The Foo Fighters performed the most awesome rickroll in history at the Summer Sonic Festival in Japan. Dave invited Rick Astley onstage to sing “Never Gonna Give You Up,” but with a sonic twist. You’ll see what I mean. (Via Danny).. more
Following Spotify’s move to expunge white supremacist material from their system, other companies have been doing the same. Retailer CD Baby is doing the same thing (here’s their hate speech policy), but they’re also injecting some positivity in its place. CD Baby is “committed to not only removing content that promotes hate and violence, but they [&hellip.. more
With so much talk of Nazis, white supremacists, and all the other scum of the alt-right recently, it might be instructive to review that this isn’t a new issue. Fascism’s roots in on this side of the Atlantic extend back to at least the Fascist League of North America, which was founded in 1923. They [&hellip.. more
Frequent contributor Brent Chittenden (read his latest here) points us to The Video Game Historian and the story of game rentals. What if the music industry had adopted what Blockbuster proposed? Things might be a lot different.  .. more
You may have heard rumblings from certain quarters that the vinyl resurrection is over. I have a long-running feud with a friend who is convinced that the whole thing was a fad, even though we’re now in the 10th year of vinyl growth in an environment where sales of physical and digital product are cratering. Wall [&hellip.. more
U2 is one of those bands that fans may only like one particular album in their career or a particular phase. In most people my age, it’s The Joshua Tree era. It’s kind of hard to argue that in many ways. With The Joshua Tree, U2 became the biggest band in the world for a [&hellip.. more
Ever get the feeling that so much modern pop music is really quite, well, terrible? I mean, truly, honestly awful? That it all sounds the same? That there’s no innovation in music anymore? It may not be your imagination. Find 20 minutes to watch this video and you may feel justified in being grumpy about [&hellip.. more
Had he not drugged himself to death, Alice in Chains singer Layne Staley would have turned 50 this coming Tuesday. Instead of continuing to lead one of the great Seattle bands of the 90s into the 21st century, he died a junkie, alone in his condo, a needle in his arm and another fully-loaded spike [&hellip.. more
By: Juliette Jagger (@juliettejagger) When Anne Murray released, “You Needed Me” in 1978, she hadn’t had a hit single in four years. As an artist, momentum is everything, and that kind of radio silence is typically a career killer. Thankfully for Murray, that wasn’t the case. “You Needed Me,” which appeared on her 12th studio [&hellip.. more
When Black Sabbath left the stage in Birmingham on February 4, 2017, fans were told that was it. After a final lap around the planet, Sabbath was done. The End of the End is the concert film that documents that last show. A one-night-only cinematic release is set for September 28. Here’s what we can [&hellip.. more
Two days until the Eclipse Day. Got your #14 welder’s glass yet? And now, the music news for August 19. Sunrise Records continues to fill the gap left by HMV. They’re expanding into Newfoundland now. Discuss this at the bar tonight: Which celebrity is the most popular sex doll request? This one. Following the demise [&hellip.. more
Making an album is straightforward, right? You write some song, go into a studio and a few months later, something gets released. And 99% of the time, that’s exactly what happens. All right, what about that final 1%? Those are the times when someone goes into a studio, starts working on an album and then [&hellip.. more
I am pleased to announce that I will be at the Music Expo, on Saturday September 23, giving my brand-new lecture titled “Chickens and Eggs: The Relationship Between Music and Technology.” The trade show portion of the event, which includes my talk, is free to attend for all Music Technology group members! Get your complimentary tickets [&hellip.. more
Coldplay performed a sold out show at Soldier Field in Chicago last night and from my spot about four feet behind drummer Will Champion, it was pretty good. That’s right. My vantage point was on the stage behind Will’s right elbow. I also saw the gig sitting in front of guitarist Jonny Buckland’s effects board. [&hellip.. more
In a major oops, fans of Australian folktronica singer Gordi, noticed that she sounded…different on side two of the vinyl edition of her debut album, Reservoir. That’s because those songs are from the still-unreleased Queens of the Stone Age album, Villians. The error at the pressing plant had QotSA songs “Fortress,” “Head Like a Haunted House” [&hellip.. more
ECW Press is one of the best Canadian publishing houses when it comes to books on our musical history. Their next major project is a new biography on the Tragically Hip. The Never-Ending Present, set for release next album, is written by Michael Barclay. They were also responsible for the very fine Have Not Been [&hellip.. more
Don’t try to sort through all the new music that comes out every week on your own. Let me help with this handy list of eleven new tracks that caught my attention. Thanks to Mediazoic for the hosting, too. Mediazoic is currently working on building a great new tuner with advanced features, coming soon. In [&hellip.. more
In today’s music environment, revenue isn’t going to come from selling pieces of plastic. And unless you’re written a song named “Despacito,” streams aren’t going to pay the bills, either. Touring and playing live is where the important money is made. But you just can’t stand up on a stage and hope that something goes [&hellip.. more
Poppy is…I’m not sure. A real person? A robot? A singer? YouTube star? A cult leader? A brand? The future? Poppy seems to be the stage name of Moriah Pereira (maybe), a Nashville-born (possibly) woman who now lives in Los Angeles and how has one album called 3:36 (Music to Sleep By) and an EP [&hellip.. more
Unless you were prepared to make a mixtape on cassette (and later, a bespoke burned CD), we listened to albums, those carefully-constructed collections of songs meant to be heard in a specific order. Sometimes we’d skip through songs we didn’t like. Other times, we toughed it out through the bum tracks because we couldn’t be [&hellip.. more
The CNE opens in Toronto today, which as everyone in Southern Ontario knows is the official start of the end of summer. Dammit. Meanwhile, here’s some music news for August 18. Tim Cook wrote this powerful memo to Apple staff about Charlottesville. Spotify culled all the white supremacist music it could find in their system. [&hellip.. more
