland and Swizz Beatz on VERZUZbattle series: “We want to celebrate the architects of good music”

VERZUZ is the popular entertainment series that pits producers, songwriters and artists against each other in a rap battle style format on Instagram Live and Triller.

Competitors take it in turns playing a song from a list of 20 from their discography, as fans, friends and fellow artists watch on. A winner is later decided by Timbaland and Swizz Beatz.

Kicking off in March last year after Timbaland and Swizz Beatz issued challenges to one another, artists that have taken part so far have included: T-Pain, Alicia Keys, John Legend, Brandy, Monica, Rick Ross, DMX, Snoop Dogg, D’Angelo and many more.

Last night (March 20), Wu-Tang Clan MCs Raekwon and Ghostface Killah went head to head in the first VERZUZ to be streamed through Triller following its recent deal with Timbaland and Swizz Beatz.

Almost immediately after the event, VERZUZ shared a flyer announcing a couple of future battles including Method Man and Redman’s. Billed as a “4/20 Special”, it takes place on April 20.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Verzuz (@verzuztv)

Elsewhere on the flyer, The Isley Brothers are set to go head to head with Earth, Wind & Fire on Easter Sunday (April 4), and there’s a VERZUZ rematch scheduled for Memorial Day Weekend (May 29-31).

In addition, a VERZUZ spokesperson recently confirmed to Billboard that co-founders Swizz Beatz and Timbaland will be doing a battle of their own to celebrate the series’ one-year anniversary coming soon.

Meanwhile, Wu-Tang Clan have announced their new photobook Wu-Tang Clan: Legacy, which will be strictly limited to 36 copies – each of which will be encased in its very own bronze-encrusted steel chamber.

The pioneering hip-hop group say that their latest project will be the “the biggest and rarest book in the history of hip-hop”.

Inside our new free CD, Sounds Of The New West Presents… Ambient Americana

The new issue of Uncut, dated May 2021, and available now, comes with a special free CD – the latest in our Sounds Of The New West series, Ambient Americana.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE NEW UNCUT DELIVERED DIRECT TO YOUR DOOR

It compiles 15 tracks by artists mixing the traditions of country and folk with the mind-expanding sounds of ambient and kosmische music – from the blown-out songforms of Steve Gunn and Sarah Louise to the pedal-steel transcendence of Chuck Johnson, SUSS and Luke Schneider, via the droning majesty of William Tyler, North Americans, Mary Lattimore and others.

The issue also includes a full feature looking at this growing tide of musicians, with contributions from many of those on our CD.

Here, then, is our guide to the compilation:

1 SUSS
Drift
Our roadtrip through the cosmic pastoral landscape begins with this nocturnal tune from the New York band SUSS, who evoke an empty desert on “Drift”, from last year’s album Promise. Pat Irwin’s soaring guitar parts mingle with what sounds like cicadas in the brush.

2 STEVE GUNN
Way Out Weather
Steve Gunn may be better known for his folk- and rock-oriented albums than for his forays into ambient music, but the title track to his 2014 album is all vibe, with smears of pedal-steel morphing into a crisply picked guitar theme.

3 WILLIAM TYLER
Four Corners
William Tyler’s 2020 EP “New Vanitas” gravitates toward the spacey, especially on its fourth track ,“Four Corners”. Inspired by the spot in the southwestern United States where the borders of four states, Colorado, Utah, Arizona and New Mexico, come together, it uses a gently burbling beat to anchor a free-floating guitar riff to Earth.

4 MARY LATTIMORE
Sometimes He’s In My Dreams
Los Angeles-based solo harpist Mary Lattimore travelled halfway around the world to record her excellent 2020 album Silver Ladders in Cornwall, with Slowdive’s Neil Halstead producing. Her plucked notes on this standout song sound like stars forming a constellation of a melody.

5 NORTH AMERICANS
American Dipper
Formerly a solo project for guitarist Patrick McDermott, North Americans became a duo with the addition of pedal-steel player Barry Walker Jr. Their chemistry is apparent on this loping trail song from 2020’s Roped In.

6 ANDREW TUTTLE
Hilliard Creek, Finucane Road
The Australian guitarist based the songs on his recent album Alexandra on his suburban hometown, which is changing with intensified exurban sprawl. Chuck Johnson joins him on this song, adding pedal-steel to his banjo.

7 MARIELLE V JAKOBSONS
Star Core
Bay Area multi-instrumentalist Jakobsons mixes the synthetic with the organic. “Star Core”, the title track from her 2016 solo album, creates an otherworldly atmosphere with zero-gravity fretless bass and muted vocals.

8 MICHAEL CHAPMAN
Caddo Lake
This song is proof that Michael Chapman defies categorisation, giving an ambient sheen to his American Primitive picking and emphasising his acoustic guitar’s natural sustain.

9 LUKE SCHNEIDER
Exspirio
Luke Schneider was determined to record his entire solo debut on his trusty pedal-steel guitar. Inventive and innovative, Altar Of Harmony finds beauty in the crackle and queasy sustain of his strange notes.

10 BARRY WALKER JR
Shoulda Zenith
When he’s not collaborating with Patrick McDermott in North Americans, Walker Jr records
his own albums as a solo artist. The title track to 2019’s Shoulda Zenith is a quirky lo-fi jam that gradually builds in intensity – it’s like the third hour of some lost Grateful Dead bootleg.

11 FIELD WORKS
The Scars Of Recent History
For his ninth Field Works album, Indiana composer and producer Stuart Hyatt assembled
a group that included Marisa Anderson, Nathan Bowles and HC McEntire. “The Scars Of Recent History” sets a poem by Todd Davis to the earthiest of ambient music.

12 MIKE COOPER
Paumalu
Rayon Hula, an instrumental album inspired by the islands of the South Pacific, is one of many adventurous records produced by the eccentric guitarist since he fully embraced ambient experimentation in the late ’90s. “Paumalu” features his lap-steel improvisations over a laconic, dream-like rhythm.

13 SARAH LOUISE
Your Dreams
Sarah Louise Henson offers a different take on cosmic pastoral, one that sounds more hallucinatory than spacey. “Your Dreams”, from her new album Earth Bow, changes shape constantly, layering clattering drums over mushroom synths over her own fractalising vocals.

14 DEAN McPHEE
The Alder Tree
Inspired by his fascination with English folklore and mysticism, the fourth album by Yorkshire guitarist McPhee is a showcase for his inventive Telecaster playing. He’s a one-man band on “The Alder Tree”, answering his own deep reverberating notes with sharp raga discursions.

15 CHUCK JOHNSON
Constellation
Johnson developed his unique style as a composer/guitarist in the DIY art spaces in and around Oakland, California. His new LP, The Cinder Grove, recreates the acoustics of those rooms as foundations for his ambient pedal-steel arrangements, which balance grief and hope.

This issue of Uncut is available to buy by clicking here – with FREE delivery to the UK and reduced delivery charges for the rest of the world.

Billie Eilish breaks Instagram record with photo of new hair colour

Billie Eilish has set a new Instagram record with a photo of her new blonde hair colour.

READ MORE: Every single Billie Eilish song ranked in order of greatness

The pop star beat the previous record set by Selena Gomez on her 26th birthday in 2018 with a selfie showing off her new do, which gained one million likes in six minutes.

Elish has sported other looks including ice grey and navy blue. Most recently she has worn her hair black with her roots dyed bright green.

At the time of writing, Eilish’s post, which she captioned “pinch me”, has more than 16.8million likes on Instagram. The Independent notes that it’s now one of Instagram’s Top 10 most-liked posts of all time.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by BILLIE EILISH (@billieeilish)

Last December, before the February 2021 release of her AppleTV+ documentary Billie Eilish: The World’s A Little Blurry, Eilish told fans in an Instagram Story: “I’m changing [my hair] after the doc comes out. It will be the end of an era. I’m gonna give you a new era.”

Fans on TikTok last week speculated whether Eilish had been wearing a wig recently because the artist wore hats and headpieces that covered her hairline at the Grammys on Sunday (March 14). It’s not known if she was wearing a wig or not to cover her freshly dyed hair [via BBC].

In other news, Eilish paid tribute to Megan Thee Stallion in an acceptance speech for Record Of The Year at the 2021 Grammys.

Eilish and the Houston rapper were both nominated in the Record Of The Year category for ‘Everything I Wanted’ and ‘Savage Remix (featuring Beyoncé)’ respectively.

When Eilish was named as the winner, she honoured Megan in her speech. “This is really embarrassing for me,” she began, addressing the rapper. “I was gonna write a speech about how you deserve this but then I was like ‘there’s no way they’re gonna choose me’. I was like, ‘it’s hers!’ You deserve this.”

Drake becomes first artist ever to have three songs debut in Top 3 on Billboard

Drake has become the first artist ever to have three songs debut in the Top 3 positions on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart.

Read more: Drake – ‘Scary Hours 2’ EP review: title defender sounds ready to challenge himself again

Taken from his recent ‘Scary Hours 2’ EP, the Canadian rapper’s new single ‘What’s Next’ has gone straight in at Number One on Billboard.

Not only that, the project’s two other tracks, ‘Wants And Needs’ featuring Lil Baby and ‘Lemon Pepper Freestyle’ with Rick Ross, have entered at Number Two and Number Three respectively, making him the first artist in history to achieve the feat, according to Chart Data.

In addition to this, he’s also joined The Beatles and Ariana Grande as the only acts in history to take up the top three positions of the Hot 100 simultaneously in the same week.

.@ArianaGrande ruled the top 3 positions on Feb. 23, 2019.@thebeatles ruled the top 3 for five total weeks between March and April 1964.

— billboard charts (@billboardcharts) March 15, 2021

‘What’s Next’ is Drake’s 8th Number One on the Hot 100, extending his run as the rapper with the most Number Ones on the chart.

In a three-star review of ‘Scary Hours 2’, NME‘s Luke Morgan Britton said: “Drake sounds less like an artist with something to prove and more like a title defender who might finally be willing to challenge himself again.

“He’s described the release as simply a ‘warm up ting’ to his ‘next masterpiece’, and it certainly does enough to build hype for the main event.”

Earlier this month, Drake provided fans with another update on ‘Certified Lover Boy’, his anticipated sixth studio album.

The latest record from the Canadian rapper was set for a January 2021 release date, but was postponed after Drake injured his knee.

Speaking on OVO Sound Radio, Drake confirmed that the album was “currently being chef’d in every way possible” and explained that he has been working with regular collaborators Noel Cadastre and Noah “40” Shebib.

Meanwhile, former NFL player Chad “Ochocinco” Johnson has claimed that Drake and Rick Ross are currently working on a joint album.

Listen to Joe Strummer’s unearthed home recording of ‘Junco Partner’

A home recording of Joe Strummer playing an acoustic version of ‘Junco Partner’ has been unearthed – listen to it below.

Read more: 50 things you never knew about The Clash

The deep cut arrives ahead of ‘Assembly’, a newly remastered LP of The Clash frontman’s greatest hits.

Made up of carefully curated singles, fan favourites and rarities, ‘Assembly’ will be released on March 26 via George Harrison’s Dark Horse Records, which is now run by the late Beatle‘s son Dhani Harrison and manager David Zonshine.

The intimate, previously unreleased home recording of ‘Junco Partner’ features Strummer on an acoustic guitar and is out now. You can listen to it below.

According to a press release, Strummer first discovered ‘Junco Partner’ on an R&B compilation in the 1970s and it became a staple on the setlist of Strummer’s first band, the 101ers.

The track was recorded by The Clash for the 1980 ‘Sandinista!’ album and it became a mainstay of live shows until the end of Strummer’s career with his band the Mescaleros.

Other tracks that will feature on ‘Assembly’ include ‘Coma Girl’, ‘Johnny Appleseed’, ‘Yalla Yalla’ (with The Mescaleros) and a cover of Bob Marley’s ‘Redemption Song’. The album will also contain live performances of ‘Rudie Can’t Fail’ and ‘I Fought The Law’, which were recorded at London’s Brixton Academy on November 24, 2001.

The album’s liner notes have been written by lifelong Strummer fan Jakob Dylan.

‘Assembly’ tracklisting:

01 ‘Coma Girl’, ‘Johnny Appleseed’, ‘I Fought The Law’ (Live at Brixton Academy, London, 24 November 2001)
02 ‘Tony Adams’
03 ‘Sleepwalk’
04 ‘Love Kills’
05 ‘Get Down Moses’
06 ‘X-Ray Style’
07 ‘Mondo Bongo’
08 ‘Rudie Can’t Fail’ (Live at Brixton Academy, London, 24 November 2001)
09 ‘At The Border, Guy’
10 ‘Long Shadow’
11 ‘Forbidden City’
12 ‘Yalla Yalla’
13 ‘Redemption Song’
14 ‘Junco Partner’ (Acoustic)

In January, Rafferty Law said that he would love to play Joe Strummer in a biopic.

Speaking to NME, the actor and son of Jude Law and Sadie Frost said The Clash have been a big band in his life, adding: “I love the way they dress and their music. Joe Strummer could be a wicked person to play.”

Liam Gallagher helps to save Glasgow venue The Priory

Liam Gallagher has teamed up with Glasgow venue The Priory to help it raise vital venue-saving funds.

Read more: Liam Gallagher live in London: rants and a wide-ranging set on a cruise down the Thames

The former Oasis frontman has donated a number of items to a special prize draw, which is aiming to raise money to help ensure the survival of the influential Scottish venue which has been impacted by the coronavirus crisis.

“A vital beating heart on Glasgow’s Sauchiehall Street, The Priory has become recognised as a hotbed of the latest and greatest sounds coming out of Scotland’s alternative scene and the place to go whether you’re at your highest high or lowest low,” a press release reads.

The prizes Gallagher is offering fans the opportunity to win are as follows:

The only signed setlist from his recent Down By The River Thames gig
A signed limited edition 7-inch boxset of his second album ‘Why Me? Why Not’
2x TRNSMT Festival Weekend tickets to see Gallagher play live alongside the likes of Lewis Capaldi, Courteeners, Foals, Sam Fender and many more
£200 worth of vouchers for Gallagher’s Pretty Green fashion range.

Liam Gallagher Prizes

For a chance at wining the goodies, you can enter the prize draw by donating £5 here.

“I can’t wait to get back to playing for the fans. But in the meantime, we need to look after the live industry and support our venues,” Gallagher said of the prize draw.

John Jokey, the owner of The Priory, added: “We can’t thank Liam enough for his generosity, it will be a huge help in keeping us going until we can put on live music again and get back to supporting up and coming musicians. We’d also like to thank This Feeling for their continued support.”

Earlier this week, Liam’s brother Noel announced that he was raffling off a signed and personalised guitar in aid of Stagehand’s #ILoveLive campaign.

Meanwhile, Oasis fans are being invited to share their memories from Knebworth ahead of a planned special event to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the two legendary shows.

BTS have been named the best selling global act of 2020

BTS have been named the best selling act of 2020.

READ MORE: BTS – ‘BE (Deluxe Edition)’ review: a sensitive, stunning document of pandemic life

The K-pop outfit topped the IFPI poll – the organisation that represents the global recorded music industry, based on worldwide sales, downloads and streams.

They are the first non-Western act to win, and the first whose songs are not predominantly sung in English.

They beat Taylor Swift, who took the crown in 2019, into second place and Drake. The Weeknd finished fourth and Billie Eilish came in at number five.

Congratulations to @BTS_bighit, the winners of the #IFPIGlobalArtistChart 2020! ?

Here’s the top ? in full:

?@BTS_twt
?@taylorswift13
?@Drake@theweeknd@billieeilish@Eminem@PostMalone@ArianaGrande@JuiceWorlddd@justinbieberhttps://t.co/loJ36s5kwP pic.twitter.com/MNz0v3xdtH

— IFPI (@IFPI_org) March 4, 2021

Frances Moore, chief executive of IFPI, said: “BTS are a global phenomenon. They have had another outstanding year… and [are] continually finding creative and engaging ways to share their story with the world.

“They truly show the power that music has to bring joy and happiness to people the world over.

“We would like to congratulate RM, Jin, Suga, J-hope, Jimin, V and Jung Kook and we are excited to see what they have in store next.”

The K-pop juggernauts also topped Twitter’s list of most popular artists in 2020, for the fourth year in a row. The group beat off the likes of Kanye West, Beyoncé and Drake for the most mentions on the social media platform in 2020.

They also recently joined the lineup for Music On A Mission, an upcoming virtual concert and fundraiser by the Grammys’ MusiCares Foundation.

BTS will feature on a never-before-seen set at the upcoming charity event on March 12, which will “honour the resilience of the music community, which has been deeply impacted by the COVID-19”.

The lineup will also feature performances by Haim, H.E.R., Jhene Aiko and John Legend.

Alice Cooper on Marilyn Manson abuse claims: “I never noticed that streak in him”

Alice Cooper has responded after Marilyn Manson was accused of sexual abuse by several women.

Manson, who co-headlined a US tour with the shock-rock icon in 2013, was accused of abuse, grooming and manipulation by actor and ex-partner Evan Rachel Wood and four other women last month.

READ MORE: Five things we learned from our In Conversation video chat with Alice Cooper

Since Wood’s statement, more women have come forward with allegations about Manson, including actor Bianca Allaine, who said the FBI are involved with her case. Manson has always denied the claims, saying that all of his “intimate relationships have always been entirely consensual with like-minded partners”.

Responding to the allegations, Cooper told NME that he “never noticed that streak” in Manson.

“It’s funny about Marilyn, in that I know Marilyn – when we toured together we got along very well. I never noticed that streak in him, if it’s there. I always believe in the word, allegations are still allegations,” Cooper said in the latest instalment of our In Conversation series.

Cooper then went on to discuss allegations faced by his “best friend” and Hollywood Vampires bandmate Johnny Depp, who was previously accused of domestic violence against his ex-partner Amber Heard.

“First of all, here’s a prime example: Johnny Depp”, Cooper said.

“Johnny Depp and I are best friends. I’ve never seen him lift a finger against anybody. He’s one of the most gentle people. And all of his former girlfriends and wives say the same thing. So it’s really hard to believe that all of a sudden he’s gonna turn into this monster. And I know the guy — I’m with the guy on tour all the time. He’s one of the most gentle, harmless people I’ve ever met.”

Depp lost a libel case against The Sun in November after he sued the publication for calling him a “wife-beater” in a 2018 article. A High Court ruling deemed the allegations to be “substantially true”.

Focusing on Manson once more, Cooper added: “Now I don’t know Marilyn, though, as well as I know Johnny. So what happens in the bedroom is entirely a mystery to me for what’s going on with Marilyn.”

As well as accusations from Evan Rachel Wood, Wolf Alice singer Ellie Rowsell recently accused Manson of filming up her skirt without her consent when they met at a festival.

In the wake of the allegations, Manson has been dropped by his record label Loma Vista and his long-term manager Tony Ciulla.

He has also been axed from his TV projects and will no longer appear in American Gods or the Creepshow anthology.

Mogwai: Album By Album

Founded in 1995 and initially a trio, Glasgow’s Mogwai made their debut with “Tuner/Lower”, a self-pressed seven-inch in thrall to Slint and Codeine. They went on to synthesise post-rock, metal, slow-core, instrumental soundtracks, Krautrock and electronica into something distinctively their own, moving well beyond the “quiet/loud” aesthetic that dominated their early years. Their reach has encompassed a cover of Black Sabbath’s “Sweet Leaf”, on obscure, absurdly titled split single “Two Sonic Scratches Of The Big Bad Rock Arse”, substantial remix projects and scores for art movies, such as the cultish and acclaimed Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait. As they release their latest studio set, As The Love Continues, Mogwai reassess the highs and happenstance of an impressive career.

YOUNG TEAM
CHEMIKAL UNDERGROUND, 1997
Demonstrating from the off a disregard for recording conventions, Mogwai wrote a set of brand new songs for their debut, defining the formidable quiet/loud dynamic that was their early trademark
STUART BRAITHWAITE: We made it really hard for ourselves, because we’d done a lot of singles but since we were all really obsessed with Joy Division, we didn’t want to put any of them on the album. Plus, we gave ourselves a deadline with a release date, which makes no sense for a band’s first record, but I was 20 and John [Cummings] was only 18, so everything was new to us. We should have realised that if all those early seven-inches had only sold 500 copies, then it didn’t really matter if we re-recorded some of the songs, like “New Paths To Helicon, Pt. 2”, which was one of our best. After making a load of seven-inches, we were excited
by being able to have these long songs and “Like Herod” is a bit like Nirvana’s “Endless Nameless” – and like Slint. It’s still fun to play live; we always get a laugh when people aren’t paying much attention to begin with and then shit themselves.
JOHN CUMMINGS: In terms of being aware at the time of whether “Like Herod” was a “stayer”, I don’t think then we’d even considered that the band was a stayer. Just the fact that we were being allowed to record an album was more than we could have hoped for. It’s not the kind of thing you presume when you’re selling 500 seven-inches – that someone’s going to give you a few thousand pounds to go into the studio for a month.

COME ON
DIE YOUNG
CHEMIKAL UNDERGROUND, 1999
Producer Dave Fridmann steered the experimentalism that quickly became vital to Mogwai’s sound, but this was a powerful set of surprisingly spare and fx-free songs.
DOMINIC AITCHISON: I was very happy with getting Dave Fridmann in, because I was a huge Mercury Rev fan at the time and also it gave us the opportunity to go off to America to record. It was painless to make, because we had it finished before we went out there to record, the only time we’ve done that. A lot of the songs are sparse and downbeat and he didn’t really mess with them at all; he was quite hands-off. But my abiding memory is Dave recording something onto what was practically fence wire; it was the most odd-looking, antiquated stuff ever and produced really low-grade recordings that made everything sound incredibly distorted and quite primitive.
JOHN: Dave’s very quiet, pragmatic and a really nice guy – not what we were expecting. Yes, it was a wee bit disappointing, but it doesn’t make the record sound any less good. That wasn’t due to magic, it was due to someone knowing what they were doing and that was very inspiring.
STUART: At the time, we thought we could have done better with the first album and that we were flying by the seat of our pants, so we really had a mission with the second record, to make it something pretty special. As ill-prepared as the first one was, this was meticulously prepared and we wanted it to be different. We’d been doing the quiet/loud thing and wanted to show we could do more than that. The reason we went with Dave was because we heard Deserter’s Songs and it sounded really lush and special, and Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space had just come out. In our heads we thought we were doing something a bit like that, but to me now, the point of comparison for CODY is the early Cure records – very dark and kind of frosty. Dave’s studio is in upstate New York, in the middle of nowhere. I remember saying I was going to go for a walk and he told me to watch out. So I went out and someone had these wild wolves on chains in their garden. I saw a snake… I never went out again. Wayne Coyne would apparently go out with a stick and just bash things, but he was running. I was not running.

ROCK ACTION
PIAS/SOUTHPAW, 2001
A big budget saw (some of) the band going bonkers. Multi-instrumentalist Barry Burns made his mark and a strong electronic/synth element was introduced. As was a banjo.
DOMINIC: We went to Dave [Fridmann]’s studio and recorded all the band stuff, then Martin and myself went back home for three weeks and Barry, John and Stuart went down to New York City to do all the overdubs. They did the best partying ever there, but they didn’t do much recording and everybody reconvened three weeks later to mix it. Me and Martin got sent CDs of what they’d done in that time and we were both so pissed off. It was clear they’d done nothing. I told them to their faces I was pissed off they hadn’t done any work, but I was actually just pissed off I’d missed out on three weeks of running around New York having a right old laugh! Looking back, it’s utterly mortifying the amount of wastage around that album.
STUART: You can’t make music in Manhattan, unless maybe you’re from there and you’re oblivious to what an awful amount of fun there is, constantly happening. We recorded a lot of songs, but the record’s really short – around 38 minutes. It’s got some good songs on it and it’s really lovely sounding, but the sound we started out making had become kind of predictable and there were an awful lot of bands around making wash-y, long instrumental songs, so we did have a plan, which was to do something different. But we needed more of a plan than that.

HAPPY SONGS FOR HAPPY PEOPLE
PIAS, 2003
Label personnel changes, a departed manager and a shift in the musical climate disturbed the picture. Mogwai moved even further towards a more subdued sound
JOHN: The making of this was more influenced by what we’d done with Rock Action, in terms of the size of it [41 minutes] and the time spent on it, the best part of three months. It’s an interesting bridging record. Stuart got a laptop, I was messing about with sequencers and bleeps and bloops. There’s more of that on the albums that followed.
DOMINIC: I think we all realised that Rock Action should have been a lot better than it was and I felt we’d blown it a bit. We had quite a lot of songs for this album and not a lot of it was fully formed beforehand. We had no idea what it was going to be like until it was mixed and it’s probably one of my favourites. It could have turned out absolutely shite and I’m the pessimist; I always think a record’s going to be terrible until it’s done, so it was a brilliant surprise that it came together.
STUART: I was fairly conscious that people weren’t as excited about what we were doing as they’d been before, because the musical climate had changed. People became interested in more overtly retro music, like The Strokes, and it felt like at this point in particular, we had to make a really good record. We’ve always felt that, of course, but around that time we did feel the pressure, though I wouldn’t be surprised if that was only me. But we stood firm and it actually worked out well.

MR BEAST
PIAS, 2006
A curiously hybrid creation, heavy on the ambient instrumentals, lighter on the vocals and too long in the cooking, although it featured Cummings’ monstrous “Glasgow Mega-Snake”
STUART: It was our first time recording at Castle Of Doom, which is owned by us and [producer] Tony Doogan and has been in three different locations. This time, it was in a weird building in Glasgow’s West End, where the control room was up a floor from the live room. It worked very strangely – I think we had those baby monitors – but it was fun. Mr Beast seems to be the LP people like more as the years go by, but it’s not my favourite; it’s very polished. I’m immensely fond of Alan [McGee, Mogwai’s then manager] as a personality and he’s quite like us, but the way he projects himself is utterly dissimilar to us. I wasn’t very happy when he said Mr Beast was “possibly better than Loveless”, because I’m friends with Kevin [Shields] and the last thing you want is to be used as some point scorer between two of your friends who aren’t getting on. It’s certainly not the kind of comment any of us would ever make, but…
DOMINIC: We had a long time to work on the album – about two months – so we ended up really messing about with the songs. I can’t listen to it now, it seems so over-produced and slick. It’s not the way we sound, which is not a reflection of Tony’s recording skills – it was our decision to keep tinkering and we’ll never do that again. We’ve realised that strict deadlines work well for us, because we are inherently quite lazy.

THE HAWK IS HOWLING
PIAS/WALL OF SOUND, 2008
Entirely instrumental and the product of a failed commission, but Mogwai delivered some compellingly heavy tracks – and comically deadpan titles
DOMINIC: We’d been asked to do the music for a South American film and had been given a time frame of five days, so we pulled this music for it out of thin air. We were happy with what we’d produced, but they hated it and sacked us, so we reworked a lot of that music for The Hawk…. We had a brilliant time recording it and it’s really good fun to play live, although it’s really dour
and probably a little bit too one-note.
STUART: The track with Roky Erickson [a Japanese bonus track] was supposed to be on Mr Beast, but it took a lot longer to organise than we expected. I went over to Austin and went into the studio with him, so that was a really special thing to happen. He was lovely; he’s been in the wars, but he was really nice. And he’s a proper legend.
JOHN: “I’m Jim Morrison, I’m Dead” was a concerted attempt to come up with a song title that mentioned Jim Morrison, without being too base. “Jim Morrison, American Prick” was a phrase we’d enjoyed, although it hadn’t been assigned to any piece of music, but we thought it was too childish. And there’s no need to be so vulgar.

HARDCORE WILL NEVER DIE, BUT YOU WILL
ROCK ACTION, 2011
All things are relative, but some surprisingly poppy tunes surfaced on Mogwai’s seventh album and their love of motorik grooves kicked in seriously
STUART: By this point, Barry had moved to Germany and we had quite an intense period of getting together and rehearsing, so that was a factor in that we didn’t really have much time to think about what we were doing. Dominic said he thought that my guitar on “George Square Thatcher Death Party” sounded like The Killers. I remember playing it to Arthur Baker before we finished it and he was totally adamant that we should have proper vocals on it. He said it was the only song we had that could ever possibly get played on the radio.
JOHN: What strikes me about it now is its relative poppiness. Certainly a few of the songs I had written I hadn’t written for Mogwai, particularly; I’d just been messing about and didn’t think they were appropriate. “Mexican Grand Prix” was just a wee Casio, Krautrock-sounding thing and when I was playing about I managed to get a computer to sing, although I can’t remember how I did it. You can put a Neu! drumbeat on anything, so I hadn’t really expected us to make much of that.
DOMINIC: I have absolutely no idea where these upbeat songs came from, but again, we don’t really know the direction a record’s taking until it’s nearly done. I definitely raised my eyebrows when I first heard “George Square Thatcher Death Party” because I thought it was too straight-ahead and not like us, but it was fun to play and it sat well when we were sequencing the album. A lot of long-term Mogwai fans absolutely hate that tune.

LES REVENANTS, OST
ROCK ACTION, 2013
The French television series (The Returned) about a mountain town visited by a number of dead former inhabitants was given the moody and minimalist Mogwai treatment, to stylishly spooky effect
JOHN: The director and writer had wanted music in advance of filming, to set the tone and make sure we were on the same page, so we were writing blind. We’d read the first couple of episodes in English, plus a rough synopsis of the rest of the series, but that was really all we had to go on. It was difficult to put a finger on until they’d started filming, but by that point they’d already decided in large part the kind of music that they wanted. We’d just been writing stuff and sending it to them and they’d been saying either, “That’s not quite right for this” or “Yeah, that’s perfect”. Maybe of the 40 things we’d send them, they’d be into 10 or 15 of them, so we’d work further on those. It certainly fell into place once we had seen the first four episodes and heard how they were using our demos. We only formed the complete pieces on the album after we’d done the music for the series. We didn’t want to have a soundtrack album with a minute-and-a-half crescendo that just stops, but nor did we want to have a badly edited piece of music just put onto a random scene. We wanted to make music tailored for the scenes it was being used on and also to have songs that you could put on an actual album, so we did them separately. It could have ended up being cobbled together pretty badly, but it was very satisfying that it all came together. It was great.

RAVE TAPES
ROCK ACTION, 2014
The horror! Mogwai source ’70s Italian prog and video nasty soundtracks alongside Krautrock, via heavy use of Burns’ vintage modular synth
STUART: I think the feel of Les Revenants seeped into Rave Tapes a little bit, and because we did them both in Castle Of Doom it felt like part of the same thing. We were listening to an awful lot of horror film soundtracks – Goblin, Fabio Frizzi, John Carpenter, Morricone’s theme to The Exorcist II… we’re not good enough to do anything like it, but it’s amazing stuff. I think Boards Of Canada are of the same mind; I can hear a lot of that on their latest record. The title “Repelish” is a word that Martin [Bulloch]’s mum uses when she wants another drink; she means “replenish”.
DOMINIC: Barry had recently bought all of this absolutely demented keyboard equipment and he has his own studio space in Berlin, where he’d go and record all of these demos, so we’d get these really crazy, John Carpenter-esque… squelches, basically. We’d all been listening to a lot of ’70s horror soundtracks and although I’d seen most of the films, I’d forgotten about the music, but ever since Death Waltz started putting out all these soundtrack vinyl reissues, I’m hooked. It’s like football stickers when I was a kid; it doesn’t matter what label it’s on – if it’s on lurid vinyl and it’s from a video nasty, I’m buying it. Because they were recorded quickly, there’s a chaotic charm to a lot of these soundtracks. They’re quite rough around the edges and that’s a big part of the appeal for me; they’re the complete opposite of big Hollywood soundtracks.

AS THE LOVE CONTINUES
ROCK ACTION, 2021
25 years since their first EP, their 10th album is a career peak
STUART:  We were due to go over to [producer] Dave’s [Fridmann] studio in New York in May, but obviously that couldn’t happen. So we found an amazing place in Worcestershire [Vada Studios] instead. Dave was still really involved, on a live Zoom call, while we were playing, which had a weird Wizard Of Oz vibe about it. In a funny way, I think it kind of helped the record. Dave wanted us to do at least one thing that we wouldn’t normally do for each song. So if we were going up one avenue, he’d want a complete U-turn and try for something completely different. He definitely kept us on our toes, so as not to make the same record again. We were talking about getting some other people in too. We’ve already collaborated with Atticus [Ross] on the Before The Flood soundtrack [2016 documentary about climate change], so we knew that was something that was going to work. The one with him on it [“Midnight Flit”] is quite a big production, with a full string section. Quite epic. And we’re all really big fans of Colin Stetson [Arcade Fire, Bon Iver], so he’s on the record as well. “Ritchie Sacramento” has vocals on it. Bob Nastanovich put up a post a year after David Berman had died. The first line of the song is based on something that David had said when they were all drunk at college and he threw a mop at a sports car. I asked Bob if he’d mind me using it in a song.

Thanks to Rob Hughes

AC/DC’s Angus Young says he came up with idea for ‘Highway To Hell’ while on the toilet

AC/DC‘s Angus Young has revealed he came up with idea for the song ‘Highway To Hell’ while sitting on the toilet.

Read more: AC/DC – ‘Power Up’ review: Australian rock icons stick to their guns on rollicking 17th album

The guitarist discussed the making of the record while speaking in a new interview, saying that the premise for it came while he was having a bathroom break.

“We’d been in Miami, and we’d been in a rehearsal room and that’s what we were doing. We were putting together new tracks,” Young told Zane Lowe for Essentials Radio on Apple Music 1. “And we’d been there a couple of weeks and we were going a bit slow. And then I had come in one day with [late AC/DC co-founder and guitarist Malcolm Young] and just before we got in, I said, ’I’ve got a good idea in my head.’

“So I got in and he came in, and I started playing the beginning, the intro. And so I was doing the da-da-da, da-da-da. And then I said to Malcolm… I had this thing about the drums. And I said, ’I just want it to come in in the right spot.’ And he said, ’Okay.’ Malcolm got behind the drums and he said, ‘Right, you let me know when you hear the downbeat, the first downbeat of what you want.’ So that’s what I did. I said, ‘I’ll do my drop,’ and he said, ’And I’ll follow your foot.’ So he came in with the beat. That’s how we set it up.”

Explaining that the music was there but the lyrics weren’t, Angus said Malcolm then asked him if he could come up with something.

“I said, ‘Okay, give me a few minutes,'” Young recalled. ”And I went to the toilet, and then I was in the toilet and I was there and I’m sitting and thinking. And I’m just sitting on the throne more or less. And then I go, ’I think I’ve got it. I’ve got it. I’ve got it. I’ve got the idea in my head.’

“And then I came in there and I said, ’I’ve got it. Highway to hell.’ And I was over the chords that we had tried out through a chorus. And he went, ’Yeah, that’ll work.’ And he said, ‘If we spread it out a bit into full singing thing.’ So he came up with a spread of it, ‘(Singing) Highway to hell.'”

Meanwhile, Funko Pop! has announced new Motörhead and AC/DC figures.

The US collectables company has released the ‘Ace Of Spades’ and ‘Highway To Hell’ figurines are part of their ongoing ‘Albums’ series.

The Horrors return with the brutal industrial metal of new single ‘Lout’

The Horrors have returned with a brutal new single which is the title track to a new three-track EP, ‘Lout’. Check it out below.

READ MORE: A brief history of The Horrors

The band’s first new material since their 2017 fifth album ‘V’ marks a striking departure for The Horrors – adopting a new, towering industrial metal sound.

“’Lout’ is about the relationship between choice and chance, compulsive risk-taking and pushing your luck,” said frontman Faris Badwan. “As a band, particularly live, we’ve always had an aggressive side and as we began writing new songs it became clear that we were heading in that direction.”

Launched with a short film directed by Jordan Hemingway starring beauty executive Isamaya Ffrench and scored by guitarist Joshua Third and keyboardist Tom Furse, the band’s new aesthetic matches their gnarly and pummelling new sound.

“There’s something about it which feels like a return to a heavier sound but really it’s a million miles away from anything we’ve done,” said keyboardist Tom Furse. “Keeping the sound aggressive and the beats heavy was a central tenet, everything seemed to fall around that.”

Bassist Rhys Webb added: “It’s the nastiest music we’ve made since [2007 debut] ‘Strange House’. An intense barrage of industrial noise. A return to the spirit and attitude of our debut LP but blasted into the future.”

Artwork for The Horrors' new EP, 'Lout' — Artwork for The Horrors’ new EP, ‘Lout’

Next month the band will release a new self-produced EP of ‘Lout’ backed by the tracks ‘Org’ and ‘Whiplash’ – with all of the new songs written and recorded remotely during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

“In the past whenever we’ve written stuff with a harder edge it’s come from the energy we get from all playing together in a room but creating this kind of atmosphere remotely was a different challenge,” said Badwan. “It’s the same level of intensity as the 100-miles-an-hour stuff we’ve done in the past but the anger is somehow more channelled. I can’t wait to play these songs live as there’s so much freedom in that kind of chaos.”

Free from the pressure of the usual release schedule treadmill, Webb explained how the band enjoyed the act of “not making record for anybody except ourselves” – with that liberating spirit feeding into their next album.

“With so many platforms now lost, the pressure to deliver a single for radio or to get on TV just doesn’t exist any more and is probably all the better for it,” he added. “The only thing we need to worry about is making the most exciting new music we can. We’re lucky enough to have been together for 15 years and to be working on our sixth studio LP.

“It seemed like the perfect time to go in guns blazing, no holds barred full on Horrors, the way it should always be.”

The Horrors release the ‘Lout’ EP on March 12. Pre-order it here.

This comes after Badwan recently teamed up with John Coxon for the collaborative two-track 12″ single of ‘Boiling Point/Promise Land’, and Furse releasing his latest solo album, ‘Ecstatic Meditations’.

MGMT’s Andrew VanWyngarden remixes Club Intl’s ‘Never Be The Same’

MGMT’s Andrew VanWyngarden has remixed the new single from Club Intl, ‘Never Be The Same’.

Club Intl is the new project from Public Access TV’s John Eatherly and Chromatics’ Johnny Jewel.

READ MORE: MGMT – ‘Little Dark Age’ review

‘Never Be The Same’ was released yesterday (February 19), following two singles in 2020 – ‘Crush’ and ‘Ash Is Gone’. As well as the original version of the song, a remix by VanWyngarden was also shared.

“It’s so interesting and exciting having an artist you respect reimagine your work in a way that you never could have possibly heard or thought of yourself,” Eatherly said of the MGMT frontman’s version.

“Other than great taste and a knack for making the sounds hit your ears just right, both Andrew and Johnny have in common that they march to the beat of their own drum. That’s the quality I look up to the most in musicians. It’s a dream to work with them together on a track.”

Listen to both VanWyngarden’s remix and the original version of ‘Never Be The Same’ above.

Club Intl will release their debut album ‘In The Attic’ on May 14 via Jewel’s label Italians Do It Better. The record was made between Eatherly’s basement studio in New York’s East Village and Jewel’s LA home studio.

Meanwhile, VanWyngarden shared a new track under the moniker Gentle Dom last month (January 18). He has released a number of standalone singles and mixes under the guise over the last five years, including a remix of Soccer Mommy’s ‘Circle The Drain’.

The 3rd Uncut New Music Playlist Of 2021

As lockdown rumbles on, we remain massively grateful for the steady stream of terrific new music that helps us feel connected, uplifted, transported and all the other stuff that’s otherwise in short supply right now.

Here are some of the tunes that have been brightening our corners this week, including a stunning sighter from Ryley Walker’s new album, the cheeringly swift return of Rose City Band, Hand Habits covering Neil Young, a breezy Hammond jam c/o Dr Lonnie Smith, twilight magic from Japan’s Richard Barbieri and another instalment of gleeful avant scampering from John Dwyer and friends.

Thanks to all the labels and musicians involved! You’ll be able to read about some of them in the new issue of Uncut, of which more news tomorrow…

ROSE CITY BAND
“Lonely Places”
(Thrill Jockey)
Earth Trip by Rose City Band

RYLEY WALKER
“Rang Dizzy”
(Husky Pants)

HAND HABITS
“I Believe In You”
(Saddle Creek)

ESTHER ROSE
“How Many Times”
(Full Time Hobby)

WILLIAM DOYLE
“Nothing At All”
(Tough Love)

MARK McGUIRE
“Marielle”
(Self-released)
Marielle by Mark McGuire

ALTIN GÜN
“Kara Toprak”
(Glitterbeat)

RICHARD BARBIERI
“Serpentine”
(Kscope)

YASMIN WILLIAMS
“Urban Driftwood ft. Amadou Kouyate”
(Spinster)

DR LONNIE SMITH
“Bright Eyes”
(Blue Note)

JOHN DWYER, TED BYRNES, GREG COATES, TOM DOLAS, BRAD CAULKINS
“Vertical Infinity”
(Castle Face)

LEON VYNEHALL
“Ecce! Ego!”
(Ninja Tune)

MURCOF
“Underwater Lament”
(The Leaf Label)
The Alias Sessions by Murcof

ALEX SOMERS
“Sooner”
(Krunk)

Government rejects visa-free Brexit touring petition and blames EU, but promises to help “navigate the changes”

A Parliamentary debate on a petition calling for visa-free touring for UK artists and crew post-Brexit ended in the government essentially ignoring the idea and doubling down on the EU being at fault.

READ MORE: “It’s going to be devastating” – here’s how Brexit will screw over British touring artists

Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Brexit trade deal failed to secure visa-free travel for UK artists and their crew wishing to tour Europe (adding huge costs to future live music tours of the continent and preventing rising and developing artists from being able to afford it), prompting a row to erupt over who was responsible.

After over 280,000 people signed a petition calling for visa-free touring through the EU to be established for artists and crew, the campaign was confirmed to be debated by MPs in Parliament. The debate happened today (February 8), with over an hour of testimony coming from cross-party politicians, calling on the government for action and clarity to prevent the prohibitive new rules around touring from damaging the £5.7billion music industry.

Throughout the debate, politicians echoed the anger of many in the industry about the glass-ceiling that this will create for developing talent, as well as claims from European promoters that they’re likely to book fewer UK acts for events and that a great deal of jobs and income for crew, haulage and production will be lost to the EU with operations based in Britain now unviable.

The XX perform live during a concert at the Astra Club on January 22, 2010 in Berlin, Germany.(Photo by Jakubaszek/Getty Images)

Another repeated sentiment was that Brexit only stood to damage the UK’s “soft power” as a leading force in music, and that visa-free travel throughout the EU for artists and crew would be the easiest solution. After the UK government said they put the responsibility for the lack of arrangements for artists at the foot of the EU and the European Commission then denied that they had rejected the UK’s “ambitious proposals” and had in fact made them a promising offer, MPs today called for the “blame game to end” and for a mutually beneficial solution to be found.

However, in responding to all MPs’ statements and questions, the Conservative Minister for Digital and Culture in the Department for Digital, Culture, Media Caroline Dineage did not suggest that negotiating visa-free touring was an option and repeated that “the UK pushed for ambitious arrangements” but that “quite simply the EU rejected this and there was no counteroffer”.

She repeated that “this isn’t a blame game, the outcome is deeply regrettable” and that “our door remains open [with] scope to return to this issue should the EU change its mind”.

Brexit protestors — Protestors demonstrate against Brexit CREDIT: Getty Images

While highlighting that UK artists are allowed to visit France without a visa for 90 days, the minister said that “performers from the UK are still very much welcome to perform in the EU and vice versa” and highlighted that “each EU member state will have their own requirements for this”. “The UK remains open for musicians to tour here,” she said, pointing out that crew from non-visa countries such as EU member states and the US are allowed to perform in the UK for up to one month without requiring a visa if they’re paid by a UK source, and allowed to play for up to three months if supported by “a registered tour sponsor”.

“The UK’s offer to touring professionals is more generous than that of other EU member states,” Ms Dineage claimed, arguing that “it is absolutely within the gift of each EU member state to improve their own arrangements if they want to encourage a more vibrant and welcoming environment in their own country.”

She continued: “As a government, we will engage in bilateral partners to find ways to make life easier for those working in the creative industries in countries across the EU – but we can all play a part in this. There is an onus on all of those who care about this issue, for all those who signed this petition, these are not EU rules. These are rules decided in each member state country.”

In her closing statement, Ms Dineage did not allude to seeking a visa-free musicians’ passport but said that the government were “absolutely committed to supporting individuals and businesses” and helping them to “understand and navigate the actions that they will now need to take” and “make new processes as straightforward as possible for UK artists performing across the country”. She also mentioned the newly-formed Cultural and Creative Touring Group, which would work across government departments and with the music industry to help smooth the process.

“This is about action and not words, it is about working collaboratively and urgently to address the range of issues raised with a view to improving processes and decreasing burdens to help the sector work and tour confidently in the EU,” she added.

With supporters of the petition assuring the government that this issue was “not going away”, chair of the committee Catherine McKinnell ended by quoting artists who had said that the Brexit deal would make touring Europe “a logistical nightmare”, would mean that many “will never be able to afford to play in Europe again” and threatens to “destroy British DIY music – arguably one of the UK’s greatest exports”.

“We are the country that produced The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Elton John, Queen and other cultural exports that are revered around the world,” said McKinnell. “It would be an absolute tragedy to lose that status as a cultural hub. So we need to see real leadership and foresight from the government to urgently get back to the table and sort this out.”

Today saw more artists speak to NME about how the Brexit deal could impact on the touring of Europe, with many arguing that they simply won’t be able to afford it or to be able to hire UK road crew.

Joe Strummer greatest hits album set to be released next month

A new Joe Strummer greatest hits album is set to be released next month, featuring three previously unreleased versions of classic The Clash tracks.

Read more: The 13 best rhythm guitarists of all-time

The 15-track best of will contain live performances of ‘Rudie Can’t Fail’ and ‘I Fought The Law’, which were recorded by Joe Strummer and the Mescaleros at London’s Brixton Academy on November 24, 2001.

In addition to tracks such as ‘Coma Girl’, ‘Johnny Appleseed’, ‘Yalla Yalla’ (with The Mescaleros) and a cover of Bob Marley’s ‘Redemption Song’, ‘Assembly’ will also feature three unreleased versions of classic tracks by The Clash, including the never-before-heard ‘Junco Partner (Acoustic)’.

The album’s liner notes have been written by lifelong Strummer fan Jakob Dylan.

‘Assembly’ tracklisting:

Last Christmas, a 2021 calendar featuring an array of images of the late Joe Strummer was released.

The new offering arrived courtesy of The Joe Strummer Foundation, an organisation set up in the singer’s memory to develop new music talent in the U.K. and overseas.

Meanwhile, Rafferty Law has said that he would love to play Joe Strummer in a biopic.

Speaking to NME, the actor and son of Jude Law and Sadie Frost said The Clash have been a big band in his life, adding “I love the way they dress and their music. Joe Strummer could be a wicked person to play.”

Lego share soothing new ‘White Noise’ playlist of the sound of Lego bricks

Lego have shared a new near-four-hour playlist featuring the many sounds of Lego bricks.

The 210-minute playlist, called ‘White Noise’, comes as part of a new campaign from the company which arrives “following research that found that almost three quarters (73%) of adults are on the hunt for new ways to destress”.

READ MORE: Help! I spent the hottest weekend of the year grappling with the new Lego set from The Beatles

According to Lego, the playlist is “designed to help listeners find a moment of relaxation in their busy lives.

“The playlist is composed of a series of audio tracks created using nothing but the iconic sounds that the LEGO brick makes, sounds that are recognised by generations all over the world.”

Listen to ‘White Noise’, which features song titles such as ‘Searching For The One (Brick)’ and ‘It All Clicks’, below.

The company’s statement adds: “Each LEGO element makes a unique noise, which is why designers experimented with over 10,000 in their quest for the perfect soothing sounds.

“The result is a soundscape that includes tracks such as ‘It All Clicks’ which perfectly captures the joyous sound of two LEGO elements joining together, and ‘The Waterfall’ created by pouring thousands of LEGO bricks on top of each other.”

Last year, Lego announced a brick set based on the iconic Fender Stratocaster guitar. “Everyone has seen the Fender Stratocaster guitar, it’s super famous and we think it’s going to be exciting to bring this to life using LEGO bricks,” LEGO Ideas Design Manager Sam Johnson told Brick Fanatics.

“Music is a relatively new place for LEGO to play in so we’re really excited to see how we can execute this.”

Taylor Momsen on gender divide in rock industry: “You should judge music simply on what’s the best”

The Pretty Reckless‘ Taylor Momsen has given her thoughts on the gender divide within the rock industry, explaining that music should be judged “simply on what’s the best”.

The New York band are set to release their fourth studio album ‘Death By Rock And Roll’ on February 12 and have previewed the project with its title track, ‘Broomsticks’, ’25’ and the Tom Morello-featuring ‘And So It Went’.

During a new interview with The Forty-Five, frontwoman Momsen was asked about the latter single as well as the forthcoming song ‘Witches Burn’ – both of which deal with being heard among the male-dominated rock scene.

Asked if there were any personal situations she wishes she could change, the singer said that she has “certainly had my fair share of fucked-up encounters, but I wouldn’t generalise it as ‘that’s the way it is’.”

Momsen continued: “People have been telling me for years that there is misogyny and sexism in music. I think the older I’ve gotten, the more I can look back on certain situations… Maybe someone said something to me that I took as a compliment at the time, and I look back and realise that it was a misogynistic comment that wouldn’t be considered PC now, but I never felt that in an aggressive way.”

She went on to say that her musical “idols” were male but explained “it’s just because they wrote the best songs”.

“I grew up worshipping John Lennon and The Beatles, and Chris Cornell and Soundgarden – it’s not because of what was going on in their pants, it’s because I connected to what they were saying and what they were emoting.

“You should judge music simply on what’s the best song/who’s the best singer. That should have nothing to do with your sex or gender… Good people are good people, and good musicians are good musicians — it’s as basic as that.”

Last week, Taylor Momsen recalled her final conversation with the late Soundgarden frontman Chris Cornell.

The Coral share new single ‘Faceless Angel’ and talk double album ‘Coral Island

The Coral have shared details of their spooky new single ‘Faceless Angel’ and talked exclusively to NME about their forthcoming thematic double album ‘Coral Island’.

Fuelled by their own fairground memories and fantasies, 10th album ‘Coral Island’ sees the band soundtracking bustling seaside towns in the summer on the first half of the record before waltzing into the lonely lives of characters who inhabit the island during the cold winter on the second. To get a taster of what’s to come, the band have shared launch single ‘Faceless Angel’.

“It came from this this idea, inspired by the sort of pre-Beatles around the time of Chuck Berry, The Everly Brothers and Joe Meek’s ‘Johnny Remember Me’, that type of thing,” frontman James Skelly told NME. “We had this groove within that. But the song is about the celebration of mystery. The ‘Faceless Angel’ was sort of meant to be a ride. I got the idea from the Hellblazer [graphic novels]. It’s like a fallen angel and a pulp mystery, based on old comics.”

The track comes with visuals directed by Edwin Burdis, the man behind Arctic Monkeys‘ ‘Four Stars Out Of Five’ video.

“My brother knew him from an Arctic Monkeys gig and he just put me in touch with him about doing a video and then I told him about ‘Coral Island’,” said Skelly. “So I started sending him a lot of the photos from these books I had about the circus. He then said he can build an actual, massive coral island and he went ahead and did it.

“He completely oversaw the visual side of it. That would inspire me and I would send him songs and that would inspire him so it’s quite a collaboration. The model is almost like Ray Harryhausen [legendary visual effects artist who created stop motion model animation in movies such as Jason and the Argonauts and Clash of the Titans] crossed with Llandudno. It’s got this King Kong stop-animation vibe about it.”

The album also comes accompanied by a fully illustrated book written by keyboardist Nick Power, so we spoke to him and Skelly filled us on their so called ‘White Album’, all the fun of fair, and how they were responsible for kickstarting the Sea Shanty craze.

Hello James and Nick. ‘Coral Island’ seems to be based on your own seaside memories at places like Rhyl and Blackpool. Is that the case?

James Skelly: “Yeah, definitely. That’s just engrained in you, isn’t it? But my dad also had a burger van when I was a kid and I used to work on it with him so we’d pop up at fairs and shows on the Wirral. When we were setting up in the morning you’d see everyone putting all the rides together. When you were at fairgrounds you’d always feel that anything was possible and something was gonna happen. There’s a magic there, there’s a smell there and people are coming from other places. You can feel it.”

Nick Power: “They’re all places that we like as a band – especially Rhyl. I used to go all the time as a kid. The one thing that is still clear in my memory is how the waltzers had a really strict soundtrack with the likes of Joe Meek and Gene Vincent, British rock ‘n’ roll with a bit of Pink Floyd thrown in there for whatever reason. If you go round quite a lot of waltzers, they actually to stick to that soundtrack. It’s not the same playlist but there’s a chief DJ, who’s gotta play spooky rock ‘n’ roll on the waltzers. It’s like an unspoken code that none of them will break. Most of them are like murder ballads or songs about being haunted by girlfriends who have died in a drag race crash.”

The Coral Leadmill — The Coral perform at The Leadmill CREDIT: Gary Wolstenholme/Redferns

What’s this about the album being based Bruce Springsteen’s double album ‘The River’?

James: “It was, but it was also to do with Arctic Monkeys‘ last album [‘Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino’] in the sense that there was another world but it was thematic. I also liked [The Kinks‘] ‘Village Green’, The Ogdens and [The Beatles‘] ‘Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band’. A full concept album is when it goes into [The Who‘s] ‘Tommy’ or something like that. It’s not quite that, it’s more like a theme.

“It originally started off as a concept that ‘Coral Island’ was a place where our ideas came together, but then it started to grow from there. We were like, ‘We’ve never done our ‘White Album”. I also saw that Springsteen documentary [The Ties That Bind] about ‘The River’ and he said the rock ‘n’ roll songs were like the bands playing on the boardwalk and the slower ones were the characters who lived in those places. We got this idea that Part One of our album was the soundtrack to the rides in the summer and Part Two was about the characters.”

What gave you the idea for the book?

Nick: “I started the book as we were coming towards the end of the album. I did a tour diary which came out with the last album and we just thought it’s a good thing for fans to have as well. It references characters and things in the songs and expands on that world. It’s a mixture between old Coney Island stuff mixed with [film] Brighton Rock, British seaside literature, comic books, in that classic tradition but with more of a modern take on it. I spent about eight months just doing it, non-stop.”

Are the characters in the book embedded in the songs as well?

Nick: “A lot of the characters came from the album, it’s like a comic book or something you’d pick up at a fair. But there are personal songs on there, it’s not just songs about death slides and candy floss. You get love songs on there too. There are a wide range of emotions in that [‘Coral Island’] world. Loads of the place names on ‘Coral Island’ are named after places we grew up on in the Wirral like New Brighton.”

Bill Ryder-Jones wrote a bit of music for the book. How did that come about?

Nick: “I just asked him, he lives down the road from me. He’s done a classical album before and we speak quite often so I was just like ‘Can you knock that up for me?’. He did it in about 20 minutes.”

Any chance of him rejoining the band for the tour?

Nick: “Nah, we don’t talk about it really. He’s doing his thing and we’re doing ours. We meet up with him though. He’s a good mate.”

@nathanevanss

The Wellerman. #seashanty #sea #shanty #viral #singing #acoustic #pirate #new #original #fyp #foryou #foryoupage #singer #scottishsinger #scottish

♬ original sound – N A T H A N E V A N S S

What are your thoughts on the Sea Shanty craze with Nathan Evans about to go into the Top Ten this week?

James: “We were 20 years early weren’t we? If only we’d done ‘Spanish Main’ and ‘Shadows Fall’ now we could have been Number One. Nah it’s always been there, with The Pogues and Small Faces, you hear a bit of that. Fair play to him, I’d rather see Sea Shanty go to Number One than whatever else.”

‘Coral Island’ is released on April 30, 2021.

Tom Jones shares cover of Malvina Reynolds’ ‘No Hole In My Head’

Tom Jones has released a cover of Malvina Reynolds’ ‘No Hole In My Head’ in the lead-up to the release of his forthcoming album.

‘No Hole In My Head’ is the second single lifted from Jones’ covers LP, ‘Surrounded By Time’. While the original track was written by the late Reynolds as a folk-blues tune, Jones has reimagined the song as an upbeat pop-rock piece. The accompanying music video sees the singer and a number of others interrogated by an anonymous figure.

Listen to Jones’ cover of ‘No Hole In My Head’ below:

“This song is powerful at any age. It’s about having confidence in who you are,” Jones said in a statement.

“Particularly during this time of a pervasive, boundless media that can wield so much influence, it’s more important than ever to know and be strong in your own self.”

READ MORE: Soundtrack Of My Life: Tom Jones

‘Surrounded By Time’ is co-produced by Ethan Johns and Mark Woodward, and will be Jones’ first album since 2015’s ‘Long Lost Suitcase’. The record is due out April 23 through EMI.

The album will also include covers of Cat Stevens, Bob Dylan, Michael Kiwanuka and Bernice Johnson Reagon, among others. The lead single for ‘Surrounded By Time’, a cover of Todd Snider’s ‘Talking Reality Television Blues’, was released earlier this month.

Drake wants to see Usher and Justin Timberlake face off in ‘VERZUZ’ battle

Drake has said he would like to see Usher and Justin Timberlake face off in an upcoming VERZUZ battle.

Read more: Timbaland and Swizz Beatz on VERZUZ battle series: “We want to celebrate the architects of good music”

It comes after series creators Timbaland and Swizz Beatz stopped by ESPN2’s Jalen And Jacoby show on Friday (January 22) to discuss the online battle show moving into the world of sports.

The show’s co-host Jalen Rose threw a few battle suggestions at the super producers, including a bout between Usher and Timberlake.

“Yes we know,” Timbaland said responding to the idea. “It’s so funny, Drake hit me up too about it. He said, ‘We gotta make that happen’. I said, ‘Soon to come. Soon to come’.”

In addition to suggesting a battle between rap camps No Limit Records and Cash Money Records, Rose also made a case for a Busta Rhymes and Missy Elliott VERZUZ.

Tim said he’s working on making it happen but would rather it was a celebration of two legends instead of a battle. “It is, to me, the best party that could ever happen on VERZUZ,” he said.

Jalen Rose offers some suggestions for the next Verzuz battle, and they are on point! (Via @JalenandJacoby) pic.twitter.com/NlzqiBgsJ7

— The Undefeated (@TheUndefeated) January 25, 2021

“It’s just a matter of comfort zone of my sister wanting to celebrate with her brother. Understanding that it’s not a competition, it’s a party. I have been talking to her about that but I think that’s an amazing VERZUZ.”

Elsewhere during the interview, Swizz Beatz and Timbaland revealed they would like to do a 2Pac Vs. The Notorious B.I.G. VERZUZ battle.

After being asked what their “holy grail” VERZUZ matchup would be, Tim and Swizz said they are trying to figure out how to make a 2Pac and Biggie battle become a reality.

VERZUZ is the popular entertainment series that pits producers, songwriters and artists against each other in a rap battle style format on Instagram Live and Apple Music.

Competitors take it in turns playing a song from a list of 20 from their discography, as fans, friends and fellow artists watch on. A winner is later decided by Timbaland and Swizz Beatz.

The most recent VERZUZ battle took place on Friday night (January 22) and saw Ashanti go up against Keyshia Cole. The singers went hit-for-hit following a number of coronavirus-related postponements.

Cat Stevens Mona Bone Jakon/Tea For The Tillerman 50th Anniversary boxsets

By 1970, Cat Stevens had been absent from the charts for three years. Rendered hors de combat by a life-threatening bout of tuberculosis, the time out also offered an opportunity for a major reset. The likes of Leonard Cohen, Joni Mitchell and James Taylor were ushering in the age of the sensitive acoustic troubadour, and to Stevens their songs sounded so much more profound and poetic than the overblown, melodramatic orchestral pop of “I’m Gonna Get Me A Gun” and “Matthew And Son”. As he slowly recovered, a stream of songs in a more reflective folk-rock vein poured out of him.

Released from his old recording contract, Stevens auditioned his new material for Chris Blackwell, who had just signed John Martyn and Nick Drake. The result was Mona Bone Jakon. On its release in April 1970 the album flopped. Yet although five platinum LPs would follow over the next four years, MBJ remains the most compellingly human statement of his career.

Half a century on, the naked intimacy of the songs still sounds fresh and alluring, from the spiritual awakening and self-discovery of “I Think I See The Light” and “Katmandu” via the sardonic denunciation of his old life on “Pop Star”, to the confessional soul-searching of “Trouble” and “Maybe You’re Right”.

The original, glorious album on which dandified pop star was reborn as bedsit poet is augmented in this expanded 50th-anniversary “super deluxe” edition with a new 2020 mix, a disc of stripped-down demos that sound even more introspective than the fully worked album versions, and a further disc of contemporaneous live performances.

When Stevens auditioned for Island he allegedly had a cache of 40 new songs, 11 of which appeared on MBJ. Others were recycled on later albums and there are early concert versions here of several tracks that would make it onto Tea For The Tillerman, plus “Changes IV”, which would surface on 1971’s Teaser And The Firecat. Yet somewhat disappointingly amid the wealth of unreleased demos, there’s only one song – “I Want Some Sun” – that we haven’t heard before. It’s fine enough in its way, an upbeat, countryish romp on which Stevens has never sounded so American. But you can hear why it didn’t fit on the album.

Within a month of the release of Mona Bone Jakon, Stevens was back in the studio recording Tea For The Tillerman. Several of its more pensive songs such as “Father And Son” and “On The Road To Find Out” fitted readily into the MBJ template. But at the same time, his writing was developing in other directions. Songs such as “Wild World”, the title track and “Where Do The Children Play” boasted a greater urgency that reflected his growing certainty in his new-found singer-songwriter persona, like a man who has tried on a new coat, wasn’t sure that it would fit but feels increasingly comfortable in its warm embrace.

Again, we get the original album as heard at the time and in a new remix, plus the recent Yusuf-sings-Cat 2020 updates on the songs recently released as Tea For The Tillerman 2. Then there’s a swathe of live recordings and another disc of demos, this time with two previously unreleased songs, the heartfelt “Can This Be Love?” (which could have been a contender) and the throwaway “It’s So Good” (which has no such pretensions).

There are also half-a-dozen other semi-rarities, all of which were previously released on the 2008 boxset On The Road To Find Out. “If You Want To Sing Out, Sing Out” and “Don’t Be Shy” were written for Hal Ashby’s 1971 coming-of-age movie Harold & Maude after Elton John had dropped out and recommended Stevens as his replacement. “Honey Man” is a sprightly duet with Elton from around the same time. “The Joke” is a surprisingly soulful electric blues with a hippie-friendly lyric about “too many schemers and not enough dreamers”, while the whimsical “I’ve Got A Thing About Seeing My Grandson Grow Old” sounds improbably like something The Incredible String Band might have recorded.

Inevitably, there’s a lot of duplication as two crisp vinyl albums that originally clocked in at around 35 minutes apiece
are expanded over nine audio discs and two Blu-rays, so that we end up with 10 versions of “Lady D’Arbanville”, and 16 of “Wild World”. But maybe you can’t have too much of a good thing. 1970 was Stevens’ annus mirabilis and Mona Bone Jakon and Tea For The Tillerman represent the high tide of his troubadour triumph. As he became a pop star for the second time round, he never sounded so real and true again.

Bad Religion share new song ‘Emancipation Of The Mind’ to celebrate Joe Biden becoming president

Bad Religion have shared new track ‘Emancipation Of The Mind’ to celebrate Joe Biden becoming the 46th president on the United States.

Read more: Fireworks, Foo Fighters and faith: Joe Biden marks a new day in America with hope-filled inauguration party

The track, which you can listen to below, is a previously unreleased outtake from the band’s 2019 album, ‘Age of Unreason’.

“The track’s upbeat messaging calls for reason and open-mindedness as a new administration is welcomed into the White House. Bad Religion have always advocated for humanism, reason, and individualism, which has never been more essential,” the band said.

Singer Greg Graffin added: “I think the song really is a celebration of enlightenment values that can be cultivated through enthusiastic learning and open-mindedness. So often we’re told what to think. But learning how to think (as opposed to learning what to think) is a true feeling of emancipation from the constraints of indoctrination that are so commonplace in our society.”

It comes after a host of artists performed at Biden’s Celebrating America TV special last night (January 20).

Bruce Springsteen was among those who made an appearance as he played his 1999 song ‘Land Of Hope and Dreams’ at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. while Foo Fighters, Demi Lovato and John Legend also performed.

Earlier in the day, Lady Gaga and Jennifer Lopez both performed live during Biden’s inauguration ceremony at the US Capitol.

Gaga performed a stirring rendition of the US national anthem, while Lopez gave a passionate performance of ‘This Land Is Your Land’ and ‘America The Beautiful’ ahead of Biden being sworn in.

Last night also saw the reunion of the New Radicals, who played together live for the first time in 22 years to mark the Biden inauguration.

Watch Fleet Foxes’ live music video for ‘I’m Not My Season’

Fleet Foxes have released their first music video of the year, dropping a live clip for their 2020 track, ‘I’m Not My Season’.

‘I’m Not My Season’ appeared on Fleet Foxes’ most recent album, ‘Shore’, which the group surprise-released in September.

READ MORE: Fleet Foxes’ Robin Pecknold talks beating his demons and counting Post Malone as a fan

The song’s music video was filmed at Brooklyn’s St. Ann & the Holy Trinity Church, the location at which frontman Robin Pecknold performed the band’s ‘A Very Lonely Solstice’ livestream show in December.

The church was also the site of Fleet Foxes’ recent remote performance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.

Watch the clip for ‘I’m Not My Season’, directed by Pecknold’s brother Sean, below:

In a four-star review, NME called ‘Shore’ “the more consistent and jubilant sibling of ‘Crack-Up’”, the band’s 2017 record.

“It’s maturer in sound and ideas, but retains all the hallmarks of what made Fleet Foxes so great in the first place: rich and studied folk compositions, unrivalled harmonies, stories that strike to the core of nature and human existence, and a dedication to art that emotionally lifts you off this planet,” the review read.

Earlier this month, Robin Pecknold was announced as part of the inaugural lineup for Bandsintown’s livestream concert subscription service. The initiative will give subscribers access to 25 live shows a month, with Phoebe Bridgers and Flying Lotus among the other artists performing as part of its first instalment.

Fleet Foxes plan to release ‘Shore’ on vinyl and CD on February 5. Fans will receive access to Pecknold’s February 10 virtual concert by pre-ordering a physical copy of the record, or by purchasing one on the weekend of its release.

jxdn and Travis Barker team up on rock cover of Olivia Rodrigo’s ‘Drivers License’

jxdn and Travis Barker have surprised fans with a cover of Olivia Rodrigo’s debut single, ‘Drivers License’.

jxdn – real name Jaden Hossler – and Barker took to social media to announce the cover today (January 20).

The cover is a more upbeat rock rendition of the track, compared to the original’s anthemic pop styling. The album art for the single was also illustrated by Hossler himself.

“thank you so much [Olivia Rodrigo] for making the beautiful song! me and [Travis Barker] fw it so much we put our spin on it,” Hossler wrote on Instagram.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by jxdn (@jadenhossler)

Listen to the duo’s cover of Rodrigo’s ‘drivers license’ below:

Rodrigo released ‘Drivers License’ earlier this month and the song went viral immediately, in part thanks to the help of TikTok creators. The track went on to break the record for the most single-day streams for a non-holiday song on Spotify and made its debut at Number One on the Billboard Hot 100, the 48th song in the chart’s history to ever do so.

In related news, Travis Barker appears to have confirmed that Blink-182 plan to release a new album this year.

When responding to a fan on Instagram asking if there were “any new Blink-182 albums dropping this year”, Barker simply replied “YES”.

New Blink music was promised back in July as their producer John Feldmann revealed that the band were “getting in touch with their roots” and working on songs which “have been super classic Blink – and I can’t be more excited”.

The band’s last album, ‘Nine’, arrived in September 2019, three years on from July 2016’s ‘California’. The trio also released the stand-alone single ‘Quarantine’ last year.

Music producer Phil Spector has died while serving sentence for murder of Lana Clarkson

Music producer Phil Spector has died at the age of 81, it has been confirmed.

He was in prison serving a sentence of 19 years to life for the murder of actor Lana Clarkson and was convicted in 2009.

According to TMZ, Spector contracted coronavirus four weeks ago and was taken to hospital, but recovered enough to be sent back to prison. However, he is said to have relapsed and was rushed back to the hospital when he was having trouble breathing, but died yesterday (January 16).

His death was confirmed by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR). “California Health Care Facility inmate Phillip Spector was pronounced deceased of natural causes at 6:35 p.m. on Saturday, January 16, 2021, at an outside hospital,” the CDCR website stated.

Phil Spector CREDIT: Michael Ochs Archive/Getty Images

“His official cause of death will be determined by the medical examiner in the San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office.”

Spector is often cited as one of the most influential figures in pop music, in part for his creation of the Wall of Sound technique. The idea saw instruments layered and then mixed in the production process until each was indistinguishable from each other and created a dense “wall of sound”.

Born in New York in 1939, Spector started his career as the frontman of The Teddy Bears in 1958. Two years later, he co-founded his own record label Philles Records with Lester Sill on which they released records from the likes of Darlene Love, The Ronettes, Ike & Tina Turner, The Righteous Brothers and more.

Spector also wrote and produced records for artists. He famously co-wrote the likes of The Crystals’ ‘Then He Kissed Me’ and The Ronettes’ ‘Be My Baby’ and ‘Baby, I Love You’ with Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich. In 1963, Philles Records released the Christmas compilation ‘A Christmas Gift For You From Philles Records’, which went on to become considered as one of the best Christmas albums of all time.

He retired from music in 1966 but came out of retirement in 1969 to produce The Beatles’ album ‘Let It Be’. He went on to work on solo albums from John Lennon and George Harrison, as well as records with Leonard Cohen, The Ramones, and Yoko Ono.

In 1968, he married The Ronettes’ Veronica Bennett – aka Ronnie Spector. It was his second marriage, after he wedded Annette Merar in 1963, and ended in divorce in 1974. Ronnie Spector left him in 1972 and alleged that her former husband had imprisoned her in his mansion, sabotaged her career and psychologically tormented her.

During their marriage, they had adopted three children, two of whom would later accuse Phil Spector of abuse. He did not comment on the claims.

After 1981, he was largely inactive in the music industry, working on projects from time to time. The last record he worked on was Starsailor’s ‘Silence Is Easy’ in 2003, but only produced two tracks. He was fired over personal and creative differences.

That same year, actor Lana Clarkson was shot dead in Spector’s mansion in Alhambra, California, two hours after first meeting the producer. Spector claimed that Clarkson’s death was an “accidental suicide” and that she had “kissed the gun”. However, his driver claimed Spector had told him: “I think I’ve killed someone.”

The first trial in 2007 ended in a mistrial, but a subsequent retrial found Spector guilty of murder in the second degree. He was given a sentence of 19 years to life in prison, from which he would have been up for parole in 2024. During the prosecution, several women gave testimony that Spector had pointed a gun at them when they had spurned his advances, illustrating his history of domestic abuse.

This is a developing news story and will be updated.

The Avalanches We Will Always Love You

If, after suffering hardship, you’ve become particularly attuned to the everyday miracles of earth and sky, awed by the wonder of existence, then you’re already intimate with the hopeful air of We Will Always Love You.

Drenched in mechanised shimmer and kinetic beats, The Avalanches’ third studio effort is at its core a beatific vision born of life’s darker turns, that neither weaponises nor romanticises pain. Instead, We Will Always Love You recognises the arc of pain as one of humanity’s strongest connective tissues, an acknowledgement that doubles as an exorcism, a non-verbal expression that intones, “I feel you, pain, and now I am setting you free.”

Fitting neatly at the junction between curiosity and maturity, the record may disappoint those fans with a particular long-simmering and perhaps unfair desire; it is not the anarchic and astonishing Frankenstein’s monster that was 2000’s Since I Left You or, to a lesser extent, 2016’s Wildflower, not an infinitely layered statement with WhoSampled pages that unravel like Kerouac’s On The Road scroll. It is more pop-oriented and far less mysterious. It is the sound of a group who want more from life than the fetishisation of dusty discs.

Though it retains the same deconstructionist form that made The Avalanches a household name, it does so through a reliance on original collaborations with guest vocalists that are then chopped, refracted and stitched with samples of cult records, obscure historical recordings, warbled YouTube clips and alien frequencies. It’s a less intensive template than Since I Left You, one that fulfils a few practical purposes: less time spent digging and chasing sample clearance, and core members Robbie Chater and Tony Di Blasi’s desire to work in a more standard album-tour cycle, one that doesn’t prompt a 16-year absence between records. In keeping with their liking for concept albums, they’ve crafted a record loosely based on the relationship between ‘science communicators’ Carl Sagan and Ann Druyan, and their ‘love note’ on Voyager’s Golden Record.

Druyan’s face appears on the cover, and she was originally planned to appear on the album; though it didn’t happen, the record is certainly not short of other contributors. While it’s fair to see names like Perry Farrell and Rivers Cuomo and be suspicious, the beauty of We Will Always Love You lies beneath the elder statesmen on the shiny hype sticker. It is here that Karen O whispers some of the last and most profound words written by David Berman, over the crackle of static and a light twinkle of piano (“Pink Champagne”). It is here that pop luminary Dev Hynes meets folk luminaries The Roches and soul legend Smokey Robinson in an elegiac symphony built for headphones (“We Will Always Love You”). It is here that Johnny Marr’s guitar again shimmers with a Smiths-era glimmer (“The Divine Chord”), and a crack modern soul upstart, Cola Boyy, is bolstered by none other than OG sampler Mick Jones (“We Go On”). It is here that a sample of Vashti Bunyan, taken from 1970’s “Glow Worms”, flutters on a wave of psychedelic soul (“Reflecting Light”).

Though sonically We Will Always Love You is unlike the group’s first two albums, its spirit of discovery, and subtle championing of the oblique, forgotten and underrepresented, is familiar territory. The album is neither stuck in the past nor barrelling recklessly towards the future, and, in this sense, it’s a lavish genre-agnostic mixtape. On paper it lacks focus, but in practice it is representative of the aural quilts crafted by modern, omnivorous listeners. Anti-pop sentiment has largely fallen out of vogue among serious music heads, and The Avalanches have long advocated for such progress.

Through its adventuresome twists and well-considered combinations, this record acts as a necessary treat amid a turbulent and uncertain climate; it embraces the promise of love, the wonder of outer realms and the connective quality of music across genres and understanding. A reminder of the energy of bodies at one with a beat, and the soothing quality of a quiet hour alone with one’s thoughts, it’s a hopeful guide to a world where everyone is welcome.

The 1st Uncut Playlist Of 2021

I hope you’ve had a chance to pick up our first issue of 2021 – Leonard Cohen, The Clash, Kraftwerk, Black Keys, Jane Weaver, an astonishing interview with Sonny Rollins among many other highlights. Critically, we have a very busy reviews section, which I hope is a strong indicator of the wealth of new music we can expect this coming year. Here, too, are a ton of new releases for your delectation. Some of these – like Sunburned Hand Of The Man, Cory Hanson, Jane Weaver, Chuck Johnson and Julien Baker – you can also read about in our new issue.

Follow me on Twitter @MichaelBonner

1.
SUNBURNED HAND OF THE MAN
“Flex”
(Three Lobed Recordings)

Pick A Day To Die by Sunburned Hand of the Man

2.
THE ANTLERS
“Solstice”
(Transgressive)

3.
JAMES YORKSTON & THE SECOND HAND ORCHESTRA
“There Is No Upside”
(Domino)

4.
CORY HANSON
“Angeles”
(Drag City)

5.
JULIEN BAKER
“Hardline”
(Matador)

6.
LNZDRF
“Brace Yourself”
(self-released)

7.
JANE WEAVER
“Heartlow”
(Fire)

8.
MENAHAN STREET BAND
Make The Road By Walking
(Daptone)

9.
CHUCK JOHNSON
“Raz-de-Marée”
(VDSQ)

The Cinder Grove by Chuck Johnson

10.
ALTIN GÜN
“Yüce Dağ Başında”
(Glitterbeat Records)

11.
BILL CALLAHAN & BONNIE “PRINCE” BILLY
“Lost Love” [feat. Emmett Kelly]
(Drag City)

Lost in Love (feat. Emmett Kelly) by Bill Callahan & Bonnie "Prince" Billy

12.
MOUSE ON MARS
“Artificial Authentic”
(Thrill Jockey)

AAI by Mouse On Mars

13.
HISS GOLDEN MESSENGER
“Sanctuary”
(Merge)

Sanctuary by Hiss Golden Messenger

14.
JOHN GRANT
“The Only Baby”
(Bella Union)

15.
CARM
“Song Of Trouble” [feat. Sufjan Stevens]
(37d03d)

16.
BOBBY LEE
“Fire Medicine Man”
(Bandcamp)

Origin Myths by Bobby Lee

Olivia Rodrigo’s Emotional Rite Of Passage, Taylor Swift’s Bonus Feels, And More Songs We Love

Get ready: The Bop Shop is now open for business.

Olivia Rodrigo: “Drivers License”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmDBbnmKpqQ

There’s an ache on “Drivers License” that feels so real. The dreamy, Taylor Swift-approved cut from High School Musical: The Musical: The Series star Olivia Rodrigo treads a trail previously trod by Lorde, on its helium-soaked bridge especially. But Rodrigo’s artfully constructed narrative feels all her own, masterfully threading a young person’s vehicular rite of passage with the echoes of heartbreak and suburban loneliness. Bet Rodrigo’s subject rues the day they kissed a writer in the dark. —Patrick Hosken
Taylor Swift: “Right Where You Left Me”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ur_wAcYDnuA

One of two bonus tracks on the deluxe edition of December’s Evermore, “Right Where You Left Me” transports listeners back to the fantastical forests of Folklore, Taylor Swift’s first foray into indie folk-pop. “Help, I’m still at the restaurant / Still sitting in a corner I haunt,” a forlorn Swift pleads in the pre-chorus, referencing a public breakup that left the song’s narrator permanently frozen in time. Folksy strings and self-aware lyrics underline tensions between the head and the heart, reality and fantasy, evolution and stagnation. It’s also a total earworm, which is to say: How dare you, Taylor! —Sam Manzella
Number One Popstar: “I Hate Running”
https://youtu.be/IGavJgkB7bg

Becoming unhinged has never looked as fun as it does in Number One Popstar’s video for “I Hate Running.” It’s not surprising that the track and its visual go hand-in-hand, considering it’s Slut Island singer Kate Hollowell’s solo project, and that she’s put in the aesthetic work, having directed videos for Katy Perry and Sasami. Taking on the role of a self-help guru espousing the benefits of wellness – while wearing a cigarette crown – she preaches about working on “her fitness in a brand new way” over a throbbing disco beat and a spoken refrain: “Up, down, side to side / Nothing matters, we’re all gonna die.” It’s the kind of quirky pop that doesn’t take itself so seriously, though that doesn’t mean you won’t seriously love it. —Carson Mlnarik
Wild Pink: “Oversharers Anonymous”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khbLl8Oop1k&feature=youtu.be

“You’re a fucking baby,” John Ross sings, “but your pain is valid, too.” On a song the Wild Pink leader says is in part “loosely about the confusing nature of social media,” no better line could be evoked to encapsulate our digital selves and our endless gripes played to a legions of invisible followers. And yet, it’s just a tweet-sized moment in a grand heartland patchwork of a tune complete with sweeping violin and images of the open American west. —Patrick Hosken
19&You: “Bored!”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHom8HYUNBU

As far as boy bands go, 19&You might have the most unique come-together story ever. The four-piece met when producer Noah Taylor flew to Australia to follow a girl and met bandmates Cameron Graves, Jackson Leitch, and Liam Wallis. The latest taste of their forthcoming debut EP is “Bored!,” a slick and catchy banger that finds its roots in today’s edgier pop and alternative sounds. There’s a bit of sass overcompensating for the track’s vulnerable heart, which questions whether a lover is in it for the long haul or just bored. Thankfully, this bop is thrilling the whole way through. —Carson Mlnarik
Hannah Hausman: “Will I Ever Feel Like This Again”

After a pre-COVID virus forced her to stay quiet following the viral success – no pun intended – of 2018’s “Lost in Brooklyn,” Hannah Hausman returns swinging with sugary but sad new single “Will I Ever Feel Like This Again.” Over introspective, echoing beats and synths connected to her heartstrings, the L.A.-based indie-pop singer lets her psyche wander around a relationship she has no business being in until her musings reach trippy proportions. Considering the subject matter, the track’s abrupt ending only adds meaning – and has us eagerly waiting for more. —Carson Mlnarik
MF Doom: “Gas Drawls”

It’s not the most infamous “Black Cow” sample — that one comes courtesy of Lord Tariq and Peter Gunz — but “Gas Drawls” still showcases how much cool oozes out of the Steely Dan catalog. That’s thanks to Doom, a master musician as much as a legendary New York MC, whose death was announced late last year. On this 1999 cut, he constructs a world of sleaze and intrigue around the original song’s breakdown, using his bars to shout out pizza, cash, and his Doctor Doom-inspired persona in a single couplet: “The supervillain cooler than a million, I be chillins / Still quick to slice squares like Sicilians.” It’s just one of the dozens of magisterial moments littered across his discography that’ll crash a big, dumb smile on your face. —Patrick Hosken

AC/DC Power Up

It is a line AC/DC are obviously pleased with: they’ve wheeled it out more than once. The gag runs that, during some or other promotional campaign, some upstart critic accused them of having made the same album 11 times. AC/DC retort to the effect that this is an outrageous, ignorant and insupportable calumny: they have, in fact, made the same album 12 times. The numbers vary with the telling, but AC/DC’s repeated deployment of this quip is itself almost a meta-commentary on the joke they’re telling against themselves. It’s also an assertion of the – correct – belief that they got everything absolutely and unimprovably right the first time, back on 1975’s High Voltage, and have therefore perceived no subsequent reason to tinker with the formula.

Power Up does kind of, inevitably, amount to AC/DC having now made the same album 17 times, but its very appearance is some measure more remarkable than that of any of its predecessors. It would have been little surprise to anyone had AC/DC – or what remained of AC/DC – hung it up at the end of 2016’s Rock Or Bust Tour, itself a miracle of defiance. Guitarist Malcolm Young, plausibly the greatest pure rhythm player of all time, the malevolent metronome who underpinned AC/DC’s fundamentalist rock’n’roll, was dying in hospital in Sydney. Long-serving drummer Phil Rudd was serving home detention in New Zealand after being convicted of charges including drug possession and making threats to kill. Towards the end of the tour, singer Brian Johnson was forced out by encroaching deafness; AC/DC’s decision to swap in Guns N’ Roses’ Axl Rose prompted an uncharacteristically public outbreak of internecine sniping.

Malcolm Young died in November 2017 – just a few weeks after the death of his and Angus Young’s brother George Young, the Easybeats and Flash & The Pan founder who’d also co-produced AC/DC’s first few albums. Those losses – and the attendant funerals – seem to have been a significant catalyst in bringing the band back together. The AC/DC of Power Up are Brian Johnson, whose hearing has been sufficiently restored by experimental technology, Angus Young, Phil Rudd, Stevie Young – Malcolm and Angus’s nephew, who first picked up rhythm guitar when Malcolm became too ill to play in 2014 – and Cliff Williams, who did announce his retirement post-Rock Or Bust, but has had a change of heart.

This is all entirely in keeping with AC/DC’s ruggedly utilitarian ‘man down, drive on’ ethos. Famously, they were not knocked noticeably off their stride by the death of a lead singer: just five months elapsed between the passing of Bon Scott in 1980 and the release of Back In Black, not merely the biggest-selling album by AC/DC, but by some estimations the biggest-selling album by anybody other than Michael Jackson. While one obviously wishes Angus Young nothing but a long and healthy life, it would be strangely reassuring to believe that there’s an up-and-coming Young cousin spending spare hours learning to duck-walk in a school uniform while tearing furious solos from the sweat-slathered neck of a Gibson SG as a battery of cannons erupts on the downbeat and a vast womanly dirigible writhes atop an immense blazing locomotive.

Angus Young has spoken of Power Up being a tribute to his late brother in much the way that Back In Black was a memorial to Bon Scott (not that Back In Black was overladen with sombre reflections on mortality, unless there was elegiac subtext buried deep in “Given The Dog A Bone” and “Let Me Put My Love Into You”). On Power Up, they get perhaps as morose as AC/DC are ever likely to on “Through The Mists Of Time”, but this is nevertheless a pounding metal anthem with a soaring chorus, screeching solos and drums that pound like a diplodocus’s heartbeat.

The songs on Power Up are substantially posthumously credited to Malcolm Young, wrung from riffs he’d conjured around the writing of 2008’s Black Ice. There being no imaginable mileage in comparing any of Power Up to anything but previous AC/DC albums, it’s a solid second-tier AC/DC record: it’s no Highway To Hell or Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap, but it wouldn’t be at all embarrassed by the company of, say, Ballbreaker or The Razor’s Edge. And the best individual songs are well worthy of the AC/DC marque: “Realize”, impossible to hear without imagining Angus Young in ecstatic soak atop a speaker stack; “Demon Fire”, a monumental boogie recognisable as a descendant of “Whole Lotta Rosie”; “Wild Reputation”, a swaggering retread of “Rock And Roll Ain’t Noise Pollution”; “Shot In The Dark”, a rolling rocker illuminated by one of those Angus Young solos that emphasises the sheer mellifluous prettiness of his playing as well as its pyrotechnic flashiness.

It is perhaps regrettable that it now looks like there will not be an Axl Rose-fronted AC/DC album – those shows were fantastic, Rose endowing AC/DC’s familiar cheerful live pantomime with genuine feral menace – but it may be that AC/DC reflected, reasonably, that they don’t have that kind of time. At any rate, Power Up deserves acclaim for more than merely existing, and it deserves plenty for that. If AC/DC’s – and the world’s – circumstances permit a tour, Rosie’s re-inflation will be abundantly justified.

Lewis Capaldi and The Weeknd among best-selling artists in the UK as streaming and physical music sales soar in 2020

Lewis Capaldi and The Weeknd have been named among the best-selling artists of 2020 in the UK.

New data published by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) today (January 4) sheds light on what the UK listened to and bought in 2020, with the findings also revealing that recorded music consumption in the UK rose by 8.2% last year.

Read more: The 50 best albums of 2020

There were 139 billion audio streams in the UK in 2020 (up by over a fifth compared to 2019) as nearly 200 artists had their music streamed over 100 million times. 155 million albums (or their equivalent) were either streamed or purchased by UK music lovers last year, with the coronavirus pandemic not having an adverse effect on the recorded music market.

The BPI noted that that while the pandemic has had a “devastating effect on the live sector”, demand for record music “initially dipped around the start of the first lockdown, but listening rebounded across streaming and physical formats and grew throughout the year”.

The BPI have also announced that streaming now accounts for four-fifths (80.6%) of the UK’s overall music consumption. Physical formats still enjoyed strong sales in 2020, however, with vinyl sales increasing by over a tenth (11.5%) as almost 4.8 million copies were purchased – a 13th year of consecutive growth for vinyl in the UK – and cassette sales doubling to rack up 156,542 copies, their highest total since 2003.

16 million CDs were also bought in 2020, representing 10.3% of the UK’s recorded music consumption.

Lewis Capaldi performs at The SSE Arena, Wembley on March 12, 2020 in London (Picture: Burak Cingi/Redferns)

In terms of individual best-sellers, Capaldi’s 2019 debut ‘Divinely Uninspired to a Hellish Extent’ continues to be the record to beat as it was crowned the UK’s best-selling album in 2020, as it was in 2019. Harry Styles’ ‘Fine Line’ was the second best-selling album of 2020 in the UK, with Dua Lipa‘s ‘Future Nostalgia’ rounding off the podium.

Billie Eilish, Stormzy and the late Pop Smoke also feature in the top 10 best-selling albums of 2020 in the UK. You can see the full list below.

Official Albums Chart of 2020

1. Lewis Capaldi – ‘Divinely Uninspired To A Hellish Extent’

2. Harry Styles – ‘Fine Line’

3. Dua Lipa – ‘Future Nostalgia’

4. Billie Eilish – ‘When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?’

5. Stormzy – ‘Heavy Is The Head’

6. Pop Smoke – ‘Shoot For The Stars, Aim For The Moon’

7. Ed Sheeran – ‘No. 6 Collaborations Project’

8. Queen – ‘Greatest Hits’

9. Elton John – ‘Diamonds’

10. Fleetwood Mac – ’50 Years – Don’t Stop’

The Weeknd’s ‘Blinding Lights’ has been named as both the UK’s best-selling single and most-streamed track of 2020, with Tones & I‘s ‘Dance Monkey’ and SAINt JHN‘s ‘Roses’ rounding out the top three in both countdowns. You can see those two respective top 10s below.

Official Singles Chart of 2020

1. The Weeknd – ‘Blinding Lights’

2. Tones & I – ‘Dance Monkey’

3. SAINt JHN – ‘Roses’

4. Lewis Capaldi – ‘Before You Go’

5. Joel Corry ft MNEK – ‘Head & Heart’

6. Dua Lipa – ‘Don’t Start Now’

7. DaBaby ft Roddy Ricch – ‘Rockstar’

8. Lewis Capaldi – ‘Someone You Loved’

9. Stormzy/Ed Sheeran/Burna Boy – ‘Own It’

10. Harry Styles – ‘Watermelon Sugar’

Most-Streamed Audio Tracks of 2020

1. The Weeknd – ‘Blinding Lights’

2. Tones & I – ‘Dance Monkey’

3. SAINt JHN – ‘Roses’

4. DaBaby ft Roddy Ricch – ‘Rockstar’

5. Lewis Capaldi – ‘Before You Go’

6. Dua Lipa – ‘Don’t Start Now’

7. Lewis Capaldi – ‘Someone You Loved’

8. Joel Corry ft MNEK – ‘Head & Heart’

9. Roddy Ricch – ‘The Box’

10. Stormzy/Ed Sheeran/Burna Boy – ‘Own It’

The UK’s enduring love for the likes of Fleetwood Mac, Oasis, Nirvana and Amy Winehouse saw classic albums by those artists being among the 10 biggest-selling vinyl LPs of 2020, while Lady Gaga‘s latest album ‘Chromatica’ has been named as the best-selling cassette album of 2020 in the UK.

Official Vinyl Album Chart of 2020

1. Fleetwood Mac – ‘Rumours’

2. Oasis – ‘(What’s The Story) Morning Glory?’

3. Amy Winehouse – ‘Back To Black’

4. Nirvana – ‘Nevermind’

5. Harry Styles – ‘Fine Line’

6. Kylie Minogue – ‘Disco’

7. Queen – ‘Greatest Hits’

8. AC/DC – ‘Power Up’

9. Arctic Monkeys – ‘Live At The Royal Albert Hall’

10. IDLES – ‘Ultra Mono’

Official Cassette Albums Chart of 2020

1. Lady Gaga – ‘Chromatica’

2. 5 Seconds Of Summer – ’Calm’

3. Yungblud – ‘Weird’

4. The 1975 – ‘Notes On A Conditional Form’

5. Blackpink – ‘The Album’

6. Selena Gomez – ‘Rare’

7. Kylie Minogue – ‘Disco’

8. Dua Lipa – ‘Future Nostalgia’

9. Haim – ‘Women In Music Pt III’

10. The Streets – ‘None Of Us Are Getting Out Of This Life Alive’

Last month Capaldi released ‘Divinely Uninspired To A Hellish Extent: Finale’, a deluxe version of his best-selling album.

Justin Bieber says Tom Cruise is “toast” as he revives fight offer

Justin Bieber has said that Tom Cruise is “toast” after jokingly reviving a past offer to fight the Hollywood icon.

Bieber first issued the bizarre challenge in June 2019 and attempted to secure the services of UFC boss Dana White in a bid to organise the bout.

“I wanna challenge Tom Cruise to fight in the octagon. Tom if you don’t take this fight your [sic] scared and you will never live it down. Who is willing to put on the fight? @danawhite?,” Bieber wrote at the time.

But only days later Bieber conceded that it wouldn’t a good idea, admitting: “I’m pretty sure he’d whoop my ass in a fight. I’d have to get in good shape, I’m really skinny right now.”

“I think he’d probably be out of my weight class. Because he’s big, you know he’s got that dad strength.”

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Justin Bieber (@justinbieber)

However, Bieber has now seemingly revived the offer after releasing the music video for his latest track ‘Anyone’ – which sees him playing the role of a prize fighter.

Sharing a black and white still from the clip, Bieber wrote: “Tom Cruise is toast.”

While it’s likely that Bieber wasn’t being *too* serious with the offer, it has received the backing of Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson.

Referencing an iconic line from Rocky, The Rock commented: “‘You’re gonna eat lightning and crap thunder’. Go get em bro (sic).”

But it did little to inspire the confidence of Bieber’s mum Patty Mallette, who commented: “WHY!!!???????”

It comes after Bieber partnered with the Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Choir last month for a new charity version of his single ‘Holy’.

The collaboration came five years after Bieber tweeted his support for the Choir’s successful bid to become the UK’s Christmas Number One with ‘A Bridge Over You’ instead of his own track ‘Love Yourself’.

Gerry Marsden of Gerry And The Pacemakers has died

Gerry Marsden, singer of the Liverpool band Gerry And The Pacemakers, has died, it has been confirmed.

The musician was 78 years old and died today (January 3) from an infection in his heart, friend and broadcaster Pete Price wrote on social media.

“It’s with a very heavy heart after speaking to the family that I have to tell you the Legendary Gerry Marsden MBE after a short illness which was an infection in his heart has sadly passed away,” Price said.

“Sending all the love in the world to Pauline and his family. You’ll Never Walk Alone.”

It’s with a very heavy heart after speaking to the family that I have to tell you the Legendary Gerry Marsden MBE after a short illness which was an infection in his heart has sadly passed away. Sending all the love in the world to Pauline and his family. You’ll Never Walk Alone pic.twitter.com/Ezd9WcdeQK

— Pete Price (@PeteCityPrice) January 3, 2021

Marsden was best known for Pacemakers songs including ‘Ferry Across The Mersey’, ‘I Like It’, and the band’s version of ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’. He founded the group in 1959 and they went on to become the second group signed by The Beatles’ manager Brian Epstein.

They released their debut single ‘How Do You Do It?’ In March 1963, with the track reaching the top of the singles chart in April.

Later that year, the group released their take on ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’, which has since become the anthem of Liverpool FC. At the start of the coronavirus pandemic, the song also saw a spike in streams in the UK as it was used to show support for NHS and frontline workers. It was also covered by Lana Del Rey in 2020 for a documentary on Liverpool football club.

The Pacemakers disbanded in 1967 but Marsden revived them in 1972 with a new line-up and continued to perform until he retired in 2018.

Throughout his life, Marsden is said to have helped raise more than £35million for charity, including special releases with other artists in the wake of the 1985 fire at Bradford City’s stadium and the 1989 Hillsborough disaster.

His charity work and his contribution to the culture of Liverpool led to him being awarded the Freedom Of The City Of Liverpool in 2009.

Tributes to Marsden have begun to pour in online since the news of his death broke. “It is with such great sadness that we hear of Gerry Marsden’s passing,” Liverpool FC tweeted. “Gerry’s words will live on forever with us. You’ll Never Walk Alone.”

It is with such great sadness that we hear of Gerry Marsden’s passing.

Gerry’s words will live on forever with us. You’ll Never Walk Alone ❤️ pic.twitter.com/5W4yspmLRV

— Liverpool FC (@LFC) January 3, 2021

The Cavern Club, where the Pacemakers played nearly 200 times, also honoured the musician. “Devastated to hear of the passing of Gerry Marsden earlier today,” they wrote. “The word legend is often overused but Gerry was not only a legend, but also a very good friend of The Cavern.”

Devastated to hear of the passing of Gerry Marsden earlier today.

The word legend is often overused but Gerry was not only a legend, but also a very good friend of The Cavern. pic.twitter.com/74HQZP4gio

— The Cavern Club (@cavernliverpool) January 3, 2021

Frankie Goes To Hollywood singer Holly Johnson added: “So sorry to hear about the passing of Gerry Marsden what a Liverpool legend. So glad I met him.”

So sorry to hear about the passing of Gerry Marsden what a Liverpool Legend . So glad I met him . #ferryacrossthemersey #youllneverwalkalone https://t.co/UnrOxkkWcq

— HOLLY JOHNSON (@TheHollyJohnson) January 3, 2021

See more tributes below.

Such sad news about Gerry Marsden. His music will live on forever. You'll Never Walk Alone.

— James Pearce (@JamesPearceLFC) January 3, 2021

RIP Gerry Marsden!What a lovely bloke I was lucky to meet!zHe may have passed away but His voice will live on forever at Anfield !He will never walk alone!YNWA

— John Aldridge (@Realaldo474) January 3, 2021

Very sad news to hear of the passing of Gerry Marsden.

As far as Scouse icons go they don't come much bigger. #RIPGerryMarsden

We Never Walked Alone.

pic.twitter.com/5LYXzxXnS8

— Paul Doward (@RadioNewsDigger) January 3, 2021

Everyone at #CelticFC sends their deepest condolences to the family & friends of Gerry Marsden.

Gerry’s famous lyrics will live on at Celtic Park forever. You’ll Never Walk Alone ?? https://t.co/JlNIVglFO1

— Celtic Football Club (@CelticFC) January 3, 2021

RIP Gerry Marsden. You’ll Never Walk Alone. pic.twitter.com/iB7tq0axuY

— Lightning Seeds (@Lightning_Seeds) January 3, 2021

So sad to hear Gerry Marsden has passed away. I did a couple of gigs with him and he was great. RIP Gerry.

— Tony Blackburn (@tonyblackburn) January 3, 2021

Gerry Marsden performing #YNWA at the @TakeThat gig at Anfield in 2019 ❤️ #RIPGerryMarsden pic.twitter.com/X9bI1jPCyP

— Chris Chambers (@CapitalChambo) January 3, 2021

Kiss’ Gene Simmons doubles down on “rock is dead” remarks

Gene Simmons has doubled down on previous comments he made about the state of rock music.

READ MORE: Kiss – five times the glam titans gave rock ‘n’ roll to us all

In 2014, the Kiss bassist accused record labels of failing to adequately support rock artists and declared the rock genre to be “finally dead”.

Simmons doubled down on the claims in a new interview, saying there are popular bands but that doesn’t mean they’re “iconic and legacy and for all-time”.

“Rock is dead. And that’s because new bands haven’t taken the time to create glamour, excitement and epic stuff,” Simmons told Gulf News. “I mean, Foo Fighters is a terrific band, but that’s a 20-year-old band. So you can go back to 1958 until 1988. That’s 30 years. During that time, we had Elvis [Presley], The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, Rolling Stones, on and on.

He continued: “In disco, you had Madonna, and then you had your hard rock, you had AC/DC, maybe us, a few others. Motown, all that great music. From 1988, until today, that’s more than 30 years. Tell me who the new Beatles is. You can’t. There are popular bands. BTS is very popular. All kinds of bands are very popular. That doesn’t mean iconic and legacy and for all-time. It’s different.”

Asked if he thinks any of today’s acts will be considered iconic in another 30 years, Simmons replied: “I doubt it. Because the singularity that was The Beatles is a band that wrote their own songs, arranged it themselves, produced it themselves, mostly played all their own instruments. No backing tracks. No digital enhancement. No vocal correctness. Yeah, not gonna happen again.

“You know, the modern artists rely so much on technology. You may not be able to recognise the artist if they record themselves singing in the shower. You’d be shocked. And none of the rappers play instruments. Don’t write songs. They write words. But chords, melodies, harmonies and stuff. It doesn’t mean that rap isn’t important. It’s very important. But it ain’t The Beatles.”

Elsewhere in the interview Simmons spoke about some of his favourite contemporary pop artists, listing the likes of Billie Eilish and Lady Gaga.

“I think Billie Eilish is fantastic,” he said. “She’s interesting because she and her brother actually write the material and are unique to themselves. Lady Gaga is fantastic in the female category. She writes her own material, she can sing like nobody’s business. But she actually is a musician, writes her own songs, plays piano, she can actually do that.

“The rest of the world reacts to a lot of the pop divas, although mostly they don’t write their own songs and can’t play an instrument. And by the way, that’s okay, too. It doesn’t matter what you like. But it ain’t The Beatles.”

Last week, Simmons shared a photo of the band wearing face masks and urged their fans to do the same.

Simmons posted the picture of the band without their conventional face paint while travelling to their forthcoming New Year’s Eve show in Dubai.

“Wear your masks. Even if it’s only as a courtesy. If you yawn, or sneeze, you don’t think twice about covering your mouth. Do the rest of us a favour! Mask Up! … Besides, it looks cool,” he wrote.

Meanwhile, Kiss have teamed up with Dead Sled Coffee to launch their own coffee flavour, set to arrive this year.

Kylie Minogue releases Studio 2054 remix of ‘Real Groove’ featuring Dua Lipa

Kylie Minogue has released a new rendition of her track ‘Real Groove’, remixed as part of Dua Lipa’s recent Studio 2054 livestream.

Released today (December 31), the remix features added instrumentation and a slightly more upbeat tempo, as well as vocals from Lipa. It arrives after Minogue made an appearance on the Studio 2054 livestream last month, where she performed ‘Real Groove’. Elton John and FKA Twigs were also guests on the livestream.

READ MORE: Dua Lipa live at Studio 2054: a big night in with a pop great who excels at escapism

Listen to the Studio 2054 remix of ‘Real Groove’ below:

‘Real Groove’ is lifted from Minogue’s November record, ‘Disco’. Upon its release, NME gave the album a four-star review, describing it as her “most consistent and enjoyable album in a decade”.

“The result is a consistently uplifting set that feels like Minogue’s best album since 2010’s ‘Aphrodite’. Her sister Dannii is rumoured to have claimed that ‘Minogues don’t sweat’. In that case, let’s say that ‘Disco’ shimmers with a warm glittery glow that’s just irresistible.”

Minogue will also be re-streaming her Infinite Disco concert for New Year’s Eve, starting from 9pm GMT. The stream will feature previously-unreleased behind-the-scenes footage of how the show was put together. Tickets will be discounted for fans who viewed the initial livestream back in October.

LadBaby score third consecutive Christmas Number One

LadBaby have scored their third consecutive Christmas Number One single with ‘Don’t Stop Me Eatin’’.

YouTuber Mark Hoyle and his wife Roxanne first reached the top of the festive charts in 2018 with ‘We Built This City’, following up with more success with ‘I Love Sausage Rolls’ in 2019.

Read more: Seasonably rich: here’s how much musicians make from our favourite Christmas songs

Their latest single beat the likes of Mariah Carey, Wham!, and The Kunts’ Boris Johnson protest song to the top spot. ‘Don’t Stop Me Eatin’’ sold 158,000 copies in its first week to secure the Number One position, making it the fastest-selling single of the year. Proceeds from the single went to foodbank charity The Trussell Trust.

The track’s success also means LadBaby now join The Beatles and Spice Girls as the only acts who have scored three Christmas Number Ones in UK chart history.

In a statement to the Official Charts Company, LadBaby said: “From the bottom of our hearts, we just want to say thank you again to everybody. We can’t believe that, a third year on, we’ve had so much support yet again. We’re trying to raise money for an amazing cause, so thank you. Merry Christmas to everyone and don’t stop believin’ – that things are going to get better. 2021 is going to be better for everyone.”

Finishing just behind ‘Don’t Stop Eatin’’ was Mariah Carey’s ‘All I Want For Christmas Is You’ at Number Two and Wham!’s ‘Last Christmas’ at Number Three. Jess Glynne’s cover of Donny Hathaway’s ‘This Christmas’ placed at Number Four.

The Kunts’ ‘Boris Johnson Is A Fucking Cunt’ landed at Number Five after a last-minute push to get it to the top of the Christmas charts in response to the Prime Minister’s U-turn on coronavirus Christmas restrictions last weekend (December 20).

Meanwhile, in the Official UK Albums Chart, Paul McCartney took the top spot with his new solo album ‘McCartney III’, which was released last week (December 18).

“I just want to say Happy Christmas, Happy New Year, and a big thank you to everyone who helped get my record to Number One in the album charts,” told the Official Charts Company.

Uncut’s Best New Albums Of 2020

50 MARGO PRICE
That’s How Rumors Get Started
LOMA VISTA
Recording in Hollywood with Sturgill Simpson in the producer’s chair, the Midwest farmer’s daughter tried her hand at a West Coast pop album for her third LP. Rather than country confessionals, then, here were 10 songs taking in Heartbreakers-esque new wave, gospel and prime Fleetwood Mac. Complete with a more oblique, lyrical voice from Price, the result was another step forward for a musician who respects tradition but has never been shackled by it.

49 GWENIFER RAYMOND
Strange Lights Over Garth Mountain
TOMPKINS SQUARE
A fearsome live performer, foregoing chat for instrumental acoustic guitar intensity, Gwenifer Raymond in 2020 made the album that gave recorded shape to her uncompromising approach. Grown in ambition, if not noticeably in length from her 2018 debut, Garth Mountain drew both on the rabbit skulls and damp moss of British folk horror, and also a compositional wisdom that broadened the horizon of her American Primitive twang.

48 THE NECKS
Three
ReR MEGACORP
Normally, The Necks appear to simply roll up to the studio, record an hour’s music, and roll out. For this entertaining and accessible album, the Australian acoustic improvising trio (“jazz” doesn’t get it somehow) split their work into three 20-minute compositions. “Bloom”, a rattling yet spacious noise, threw back to the mesmeric charms of their classic Drive By. “Lovelock” explored creepier post-industrial ambience, while “Further” again returned to a groovy, percussive chatter.

47 WORKING MEN’S CLUB
Working Men’s Club
HEAVENLY
Like LCD Soundsystem or Fat White Family before them, this Todmorden collective combine dance rhythms and post-punk awkwardness to fine effect. They were signed as a guitar band, but swiftly reconfigured for this, their debut, with some of its best tracks growing from frontman Sydney Minsky-Sargeant’s electronic demos. With Sheffield legend Ross Orton producing, the likes of “White Rooms And People” and “Valleys” suggested Mark E Smith collaborating with New Order.

46 ROGER & BRIAN ENO
Mixing Colours
DEUTSCHE GRAMMOFON
The brothers Eno have long exchanged music files, but it was only this year that the policy resulted in a full-length album. Obviously with this being an ambient album where all the tracks are named after naturally occurring colours, a part of you possibly imagines that this must be like listening to posh paint dry. In fact, it’s a lovely partnership that harmonises beautifully with recent Brian work – some of the reverberations familiar, but the tunes a pleasing set of frosted miniatures. A companion mini-album, Luminous, was also quietly radiant.

45 BRIGHT EYES
Down In The Weeds, Where The World Once Was
DEAD OCEANS
From the experimental opener “Pageturners Rag” to the gospel-tinged “Comet Song”, the trio’s first record since 2011’s The People’s Key recalled the opulent, unhinged creativity of their magnum opus, 2002’s Lifted…. Among these 14 tracks, there were electronic oddities (“Pan And Broom”), synthy new wave pop songs (“Mariana Trench”) and atmospheric piano ballads, the whole thing tied together by Conor Oberst’s playful, melancholic words.

44 EDDIE CHACON
Pleasure, Joy And Happiness
DAY END
Almost three decades after Charles & Eddie’s “Would I Lie To You?”, the duo’s surviving half returned with this masterful record of adventurous electronic R&B. It’s no grandstanding reappearance; rather, the mood is beautifully low-key, with keyboards warm and woozy, percussion subtle and mostly electronic, and Chacon’s voice tender and emotive. Underlining his status – that of a cult legend finally coming in from the cold – production came from John Carroll Kirby, collaborator with Frank Ocean and Solange.

43 SARAH DAVACHI
Cantus, Descant
LATE MUSIC
In 2020, Davachi offered strong private work from lockdown – her lo-fi “Gathers” cassette a set of site-specific works in progress – and two further EPs, but this album felt like it was the most substantial statement of her year. Geological of pace, these organ/keyboard drones were immersive in scale, contemplative in nature, and joined Davachi’s canon as a deeply empathetic work of haunting secular power. The singing was a new development, which hinted at new avenues to be explored – some of them Lynchian.

42 RÓISÍN MURPHY
Róisín Machine
SKINT/BMG
The former Moloko singer emerged as one of the heroes of lockdown, her exuberant living-room livestream – complete with impressively styled-out pratfall – putting other artists’ acoustic performances to shame. Subsequent album Róisín Machine felt like her definitive statement, a joyous update of classic disco and house manoeuvres, injected with maverick charisma and the emotion of hard-won experience.

41 KEELEY FORSYTH
Debris
THE LEAF LABEL
As an actor, Keeley Forsyth may be known to you from her appearances in popular dramas like TV’s Happy Valley. Her voice, centre stage in this startling collection of songs, will be less familiar. Powerful and individual, Debris is as otherworldly in sound as Anonhi, but as drawn irresistibly to craggy outcrops as that performer is to the dancefloor. Arranged for string section or discreet laptronics, Forsyth’s songs sit like statuary: starkly and impressively against
the landscape.

40 BRIGID DAWSON & THE MOTHERS NETWORK
Ballet Of Apes
CASTLE FACE
A sometime member of John Dwyer’s Oh Sees, Brigid Dawson delivered in July a solo debut that displayed some of that band’s enjoyment of antique sounds (deep reverbs, sedate organ) but pursued them into far quieter realms. A stately singer-songwriter album poised between folky, countrified and chamber modes, the album in its later stages (check out the title track) expanded out into a warm and reflective jazz.

39 THE PSYCHEDELIC FURS
Made Of Rain
COOKING VINYL
One of the year’s most welcome surprises, the Furs’ first studio album in 29 years was every bit as good as ’80s high points like Talk Talk Talk and Forever Now. Realising that radical reinvention at this point in the career may not be necessary, Made Of Rain brought into focus the band’s gifts for twin saxophone-and-guitar attack, impressionistic lyrics and the wonderfully sardonic delivery of frontman Richard Butler.

38 BONNY LIGHT HORSEMAN
Bonny Light Horseman
37d03d
Brought together by Justin Vernon and Aaron Dessner, this collaborative project from Anaïs Mitchell, Eric D Johnson, and Josh Kaufman reinterpreted the traditional songbook for our perilous times. Drawing from English, Irish and Appalachian folk music, the trio recast lover’s laments, war ballads and more as existential, eternal dramas, full of humanity and heartbreak. The trio’s spacious arrangements, harmony choruses and subtle embellishments amplified the songs’ emotional punch.

37 SPARKS
A Steady Drip, Drip, Drip
BMG
“So much now needs addressing,” sang Russell Mael on Sparks’s 24th album. “So much is depressing…” The brothers, unsurprisingly, took it upon themselves to set the world to rights on these 14 songs: their tongue-in-cheek targets included modern technology (“iPhone”), suburban obsessions (“Lawnmower”) and even poor Igor Fyodorovich (“Stravinsky’s Only Hit”). The warmth and humanity at the heart of the Maels’ work, not to mention their operatic, day-glo tunes, ensured that Drip stands as one of the duo’s recent high-water marks.

36 DESTROYER
Have We Met
DEAD OCEANS
Dan Bejar’s 13th album as Destroyer was his most accessible to date, polishing the plush synthpop of 2011’s Kaputt to a glimmering sheen. Lyrically, of course, it remained a postmodern puzzle – “a circus mongrel sniffing for clues” – but once you’d tuned into his frequency, Bejar revealed visions of apocalyptic dread and heart-rending poignancy, all wrapped up in the continuing belief that music is the one true religion, expressed via knowing winks to The Smiths and New Order.

35 SHABAKA & THE ANCESTORS
We Are Sent Here By History
IMPULSE!
Cementing his status as a modern-day jazz kingpin, this is Shabaka Hutchings’ third consecutive entry in Uncut’s annual Top 50, each with a different band. But whereas Sons Of Kemet and The Comet Is Coming pinned you to the wall with their kinetic intensity, this second team-up with South African ensemble The Ancestors was an earthy and solemn affair, Hutchings’ snaking sax providing an insistent counterpoint to Siyabonga Mthembu’s revolutionary poetry.

34 ROSE CITY BAND
Summerlong
THRILL JOCKEY
A solo project by Ripley Johnson from Wooden Shjips/Moon Duo, RCB have mapped the lesser-spotted genealogical link between the road music of German motorik, Canned Heat and trucker country. In this context, this year’s Summerlong felt like an agreeable rest stop, with lazy slide guitars and a nod to funk offsetting the moments – like the dust-kicking “Real Long Gone” –in which Johnson showed off some tidy Bakersfield chops.

33 BANANAGUN
The True Story Of Bananagun
FULL TIME HOBBY
Helmed by Nicholas Van Bakel, this Melbourne troupe are following the tropical psychedelic path hacked out by Caetano Veloso, Gal Costa and others. Their debut showed that they share a manic energy and restless creativity with their compatriots in King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard, yet their influences also stretched to The Incredible String Band, Fela Kuti and Dorothy Ashby on the turbo-charged “People Talk Too Much” and acid-funk groover “Freak Machine”.

32 THE FLAMING LIPS
American Head
BELLA UNION
After a decade of experimentation, the Lips returned to more graceful, accessible songwriting on their 16th LP. Kacey Musgraves was along for the ride as the group examined what it means to be an ‘American band’; but the album truly succeeded because Wayne Coyne and Steven Drozd were looking back wistfully and openly on their teenage years and the troubles experienced by them and their wayward relatives. Their finest since Yoshimi…

31 AFEL BOCOUM
Lindé
WORLD CIRCUIT
“Our social security is music,” the singer-songwriter told Uncut earlier this year. “That’s all we’ve got left.” On perhaps his finest album, and something of a spiritual follow-up to his 1999 debut Alkibar, Bocoum summoned up Mali’s traditional music to call for unity in his troubled country. With Damon Albarn co-producing, though, it wasn’t all trad: there were electric guitars, Joan Wasser on violin and drumming from Tony Allen in oneof his final performances.

30 CORNERSHOP
England Is A Garden
AMPLE PLAY
Perfectly timed to deodorise an unpleasant waft of bad vibes across the nation, England Is A Garden was the best album in nigh on two decades from this perennially undervalued British institution. Tjinder Singh and Ben Ayers’ winning recipe for
lifting spirits involved a singular combination of flute funk, Punjabi folk and Bolan boogie, topped off with a jaunty ska singalong about racial profiling.

29 SONGHOY BLUES
Optimisme
TRANSGRESSIVE
With producer Matt Sweeney encouraging the band to up the tempos and power, Bamako’s greatest rock group hit hard on their stripped-down third album. The piledriving rhythms and distorted riffs, sometimes akin to Thin Lizzy jamming with Ali Farke Touré, were immediately thrilling, but the melodies and vocals ultimately proved more infectious; meanwhile, the translated lyrics showed Songhoy to be a positive and revolutionary force for change in Mali.

28 LUCINDA WILLIAMS
Good Souls Better Angels
HIGHWAY 20/THIRTY TIGERS
Although Williams returned to live in Nashville this year, her 14th studio album was anything but comfortable: here, recording live in the studio with her road band, the singer and songwriter was snarling and passionate, whether dressing down Trump on “Man Without A Soul” or searching for strength on the closing, seven-and-a-half-minute “Good Souls”, her voice earthier and more emotive than ever. 41 years on from her debut, Williams remains utterly compelling.

27 KEVIN MORBY
Sundowner
MARE/WOODSIST
Hard to imagine a more likeable singer-songwriter mode than that presented by Kevin Morby. On Sundowner, his horizontal and lightly-conceptual sixth, the sometime Woods man inhabits the croon of Nashville Skyline, the bibulous wisdom of Leonard Cohen, even (on “Wander”) the lilt of Kendrick Lamar – all while never endangering his own voice. This was calm and meditative guitar songwriting, quietly focused on the quiet bummer at its heart.

26 ROLLING BLACKOUTS CF
Sideways To New Italy
SUB POP
After the rush of their debut, Rolling Blackouts felt no inclination to slow down. Still dealing in brisk, melodic indie rock, instead the band deepened their impact: the lyrical touches in their suburban dramas more telling; the piling of melodies still more effective. Fran Kearney’s continuing ability to nail formative experience (“Cameo”, “Sunglasses At The Wedding”) grew in confidence, while guitarists Joe White and Tom Russo nailed their first classics.

25 NUBYA GARCIA
Source
CONCORD JAZZ
Acknowledged as a key instigator of the new UK jazz explosion, the Camden-born saxophonist finally got around to releasing her terrific solo debut this year after telling contributions to albums by Maisha, Nérija and others. Her generous, soulful tone already well-established, she set about exploring her Caribbean heritage, deftly folding in elements of dub, soca and cumbia.

24 MOSES SUMNEY
Græ
JAGJAGUWAR
Released in two parts in the first half of this year, Sumney’s second album left behind the muted, stripped-back feel of
his 2017 debut, Aromanticism, for a bold, maximalist explosion of colour. Spanning 20 songs, and featuring contributions from Daniel Lopatin, James Blake and Jill Scott, Græ found Sumney impressively combining his stellar vocals with explosive electronics, avant-garde textures, orchestral and jazz arrangements and moody funk.

23 PAUL WELLER
On Sunset
ISLAND
If the Weller of 2018 continued to draw strength, in his own way, from English folk traditions, string arrangements and what we might call “the Nick Drake vibe”, this year’s model cast the net far wider. Oh yes, there was still “Ploughman”, an oo-arrr Ronnie Lane romp, but elsewhere Wellers past and future collided as he investigated funk and soul, even (on tunes like the great “More”) German motorik. Staunch.

22 FIONA APPLE
Fetch The Bolt Cutters
EPIC/CLEAN SLATE
Eight years after The Idler Wheel…, Apple returned with this loose and magnificent fifth album. With much of it recorded by Apple herself at her Venice Beach home, and featuring copious percussion and the barking of her beloved dogs, …Bolt Cutters was raw and emotive; like, say, Lennon’s Plastic Ono Band, that rough setting proved to be the perfect backdrop for Apple’s dynamic voice and her compelling songs of struggle and hope.

21 JAMES ELKINGTON
Ever-Roving Eye
PARADISE OF BACHELORS
The Chicago-based English guitarist has, like his friend Joan Shelley, found new areas to explore in that most over-mined tradition, acoustic singer-songwriting. On his second solo album, assisted by the likes of Spencer Tweedy and The Weather Station’s Tamara Lindeman, Elkington mixed the swinging picking of Nick Drake and John Renbourn with his own wry and subtle musings. The title track, meanwhile, introduced dronier, more psychedelic leanings.

20 BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN
Letter To You
COLUMBIA
Back with the E Street Band for the first time on record since 2014, Letter To You was – in Steve Van Zandt’s words – “the fourth part of an autobiographical summation of [Springsteen’s] life”, after his memoir, the Broadway show and Western Stars album. The dominant themes here were faith, music and comradeship – delivered in euphoric, stadium-sized chunks by his reinvigorated cohorts. The addition of three previously unrecorded early-’70s songs neatly emphasised the ongoing nature of Springsteen’s musical mission.

19 BRIGID MAE POWER
Head Above The Water
FIRE
Since her 2016 debut, I Told You The Truth, Power has been combining folk music with defiant, confessional songwriting and haunting, musical drones. For her third album, the addition of a modest-sized band brought warmth and extra texture to her songs, blending elements of jazz, country and even psychedelia with her voice – otherworldly, hypnotic and as powerfully transcendent as ever.

18 FRAZEY FORD
U Kin B The Sun
ARTS AND CRAFTS
As a songwriter, the former Be Good Tanya has built upon her intimate version of Southern soul, investing U Kin B The Sun with sun-lit piano-driven grooves and a folk-country lilt. Although this album came freighted with Ford’s personal emotions – the death of her brother, her fractious relationship with her parents, break-ups – her positivity endured. “There is beauty in this world/So hold it any way you know how,” she sang. Amen.

17 SAULT
Untitled (Black Is)
FOREVER LIVING ORIGINALS
Having released two intriguing albums in 2019, the anonymous neo-soul collective – believed to include Michael Kiwanuka collaborator Dean “Inflo” Josiah, plus vocalists Cleo Sol and Melissa “Kid Sister” Young – really seized the day with this urgent 20-track opus, written in response to the killing of George Floyd and released just three weeks later on the Juneteenth holiday. A multifaceted work of elegant defiance, they followed it up in September with the equally essential Untitled (Rise).

16 STEPHEN MALKMUS
Traditional Techniques
DOMINO
“Top of the bill in Blackpool/Come and see us shred…” The eighth Malkmus album drew deeply and delightfully on some of his own traditional techniques: chiefly wry observation. Elsewhere, though, it curated a virtual festival in British folk-rock circa 1969/70. 12-string guitars, flute and nods to Eastern modes gave the whole a slightly dank Led Zeppelin III vibe that was customarily deadpan and irresistible.

15 FONTAINES DC
A Hero’s Death
PARTISAN
After the bright promise of their debut, the Dublin band’s second album showed a darker flowering of their talents into a rowdy and percussive post-punk. Kudos then to hyperactive FDC singer Grian Chatten – the romantic hero of this particular drama – in particular for locating the melodies that would turn this reverberating guitar abstraction into something epic and memorable.

14 COURTNEY MARIE ANDREWS
Old Flowers
LOOSE/FAT POSSUM
Having spent half a lifetime crafting elegant and delicate songs, the prolific Andrews reached a creative peak with Old Flowers, her seventh album. Ostensibly a break-up record – “you can’t water old flowers” – Andrews delivered her ruminations on lost love against a backdrop of gospel-inflected country-soul. Her message was forgiveness and compassion, delivered with understated grace, her voice moving elegantly from zen-like acceptance to trembling tenderness.

13 TAME IMPALA
The Slow Rush
WARP
Kevin Parker’s journey from slacker guitar burnout to laptop Brian Wilson has been one of the stranger and more enthralling stories of the last decade or so. The first Tame Impala album for five years found Parker almost precisely halfway between Air (1970s soft-rock tunes and diaphanous atmospheres) and Daft Punk (buzzing noises, driving beats). Soft to the touch sonically, the sweetness of the tunes helped the Frank Ocean-style confessionals at Parker’s sad disco slip down even easier.

12 MOSES BOYD
Dark Matter
EXODUS
The title’s double meaning – reflecting Moses Boyd’s interest in both astronomy and the plight of the African diaspora – also alluded to an intriguing duality in the music. Boyd is a producer as well as a virtuoso jazz drummer, and the Mercury-nominated Dark Matter expertly combined fiery live takes with programmed beats and synthy atmospherics. The result sometimes brought to mind ’80s Miles Davis or Jeff Mills’ recent EP with Tony Allen, but with a distinct London edge that tilted towards UK garage and broken beat.

11 JASON ISBELL
Reunions
SOUTHEASTERN
Now seven albums into his solo career, Isbell continued the purple patch that began on 2013’s Southeastern with what might be his richest, subtlest album to date. His loyal group The 400 Unit played a blinder, their performances funky and spacious on opener “What’ve I Done To Help” and sensitive on the atmospheric “River” and “St Peter’s Autograph”; yet it’s Isbell’s songs, both politically and emotionally aware, that were the real jewels here.

10 LAURA MARLING
Song For Our Daughter
CHRYSALIS/PARTISAN
After her exploratory Lump project with Tunng’s Mike Lindsay, Marling tiptoed back to a sort of classicism for her seventh record: while influences include Leonard Cohen on “Alexandra” and Paul McCartney on “Blow By Blow”, the stately sophistication of these 10 songs was testament to Marling’s talents alone. There were no reinventions here, just the songwriter stripped back to the essence of her art.

9 SHIRLEY COLLINS
Heart’s Ease
DOMINO
Eighty-five years young, England’s greatest living folk singer here truly regained the voice that sat dormant for decades, making a record that stood up to her late-’60s and early-’70s marvels. Collins is still an adventurer, too: she tried out a few songs written by her nephew and ex-husband alongside the trad.arr tunes, while the closing “Crowlink” bravely placed her among field recordings and experimental electronic drones.

8 JARV IS…
Beyond The Pale
ROUGH TRADE
Forming a bona fide band for the first time since Pulp’s dissolution in 2002 clearly reinvigorated Jarvis Cocker. On this debut LP, he and his group – including Serafina Steer and Jason Buckle – presented seven epic songs that touched on krautrock, house and dub, and were developed and recorded at live gigs over the past couple of years. Above it all, Cocker examined our cave-dwelling past, the curse of nostalgia and the detritus of broken lives on some of his deepest lyrics.

7 BILL CALLAHAN
Gold Record
DRAG CITY
Many of Callahan’s albums seem to come with difficult labours, but Gold Record, his second album in two years, almost waltzed in, feeling fresh and natural. It’s been an organic transition for the songwriter, now very much the settled and happy family man, and though some may pine for that tortured misanthrope of the Smog years, the likes of “Pigeons”, “Ry Cooder” and “As I Wander” were pinnacles of wry wisdom and storytelling.

6 WAXAHATCHEE
Saint Cloud
MERGE
Sobriety brought Katie Crutchfield back to her Americana roots on this, her fifth album. Like Lucinda Williams, one of her inspirations, here she filtered country through a gnarlier indie lens, singing of her struggles with recovery, growing up and relationships. Eventually, on “Witches”, a lilting, harmony-laden highlight of this subtly phenomenal record, Crutchfield discovered that the struggle is the point of it all.

5 THUNDERCAT
It Is What It Is
WARP
Bass virtuoso and Kendrick veteran Stephen Bruner continued his journey into the furthest reaches of exploded fusion. Seeming to chronicle the boom-bust cycle of a love affair, his fourth album was composed of short pieces (the better, perhaps, to accommodate busy electronica, hard ’70s grooves and sweet soft rock) but visionary and unified in scope, floating on Thundercat’s falsetto and the sweetly candid nature of his lyrics. Joining him on the mind-expanding mission were guest stars Steve Arrington and the idiosyncratic rapper Lil B.

4 DRIVE-BY TRUCKERS
The New OK
ANTI-
Events in 2020 moved so fast that the year needed two Drive-By Truckers albums to tackle them all: The Unraveling in late January and The New OK in December. Both albums were full of fury about the state of America, addressing school shootings, the demonisation of immigrants, the opioid addiction and sundry madness from the American Scream. Following 2016’s American Band, Drive-By Truckers have gone from being a great band to an important one: we need them now, more than ever.

3 PHOEBE BRIDGERS
Punisher
DEAD OCEANS
The finest songwriters develop their own singular voice, and Los Angeles’ Phoebe Bridgers has certainly done that in the six years since her first single. Like, say, Bill Callahan or frequent collaborator Conor Oberst, her musings on sex and death flow organically but with a rare power and playfulness. Her second album Punisher was her strongest work to date, the hallucinatory mix of electronics and eerie chamber folk propelling highlights such as the title track, “Chinese Satellite” and “Moon Song”.

2 FLEET FOXES
Shore
ANTI-
A wonderful surprise, not just because of its sudden appearance on the autumn equinox, but because Robin Pecknold sounded like a man reborn, matching the wide-eyed folksy innocence of the Fleet Foxes’ classic debut to gleaming pop production. Despite lyrics touching on isolation, depression and loss – “Sunblind” paid tribute to Richard Swift, David Berman and others very much missed – Shore was relentlessly sunny and optimistic, a celebration of nature both wild and human.

1 BOB DYLAN
Rough And Rowdy Ways
COLUMBIA
If nothing else, 2020 has proven how resilient music can be. Despite the vicissitudes of the pandemic, hearteningly, good music has found a way to endure – on record at least. As our poll demonstrates, our team of writers have zoned in on the rich seam of creativity running through 2020, finding comfort in familiar friends like Fleet Foxes, Bill Callahan, Drive-By Truckers (twice), Stephen Malkmus and Paul Weller while also searching diligently for the new and innovative: Sault, Nubya Garcia, Sarah Davchi and Bananagun among them. Some songwriters have released their best records yet – Frazey Ford, Brigid Mae Power, Courtney Marie Andrews, Phoebe Bridgers – while artists who we considered newcomers just a short while ago, such as Fontaines DC, Margo Price and Shabaka Hutchings, have settled themselves firmly at our top table.

It is, perhaps, no surprise that the artist who defined 2020 for us was Bob Dylan – hitting the No 1 spot for a record-setting third time in our Albums Of The Year. Heralded by “Murder Most Foul” in March – an elegiac, 17-minute song ostensibly about the assassination of John F Kennedy – Rough And Rowdy Ways was a ferocious, urgent, marauding album that felt almost supernaturally relevant to the present. Arguably, of course, Dylan’s most prized albums have always arrived at fraught moments. But with this, his 39th studio album, he seemed to have found new, invigorating ways of illuminating American history and reflecting it against the present day. The ghosts of the 20th century – Buster Keaton, Walt Whitman and General Patton among them – coexisted with spirits from earlier civilisations, all of whom had something to say, in their own oblique ways, about today. Dylan’s point? History is cyclical; societies emerge, flourish, decline. Not bad going, then, for a man last seen peddling his own brand of whiskey.

What Rough And Rowdy Ways ultimately demonstrated, though, was Dylan’s continuing capacity – as he approaches his 80th birthday – to confound and delight us. Who else is there, this far into their careers, who has that ability? A remarkable achievement; a remarkable album. “The last of the best/ You can bury the rest”, he sang on “False Prophet”. He wasn’t far off.

Paul McCartney has been listening to Dominic Fike, St Vincent and Khruangbin

Paul McCartney has shared some of his recent musical obsessions, including Dominic Fike and St. Vincent.

The Beatles legend released his new solo album ‘McCartney III’ last week (December 18) and was hosting a Q&A session on Reddit when a fan asked about his recent listening habits.

READ MORE: Paul McCartney: read the exclusive track-by-track story of ‘McCartney III’

“Hi Paul! Love the new album!” a fan wrote. “My question is about the music that inspires you now. Are there any newer (or older) artists that you listen to? Any artists that you fancy collaborating with?”

In response, McCartney wrote: “I’m lucky, I have a friend who sends me new music which helps me keep in touch with the modern scene.

So I listen to people like Dominic Fike, Beck, St Vincent and Khruangbin. I also listen to a lot of classic oldies coming through, from rock’n’roll to 60’s to soul to r’n’b, with a sprinkling of classical music now and then.

Responding to the shoutout on her Instagram Stories, St Vincent wrote: “PAUL MCCARTNEY SAYS HE LISTENS TO ME (?!)”

Reviewing new album ‘McCartney III’, NME wrote: “If future archaeologists take this three-album series as a significant marker of his solo half-century, they’ll conclude that Paul McCartney never stopped liberating.”

In a new interview, McCartney said that he still wonders about whether The Beatles would’ve ever reunited had John Lennon lived.

The 40th anniversary of Lennon’s death fell earlier this month. The musician was shot and killed outside his apartment building in New York on December 8, 1980.

“The question is: would we have ever got back together again?” McCartney said. Pressed for an answer, the musician replied: “I don’t know. We don’t know.”

A guitar signed by Paul McCartney and Idris Elba has gone up for charity auction

A guitar signed by Paul McCartney and Idris Elba has gone up for auction to benefit the S.T.O.R.M charity.

McCartney and Elba recently filmed a BBC special together to mark the release of the former’s new solo album ‘McCartney III’.

While filming, the pair signed a Cort-made acoustic guitar that they played during the show, which aired on the BBC last weekend.

McCartney’s message reads “Hey Idris! Cheers Thanks, Paul McCartney 2020”, while Elba wrote: “Wow!! Keep Safe!! Idris Elba”.

I shared the stage with @PaulMcCartney and the result.. I got this signed guitar to auction with proceeds going to @MarieMBESTORM charity for domestic violence that @Sabrinadhowre and I support
In the UK, watch tonight @BBCOne 9.20pm
Be kind people https://t.co/TuOCtgozvj pic.twitter.com/DqJyaOdHDJ

— Idris Elba (@idriselba) December 19, 2020

The guitar has now gone up for auction in aid of the charity S.T.O.R.M, which provides support and shelter to those suffering from domestic abuse. There has been a significant rise in cases of domestic abuse over the coronavirus-enforced lockdown, and the funds raised from the guitar auction will immediately aid those in need during this holiday season.

S.T.O.R.M will receive 100% of the proceeds from the Dawsons-conducted auction, which is currently ongoing and is set to end at 7pm on January 1.

As of 1pm on December 22, the bidding is at £5200 – well exceeding the initial £500 – £1,000 estimate.

Last weekend, McCartney remembered his late Beatles bandmate John Lennon in an interview with CBS’ Sunday Morning programme.

McCartney reflected on the tragedy of Lennon’s murder (“it was just so senseless”) and gave his view on whether Lennon would still be making music if he were alive today.

“Yeah. He was showing no signs of slowing up. You know, he was still making great music,” McCartney said in regards to Lennon’s successful solo career at the time of his death 40 years ago.

Paul McCartney slams idea that wearing face masks infringes on civil liberties: “That is stupid”

In a new interview, Paul McCartney has criticised people who say wearing face masks is an infringement on their civil liberties.

Speaking to CBS Sunday Morning on the occasion of his new album ‘McCartney III’, McCartney told journalist Seth Doane, “When people sort of say, ‘Wearing masks is infringing on my civil liberties,’ I say, ‘No. That is stupid.’”

Doane noted that both he and McCartney had been tested for COVID-19 prior to sitting down for the interview, and that McCartney had done almost no other in-person interviews to promote the record.

Watch the interview below:

Over the weekend, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced a new Tier 4 level of restrictions to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Residents of London, the South East and East of England are required to stay at home, with limited exemptions, until at least December 30.

Elsewhere in the CBS interview, McCartney discussed his relationship with John Lennon, saying it is still “difficult” to process his fatal shooting 40 years on.

“It’s very difficult for me. I occasionally will have thoughts: why don’t I just break down crying every day? Because it’s that bad,” he said.

“There will be times when I have memories and think, oh my god. It was so senseless.”

READ MORE: Paul McCartney – ‘McCartney III’ review: an unpredictable quest of musical evolution

Were Lennon still alive, McCartney is confident he would still be writing music today.

“He was showing no signs of slowing up. He was still making great music. The question is: would we have ever got back together again? I don’t know. We don’t know,” he told CBS.

“We were friends. That was one of the great things about it. I don’t know how I would have dealt with it. I don’t think I’ve dealt with it very well. I wouldn’t be surprised if a psychiatrist would sort of find out I was slightly in denial. Because it’s too much.”

McCartney released his latest album, ‘McCartney III’, last week, recorded during lockdown (or ‘rockdown’, as he calls it). The new LP marks the third and final instalment in the ‘McCartney’ solo album trilogy. NME gave the record a four-star review upon its release, labelling it “a stellar return to his three-decade-spanning series”.

McCartney also recently released a music video for the album cut ‘Find My Way’, which was directed by Roman Coppola and used 46 cameras to capture him performing every instrument on the song.

Last week, McCartney talked about his ambivalence about headlining Glastonbury next year, calling the festival a potential “super-spreader”.

“People have started to find ways [of live performing] with Zoom and with socially distanced things,” he told The Sun. “But for a thing like Glastonbury where you’ve got over 100,000 people packed into a field, that’s a super-spreader, you know.

“But I’ll be glad when we can get back – it will be a nice change to actually play to some people.”

Pharrell says songs on Justin Timberlake’s ‘Justified’ were written for Michael Jackson

Pharrell Williams has claimed that “all but one” of the tracks on Justin Timberlake‘s debut album, ‘Justified’, were originally written for Michael Jackson.

Speaking on Revolt TV podcast Drink Champs, Pharrell revealed that he was regularly sending beats to both Jackson and Prince, apparently without success.

“John McClain was his manager at the time,” the Neptunes producer explained. “We sent him pretty much all the stuff y’all are hearing on the ‘Justified’ album. That’s all the Michael stuff.”

According to Pharrell, almost every song on Timberlake’s 2002 debut was put together with Jackson in mind. “All but one song, they were all written for Michael,” he said.

The producer claimed Jackson wasn’t interested in the tracks on offer, suggesting that he wanted something closer in style to Pharrell’s 1998 N.O.R.E. collaboration.

“John McClain was like, ‘Man, Michael don’t want that shit,’” the ‘Entrepeneur’ singer told the host. “‘He want that shit you’re giving Noreaga… he want that ‘Superthug.’”

Pharrell on Drink Champs said most of the tracks for Justified were originally made for MJ and MJ’s manager hit them back like “Michael don’t wanna sing over this shit, he wants the shit you be giving NORE” lmao

— Kibbutzy Collins (@atrak) December 19, 2020

On Friday (December 18), Pharrell weighed in on the recent dispute between Taylor Swift and Scooter Braun, after the latter notoriously purchased the singer’s former record label and the master rights to her first six albums.

“It’s really unfortunate, you know,” he told Variety. “There was room for him to make his acquisition because that’s just the way the business is, and I felt for her and not being able to be in control of it.”

The N.E.R.D. man also unveiled a new non-profit initiative this month. Black Ambition will support Black and Latinx entrepreneurs.

Pharrell’s charity is said to be committed to levelling the playing field for non-white entrepreneurs by providing them with funding, opportunities, mentorships and access.

Paul McCartney says he didn’t recognise his guitar on Kanye West collaboration

Paul McCartney has admitted that he didn’t recognise his own guitar when he first heard his ‘FourFiveSeconds’ collaboration with Kanye West and Rihanna.

Read more: Paul McCartney – ‘McCartney III’ review: an unpredictable quest of musical evolution

The 2015 track, which has been covered by everyone from Drake to James Bay, peaked at Number Four on the US Billboard chart, and it helped McCartney set a record by ending the longest break between Top 10 singles on the chart.

Speaking on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on Thursday (December 17), McCartney said that he didn’t even know he was making a song at first.

“It was only two months later when I got a track sent to me,” McCartney said. “I didn’t think I’d done anything, but suddenly I got sent ‘FourFiveSeconds’ with Rihanna.”

He added: “I like that one. And I had to say, ‘Am I on this record?’ He said, ‘That’s you doing that guitar.’ So they’d sped it up so it wasn’t recognisable.”

Elsewhere during his appearance on Fallon, McCartney talked about being a self-taught musician.

“I wasn’t trained in anything. Nothing. I really wasn’t,” he said. “They tried to train us in stuff, but no, I didn’t get trained in anything. But there’s still time, I might learn. I might take lessons. Who would I take lessons from?”

McCartney released his new solo album ‘McCartney III’ earlier this month, the third in his trilogy of self-titled albums dating back to 1970.

Reviewing ‘McCartney III’, NME wrote: “If future archaeologists take this three-album series as a significant marker of his solo half-century, they’ll conclude that Paul McCartney never stopped liberating.”

Meanwhile, McCartney recently opened up about his friendship with John Lennon in a new interview.

Channel Tres Is Reaping The Rewards Of His Work — But He’s Not Satisfied Yet

By Jack Irvin

On the evening ahead of the release of his third EP, I Can’t Go Outside, you’d think Compton hip-house musician and producer Channel Tres would be getting ready to celebrate. Instead, he’s on his sixth hour in the studio, already working on his next project, for which he says this one is “just the precursor.” It’s that mighty work ethic and a dedication to honing his craft that have taken Tres all over the world — on tour with Robyn and Childish Gambino — as an independent artist with just a couple of EPs under his belt. In fact, prior to the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, he’d never really taken a break.

“This is kind of the first time I’ve been able to sit down for this long and not be on a plane or going somewhere else,” the 29-year-old tells MTV News over a phone call, mere hours before his project dropped on December 10. In the absence of touring, which has always been the main driver of his creative process, Tres has been forced to take a closer look at his surroundings. “It’s really easy sometimes when you’re doing music, or maybe any job, to ignore different problems you have because you could just fly somewhere and forget about it, but during this time I haven’t been able to ignore anything. I’ve been having to deal with things.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=diOwsWMHt10

Growing up in South Central Los Angeles, the musician born Sheldon Young immersed himself in the music of his church choir at a young age, later learning the drums and taking dance classes; at one point, he even joined a krumping group. Raised by his grandparents, Tres left high school early after his grandfather’s death to take care of his grandmother, who later passed as well. By his late teens, Tres was left unhoused and reliant on welfare. Feeling marginalized by his environment, he fled to Tulsa, Oklahoma, to study music at Oral Roberts University, working night shifts at Chick-fil-A to stay afloat. He came back to L.A. after college, began working as a touring DJ, and quickly found himself creating music in rooms with Kehlani, Duckwrth, Wale, and more. By the time his debut single “Controller” dropped in 2018, Channel Tres was already primed for success.

Fast forward to 2020. After years of constant touring (and picking up fans like Elton John along the way), the musician found himself stuck inside just like the rest of us. Channel Tres immediately got to work on I Can’t Go Outside, a seven-track set inspired by quarantine and the anxiety, loneliness, and global chaos he’s endured during it. At first, boredom was a main source of inspiration — especially for the groovy lead single “Skate Depot” and the project’s cover art, which sees Tres’s face peeking through a giant banana leaf. “I picked up skates for like one day. I learned how to play chess. I wanted to learn how to do the Rubik's Cube,” he details. “I’m just showing myself really bored and not having anything to do, so I put a leaf on my face.”

I Can’t Go Outside is the first project Tres has crafted without a performance in mind, and knowing live shows are out of the question for a while, he decided to leave his longtime apartment and purchase his first home — a major milestone, especially considering the struggles of his past. “It feels good. It’s a testament to consistency, and hard work, and just never giving up when obstacles come your way,” he says. “I hope that it inspires younger kids or any other artists who need to be inspired, ‘cause it took me a long time to get there, but the journey was well worth it.”

Clare Gillen

His environmental shift is accompanied by a sonic one, as the project strays from Tres’s signature crisp house sound to incorporate more hip-hop elements, a string section, and a self-described “aggressiveness” in its mixing.

“A lot of my stuff is polished, but this one I purposely didn’t polish all the way. 2020 wasn’t a polished year, and it doesn’t feel like I can just be that polished artist I want to be,” he says, describing the frustration he felt creating amid the Black Lives Matter protests earlier this summer. “When I made ‘Fuego,’ there was a lot of noise outside, rioting and that kind of stuff. You can hear it in the verse, I’m talking to myself: ‘It ain’t that bad. Why you scared of this shit? You ain’t that rare. You just a beat they gon’ flip. My n---a, get off your knees. It’s trash, ain’t it lit?’”

The track’s dark intensity reflected Tres’s headspace at the time, but those emotions were soon offset by an exciting text Tres received from Tyler, the Creator’s engineer asking if he had any tracks that would fit a guest verse from the rapper. He sent over “Fuego,” which Tyler quickly wrote on and sent back — a full-circle moment for Tres, whose remix of “Earfquake” elevated his own profile and became the first remix of a Tyler, the Creator track to ever receive an official release from the rapper. Also featured on I Can’t Go Outside is Tinashe, to whom he reached out for a verse on the soulful, uplifting “Take Your Time” after she posted a video jamming to his song “Topdown” in her car about a year prior. “I hit her up, and we just became cool. We made some music together. She’s a real fun person to work with,” he remarks, noting that there are “definitely” more tracks to come from the pair.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CIyU-8Ag5lB/

Channel Tres is yet to achieve mainstream success as it’s often defined (Billboard Hot 100 hits, RIAA certifications), but in an age when impressions are made online and not on the radio, the array of artists knocking on his door to collaborate is a clear indicator that he’s on the verge of something truly great. Earlier this year, he appeared on SG Lewis’s disco-house banger “Impact” alongside pop auteur Robyn, whom he now considers a mentor following his experience as an opener on her Honey tour in 2019. “I’ve learned a lot from her. I feel like she inspired me a lot during that time, and she just taught me little things. The way I work has changed, and the way I was performing changed,” he details. “She sees music a lot of the same ways I see it, so it’s nice to talk to someone as dope as her and be able to level on certain conversations about music.”

Aside from mentorship, there are many perks to being on the radar of the industry and its leading artists. During a celebratory dinner for Tres’s first London show in late 2018, his manager let him know that Disclosure had reached out with interest in a collaboration. A few months later, they got together to create the sticky, infectious “Lavender,” off of the duo’s latest album Energy. Nearly two years after the session, the project is nominated for Best Dance/Electronic Album at the 2021 Grammy Awards — an impressive feat for Tres, who says he's put in well over his 10,000 hours of practice. “Man, it feels amazing. I knew I was going to work in music, but I never thought I’d get this far, so I’m kinda just riding the wave. It made my mom really happy, and it made people that know my story and what I’ve been through happy,” Tres says. But it only scratches the surface of what’s to come.

“It’s great, but I’m definitely not satisfied. I definitely want my own Grammy one day.”

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