Author: Press Room
Hakushi Hasegawa had spent too much time alone. The 27-year-old Tokyo artist has spent nearly a decade exploding familiar sounds into alien forms, slamming frantic keyboard melodies against pulverising percussion and their own digitally warped vocals to create works that hide pop hooks beneath the musical maelstrom. That vision earned them praise from listeners in Japan and beyond, leading to Hasegawa becoming the first Japanese musician to sign with American electronic label Brainfeeder, where they released the album ‘Mahogakko’ in 2024. “But it was something I made entirely by myself, sitting in front of my computer the whole time,” Hasegawa…
The comeback album is fraught with pitfalls. Often, when a band takes a long break and finally returns with a new record, the result is overcooked and overthought, bearing all the signs of its protracted birth. This isn’t an allegation you could level at ‘I Must Be Dreaming’, Alabama Shakes’ first album in over a decade. As its name suggests, this is a laidback, dreamy collection of psychedelic-soul-influenced songs, though there are two sides to its subject matter. On the one hand, it’s a protest against America’s Trump-directed fall from grace, with the trio asking: can this actually be real?…
Mastodon’s Brann Dailor has spoken to NME about their new album ‘Marrow Deep’ – their first record since the death of his mother and the unexpected passing of longtime bandmate Brent Hinds. Arriving five years after their last record, ‘Hushed And Grim’, the new album will be out on Friday (August 28) and comes amid a tumultuous period for the band. Last March, they confirmed that they had parted ways with founding member, guitarist and co-vocalist Hinds – leading to tensions being high between the members and Mastodon enlisting guitarist Nick Johnston in his place. Later, drummer and co-vocalist Dailor…
Jelly Roll has stepped in as guest host of Jimmy Kimmel Live this week and used the opportunity to take aim at Donald Trump for making fun of fat people while also being overweight. The country singer, who is filling in for Jimmy Kimmel for four nights, noted that his appearance on the show marks the first time he’s “worn a suit and a tie ever.” “I didn’t wear one to the Grammys,” he said. “I didn’t wear one to court. I didn’t wear one to my father’s funeral. But I look alright, don’t I?” During his monologue, Jelly Roll…
The Smiths guitarist will release his fifth solo album, The Age of Everything, in October Johnny Marr released a new single, “It’s Time.” The uplifting rock number is the third song to emerge from the Smiths guitarist’s forthcoming LP, The Age of Everything, out Oct. 2 via BMG. “’It’s Time’ is my way of singing about some worldly issues but finding defiance in idealism,” Marr said in a statement. “I wanted a lyric that matched the exuberance of the music but is actually about resisting cynicism and corruption: ‘Everybody ain’t making it, change the weather and breaking it. Mobilize to…
Taylor Swift has reflected on her “country roots” in a new interview. Find all the details below. READ MORE: Taylor Swift – ‘The Life Of A Showgirl’ review: magical when the songwriter just lets herself be In a career-spanning conversation with Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr. for the institution’s Icon Sessions series, Swift looked back on the start of her career in Nashville. “I love my country roots more and more the further along this path I get and I want to honour them more and more,” Swift said. “I feel more tied to them, more loyal to them ……
Che scena surreale dev’essere stata. Fuori dalla Royal Albert Hall di Londra, dove nell’aprile del 1987 Paul Simon stava per esibirsi coi musicisti coi quali aveva registrato Graceland, una sessantina di persone tra cui Paul Weller, Jerry Dammers degli Specials e Billy Bragg picchettavano l’entrata. Distribuivano volantini in cui chiedevano a Simon le scuse per avere inciso l’album in parte a Johannesburg violando l’embargo votato dall’assemblea generale dell’ONU e la promessa di non farlo più. Sul retro del foglio gli artisti che aderivano all’organizzazione inglese Artists Against Apartheid co-fondata da Dammers chiedevano al pubblico di «pensarci bene prima di andare…
Jorja Smith says her fundamental intention for What Are the Odds is that listeners “move and be moved.” She comes closest on “What’s Done Is Done,” an old-school UK garage track with a woozy, G-funk looseness. The snake charmer’s melody gives the R&B singer plenty to tease, and she’s in command as she sends her ex packing. It’s a rare burst of momentum on her third album, where more often than not, Smith sounds like she’s late to the party, fitting herself around the beat instead of giving it shape.A year after 2023’s Falling or Flying, Smith took a break,…
In the late 2000s, young boys loved to cringe at Justin Bieber. Maybe they were secretly jealous of his perfect voice, his hair flips, the way his oh-oh-ohs sent girls swooning. Maturing was realizing his music wasn’t inherently repellent; some haters converted with the aching downtempo R&B of 2014’s Journals, others took until the slanted acoustics of last year’s SWAG tapes.Nate Sib was a tween when Bieber released 2015’s Purpose, an EDM-laced burst of diaristic rambling; today, the 22-year-old songwriter cites it as key inspo. On his debut album, Reborn, Sib casts himself as a new troubled and thirsted-after pop…
At the risk of damaging my aura of critical distance and credibility, I confess to occasionally wondering whether Brandon Flowers might be the most important man alive. My affection for him goes beyond “irrational”; I have 20-year friendships predicated on the joy of making fun of him and the belief that he must be protected at all costs, like an endangered panda. I felt this fierce love surge last month, when Flowers released an “album trailer” video for his third solo album and first-ever country record, THRASHER. For mortals, a press release about the genre switch would suffice; for Flowers,…
