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Beatport had a seriously big year, according to the platform themselves they sold a track every 2 seconds and streamed 6545 years worth of music previews, no small feat. Bigger still were two Australian producers who managed to find themselves in the top 10 best sellers of 2019 with Dom Dolla snapping up the eighth spot with ‘Take It’ via Sweat It Out and another local nabbing a number one spot! No surprises here with tech-house a-fish-iando Fisher taking out the coveted top spot with with ‘Losing It’ that earned a whopping 10 weeks at the top through the tail end of the year – something his good mate Chris Lake would be pretty proud about no doubt. The rest of the top 10 packs a punch as well with notable efforts from Camelphat with a remix and original featuring at #2 and #9 respectifully as well as Adam Beyer, Tale of Us and DJ Koze all amongst the mix. Turns out techno is still king with the genre dominating the Top 100 best sellers which you can check out here. 1. Fisher – ‘Losing It’ [Catch & Release] 2. Fatboy Slim – ‘Right Here, Right Now’ (CamelPhat remix) [Toolroom] 3. Andrew Meller – ‘Born Slippy’ (Reincarnation Mix) [Glasgow Underground] 4. Adam Beyer & Bart Skils – ‘Your Mind’ [Drumcode] 5. Energy 52 – ‘Cafe Del Mar’ (Tale Of Us remix) [Renaissance Records] 6. DJ Koze – ‘Pick Up’ (12” Extended Disco Version) [Pampa Records] 7. Flashmob – ‘The Lone Brazilian’ [Hot Creations] 8. Dom Dolla – ‘Take It’ [Sweat It Out] 9. Au/Ra & CamelPhat – ‘Panic Room’ [RCA Records] 10. Andrew Meller – ‘Insomnia’ [Glasgow Underground] Source

The news around pill testing that has unfolded over summer has been a hot topic for those on either side of the debate fuelled further by the tragic deaths of a handful of punters at various music festivals around Australia. One of those was 20-year Callum Edwards who was rushed to hospital December 29th for what was a suspected overdose from an unknown substance at Victorian based festival Beyond The Valley. That story has taken a dramatic turn this week with The Herald Sun reporting that of all things, according to his brother and mother that snake venom was found in Callums system according to a toxicology report and could have definitely played a role in the passing of the young teen. Although a proper coroners report is being finalised Callums mother told the news site that “Tiger snake venom was found in his system.” adding further “We definitely know there was a reptile involved.” Depending on the accuracy of reporting this definitely puts in doubt the rushed claims by Victorian Police of the overdose. We’ll update this story as it unfolds. Source: VICE Source

Trey Anastasio will embark on a tour with his new band, Ghosts of the Forest, this spring, but fear not Phish fans: Anastasio will also spend the summer with the band that made him famous on a newly announced summer trek. The jam legends have announced a number of their standard multi-night arena shows in cities like St. Louis, Columbia, Camden, and Boston, where they’ll play two gigs at Fenway Park. The jam band will also play three sets at this year’s Bonnaroo, with one sure-to-be legendary late-night set on Friday and a double headlining performance to close out the festival on Sunday. (Read: Phish’s 10 Wildest New Year’s Eve Spectacles) A ticket request period is currently underway here and will end on Monday, January 21st. Tickets go on sale to the public on January 25th via the Ticketmaster Verified Fan system. You can also grab them here. See the band’s full list of dates below. Phish 2019 Tour Dates: 06/11 – St. Louis, MO @ Chaifetz Arena 06/12 – St. Louis, MO @ Chaifetz Arena 06/14 – Manchester, TN @ Bonnaroo Music Festival 06/16 – Manchester, TN @ Bonnaroo Music Festival 06/18 – Toronto, ON @ Budweiser Stage 06/19 – Cuyahoga Falls, OH @ Blossom Music Center 06/21 – Charlotte, NC @ PNC Music Pavilion 06/22 – Columbia, MD @ Merriweather Post Pavilion 06/23 – Columbia, MD @ Merriweather Post Pavilion 06/25 – Bangor, ME @ Darling’s Waterfront Pavilion 06/26 – Bangor, ME @ Darling’s Waterfront Pavilion 06/28 – Camden, NJ @ BB&T Pavilion 06/29 – Camden, NJ @ BB&T Pavilion 06/30 – Camden, NJ @ BB&T Pavilion 07/02 – Saratoga Springs, NY @ Saratoga Performing Arts Center 07/03 – Saratoga Springs, NY @ Saratoga Performing Arts Center 07/05 – Boston, MA @ Fenway Park 07/06 – Boston, MA @ Fenway Park 07/09 – Uncasville, CT @ Mohegan Sun Arena 07/10 – Uncasville, CT @ Mohegan Sun Arena 07/12 – East Troy, WI @ Alpine Valley Music Theatre 07/13 – East Troy, WI @ Alpine Valley Music Theatre 07/14 – East Troy, WI @ Alpine Valley Music Theatre 08/30 – Commerce City, CO @ Dick’s Sporting Goods Park 08/31 – Commerce City, CO @ Dick’s Sporting Goods Park 09/01 – Commerce City, CO @ Dick’s Sporting Goods Park Source

It can be tempting to accelerate to high speeds while cranking your favorite rock tunes, but you can’t escape the law. One Canadian Mötley Crüe fan recently learned that tough lesson, picking up a speeding ticket while listening to the the riff-heavy Crüe classic “Kickstart My Heart.” The Royal Canadian Mounted Police in Manitoba posted photo on Facebook of the dashboard from one of their squad cars, and on it, the radar reads 145 kilometers an hour, or 90 miles per hour for those not into the metric system. It turns out the police officer who pulled the driver over was also listening to the Mötley Crüe classic, as the Royal Canadian Mounted Police revealed in their post about the incident. “This driver’s excuse for going 145kmh? Kickstart my Heart by Mötley Crüe was on the radio. Funny enough, our officer knew he was telling the truth, since he was also listening to it – just at a much slower & safer speed. Fined $639,” the post states, with the hashtags #NoExcuses and #AlwaysGotTheCopsComingAfterMe. That fine is in Canadian dollars, so we’re looking at just over $480 in American cash. May we suggest Judas Priest’s “Breaking the Law” for the driver’s next joyride. In other Mötley Crüe news, while the legendary rockers have stayed away from the road as a band since signing a pact not to tour again, they are gearing up to release their long-awaited biopic, The Dirt, on March 22nd via Netflix. The Crüe also recently worked on four new Mötley Crüe songs, and teased an upcoming ad for Super Bowl Sunday. Stay tuned, Crüeheads! + + 02.03.19 #ad — Mötley Crüe (@MotleyCrue) December 31, 2018 Metallica’s Top 5 Songs Tool’s Top 5 Music Videos Behemoth's Top 5 Songs Alice in Chains' Top 5 Pearl Jam’s “Jeremy” Annotated Video Source

After more than a year of development, Denis Villeneuve’s ambitious, two-part adaptation of Frank Herbert’s Dune seems to be kicking into high gear. On Monday, it was revealed that Villeneuve would reunite with his Blade Runner 2049 star Dave Bautista for the sci-fi epic, and today The Hollywood Reporter is here with news of Stellan Skarsgard’s involvement. Skarsgard, the Swedish actor known by American audiences for his turns in the Thor and Pirates of the Caribbean franchises, will play chief antagonist Baron Harkonnen. Harkonnen, whose family previously ruled the desert planet upon which the story unfolds, carries a deep grudge for the family of Timothée Chalamet’s Paul Atreides. Bautista, it’s been revealed, will play Harkonnen’s sadistic nephew, “Beast” Rabban, which should be a nice change of pace with Bautista perhaps too often playing the grunt with a heart of gold. It’s an attack from House Harkonnen that forces Paul to escape into the desert with his mother, Lady Jessica, who will be played by Rebecca Ferguson. There, Paul uses his enhanced mental abilities to rule over the wasteland’s nomadic tribes, eventually transforming them into an army to overthrow the empire. Villeneuve co-wrote the script with Eric Roth and Jon Spaihts. Shooting will commence this spring in Budapest and Jordan. Source

Behemoth are continuing their assault on the senses of the world’s metal fans today with the release of a new video. The clip for “Ecclesia Diabolica Catholica,” a track taken from the group’s 2018 album, I Loved You at Your Darkest, was directed by Grupa13, a production house from the extreme metal band’s native Poland that has created videos for Belphegor and Powerwolf, among many others. Along with the announcement, bassist Orion said of the new video, “Behemoth Legions! As this ILYAYD adventure continues onwards, we want to share a new video with you! Since we began the writing process, ‘Ecclesia Diabolica Catholica’ was a stand-out contender to be featured as a single and music video. As the song evolved during rehearsal and recording, it gained this lively, furious vibe… which you hear now — thus, it includes live performance elements which we’ve not done in quite some time.” He added, “We are happy to work with Grupa13 once again – and once again, they showed their super-professional approach at every step of the shooting and video production. Two separate locations, hours of preparation, but it was all worth it. In absentia dei, we evangelize! Enjoy!” The release of the video is also here to arouse the appetites of the band’s European fans as Behemoth will be embarking on a tour of the continent starting tomorrow, January 10th. The group will be joined on all the dates by At the Gates and Wolves in the Throne Room. See the dates below. I Loved You At Your Darkest was a standout disc in 2018, landing at No. 2 on our list of the Top 25 Metal + Hard Rock Albums. The band also scored the top spot in our Top 30 Metal + Hard Rock Songs of 2018 list with “Barzabel,” another single from Darkest. Behemoth 2019 European Tour Dates with At the Gates + Wolves in the Throne Room 01/10 – Frankfurt, DE @ Batschkapp 01/11 – Munich, DE @ Tonhalle 01/12 – Prague, CZ @ Forum Karlin 01/13 – Vienna, AT @ Arena 01/15 – Zurich, CH @ Komplex 457 01/16 – Milano, IT @ Alcatraz 01/17 – Lyon, FR @ Le Transbordeur 01/18 – Barcelona, ES @ Razzmatazz 01/19 – Madrid, ES @ La Riviera 01/21 – Toulouse, FR @ Le Bikini 01/22 – Paris, FR @ Bataclan 01/23 – Oberhausen, DE @ Turbinenhalle 01/24 – Berlin, DE-@ Huxleys 01/25 – Copenhagen, DK @ Vega 01/26 – Stockholm, SE @ Annexet 01/27 – Oslo, NO @ Rockefeller 01/29 – Helsinki, FI @ The Circus 01/30 – Tampere, FI @ Pakkahuone 02/01 – Hamburg, DE @ Grosse Freiheit 36 02/02 – Utrecht, NL @ TivoliVredenburg 02/03 – Brussels, BE @ Ancienne Belgique 02/04 – Esch-sur-Alzette, LU @ Rockhal 02/06 – Bristol, UK @ Marble Factory 02/07 – Birmingham, UK @ O2 Institute 02/08 – London, UK @ O2 Forum Kentish Town 02/09 – Manchester, UK @ O2 Ritz 02/10 – Dublin, IE @ Vicar Street 02/11 – Glasgow, UK @ QM Union Behemoth's Top 5 Songs Tool’s Top 5 Music Videos Metallica’s Top 5 Songs Alice in Chains' Top 5 Pearl Jam’s “Jeremy” Annotated Video Source

From “Clarity” and “Spectrum” to “The Middle” and “Stay“, Zedd has inspired both dance music fans and mainstream listeners with his energetic music. He has played for massive crowds at festivals, and has also captivated attendees at club shows for years. Zedd via Facebook Zedd truly contributes to the dance music genre in awesome ways. As such a successful artist, his melodic tracks are known worldwide.   The talented DJ brought his unique sound to Brooklyn, New York this past weekend (December 28), putting on a huge show ahead of NYE. Zedd NYE via Poselski Photos/Mike Poselski Attending a Zedd show is a must-do for many dance music fans, for good reason. With epic production and sick visuals, Zedd consistently creates an unforgettable experience for attendees at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Zedd NYE via Poselski Photos/Mike Poselski At this weekend’s NYE show, Zedd brought nothing less than the best for fans. The talented artist played fan favorites like “Spectrum” and “Beautiful Now” before throwing on some Cardi B and Kendrick Lamar to switch things up. Zedd NYE via Poselski Photos/Mike Poselski He even played old school Daft Punk, which more than pleased avid dance music fans in the crowd. As an artist with eclectic taste, Zedd always seems to capture many genres and styles of music in his sets, making his shows that much more unique. Medasin and Melvv, the supporting acts, added to the fun, dropping popular dubstep and other bass-heavy tracks. Zedd NYE via Poselski Photos/Mike Poselski The event unsurprisingly sold out, with those lucky enough to score tickets having the time of their lives. Follow Zedd: Facebook Instagram Soundcloud Twitter The post Zedd Sells Out Brooklyn Navy Yard for NYE Weekend appeared first on EDM | Electronic Music | EDM Music | EDM Festivals | EDM Events. Source

Stella Donnelly made a splash with her 2018 debut EP, Thrush Metal. Now, the Western Australia native is gearing up to drop her first full-length album via esteemed indie label Secretly Canadian. Titled Beware of the Dogs, the effort was recorded last June with assistance from producer Dean Tuza. In the studio, Donnelly assembled a backing band comprised of her best friends: Jennifer Aslett (bass), Talya Valenti (drums), and George Foster (guitar). The forthcoming LP extends the sounds first explored on Thrush Metal, but sees Donnelly taking a more brazen stand: She is not one to be messed with. Through the album’s 13 tracks, the self-proclaimed “shit-stirrer” fearlessly calls out the racists, creeps, and oppressors that litter her life. And in the process, Donnelly reclaims her own sense of power and freedom. “This album made me feel like I was back in the driver’s seat,” the 26-year-old remarked in a press statement. “It was really liberating and grounding to realize that no one can fuck with this except me.” Our first taste of Beware of the Dogs comes with opening track “Old Man”. Although infused with warm melodies, it’s a song whose message packs a sharp bite aimed at gross, exploitative men. “Boy, if you touch her again, I’ll tell your wife and your kids about that time,” Donnelly sings. According to the rising songwriter, the track came to her while reflecting on Woody Allen and his troublesome comments regarding the #MeToo movement: “I came up with the chords and chorus to this song in 2017 around the time when Woody Allen called the #MeToo movement a witch hunt. It was a very strange feeling for me watching the world change right before my eyes and to see that these men who had exploited their power for so long were actually being held accountable for their actions. It made me look back on my experiences as a young woman doing music and certain powerful men who tried to manipulate me and exploit other young women. I needed to write this song for myself because if I hadn’t I would still feel quite angry about things that I probably let slide in my younger, more naive days. I have no intentions of publicly calling out these people but it’s a nice feeling to me knowing that they may hear this song one day and feel perhaps an inch of the humiliation and powerlessness that they inflicted on me back then.” Check out “Old Man” below via its Fiona Jane Burgess-directed music video. Beware of the Dogs arrives March 8th. Pre-orders have begun here. Beware of the Dogs Artwork: Beware of the Dogs Tracklist: 01. Old Man 02. Mosquito 03. Season’s Greetings 04. Allergies 05. Tricks 06. Boys Will Be Boys 07. Lunch 08. Bistro 09. Die 10. Beware of the Dogs 11. U Owe Me 12. Watching Telly 13. Face It Donnelly will promote her new album with a lengthy spring tour across North America and Europe. Stella Donnelly 2019 Tour Dates: 03/15 – Washington, DC @ U Street Music Hall # 03/16 – Philadelphia, PA @ Johnny Brenda’s # 03/18 – Brooklyn, NY @ Rough Trade # 03/20 – Hamden, CT @ Space Ballroom # 03/22 – Somerville, MA @ ONCE Ballroom # 03/23 – Montreal, QC @ Casa Del Popolo # 03/24 – Toronto, ON @ The Drake Hotel # 03/25 – Detroit, MI @ Deluxx Fluxx # 03/27 – Columbus, OH @ Ace of Cups # 03/28 – Bloomington, IN @ The Bishop # 03/29 – Chicago, IL @ Schubas # 03/30 – St. Paul, MN @ Turf Club # 04/02 – Seattle, WA @ Barboza # 04/03 – Portland, OR @ Polaris Hall # 04/05 – San Francisco, CA @ Cafe Du Nord # 04/06 – Los Angeles, CA @ Bootleg Theater # 04/11 – Berlin, DE @ Badehaus 04/12 – Hamburg, DE @ Skybar 04/13 – Rotterdam, NL @ Rotown 04/15 – Cologne, DE @ Yuca 04/16 – Brussels, BE @ Botanique 04/17 – Amiens, FR @ La Lune Des Pirates * 04/18 – Paris, FR @ Le Pop Up Du Label 04/23 – Cardiff, UK @ Clwb Ifor Bach 04/24 – Bristol, UK @ Thekla 04/25 – Southampton, UK @ Joiners 04/27 – Brighton, UK @ Haunt 04/28 – Manchester, UK @ Yes 04/29 – Dublin, IE @ Grand Social 05/01 – Glasgow, UK @ The Blue Arrow 05/02 – Leeds, UK @ Brudenell Community Room 05/04 – Liverpool, UK @ Liverpool Sound City 05/05 – Nottingham, UK @ Bodega 05/07 – London, UK @ Scala # = w/ Faye Webster * = w/ Yak Source

While fans are perpetually waiting for new music from System of a Down, the band’s drummer, John Dolmayan, isn’t waiting much longer to unleash his latest batch of tunes. Dolmayan has revealed that he plans to release a new album in the next few months as These Grey Men outfit, which also consists of musician James Hazley. What’s more, the album will feature a bevy of major names, including System of a Down singer Serj Tankian, Avenged Sevenfold frontman M. Shadows and Rage Against the Machine / Prophets of Rage guitarist Tom Morello. Speaking with SOAD Mexico, Dolmayan says, “I’m still working on it – it’ll be released within the next four months. All the songs are finished, but we’re in the process of adding strings.” He adds, “There’s some cool artists on it. Serj sang two songs. The Avenged Sevenfold singer – I don’t know if you know Matt, he’s fantastic. Really nice guy, by the way, and he sang a song… I have a bunch of other friends. Tom Morello played guitar on a song. I know it’s been forever, but it will be released.” As for new System of a Down music, bassist Shavo Odadjian recently told Heavy Consequence that he thinks it will eventually happen. “Nothing between us has happened that’s so terrible that people can’t get in the studio and work. Nothing!” he said. “Everything is just [a matter of] taste, and they just gotta get in and forget the past, and kind of move forward. And I think that will happen. I’m not worried. I’m not worried at all.” Read Heavy Consequence‘s interview with Odadjian here, and check out our recent chat with M. Shadows here. System of a Down are on tap to perform at this year’s Sonic Temple and Chicago Open Air festivals, both taking place the same weekend in May. Tool’s Top 5 Music Videos Metallica’s Top 5 Songs Behemoth's Top 5 Songs Alice in Chains' Top 5 Pearl Jam’s “Jeremy” Annotated Video Source

The idea of being forced to repeatedly live through the same day over and over has captured our imaginations ever since Groundhog Day made a damn-near-perfect dark comedy out of it. After all, “dark comedy” is the definite ceiling for such a morbid concept that would likely drive most of us insane before long. The premise seems to be enjoying something of a revival, between Happy Death Day (and its forthcoming sequel) and Netflix’s upcoming series Russian Doll. The show centers on Nadia (series co-creator Natasha Lyonne), a woman trapped at her own birthday party on an endless loop. When she leaves in an intoxicated and anxious panic, she’s hit by a cab, only to wake up at the same point in the party. Then she falls down the stairs, dies again, wakes up again in the same place. Soon, she’s forced to start taking care of herself in a way she’s never done before, lest she wake up once again in that terrible bathroom. The premise is familiar enough, but what promises to make Russian Doll standout is the presence of co-creators Amy Poehler and Leslye Headland behind the camera. Headland, who also directs half of the eight-episode first season, has established herself as a more vicious kind of comedian with films like Bachelorette. Poehler executive-produced the entirety of the woefully under-appreciated Difficult People, so she’s hardly a stranger to black comedy either. And with the trio combined? Russian Doll could be the kind of breakout Netflix show you hear about all year long. You can check out the first trailer below, before Russian Doll premieres on Netflix on February 1st. Source

The world’s favorite stoner doom trio, Sleep, are kicking off 2019 with a big bang. The band just announced that they will be releasing a quadruple-LP live album through Third Man Records’ Vault, a subscription-only series that offers rare treats from the label’s roster. Most often those releases feature a project of the imprint’s owner Jack White, but this time around they are putting the spotlight on Sleep with a package that includes a colored vinyl 4-LP set featuring the career-spanning performance the band gave at Third Man’s flagship store in Nashville this past December, a reproduction of the poster designed for that show, and a “Mystery Sleep/Third Man Records Vault Mission Patch” for your denim jacket. As with nearly all the live recordings that Third Man has released to date, Sleep’s two-hour set at the label’s headquarters was recorded using the label’s “direct-to-acetate/audio mixed and mastered in real-time system,” according to the press release accompanying this announcement. The performance features songs from throughout the band’s nearly 30-year run, including a version of “Dopesmoker,” the epic-length title track of their 1999 album. The set, titled Live at Third Man Records, is only available through a Third Man Vault subscription. Fans have until January 31st to ensure that they’ll receive a copy of this release and the accompanying goodies. Click here to register. While Sleep has been riding quite a high since the release of The Sciences last April, including landing in Heavy Consequence’s list of the Top 25 Metal and Hard Rock Albums of 2018, things have been a little rockier in the world of the band’s guitarist Matt Pike. Earlier this week, he announced that his other band, High on Fire, would be canceling their 2019 tour. Pike, who already had a toe partially amputated in the fall, is apparently at risk of losing his entire big toe and a larger portion of his foot due to complications from his ongoing battle with diabetes. In the statement that came out yesterday, the 46-year-old musician promised a more complete medical report and said to his fans, “Please forgive me, and if you know anything about me, you know this is not like me. We will be back!” Live at Third Man Records Tracklist: Side One: Leagues Beneath Side Two: Dopesmoker (Part One) Side Three: Dopesmoker (Part Two) Holy Mountain Side Four: The Clarity Aquarian Side Five: Sonic Titan Side Six: Marijuanaut’s Theme Giza Butler Side Seven: The Botanist Dragonaut Source

Download | Listen and subscribe via iTunes | Spotify | Google Play | Stitcher | RSS Welcome back to another episode of This Must Be the Gig, the podcast that gives you an all-access pass to the world of live music! This week, host Lior Phillips chats Albert Hammond Jr., who cemented his role as an indie rock icon after founding The Strokes. Together, the two talk about the early days of the band, the challenges of going solo, finding peace in upstate New York, and watching Eddie Murphy classic Bowfinger with Julian Casablancas the night before the very first Strokes concert. This episode was brought to you by our friends at Vivid Seats. Listen above and subscribe now to keep your finger on the pulse of the live music world. Follow the series on Facebook | Instagram | Twitter Source

Jeff Tweedy has expanded his 2019 North American tour with new dates for April and March. Specifically, the Wilco frontman has lined up shows in New York, Toronto, Los Angeles, Washington, DC, and Boston. There are also additional gigs in Pittsburgh, Ann Arbor, Louisville, Columbus, and Chattanooga. Tweedy’s upcoming trek comes in support of WARM, his first solo record of original music and one of Consequence of Sound’s Top 50 Albums of 2018. The alt-country rocker will be joined on the road by opening acts James Elkington and Big Thief’s Buck Meek before heading off on a European summer tour with Wilco. (Read: 10 Years and 10 Questions with Jeff Tweedy) Consult Tweedy’s full tour schedule below. He’s set to perform WARM songs on tonight’s episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live. Jeff Tweedy 2019 Tour Dates: 02/27 – Iowa City, IA @ Englert Theatre * 02/28 – St. Louis, MO @ The Pageant * 03/01 – Oklahoma City, OK @ The Auditorium at The Douglass * 03/03 – Dallas, TX @ Majestic Theatre * 03/04 – Austin, TX @ Paramount Theatre * 03/07 – Germantown, TN @ Germantown Performing Arts Center * 03/08 – Birmingham, AL @ Lyric Theatre * 03/09 – Macon, GA @ Hargray Capitol Theatre * 03/11 – Ponte Vedra, FL @ Ponte Vedra Concert Hall & 03/12 – Tallahassee, FL @ The Moon & 03/14 – Tampa, FL @ Tampa Theatre & 03/15 – Ft. Lauderdale, FL @ The Parker Playhouse & 03/17 – Orlando, FL @ The Plaza Live Theatre & 03/19 – Asheville, NC @ The Orange Peel & 03/20 – Nashville, TN @ James K. Polk Theater & 03/21 – Indianapolis, IN @ Egyptian Room @ Old National Centre & 03/31 – Columbus, OH @ Davidson Theatre * 04/01 – Ann Arbor, MI @ Michigan Theater * 04/03 – Toronto, ON @ The Queen Elizabeth * 04/04 – Pittsburgh, PA @ Carnegie Lecture Hall * 04/06 – Boston, MA @ Berklee Performance Center * 04/08 – New York, NY @ The Town Hall & 04/09 – New York, NY @ The Town Hall & 04/10 – Washington, DC @ Lincoln Theatre & 04/12 – Savannah, GA @ Lucas Theatre for the Arts 04/13 – Decatur, GA @ Amplify Decatur Music Festival 04/14 – Chattanooga, TN @ Walker Theatre & 04/16 – Louisville, KY @ Headliners Music Hall & 04/17 – Cincinnati, OH @ Cincinnati Music Hall Ballroom & 04/18 – Champaign, IL @ Virginia Theatre & 06/12 – Brussels, BE @ Ancienne Belgique $ 06/13 – Brussels, BE @ Ancienne Belgique $ 06/15 – Amsterdam, NL @ Paradiso $ 06/16 – Amsterdam, NL @ Paradiso $ 06/18 – Lille, FR @ Aeronef Club $ 06/19 – Rouen, FR @ Le 106 $ 06/20 – La Rochelle, FR @ La Sirene $ 06/22 – Vitoria-Gasteiz, ES @ Azkena Rock Festival $ 06/28-30 – North Adams, MA @ Solid Sound Festival $ * = w/ Buck Meek & = w/ James Elkington $ = performing with Wilco Revisit acclaimed WARM single “I Know What It’s Like”: Source

The Bethel Woods Music and Culture Festival is being called Woodstock’s 50th anniversary festival by most of the media as it will occur on the site of the original Woodstock fifty years ago, however, the festival is actually in no way affiliated with Woodstock Ventures, LLC. That company is still owned by Michael Lang, producer and co-creator of the original Woodstock Festival in 1969, and he just revealed details of the “real” 50th anniversary festival in 2019. It will take place August 16th-18th in nearby Watkins Glen, New York. And it will actually be called Woodstock. Lang is keeping a lot of the other details close to the chest, but he did reveal some new information to Rolling Stone. Lineup “It’ll be an eclectic bill,” Lang says. “It’ll be hip-hop and rock and some pop and some of the legacy bands from the original festival. “Having contemporary artists interpret that music would be a really interesting and exciting idea. We’re also looking for unique collaborations, maybe some reunions and a lot of new and up-and-coming talent.” We can expect a mix a new and old groups, as well as some tributes to original acts in 1969 like Janis Joplin, the Band, Jefferson Airplane and Joe Cocker. Over 40 acts have reportedly already been booked. Audience “I want it to be multi-generational,” he says. “Woodstock ’94 was a nice mix of young and old and that’s kind of what we’re going for here.” He admits that Woodstock ’99 was “just a musical experience with no social significance,” and that needs to change. For the 50th anniversary, nothing is being left off the table. Accommodations “There will be ‘glamping’ tents and stuff like that,” he says. “There will be those types of experiences in various forms where there’s a real bed, and there’s a chair to sit in and a light bulb. There will also easier access to portable toilets.” The porta-potties were a major issue at previous Woodstock events, but Lang is committed to making this a landmark event, and that means covering all bases, including public restrooms. Location “[Bethel Woods Center for the Arts are] good stewards of the original site and they built a beautiful performing arts pavilion,” says Lang. “But it’s a 15,000-seat shed. That’s not a Woodstock.” Lang isn’t stuck in the past — he’s looking to the future and acknowledges that the capacity of Woodstock’s original location just cannot sustain the very real interest that a 50th anniversary festival would draw. “I looked everywhere because I needed 1,000 acres of clear land with access and infrastructure. Frankly, we weren’t finding it. We had talked about Watkins Glen over the years and I decided on a whim to look at it since having it at a racetrack didn’t appeal to me. But when I looked, I knew it was the perfect facility for what we had in mind. It was reminiscent to me of finding Max [Yasgur]’s field.” Activism Woodstock’s 50th anniversary will tout the same cultural and political activism as the original festival in 1969, at least that’s what Lang hopes. He will invite various NGOs to come and speak to attendees about how to get involved. “Things on the planet are critical at this point, especially when it comes to global warming,” says Lang. “Everyone has a stake and ignoring it is ridiculous. I really want people to explore how they can get involved. That’s one of my main motivations for doing this.” Tickets go on sale sometime in February. Keep an eye on this space for more information as it becomes available! This article was first published on Your EDM. Source: Original Woodstock Founder Announces “Real” 50th Anniversary Show Details Source

Radiohead will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in April — however, the band’s frontman, Thom Yorke, will be absent from the ceremony. In a new interview with Variety, Yorke revealed that prior commitments will prevent him from attending the induction ceremony in Brooklyn on March 29th. Instead, Yorke will be in Paris prepping a piece he wrote for the Paris Philharmonic, which will premiere on April 7th. “I can’t. I know I can’t, because of these piano pieces that I’ve written,” Yorke explained of his absence. There’s the Paris Philharmonic, so I have to be there for that.” Yorke doesn’t seem too upset about missing the ceremony, however. Like other members of the band, he’s “always been very blasé about that stuff.” “We don’t want to offend anyone. We just think that we just don’t quite understand it,” Yorke added. “We’ve had it explained to us, so it’s cool. But we don’t really understand it as English people. I think our problem is essentially that every awards ceremony in the UK stinks. We grew up with the Brits, which is like this sort of drunken car crash that you don’t want to get involved with. So, yeah, we don’t really know what to make of it.” Yorke doesn’t hold such ambivalence towards all accolades, however, as he is intrigued by the idea of an Oscar nomination. (Yorke’s Suspiria track “Suspirium” is on the shortlist for this year’s Best Original Song.) “I hope it gets nominated. That would be great, because it was a year and a half in my life, and I worked bloody hard on it,” he said of The Oscars. “So, you know, sometimes it’s nice to be recognized. Sometimes, if you understand what it means.” Elsewhere in the interview, Yorke reaffirmed his intention to release a new solo album in 2019. “I’m desperate now,” he explained. “I expected to have done it all (in the fall), and it just didn’t happen like that. I’m going to stop beating myself up about it. It will happen.” “There are a lot of things that I just want to get done now,” he added. “It’s too much in the fire. I wake up every day and I want to just finish stuff. I guess maybe it’s because I’ve hit 50. Time is running out. [Laughs heartily.] Who knows?” Tour Preview: Thom Yorke and Top 50 Songs of 2018 Metric Tour Sizzle Mitski's Top 5 Songs Stars Performs With A Full Source

Track by Track is a new music feature in which we challenge artists to break down each song on their latest full-length release Track By Track. You’re off to a good start when your band is born while singing Kate Bush songs. That’s exactly how it happened for Field Music’s Peter Brewis and Admiral Fallow’s Sarah Hayes, who will release their self-titled debut as You Tell Me this Friday. Brewis came away inspired one night after hearing Hayes’ take on Bush’s “This Woman’s Work”, leading him to approach Hayes about a collaboration. Soon, the pair began a creative correspondence, one that eventually blossomed into the album’s 11 rich, swooning tracks. While the project pushed both songwriters in new directions, Hayes truly found a voice in the process. “I’ve always loved words but had never thought I could be a lyricist,” she said in a press release, noting how Brewis encouraged her to work with her own words. Both artists contributed lyrics in the end, as well as their talents with an array of instruments, from the swooning sway of strings to bright plinks of piano and even a few saxophone honks. The fact that the project came about thanks to one-on-one discussions is actually reflected in the record’s themes. “[M]ost of the songs seemed to either be about conversations, be conversational, or about talking or not talking,” Brewis said, with Hayes adding the effort explores motifs of “talking and listening, guessing and questioning.” Stream the entirety of You Tell Me ahead of its January 11th release below. For more about the album’s themes and arrangements, as well as its debt to Bush, Hayes and Brewis have broken it down for us Track by Track. “Enough To Notice”: Sarah Hayes: I started writing this after watching a video about Yellowstone National Park, entitled ‘How Wolves Change Rivers’. The song is built around repeated patterns played on numerous keyboards. The main melody is quite folky when sung unaccompanied, but it changes in feel with the chord progressions underneath. We threw absolutely loads at this one including several percussion tracks, some Blue Nile bass interjections and Catchphrase sound-a-like moments. Peter Brewis: I thought this song was about how a small change can trigger a much wider set of changes in an almost chaotic way. “Get Out Of The Room”: SH: Peter sent me a demo quite early on and I added a few honking synth saxophone lines, thinking that we’d eventually replace them with something different when it came to record; we enjoyed the slight menace in the sound and ended up keeping it. We had some fun recording the backing vocals live. PB: This song is about jealousy, insecurity and how they can fuel resentment, anger and even a sort of desire. I wanted the song to have a wide dynamic from a whisper to a cry. You Tell Me by Beth Chalmers “Foreign Parts”: SH: I thought it would be good to write about how going on holiday can be more complicated than it seems. It’s a John Grant-style sideways glance at my own worries – taking the piss out of them so as not to let them win. The song shares its title with the second novel by Janice Galloway, which follows two old friends on their travels together over several years. Peter had the idea of bookending it with strings and timpani flourishes, turning it into an orchestral odyssey with a nod to Sketches of Spain. PB: I think this song has a great element of humour throughout. I wanted us to reflect that a bit with a sort of Van Dyke Parks-ian playful arrangement. “Water Cooler”: SH: We spent a bit of time sending ideas back and forth by email for this one. In an early demo, Peter left some spaces in between verses for instrumental ideas, which I duly filled with Casiotone keyboard parts. When it came to overdubs we constructed the vocal harmonies in the studio and channelled Kate Bush a bit here and there. PB: This was intended to be a look at an inept office romance. I was literally imagining two office workers failing to talk to each other at the water cooler. No metaphors here. “Springburn”: SH: Named after an area of Glasgow in which I used to work quite a bit, this bears the influence of two of my favourite musicians, Rufus Wainwright and Sufjan Stevens. PB: I think this is a real stinging beauty of a song and I hear it as a very true story. The details are too real to be made up. “No Hurry”: SH: Peter was keen to bring out the dynamics here; we recorded the duet vocals live and tried to sing really softly to begin with, becoming expansive and bittersweet as the song continues, marking the end of side one. PB: This is about not communicating – frustration at not being able to solve things – missing someone, or an idea of someone. It’s about being lonely but wanting to be alone. “Clarion Call”: SH: This song started life while on a train journey, which is referenced in the opening lines. It’s mostly about the idea of waiting: to feel ready to spring into action, to be free of fear and anxiety…and then realising it’s often good to push on in spite of these things. PB: We thought we could try sort of an updated English folk-rock, like Fairport Convention but driven by the piano rather than guitars. When we came to record it there was a nod towards Christine McVie and Lindsey Buckingham in the stacked vocals and swirly guitar interjections. We wanted there to be a baroque element too, hence the woodwind and synth harpsichord. “Jouska”: SH: The first song I ever wrote – way back in 2016 – is about talking, listening and memory. We recorded the singing and piano at the same time, lending it a bit of ebb and flow. Peter’s beautiful orchestration brought the original arrangement up to a new level. PB: I still can’t quite believe this is the first song Sarah wrote. I was the first of hers I’d heard and it knocked me out. “Invisible Ink”: SH: The perpetual-motion piano lines were percolating for a while before I found a home for them. Lyrically there’s a return to the theme of anxiety and expectation and people’s individual ways of navigating these things. There are some time signature changes glued together by a kind of chanting verse melody and a floaty chorus one. There’s all sorts going on, especially towards the end: a balti dish, a set of house keys, swoopy synths. “Starting Point”: SH: I love the way the sections move into one another and the focus shifts while certain elements remain the same. We made use of field recordings made in Barcelona, Glasgow and Sunderland. There’s a conversational feel to the singing and lyrics. PB: My part of the song, again sort of deals with how well people communicate – what they’re able or unable to say to each other. We’d like to be able to talk to each other ‘on the level’, but more often than not we’re at different levels. “Kabuki”: SH: We’ve kept things quite simple with this two-verse final number: more Casiotone morphing into string quartet, with a few pens and pencils being dropped in the background. We used the original demo room recording of the first verse. This song is more optimistic than it seems…it’s about beginning to feel more comfortable in your own skin. Source

One of the earliest American slashers, Joseph Zito’s 1981 cult classic The Prowler remains a disturbing entry in the genre, fueled by all kinds of macabre violence orchestrated by legendary effects wizard Tom Savini. Now, the film’s chilling score by Richard Einhorn (Shock Waves, Don’t Go in the House) is getting the Waxwork treatment with a double LP vinyl release that will leave horror hounds stalking the record store aisles. Due out this Friday, the LP comes pressed on 180-gram “Army Green Swirl with Rose Petal Red Splatter” vinyl and features new artwork by Ghoulish Gary Pullin, exclusive liner notes by Zito, and a printed insert featuring Rosemary’s break-up letter. (Read: 10 Essential Horror Movie Scores) The release has been something of a pet project for Waxwork, who worked with Einhorn to locate the master tapes that were thought to have been destroyed for decades. The tapes were then restored, transferred, and mixed. Stream a preview of the release below and check out the album’s artwork shortly after. If that doesn’t satiate your horror needs, check out Waxwork’s entire catalogue at their official site. Source

Standup comedian Gregg Turkington is back with a new album under his musical moniker Neil Hamburger. Set to arrive later this month through Drag City, Still Dwelling is comprised of 12 songs of “love and loss,” including covers of Paul McCartney (“Backwards Traveller”) and Jesus Christ Superstar (“Everything’s Alright”). In anticipation of the LP, Hamburger has unboxed an original number in “The Luckiest Man in This Room”. Drawing from the music of the early 20th century, and channeling his own version of Fred Astaire, “America’s Funnyman” offers up a cautionary tale about a once fortunate fellow whose good times are just about over. Well, mostly because of Hamburger himself. (Read: The End of Expression: A Conversation with Rick Alverson and Gregg Turkington) “Your luck has run out my friend,” he sings, before detailing how he may or may not have purposely coughed up in his pal’s gin. The song’s black-and-white video directed by Steve Moramarco is also pretty humorous and brings Hamburger’s Astaire-level polish to real life… sort of. Check it out below. Still Dwelling, the follow-up to 2014’s First of Dismay, officially arrives January 25th. Hamburger has a handful of dates lined up in support of the LP, which can be found down below. Still Dwelling Artwork: Still Dwelling Tracklist: 01. Backwards Traveller 02. Lonely 03. Everything’s Alright 04. The Luckiest Man in This Room 05. Homeward Bound 06. Standing on the Corner 07. Crazy on You 08. The Straight Life 09. World Without Love 10. Sounds of Laughter 11. Midnight Cowboy/Isolation 12. Little Love Cup Neil Hamburger 2019 Tour Dates: 01/17 – Chicago, IL @ The Hideout 03/14 – Kansas City, MO @ Recordbar 03/15 – St. Louis, MO @ The Ready Room 03/16 – Iowa City, IA @ The Mill 03/17 – Davenport, IA @ The Racoon Motel 03/18 – Omaha, NE @ Slowdown Source

Classically-trained guitarist Steve Dadaian has been honing his craft for a number of years, recently entering a songwriting competition held by System of a Down singer Serj Tankian. Now, Dadaian is set to release his debut album, Follow the Light, and he has teamed up with Heavy Consequence to unveil the track “Soul Connection” featuring vocals from Soilwork’s Bjorn “Speed” Strid and an intro theme provided by Tankian via the aforementioned competition. Dadaian, a New Jersey native, has made waves in the guitar community with impressive showing at various competitions, some hosted by the likes of Slash and Dream Theater’s John Petrucci, while also performing at events alongside Yngwie Malmsteen, Steve Vai, and others. Regarding the track, which can be heard in the lyric video below, Dadaian tells us, “This song is the only track with vocals on the entire album, so I knew I had to do something special with it. I wanted to preserve the intensity of the preceding songs while offering something new with ‘Soul Connection’. Enter vocal master Bjorn Strid — his talents helped make this an epic, standout track.” He continues, “‘Soul Connection’ was inspired by the haunting first seven notes of the song. Lyrically, the idea is that even when those we are close to pass on, an intangible part of them stays with us from generation to generation. This theme ties into the main conceptual storyline of my album, as well.” Meanwhile, Strid says of the track, “I think this collaboration really came out great. The topic is brilliant and is something I can definitely relate to.” Dadaian, who like Tankian is Armenian-American, will donate all proceeds from the track “Soul Connection” to the Creative Armenia Fund, which is an arts foundation focused on discovering and promoting creative talent across the world. The album’s nine songs follow an accompanying story written by Dadaian, who explains, “The story follows a mage who has been wandering in a forest in search of a citadel which has been considered folklore. The title Follow the Light refers to the light emanated from the top of the citadel he eventually finds. Though he felt lost, it was actually this light that drew him to his destination.” Dadaian endorses DR strings, ESP Guitars, Synergy Amps, and Lunastone pedals, and he will appear at the Winter NAMM Show 2019 in Anaheim, California, where he will perform tracks from his new album at the DR Strings booth (4214 Hall D) on Friday, January 25 at 11 a.m. local time. Follow the Light will arrive on February 1st, with pre-orders available via Bandcamp, iTunes and Amazon. Source

Toby Green‘s sound is made for party people everywhere. So, it’s really no wonder one of his latest and most addictive productions to date calls them out by name. “Party People” is nothing but a good time. Powerful leads, a pounding beat, and nonstop action make up his latest single, which dropped about a month ago. If it hasn’t already made way onto your party playlist, it’s about time it does. Green has one of the most distinct sounds out there, which can be attributed to his decision to go against the grain. “I was kinda tired of the race to be credible and was missing a more playful approach to dance music, reminiscent of acts like Basement Jaxx and The Prodigy,” he shares in a statement. “I’ve been taking inspiration from the 90’s rave scene and tailoring my productions for the main stages…” “I guess you could call my sound ‘Stadium Rave,'” he adds. Now it’s impossible to listen to anything Toby Green without hearing that “Stadium Rave” energy. Check out “Party People” below and also peep his stellar track “Check This Out” on Dim Mak Greatest Hits 2018 here. Toby Green – Party People Photo: Jakob M. Knudsen This article was first published on Your EDM. Source: Toby Green Opens Up About His Stadium Rave Style Heard In Latest Single “Party People” Source

The Jimi Hendrix Experience’s 1968 double album, Electric Ladyland, recently celebrated its 50th anniversary with a new box set featuring previously unreleased demos, alternate takes, and a live bootleg. Pick up a copy here or stream the album in full below. Just over a week ago, a Seattle post office was renamed the “James Marshall ‘Jimi’ Hendrix Post Office Building.” It’s the city’s latest tribute to a musician who many forget was a Seattleite. Jimi Hendrix grew up on the same street as the post office that bears his name and is buried less than a mile away in Greenwood Memorial Park. There’s also a statue of the legendary guitarist in front of the Blick Art Materials on Broadway in the Capitol Hill district and a bust of him in the library at Garfield High School. The world’s largest collection of Hendrix memorabilia can be found in Seattle, too, at the city’s Museum of Pop Culture, founded by the late Paul Allen, a noted Hendrix fan. And then, of course, there’s Hendrix’s appearance on the soundtrack to Singles, Cameron Crowe’s 1992 movie about the lives and loves of four twentysomethings in Seattle. The film itself is more of a romanticization of the city’s burgeoning grunge scene than an evocation, but the soundtrack remains a well-curated artifact of the genre, featuring some of its leaders (Pearl Jam, Soundgarden) and forebears (Mother Love Bone, Mudhoney). That’s why it’s so odd to see Hendrix — a classic rock titan — on the tracklist. (It’s even stranger that his contribution, “May This Be Love”, is one of his deepest cuts, a subtle and pretty song from a musician not often thought of for subtlety or prettiness, on a soundtrack where such moments are few and far between.) It’s almost as if he was only put there to remind listeners of his Seattle origins, but there’s more to his inclusion than just geography. It’s a stretch to call Hendrix the definitive influence on grunge, but a Seattle Sound without Hendrix would sound very different from the Seattle that an entire generation grew up listening to on alternative rock radio and MTV. That’s a bold claim to make considering Hendrix’s name doesn’t come up all that much in discussions of grunge and its influences. In a 1999 “Guitar Gods” feature for Rolling Stone, Pearl Jam’s Mike McCready called Hendrix “all-encompassing” and “so far ahead of his time”; even if you have a hard time picking out the Hendrix homage in McCready’s playing on “Alive” and “Even Flow”, you’ll hear it in the opening notes of fan favorite “Yellow Ledbetter”, McCready’s bandmate Stone Gossard also claims inspiration from Hendrix, as does Jerry Cantrell of Alice in Chains. Other than that, most grunge guitarists don’t acknowledge Hendrix’s influence. In the aforementioned “Guitar Gods” piece, Soundgarden’s Kim Thayil cites Jeff Beck as a touchstone of his sound. And judging from his fifty favorite albums, it’s safe to say Kurt Cobain took more from punk bands like Black Flag and Butthole Surfers than he did Hendrix. In some respects, it isn’t hard to fathom why. Hendrix was a guitar virtuoso, someone who didn’t just have technical mastery over the instrument but was capable of playing it behind his head or even with his teeth. Barring McCready, most grunge guitarists would’ve sneered at such indulgent displays of showmanship; Thayil went so far as to accept responsibility for “the death of the guitar solo,” while Butch Vig, who produced Nirvana’s seminal Nevermind, has gone on record about Cobain’s reluctance to record even guitar overdubs, having to trick him into doing so. Moreover, Hendrix might have been shy, but he carried himself — and dressed — like the rock star he was, displaying none of the self-agonizing over fame and success that was as fashionable in the grunge scene as flannel shirts and ripped jeans. At first blush, Hendrix seems less an inspiration to grunge than he is an inspiration to everything it railed against. __________________________________________________________ The Opus: Jimi Hendrix, artwork by Steven Fiche Listen via Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google Play | Stitcher | Radio Public | RSS __________________________________________________________ To understand how Hendrix influenced grunge, it’s essential to understand how he influenced rock music as a whole. Guitarists had experimented with distortion and, to a lesser extent, feedback before Hendrix: The Beatles included a short feedback note at the start of “I Feel Fine” while Dave Davies of The Kinks created the crunchy guitar tone of “You Really Got Me” by slicing up his speaker cone — a trick Link Wray invented years earlier on “Rumble”. But more than any of his predecessors, Hendrix popularized those effects, treating them like fundamentals instead of gimmicks. It’s all there on Are You Experienced, the debut album from The Jimi Hendrix Experience, in the fuzzed-out riffage of “Purple Haze” and the feedback howl that opens “Foxy Lady”. If that was the last we’d heard of Hendrix, he’d still have fundamentally changed the way people play and hear the guitar. While distortion and feedback are essentials for just about any guitarist, they’re far and away the most important two tools in the toolbox for a grunge guitarist. That’s also the case for heavy metal, one of grunge’s two stylistic origins, the other being punk rock. The two don’t share a lot of common ground — punk rock is fast and aggressive, whereas (early) heavy metal is slow and sludgy — and as such, most grunge bands took more from one genre than the other. Those that had a stronger heavy metal influence generally drew from the genre’s foundational bands (i.e. Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin), which themselves drew from the blues rock guitarists of the 1960s, including Eric Clapton, Peter Green, John Mayall — and Hendrix. Electric blues was woven into the DNA of Hendrix’s guitar playing; his earliest influences were bluesmen such as Muddy Waters and Albert King, and prior to forming the Experience, he had been a backing musician for R&B and soul acts like Ike & Tina Turner and Jackie Wilson, cutting (and learning to play guitar with) his teeth on the Chitlin’ Circuit. Are You Experienced is Hendrix’s bluesiest LP, and while it wouldn’t be accurate to say that the album influenced grunge, it’s possible to listen to the riffs therein — not the solos, but the riffs — and hear how they’re similar to what grunge guitarists would be playing years later. The guitars are blunt and harsh, distorted to the point where they’re almost unrecognizable as guitars. You could say that of “Purple Haze” just as you could for Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit” or Soundgarden’s “Outshined”. But as influential as his sound was, Hendrix hadn’t yet pushed it to its furthest extent. After all, Are You Experienced was a deceptively simple record in both sound and production — three musicians on four-track tape, recording with the kind of economy that hardcore punk and grunge bands would appreciate, playing relatively straightforward blues rock. That simplicity was nowhere to be found on Electric Ladyland, a kaleidoscopic double album where boundaries between rock, funk, blues, and even jazz dissolve like a tab of acid under the tongue. Nearly every track sounds like the birth of a new genre, perhaps none more so than “Voodoo Chile”, Electric Ladyland’s lumbering, smoldering centerpiece. In his review of the album last month, Robert Ham described “Voodoo Chile” as “pure Chicago blues,” and I can’t say I wholly agree; no one — not John Lee Hooker, not B.B. King, not even Muddy Waters, whose “Rollin’ Stone” was the basis for Hendrix’s song — had suffused the blues with such heaviness or stretched them out to infinity the way Hendrix did on “Voodoo Chile”. Listening to it now, it sounds like the primordial sludge from which heavy metal crawled. Countless words have already been written about Neil Young’s role as the “Godfather of Grunge,” owing to his own guitar playing as well as his influence on Eddie Vedder and Kurt Cobain. Hendrix, then, ought to be looked at as the “Grandfather of Grunge”: by pushing the blues into heavier and harder territory with the use of distortion and feedback, Hendrix helped create heavy metal, which in turn would help create grunge. It’s been nearly 50 years since Hendrix’s passing, yet his legacy has been untarnished by decades of tributes, analysis, and mythologizing. If anything, Hendrix’s shadow has grown longer and fuller, giving rise to genres he wouldn’t live to see yet laid the foundation for all the same. Source

Natalie Prass tapped into the funk and soul of yesteryear on her excellent 2018 album, The Future and the Past. That nostalgic magic lingers on her latest release, a cover of Prefab Sprout’s “Wild Horses”. Like the 1990 original, Prass’ rendition exudes a certain sleek and sensual hunger. “I hate myself cause you’re so cool,” she sings, aching over soft, undulating grooves. “Wild horses, I want to have wild horses.” Take a listen on Amazon Music here, or below via a performance video filmed at Seattle’s Chop Suey venue. Prass recently teamed up with friend and longtime collaborator Matthew E. White on a new covers project called No Future For Our Frontmen. She also delivered a memorable set at last year’s Iceland Airwaves Festival. Source

NYPD Blue is making its way back to television and two of the series’ original stars are along for the ride. ABC has added Kim Delaney and Bill Brochtrup to the cast of the NYPD Blue sequel pilot currently in production. Delaney will be reprising her Emmy-winning role of Detective Diane Russell, a part she played in seasons 2-8 of the original series before returning for the final two seasons, 11 and 12. Brochtrup is back as PPA John Irvin, a character who recurred through seasons 2-4 before progressing to a series regular for the rest of the show’s run. The pair join Alona Tal, the SEAL Team and Supernatural actress previously cast as Det. Nicole Lazarus. Coming 14 years after the original NYPD Blue ended, the new series will follow the son of Dennis Franz’s Detective Andy Sipowicz, Theo. The legacy cop will try to earn his detective shield while investigating his father’s murder as part of his old squad in the 15th precinct. Original series writers Matt Olmstead and Nick Wootton penned the pilot’s script and will also executive produce. Jesse Bocho, son of the late series co-creator Steven Bochco, who passed away last year, also worked on the teleplay and will direct the pilot. Steven Bocho’s widow, Dayna Bocho, will produce. NYPD Blue’s original ABC run lasted 12 seasons between 1993 and 2005. The show garnered 80 Emmy nominations and 20 wins, including Best Drama in 1995. It’s long been recognized as one of the most groundbreaking serialized dramas on TV, so it’ll be interesting to see how a reboot fares in the new peak TV landscape. Source

In the early ‘80s, synthesizers and keyboards within the realm of heavy metal and hard rock was a great-big no-no. Sure, a few artists managed to slip through the cracks (Deep Purple, UFO, and Ozzy come to mind), but for the most part, synths and keys were equated with new wave and pop music. And headbangers wouldn’t be caught dead listening to A Flock of Seagulls or Duran Duran. But one band bold enough to infuse synthesizers into their mega-decibel sound changed all of that, and re-shifted the direction of hard rock for the foreseeable future. Of course, we’re talkin’ ‘bout Van Halen, and their masterpiece, 1984. To backtrack a bit, by 1983, Van Halen — still comprised of the classic lineup of David Lee Roth, Eddie Van Halen, Michael Anthony, and Alex Van Halen — were already one of the top rock bands in the world (on the strength of their arena anthems, the pin-up looks of Roth, and the fleet-fingered guitar stylings of EVH). However, their last album, 1982’s Diver Down, was a rush-job. A stand-alone single in early ‘82, a cover of Roy Orbison’s “Oh, Pretty Woman,” was such a surprise hit that the label wanted a full album to cash in on its success. The result was an album that included that track, plus a bunch of other cover songs, mixed with a few originals. This was not the first time VH worked at a brisk pace in the studio (their classic self-titled debut from 1978 took only two weeks to complete). But the group made it a point to take their sweet time with what would turn out to be studio album #6. And the main reason they could do so was because this would be the first album that they recorded entirely at EVH’s newly constructed 5150 Studios, in Studio City, California (and once again, overseen by producer Ted Templeman). Unlike Diver Down, 1984 (titled as such in reference to the year it was released, and also, a nod to the famous novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, by George Orwell) was entirely covers-free. And while the presence of synths was undeniable, what ultimately made it not such a big deal amongst their rocker following was that they were not used on every bloody song (really only on three — the instrumental title track, “Jump”, and “I’ll Wait”), and the rest of the album rocked ferociously (“Panama”, “Top Jimmy”, “Drop Dead Legs”, “Hot for Teacher”, “Girl Gone Bad”, and “House of Pain”), resulting in their finest disc since their flawless debut. Released on January 9, 1984, the album rocketed up the Billboard 200 to #2, while “Jump” would top the Billboard Hot 100. The reason for such mega-success right off the bat was two-fold — firstly, “Jump” featured an incredibly popular music video that MTV aired non-stop, and secondly, EVH’s much-publicized appearance on Michael Jackson’s “Beat It” a year prior caught the attention of pop fans, which resulted in a massive broadening of potential VH record buyers. And fellow rock acts took note concerning Van Halen’s recipe for success with 1984. Case in point, a new crop of rock bands embracing synths and scoring hits (Autograph’s “Turn Up the Radio”, Giuffria’s “Call to the Heart”, Europe’s “The Final Countdown” etc.), while veteran acts not normally associated with synths and keys would also take the plunge (Judas Priest’s Turbo, Iron Maiden’s Somewhere in Time, Kiss’ Crazy Nights, etc.). While quite a few rock guitarists began replicating EVH’s trademark two-handed tapping into their solos ever since the band’s debut hit, it seemed like every guitarist was doing so in the wake of the success of 1984. But as guitarist Paul Gilbert (Racer X / Mr. Big) explained in the book Shredders! The Oral History of Speed Guitar (And More), this was not entirely Eddie’s fault. “Eddie Van Halen is 100% great, and he unintentionally really messed up a lot of guitar players — because everybody was so enamored with the flashy parts that it knocked a lot of people off balance. It’s funny to see the repercussions of it. The ‘Eddie Van Halen bomb’ went off and it destroyed a lot of people’s rhythm. [Laughs] Which is funny, because he has such good rhythm. But it’s not his fault — it’s the listener’s fault for just listening to ‘Eruption’ and nothing else.” And former Megadeth guitarist Marty Friedman voiced similar sentiments in the same book. “I fell in love with Eddie Van Halen’s guitar tone, and believe it or not, I think the best thing about his playing is the stuff that he does when he’s not doing that finger tapping stuff. That never appealed to me, although it probably influenced more young guitarists than any other thing in the history of guitar. I would suggest listening to what he does between all that finger tapping and you’ll find some fantastic, juicy-ass phrasing. Man, that guy is a natural. Love it.” After the release of 1984, VH embarked on a highly successful world tour, scored further radio and/or MTV hits after “Jump” (“I’ll Wait”, “Panama”, and “Hot for Teacher”), and in the process, became undoubtedly one of, if not the top hard rock act around (appointing them “the American Led Zeppelin” would not have been far-fetched). But just as world domination for years to come seemed like a slam dunk, one of the most ill-timed split-ups in rock history occurred. 

Instead of getting to work straight away on a follow-up to 1984, Roth opted to issue a 4-song EP of cover tunes (1985’s Crazy from the Heat), and planned on doing a movie. The other members of VH took exception to this, and in mid-1985, the rock world was shocked to hear that Roth had left the group. Roth’s planned film never materialized, but he did assemble a kick-ass solo band with Steve Vai, Billy Sheehan, and Gregg Bissonette, while VH enlisted Sammy Hagar as Roth’s replacement. Both acts issued highly successful albums in 1986 — DLR’s Eat ‘Em and Smile and Van Halen’s 5150. But truth be told, there seems to be a giant “What if?” factor concerning Roth’s first go-round with Vand Halen — how much further could they have gone had they not split up at their peak? Roth and VH would eventually reunite in 2007, and issue a surprisingly hard rocking album in 2012, A Different Kind of Truth. But still, that “What if they hadn’t split up in 1985?” question will always linger. Nevertheless, 1984 remains one of Van Halen’s crowning achievements, and the numbers don’t lie — at last count, the album was certified Diamond by the RIAA for 10 million copies moved in the United States alone. Source

Kevin Hart will not reverse his decision and return as host of the 2019 Academy Awards. During an appearance on Good Morning America on Wednesday, Hart stated plain and simply, “No, I’m not hosting the Oscars this year.” He added, “The Academy, they’re amazing people. The offer was made, it was received, I was excited, things happened, it didn’t work out the way it should have. Right now from a time perspective, I don’t really have time.” The comedian was originally announced as the host back in early December. But within 24 hours, social media users had dug up tweets dating back to between 2008 and 2011 in which Hart used homophobic and hateful language. Jokes from his 2010 stand-up special, Seriously Funny, and a 2015 Rolling Stone profile in which he addressed those remarks were also brought to light. In response to the revelations, the Academy offered Hart an ultimatum: apologize or step down. The comedian at first resisted, arguing that he’d apologized for his old tweets in past interviews and had grown as a person since that time. However, as pressure built and became more heated, Hart chose to bow out of the Oscars and issued a brief apology “to the LGBTQ community for my insensitive words from my past.” (Read: Louis CK, Kevin Spacey, and the No Apology Tour: How Ignorance is Bliss in Trump’s America) That seemed to be the end of it, but things came to a new head during his appearance on Ellen on January 4th. Hart was given the entire show, which saw DeGeneres pleading with him to return as the Oscars host. She said she’d called the Academy and been told they’d love to have him back, adding that to not take the job would let “the haters win.” DeGeneres, herself a two-time Oscars host, argued that, “They are a small group of people who are very, very loud. We are a huge group of people who love you and want you to host the Oscars.” The interview stirred more controversy, however, with some in the LGBTQ community calling out DeGeneres for not representing all their voices. Many also questioned Hart’s framing of the initial backlash to his old tweets as a personal attack on his celebrity rather than a community demanding a respectful apology. Either way, Hart left the interview reconsidering his decision to step down as host. “Leaving here, I promise you I’m evaluating this conversation,” he said on the show. “Let me assess, just sit in the space and really think.” Well, he’s apparently assessed and has decided against a return. Now, the Academy is once again left scrambling for a replacement host, and it’ll have to make a decision soon: the ceremony takes place February 24th at 8:00 p.m. ET. Source