Author: Press Room
Rabbit Holed is Kieran Press-Reynolds’ column exploring songs and scenes at the intersection of music and digital culture, separating shitpost genius from shitpassé lameness. This edition is all about “GG EZ,” an AI song that became a human song that became the music meme of the moment. Plus, a report from New York Fashion Week a.k.a B0YG1RL Fest.
It’s a Thursday night, and Karol G is lighting up New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium with a blast of fireworks and flames, each burst going off in quick succession. This isn’t the first or last time it happens during the night, or even in the string of opening bangers — “Latina Forever,” “Un Gatito Me Llamo,” “QLONA.” In fact, the Colombian superstar’s Viajando Por El Mundo Tropitour set includes so many fireworks and blasts of pyrotechnics, you can’t keep count of them. And yet, each time, it jolts the audience into astonishment. They may have seen a firework show before, but…
Duncan Sheik, singer of the 1996 hit single “Barely Breathing” and Tony Award-winning composer of Spring Awakening, died on Thursday. He was 56. Sheik’s mother, Suzanne, confirmed the singer’s death to the New York Times, adding that the cause was organ failure. Earlier this week, the singer-composer was in “critical but stable” condition in a hospital and “receiving medical care” following an unspecified health issue. The New Jersey native, a one-time bandmate of Lisa Loeb when the two attended Brown University together, released his self-titled debut album in 1996. The LP featured the single “Barely Breathing,” which was certified gold…
The director of Pulp‘s new documentary and live film, Garth Jennings, has spoken to NME about the “celebratory” new movie What Do You Do For An Encore? and what the future holds with the band. Check out the interview below, along with an exclusive performance clip of ‘Something Changed’ above. Directed by Garth Jennings – who helmed the classic music videos for Pulp’s ‘Help The Aged’ and ‘A Little Soul’ – the 90-minute movie captures the Sheffield icons’ two sold-out shows at The O2 in London last summer, featuring narration from the band, unseen archive material and rare behind-the-scenes footage.…
Meshell Ndegeocello invites Bill Callahan and Chris Thile to join her on the latest cut from her new collaborative album, Synonym. The trio’s cover of Bob Dylan’s “With God on Our Side” comes with a Damani Baker-directed video shot on a park bench. Check it out below.“Bill Callahan’s voice to me is enchanting and just draws you in,” Ndegeocello says in a press release. “And then my other angel is Chris Thile. He’s a very grounded human being; I just love the earthiness of his voice.” This arrangement of the Dylan track gives the lyrics “a lot more aggression,” Ndegeocello…
Actress’s music is basically a genre within itself, the way the British electronic musician distorts drone, R&B, grime, dubstep, and techno into smoked-out synth trips. His bleary-eyed chords and pneumatic beats are pathways into rain-streaked streets in London, Berlin shows blanketed in thick layers of cigarette haze, and afters where eyes are drooping but no one wants to go home. The producer has always been Black avant-garde, but on Radical Frame he owns this title wholeheartedly. He sets the scene like an independent film auteur, opening with surreal vocals before slinking into a tunnel of static and dark ambient pads.…
In the latter half of 1976, two very different live music scenes were popping at the exact same time across England and America. On one hand, superstar acts like Peter Frampton, Yes, Fleetwood Mac, the Who, and the Rolling Stones were selling tickets on such an astronomical level that their shows were moving into football stadiums, outdoor fields, and racetracks. At the exact same time, young, upstart groups like the Ramones and the Clash were forming in response to the corporatization of rock, the bloated egos of its biggest stars, and the excesses of prog with the back-to-basics minimalism of…
The Democratic Party is very, very good at losing. They have made a habit of prying defeat from the jaws of victory, squandering generational chances to win the presidency and establish a trifecta in 2016 and 2024, and continually underperforming in chaotic midterm cycles. But in politics, there’s always the next cycle, and November’s midterm elections are the Democrats’ best chance in years to build real power. Donald Trump is deeply unpopular, and Democratic candidates are riding a wave of ire at the sitting president to shocking leads in places they often can’t even contest. Texas is on the board.…
Talking Heads will reunite at the end of this month to launch a new channel on SiriusXM, which will play their back catalogue and feature a special conversation between the members. The channel, titled Talking Heads Radio, which runs until from October 1 to October 22 on in-car satellite radios, and until October 31 on the SiriusXM app, promises “five decades of music from David Byrne, Chris Frantz, Jerry Harrison and Tina Weymouth” (via Spin), as well as a special reflective conversation between the group, which airs at noon on launch day. The conversation will be recorded live in front…
Billy Joel’s publicist has confirmed that the singer is still alive, following a Google glitch that claimed the 77-year-old had passed away on Thursday. The search engine included an information box on the ‘Piano Man’ legend, which stated his date of death as yesterday (September 17). This sparked a flurry of concern online, with Joel’s publicist confirming to Newsday that he is still among us. “Billy’s not dead,” Claire Mercuri said. “I was just emailing with him.” Joel is yet to address the error himself on social media. Don’t worry, Billy Joel is alive. Search results for “Billy Joel” on…
