NEWS ROUNDUP: New Releases, Quincy Jones, Festival Updates & More

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Unknown Mortal Orchestra

  • New Tours & Upcoming Releases

    Members of long missed DC band Fugazi are coming out with an album in this spring. A self-titled debut fromThe Messthetics, featuring Brendan Canty and Joe Lally, is out March 23 via Dischord. Johnny Cash’s family will release a music version of his poetry collection, Forever Words. Kris Kristofferson, Willie Nelson, Brad Paisley, T. Bone Burnett, John Mellencamp, Elvis Costello, Chris Cornell, and Jewel are among the artists involved in the April 6th release. American Guilt, Unknown Mortal Orchestra’s new record will also come out that day. The band have announced a tour in support of the follow-up to their 2015 record, Multi-Love; they’ll play Brooklyn Steel on April 25th & 26th. Nils Frahm has announced a tour in support of recent album, All Melody. The ambient musician makes a stop at the Knockdown Center in March. On April 3rd and 4th, rapper Talib Kweli shows his hometown some love, bringing his full band to Brooklyn Bowl. SIR, Fischerspooner’s first album in 10 years, is out on February 16th. They play three dates in California in March. Depeche Mode continue their road run. The legends have announced another round of US dates for their Global Spirit tour. They will play Barclays center on June 6th.

  • Quincy Jones Trashes Michael Jackson, The Beatles, U2 in Latest Interview

    In a recent interview with Vulture, iconic record and film producer Quincy Jones implied (among making claims that he dated Ivanka Trump and knows who killed Kennedy) that The Beatles barely knew how to play their instruments, Michael Jackson stole material for some of his best-loved songs, and that U2 is no longer making good music (despite having very warm words for his friend Bono). Surprisingly, these are not the only shots he fired – he also criticized T-Pain’s work on a 2010 collaboration they did, recalls Cyndi Lauper nearly ruining “We Are The World,” and grumbled about the state of pop music today, saying, “It’s just loops, beats, rhymes and hooks… There ain’t no fucking songs.” Jones is nearing his 85th birthday in March but isn’t slowing down, with a ton of projects in the works, including a Netflix documentary and a CBS special hosted by Oprah.

  • Festival Updates

    Bonnaroo announced its day-by-day roster this week. The fest is still light on women, but compared to much of their competition, the organizers have done a slightly better job at including female headliners, although we’re not clapping yet. Sheryl Crow, Sylvan Esso, Paramore, Dua Lipa, and Alison Wonderland will be there this year. The Friday lineup includes festival EDM mainstay Bassnectar, as well as Khalid and Muse. Saturday gives us Eminem, Bon Iver, Kaskade, Anderson Paak, and Nile Rodgers. Sunday’s finale will showcase The Killers, Future, Broken Social Scene, and Alt-J. The 2018 Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival is June 7 to 10th in Manchester, Tennessee. SXSW has announced even more additions for this year’s fest. Princess Nokia, Tennis, Bugzy Malone, and many more will play from March 9 to 18 in Austin, Texas.

  • Other Highlights

    It’s the end of an era! Best Buy, once a major player in national music sales and your favorite high school shoplifting spot, has announced that it will stop selling CDs in stores on July 1st. Meanwhile, Target is attempting to switch its music sales business model to a consignment-based system. The soundtrack for indie coming-of-age movie Call Me By Your Name is having an unexpected sales streak in vinyl. The record is a mix of classical music, Euro pop, and Sufjan Stevens’ originals. The American troubadour penned three songs for the album, including the single “Mystery of Love,” which is up for Best Original Song at this year’s Oscars. Lana Del Rey got emotional on stage at her show in Atlanta following an attempted kidnapping thwarted by Orlando police. Finally, an awards show where Frank Ocean may finally get his due! He’s among the nominees for Music Artist of the Year at the 2018 British LGBT Awards. Speaking of the English, the BBC have released a list of the “12 essential records that capture the spirit of New York City.” Their picks include Wu-Tang and The Strokes. St. Vincent visited Spotify to record two new tracks, a stripped down version of her original song “Los Ageless” and a cover of Rihanna and SZA track, “Consideration.” Black Panther: The Album comes out today as well as new music from Palm, 2 Chainz, Franz Ferdinand, MGMT, Dashboard Confessional, Citrus, and Frankie Cosmos.

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NEWS ROUNDUP: RIP Dolores O’Riordan, New LP Releases, & More

  • RIP Dolores O’Riordan (September 6, 1971 – January 15, 2018)

    We lost one of the greats this week. On Monday, January 15th, Dolores O’Riordan, lead singer of Irish rock band, the Cranberries, passed away in London, where she had been recording. She was 46. The sad news was announced by her publicist. The cause of death has not been announced but authorities are not treating it as suspicious and are awaiting the test results of a coroner’s examination.

    Born in 1971 in Ireland, O’Riordan auditioned for the Cranberries (then called The Cranberry Saw Us) in 1990 after answering an advertisement seeking a female singer. After recording a rough demo of “Linger,” she was officially in the band. They soon went on to record the EP, Nothing Left At All and eventually signed to Island Records. The group achieved mainstream success with the single “Dreams,” off of their 1993 debut album, Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can’t We? The song immortalized nineties teen angst (visually preserved in an especially memorable scene of “My So-Called Life”). The album eventually sold over 40 million records. In 1994, the band took a more serious turn with the release of No Need To Argue which featured the hit single, “Zombie,” a protest song written in memory of two victims of the 1993 IRA bombings in Warrington, England. After No Need to Argue the Cranberries released three more albums – To the Faithful Departed (1996), Bury The Hatchet (1999), and Wake Up and Smell the Coffee (2001), before breaking up in 2002. O’Riordan then went on to put out two solo albums, Are You Listening? (2007), and No Baggage.

    In 2009, the same year that she released No Baggage, The Cranberries reunited on tour and recorded material for their 2012 release, Roses. In April of last year they released their seventh studio album, Something Else. They embarked on an international tour in support of the album before having to cancel in July 2017 due to health issues with O’Riordan’s back. Despite this knowledge, O’Riordan’s fans were hoping for a comeback as the singer had posted on Facebook during the recent holidays, saying that “she was feeling good” and accomplished her “first bit of gigging in months.”

    O’ Riordan will be buried in Ireland next week. She is survived by her three children.

  • New Albums from Belle & Sebastian, Porches, Tune-Yards & More!

    This has been the biggest week for album releases in the year thus far. Belle and Sebastian released How to Solve Our Human Problems, Pt. 2. It’s the second part of their much anticipated EP trilogy; the final installment is slated to arrive February 16th.

    Just in time for his upcoming tour with Miguel, SiR released his latest album, November. The jazz-inflected R&B singer is signed with TDE; the label is riding a incredibly high wave thanks to their critically-lauded 2017 releases, including Kendrick Lamar’s DAMN. and SZA’s Ctrl.

    The Go! Team made us feel old by releasing their fifth (!) album this week. Semicircle features their signature mash-up of cheerleader shouts and marching band sounds, with some ’60s sitar thrown in for good measure. They play NYC in April.

    Swedish band First Aid Kit gave us Ruins this week. It’s their first album in four years. Aaron Maine released The House, his third album as Porches. Two tracks off the release, “Find Me,” and “Country,” have already been given the video treatment.

    British dancepunk trio Shopping also released their third full-length this week. The Official Body will have you contemplating current events and social institutions while grooving to dance synths and heavy basslines reminiscent of Bush Tetras and Au Pairs.

    Last but definitely not least, Tune-Yards released I can feel you creep into my private life. The band’s founder, Merrill Garbus, recently told The New York Times that the new album is heavily influenced by learning how to DJ and attending seminars about race relations. Case in point? The catchy pop grooves of lead single, “ABC 123,” will have you bopping your head to the lyric, “I can ask myself, what should I do? But all I know is white centrality. My country served me horror coke. My natural freedom up in smoke.”

  • Other Highlights

    Wu-Tang’s RZA appears in a brand new video for PETA. The ad features the longtime vegan’s voiceover as his face shifts into different people and animals. Governors Ball announced James Blake as its final headliner for the 2018 June lineup. Kylie Minogue’s new single, “Dancing,” gives us a taste of her fourteenth studio album, Golden, out April 6th. Cardi B is the subject of a new Tidal “mini-documentary.” I’m Here Muthaf*ckas follows her as she headlines Jeremy Scott’s Art Basel dinner party for Moschino. Julien Barbagallo, the drummer of Tame Impala, released a video for “L’échappée.” The single is off of his upcoming album, Danse Dans Les Ailleurs, which is sung entirely in French. Five of David Bowie’s albums are getting vinyl re-issuesLow, Heroes, Lodger, Scary Monsters, and Stage will be available individually on February 23rd via Parlophone. Migos member Offset has offended many with a homophobic statement (this time in a lyric), AGAIN. Mary J. Blige honors the Time’s Up movement with new single, “Bounce Back 2.0.” Fischerspooner’s new NSFW music video celebrates male sexuality. Bad Wolves have released their cover of the Cranberries’ “Zombie.” Dolores O’Riordan was scheduled to record vocals for the track before her passing; proceeds from the single will benefit her children.