Holy shit!!! I haven’t been this excited in quite some time!!!
On Saturday, April 11 RATATAT (the duo of Mike Stroud and Evan Mast) took to the Coachella stage to perform for the first time in four years. During the duo’s performance they debuted new music from their upcoming fifth studio album, due out this summer on XL Recordings. Directly following their performance a new song from the set, “Cream On Chrome,” was made available, check it out below!!!!!
RATATAT recently completed a handful of sold-out shows in Tulsa, Denver, Salt Lake City and Las Vegas. RATATAT will also perform at Governor’s Ball and Capital Hill Block Party music festivals this summer.
“If you like Fleetwood Mac, try Kopecky…intelligent and edgy.” – The New York Times
“Quickly fell in love. Kopecky’s sweet rock songs keep blooming into something irresistible.” –NPR
“Melodic three-minute blast with piercing guitar riffs and an adrenaline-pumped chorus.” – SPIN
On May 19, Kopecky will release their sophomore album Drug for the Modern Age via ATO Records. The band has just released a live video for their lead single “Quarterback.” Watch the video below. Singer Kelsey Kopecky says, “Having a new album on the horizon gives us fresh wind in our sails to play live. The new songs are fun and grooving. Our first single, ‘Quarterback,’ is just that – a song that tells a tale of the underdog getting the girl with a simple white lie. An anthem of sorts with a ‘love conquers all’ vibe.”
Kopecky’s new record, Drug for the Modern Age, takes the many shake-ups the band’s endured over the past few years and turns them into inspiration for groove-driven, melody-heavy alt-pop that’s intensely emotional and strangely exhilarating. The album is now available for pre-order on iTunes, Amazon, and Kopecky’s official store.
Formerly known as the Kopecky Family Band, the Nashville based group has had their music appear on a variety of hit television series including Grey’s Anatomy, Parenthood, The Vampire Diaries, and MTV’s Awkward to name a few. One of their new tracks “Real Life” was just featured on the most recent episode of the hit television show Nashville. They’ve also toured all over the world and have played at some of the largest music festivals including Austin City Limits, Bumbershoot, and Lollapalooza. This year they will be performing at SXSW.
Their upcoming release, Drug for the Modern Age, explores such life-altering events as the sudden loss of a loved one, divorce, and struggles with addiction, along with more joyful happenings like new love and marriage. “The album was written in this weird time of so much pain but also happiness, and that really informed the writing and recording,” says vocalist/guitarist Gabe Simon, who co-founded the group with vocalist/keyboardist Kelsey Kopecky in 2007. “Our goal was to talk about all these very serious things we were dealing with, but in a way that felt nothing like wallowing and more like standing triumphantly, or even dancing our way through it.”
In achieving that dynamic, Kopecky (whose lineup also includes guitarist Steven Holmes, bassist Corey Oxendine, cellist Markus Midkiff, and drummer David Krohn) offer moments of symphonic grandeur alongside edgy, electronic-leaning innovation. Meanwhile, their daringly intimate lyrics both unsettle and engage, asking questions and encouraging reflection on the part of the listener.
As on their 2012 debut Kids Raising Kids, Kopecky teamed up with Konrad Snyder, but this time around the band took a more slowed-down and deliberate approach. This allowed them to bring new level of sophistication and soulfulness to their songcraft.
Drug for the Modern Age serves up its share of intricately layered love songs as well, revealing Kopecky’s endless grace in merging sweetness and melancholy. With the band forever bound by their shared passion for purposeful songwriting, all that revelation and sometimes-painful truth-telling ultimately fulfills something central to Kopecky’s mission: a deeper and stronger connection with each person listening.
Tour Dates
4/2 at Club Café in Pittsburgh, PA
4/3 at Musica in Akron, OH
4/10 at The Loft in Columbus, GA
4/11 at One Spark Festival in Jacksonville, FL
4/12 at Second Sunday in Macon, GA
4/16 at The Frequency in Madison, WI
4/17 at Redstone Room in Davenport, IA
4/18 at Off Broadway in St. Louis, MO
4/28 at Pour House in Charleston, SC
4/29 at Jefferson Theater in Charlottesville, VA
5/4 at Mercury Lounge in New York, NY
5/5 at Baby’s All Right in Brooklyn, NY
5/8 at Artisphere in Greenville, SC
5/14 at Camp House in Chattanooga, TN
5/15 at Vinyl in Atlanta, GA
5/17 at Hangout Festival in Gulf Shores, AL
5/19 at Basement in Nashville, TN
5/22 at Live Oak in Fort Worth, TX
5/25 at The Casbah in San Diego, CA
5/26 at Echo Park in Los Angeles, CA
5/29 at Bottlerock Festival in Napa, CA
5/31 at Sainte Rocke in Hermosa Beach, CA
6/1 at Crescent Ballroom in Phoenix, AZ
6/4 at Wakarusa in Ozark, AR
7/26 at XPoNential Music Festival in Camden, NJ
Los Angeles’ quartet Smallpools will release their debut album LOVETAP!March 23rd through RCA Records. Lyric video for “Karaoke”premieres today on NYLON HERE. I’ve been in love with the song since I first posted it back in December here. Spotifywill be streaming the album beginning March 17th as part of The Drop Program. Catch Smallpools on NBC’s Late Night with Seth Meyers March 16th before they swing through SXSW in Austin, Texas before their 32-date USA tour (see below for dates).
After bursting onto the scene with their 4 song self-titled EP, Smallpools has toured to all corners of North America opening for WALK THE MOON, Neon Trees, Grouplove, MS MR, Twenty One Pilots, and Two Door Cinema Club, played Lollapalooza and Firefly Festivals, and closed the year with a sold out Live Nation “Ones To Watch ’14” headline tour. The release of their self-titled debut EP gained them critical acclaim and brought them their national TV debut on Jimmy Kimmel Live, performing their debut single “Dreaming” which was produced by Captain Cuts. You can see the video HERE, which has 4.8 million views.
Supporters like Vogue, Interview Magazine, Idolator, BuzzFeed etc all praised the band’s catchy songs and invigoration live shows. Neon Gold called “Mason Jar” “a sepia splash of power-pop that crystallizes into a starscraping smash before the verse even kicks in, as stadium-sized Of Monsters And Men gang vocals ride high on the buoyant flair of Smallpools’ youthful, Two Door-esque ebullience.” In addition, NYLON Magazine premiered the Charli XCX vs Twin Idol Remix of “Dreaming”.
Smallpools – LOVETAP! track list (out 3/23 on RCA Records):
01. American Love
02. Killer Whales
03. Dreaming
04. Karaoke
05. Street Fight
06. Mason Jar
07. Over & Over
08. Lovetap!
09. What’s A Picture Of?
10. Dyin’ to Live
11. Admission To Your Party
12. 9 to 5
13. No Story Time
14. (Submarine)
SMALLPOOLS LOVETAP! HEADLINE TOUR: VIP tickets on sale HERE
3/18 – Austin, TX @ SXSW – Bar 96 @ BMI Showcase (11:00pm)
3/19 – Austin, TX @ SXSW – Palm Park @ IFC Party (9:10pm)
3/20 – Austin, TX @ SXSW – Empire Control and Garage @ Baeblemusic Day Party (2:00pm)
3/21 – Austin, TX @ SXSW – Little Woodrow’s @ Party in My Pants (2:00pm)
3/28 – Austin, TX @ University of Texas
4/11 – Tuscon, AZ @ University of Arizona
4/14 – Houston, TX @ Fitzgerald’s
4/15 – Dallas, TX @ House of Blues
4/17 – Tulsa, OK @ The Vanguard
4/18 – Kirksville, MO @ Truman State University
4/19 – St Louis, MO @ Firebird
4/21 – Nashville, TN @ Exit/In
4/23 – Atlanta, GA @ Terminal West
4/24 – Saxapahaw, NC @ Haw River Ballroom
4/25 – Washington, DC @ U Street Music Hall
4/27 – Pittsburgh, PA @ Altar Bar
4/28 – Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer
4/30 – Columbus, OH @ Newport Music Hall
5/01 – Cincinnati, OH @ Xavier University
5/03 – Princeton, NJ @ Princeton University
5/05 – Cleveland, OH @ Beachland Ballroom
5/06 – Detroit, MI @ St. Andrew’s Hall
5/08 – Las Vegas, NV @ Rock In Rio Festival
5/09 – Cambridge, MA @ Middle East
5/10 – New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom
5/11 – New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom
5/13 – Indianapolis, IN @ Deluxe
5/14 – Minneapolis, MN @ Triple Rock
5/15 – Kansas City, MO @ The Record Bar
5/16 – Denver, CO @ The Summit Music Hall
5/18 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Club Sound
5/20 – Portland, OR @ Wonder Ballroom
5/22 – Vancouver, BC @ Electric Owl
5/23 – Seattle, WA @ The Crocodile
5/25 – San Francisco, CA @ The Independent
5/28 – Santa Ana, CA @ The Observatory
5/29 – Los Angeles, CA @ El Rey
New York-based singer and songwriter Greg Holden has teamed up with Brent Lindeque, the founder behind the global movement #RAK15, and BuzzFeed Media to premiere the very special video for his brand-new single “Hold on Tight.” #RAK15 encourages people to perform one random act of kindness, film it happening, post the video on social media, and challenge friends to do the same.
With its “pay-it-forward” theme, the powerfully moving video for “Hold on Tight” shows how one small random act of kindness can spark another, as it follows a chain reaction of events beginning with Holden helping up a woman who has fallen on the sidewalk. The video’s theme resonates perfectly with #RAK15’s International Random Acts of Kindness Day 2015, which took place yesterday. On Monday, Lindeque nominated Holden to perform a random act of kindness and share it to his social media with the hashtag RAK15. Holden did so and in turn has encouraged his followers to take part and post their videos online. In addition, BuzzFeed has published a list of ways people can get involved in the global #RAK15 initiative. For more, visit http://www.raknominations.org/.
“Hold on Tight” is the first single from the Scotland-born, England-bred artist’s debut album for Warner Bros. Records, entitled Chase The Sun, which will be released on April 14th. Produced by Greg Wells (Adele, OneRepublic). Chase The Sun is filled with Holden’s passionate, purpose-driven rock songs, which brim with tough, vibrant energy and showcase his lean, literate songwriting. Watch the Chase The Sun album trailer below.
Holden began to write the songs that appear on Chase The Sun after returning from a life-changing, seven-week trip to India and Nepal in February 2013. “Hold On Tight is about looking at life as something we should feel grateful for, not be complaining about,” he says.
Holden has earned a name for himself as an independent artist for the last several years, releasing two albums, 2009’s A Word in Edgeways and 2011’s I Don’t Believe You. His song “The Lost Boy” – a poetic rumination inspired by a Dave Eggers’ novel about a Sudanese refugee – hit No. 1 on iTunes in Holland and raised over $50,000 for the Red Cross. Within two weeks of being featured on Sons of Anarchy, “The Lost Boy” sold 30,000 downloads in the U.S. and debuted at No. 36 on Billboard’s Rock chart. Holden also earned recognition for writing the massive hit “Home” – the debut single for American Idol winner Phillip Phillips that sold five million tracks in the U.S. and earned Holden an ASCAP Pop Award.
“Let synth-rockers KNTRLR’s debut full length ‘The Great Filter’ take you over. The post-punk duo’s first album is a rush of hooks and energy.” – SPIN
“It’s as if the Walkmen transported themselves to a skuzzy underground NYC club in the ’80s, and we can’t get enough of it.” – PureVolume
“Definitely listen to this band, they are sleek and mesmerizing.” – Pancakes and Whiskey
KNTRLR, the New York based experimental indie rock/electronic duo, is set to release their debut LP, The Great Filter, on February 24th via Goodnight Records. In celebration of the upcoming release, SPIN is now streaming the album in full leading up to the release.
Since 2008, KNTRLR continues to evolve–their music becoming further charged by the confrontation of mortality and darkness. The Great Filter stays true to these motivations. From love and death to loss and family, the sum of the band’s life experiences have created a darker collection of songs that are sure to resonate deeply with listeners. The strong confidence in the sound they’ve built is obvious; KNTRLR’s respective life experiences have their music well.
Now a five-piece act live, the duo will be touring to promote their upcoming album The Great Filter.
Tour Dates:
2/18 – Los Angeles, CA – Lexington Theatre
2/19 – Long Beach, CA – The Prospector
2/21 – San Francisco. CA – Submission
2/28 New York, NY – Gutter (Album Release Party)
Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds will release their second album entitled Chasing Yesterday on March 3rd via Sour Mash Records.
Check out the video for “Ballad Of The Mighty I” right here:
Chasing Yesterday marks a new chapter and sound for Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds. It’s the first album to be produced as well as written by Noel and features a much broader array of instrumentation than ever before; the result is a rich, expansive and multi-layered record, drawing from a range of disparate influences – from west coast rock to classic rock’n’roll and even some space jazz (!) – whilst still being very obviously a completely cohesive body of work. On producing the album, Noel said:
“It was a major pain in the arse. It’s not that I’ve ever had people telling me what to write or what direction to go in, but managing sessions from one end of the week to the other proved extremely difficult. I had all these people looking at me and saying: ‘right, what are we doing today?’ I was making the whole thing up as I went along.”
Earlier this week Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds announced their return to North America with tour dates kicking off on May 3rd in Toronto and continuing through to their June 7th date at Governor’s Ball in New York City. Tickets for the tour go on sale on Friday, January 23 with an exclusive fan pre-sale on January 21 on Noel’s website. Tickets can be purchased at HERE where fans will also have the option of adding on the Deluxe CD or Deluxe Vinyl of Chasing Yesterday (outMarch 3) to their purchase which has 4 additional bonus tracks including live favorite, “Freaky Teeth” and a remix of new single “In The Heat Of The Moment.” See below for a complete list of upcoming dates.
Check out “In The Heat Of The Moment” below:
Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds North American Tour Dates:
May 3rd Toronto, ON @ Sony Centre for the Performing Arts
May 10th New Orleans, LA @ Civic Theatre
May 13th Houston, TX @ House of Blues
May 14th Dallas, TX @ Majestic Theater
May 16th San Diego, CA @ Humphrey’s Concert By The Bay
May 18th San Francisco, CA @ The Warfield
May 20th Los Angeles, CA @ Orpheum Theatre
May 22nd Las Vegas, NV @ The Joint at Hard Rock Hotel & Casino
May 29th Chicago, IL @ Riviera Theater
May 30th Milwaukee, WI @ Pabst Theatre
May 31st Detroit, MI @ Royal Oak Theatre
June 2nd Cleveland, OH @ House of Blues
June 4th Washington, D.C. @ Lincoln Theater
June 6th Boston, MA @ Opera House
June 7th New York, NY @ Governor’s Ball Festival
Chasing Yesterday Tracklist:
01. Riverman
02. In The Heat Of The Moment
03. The Girl With X-Ray Eyes
04. Lock All The Doors
05. The Dying Of The Light
06. The Right Stuff
07. While The Song Remains The Same
08. The Mexican
09. You Know We Can’t Go Back
10. Ballad Of The Mighty I
Don’t miss Misterwives on their “Our Own House” tour with support from BØRNS! Also, keep an eye out for more info soon about their upcoming full length debut album out next year!
Here’s the second track released from Marilyn Manson’s newest album, The Pale Emporer, set for release next month. Check out “Deep Six”.
A recent interview in THE FADER said, “Rock stars went extinct but Marilyn Manson is still here.” Read the entire interview here.
Manson collaborated on the new album, his first in over two years, with noted film composer/producer Tyler Bates(Guardians of the Galaxy, 300, The Watchmen.) Bates will also join Manson as a member of his band on the upcoming THE HELL NOT HALLELUJAH TOUR, which kicks off January 21st, 2015 in Washington D.C. Manson’s band on the national headlining tour also includes longtime bassist Twiggy Ramirez, Gil Sharone on drums and Paul Wiley on guitar.
The first single released, “Third Day Of A Seven Day Binge.” can be heard below.
I’m a fan of k-os since back in 2009, when I heard their album, Yes!
I admit that I wasn’t that big on their 2013 album Black on Blonde, but NOW, they’re back and they’ve unveiled a new song from next year’s highly anticipated LP Can’t Fly Without Gravity.
“Turn Me Loose” is a hard-rocking, four-on-the-floor banger complete with wailing guitars, trippy synths and a message about going out and leaving every worry behind.
The video is set to the backdrop of familiar shots from k-os’ stomping ground, “Walkin’ down Yonge Street on a Friday”, in Toronto.
Musically Amusing 