Rolling Stone Yahoo Music Feed

On the Charts: Panic! At the Disco Take Number One With 'Pray for the Wicked'

Sun, 01 Jul 2018 16:00:17 -0400

Panic! At the Disco scored their second straight Number One album as Brendon Urie and company's new LP Pray for the Wicked opened atop the Billboard 200.

Pray for the Wicked sold 180,000 total copies in its first week of release, giving it the best sales week for an alternative rock album since U2's Songs of Experience in December 2017, Billboard reports. Panic! At the Disco last topped the album charts with their 2016 album Death of a Bachelor.

Only one more new release managed to debut inside the Top 10 this week: Country duo Dan + Shay's self-titled album, which entered the Billboard 200 at Number Six and 44,000 total copies.

XXXTentacion's ? led the returnees as the late rapper's album continued to rise in the weeks following his death. ? moved to Number Two with 86,000 total copies, while the rapper's 17 jumped from Number Seven to Number Five in the second sales week since the rapper's shooting death at the age of 20.

Post Malone's Beerbongs & Bentleys moved up one spot to Number Three, followed by Beyonce and Jay-Z's Everything Is Love at Number Four and 59,000 total copies in its second week of release.

Juice WRLD's Goodbye & Good Riddance (Number Seven), Cardi B's Invasion of Privacy (Eight), the Greatest Showman soundtrack (Nine) and last week's Number One, 5 Seconds of Summer's Youngblood, filled out the Top 10.

Next week, Drake's Scorpion is destined for Number One on the strength of the best streaming totals ever. Florence and the Machine's High as Hope and Gorillaz' The Now Now should also help shake up the Top 10.

Selena Gomez's 'Back to You' Is the Song of the Summer

Sun, 01 Jul 2018 10:00:00 -0400

What makes a summer jam? Is it the sunniest chorus, the hottest beat, the most weeks on the charts? Do the lyrics have to be about beaches and barbecues, or is it a question of vibe? What if it's a song on your summer playlist and no one else's?

We believe the answer is "all of the above." This summer, Rolling Stone's writers will celebrate the songs that are ruling each of their worlds – from huge hits to weirder, more personal choices. Check back soon for more summer songs, and hear all our picks in the Spotify playlist at the bottom of this post.

With its campfire strums and grab-the-car-keys impulsivity, "Back to You" is a natural summer song. It's the feisty screed against your camp boyfriend who ditched you after 10 long months of letter-exchanging. Obviously, his name is Justin. We took him like a shot, as Gomez sings, during last year's summer of "Despacito." We were his sunrise on his darkest day. We savored every moment slowly.

And now we're singing "Back to You." It's the melancholic jam for us goths, misanthropes and Sandra Dees to listen to on our lonely walks home. Gomez's lilting soprano whispers to us like a cool stream of ventilated air as we sit inside while everyone else plays volleyball with Cardi B or Drake. Everyone but Selena, our goddess of the 2018 summer bummer.

"Back to You" starts off with the three prerequisites of a juicy top bunk secret: a an acoustic guitar, a cold evening and a hint of shame. "Every single word builds up to this moment," she confides. "And I gotta convince myself I don't want it, even though I do."

The song's country flavor is reminiscent of Green Day's "Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)" – and like that song 20 summers ago, "Back to You" is an international sensation. Nestled in the Top 20 in over 21 countries, Gomez's song is stone-cold proof that no matter where you live or what language you speak, summer is the perfect time to sit and dwell on those who have wronged you.

"Back to You" has lots of precedents in this regard, from Cedric Gervais' remix of Lana Del Rey's "Summertime Sadness" all the way back to Roy Orbison's "Only the Lonely." But the one that most reminds me of "Back to You" came out during the summer of 1958: Ricky Nelson's "Poor Little Fool," about a cad who falls for a girl with "carefree devil eyes." "I'd played this game with other hearts but I never thought I'd see/The day that someone else would play love's foolish game with me," Nelson sings. Sixty years later, these foolish games are still tearing us apart.

Lil Wayne Tour Bus Shooter Has Conviction Overturned

Sun, 01 Jul 2018 09:32:37 -0400

The man accused of firing multiple gunshots at Lil Wayne's tour bus in April 2015 had his conviction overturned Friday, just three years into a 10-year prison sentence.

After pleading guilty to the Atlanta highway drive-by shooting in November 2015, Jimmy Carlton Winfrey appealed his conviction in February, arguing that the judge overseeing his case coerced him into taking a previously rejected plea deal by threatening Winfrey – also known as Peewee Roscoe – with a harsher sentence if the charges went to trial, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports.

On Friday, Winfrey's appeal made its way to the Georgia Supreme Court, who agreed that Cobb Superior Court Judge Mary Staley Clark did "cross the line" when she pressured and "impliedly threatened" Winfrey to take the plea deal.

At Winfrey's 2015 trial, Clark warned Winfrey of the offered plea deal, "This opportunity is going away. Go to trial and you get convicted there’s not going to be any of me being concerned about when you parole out. I will not be concerned about when you parole out." Clark also cited a previous case where she gave a gang member a 50-year sentence.

Winfrey was initially indicted on 30 counts stemming from the drive-by shooting, but as per the deal, he only pleaded guilty violating six charges of the Street Gang Terrorism and Prevention Act, which carried a 20-year sentence with 10 years in prison followed by 10 years on probation.

While Winfrey's conviction was overturned, he will remain in custody as his case goes back to the starting point, with Winfrey opting between another plea deal or a new trial, his lawyer told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

At the time of the shooting, Winfrey was serving as Bryan "Birdman" Williams' tour manager; Birdman and Lil Wayne were in the midst of their long-standing feud. Winfrey and Lil Wayne reportedly had a confrontation outside of an Atlanta nightclub prior to the shooting. Soon after the drive-by, Winfrey placed a call to a cell phone owned by Birdman, who denied any involvement in the shooting. Police speculated that Winfrey orchestrated the incident to gain "street cred."

Drake's 'Scorpion' Shatters Single-Day Streaming Records

Sat, 30 Jun 2018 16:03:14 -0400

Drake's Scorpion shattered single-day streaming records on both Apple Music and Spotify, with the rapper's new double album on pace for the most streamed week in charts history.

Scorpion easily crushed Apple Music's single-day streaming record – previously held by Drake's own More Life – with 170 million streams worldwide in its first 24 hours of release, the Associated Press reports; More Life accumulated 89.9 million streams on the service upon its release in March 2017.

On Spotify, Scorpion's tracks have chalked up over 132 million streams in its first 24 hours, and all 25 Scorpion tracks appear among the first 41 spots on Spotify's worldwide Top 200 chart; Side A opener "Non-Stop" drew 9.2 million streams alone.

Factoring in other music services and Scorpion is well on its way toward beating the record for most streams in one week, which Post Malone's Beerbongs & Bentleys recorded earlier this year when that album opened at Number One thanks in part to 431 streams.

Thanks to Scorpion's oversized track list, the double album – A Side is dedicated to hip-hop while B Side focuses on R&B – could hit a billion streams in its first week of release, the Verge reports.

Hear Vic Mensa Confront Addiction, Demons on New Song '10K Problems'

Sat, 30 Jun 2018 10:54:18 -0400

Vic Mensa has unleashed a cathartic new track titled "10K Problems" where the rapper reveals his struggles with drug addiction and adapting to fame.

"Niggas asking where I been at, I gotta recap it / Relapsing D-R-U-G habits / Tryin' move forward, depression been holding me backwards / Recovery ain't a straight line," Mensa raps over a blistering beat. "What's going on, like Marvin is / I heard it through the grapevine I'm fallin' off / I been on another planet."

Later on the track, Mensa reveals that his father was recently paralyzed following neck surgery. "It's a painful process watching your parents die," Mensa says, "And niggas look at my life and think I'm in paradise."

"10K Problems" is Mensa's second new song this month, following the arrival of "Reverse" featuring G-Eazy and producer Marshmello. The rapper, who released his similarly personal The Autobiography in 2017, also hopped on Nile Rodgers & Chic's new single "Till the World Ends."

Drake Was Once R&B's Savior. On 'Scorpion,' He Returns to the Genre He Reinvented

Sat, 30 Jun 2018 10:30:00 -0400

As news that Drake's Scorpion would be a double album swept around the internet this week, it was quickly followed by a tantalizing rumor – one of the two LPs would be rap, while the other would be entirely R&B. Drake became a star by mixing these forms; now he would devote himself to each individually.

This wasn't a completely crazy idea: Drake, under duress after being bloodied in a rap-scrap with Pusha-T, would return to his comfort zone. There was also a healthy dose of wishful thinking here from fans with fond memories of Drake's early years, when he initiated a paradigm shift in R&B. From his 2009 major-label debut, the So Far Gone EP, through 2011's Take Care, Drake worked heavily in the genre, but in the years since he turned much of his attention elsewhere, exploring other genres and often passing R&B digressions off to guests.

Like many of the rumors swirling before the release of Scorpion, Drake's R&B album turned out to be largely a myth. Still, there are seven singing-heavy tracks on the second volume of Scorpion, many of which blur into a crawling stew of romantic anguish and missed opportunity; it's the most R&B that Drake has delivered personally in years. This feels fitting, as R&B is more prominent now than it has been during any other moment in Drake's career. He's diving back into a genre that he almost singlehandedly re-tooled and, commercially speaking, helped revive.

When Drake started scoring hits regularly in 2009, R&B was struggling for attention in the mainstream; the dollars were all in Top 40 pop, and to a lesser extent, hip-hop. To get by during this period, R&B titans like Usher and Ne-Yo were forced to appear on numbing EDM records. "It was a point where people were saying R&B was dead," the singer Ro James tells Rolling Stone. "But Drake showed a different perspective."

He's diving back into a genre that he almost singlehandedly re-tooled and, commercially speaking, helped revive.

On Drake's singing records in those early years, some of his choices had a clear lineage: Noah "40" Shebib, his go-to producer, is on the record as a Tank fan, and you can hear echoes of Tank's "Coldest Winter" in the beats of "Successful," "Fireworks" and "Marvin's Room." But Drake redefined R&B singing with startling speed. "He made it acceptable to be simple again," says Tiffany Fred, a Grammy-winning songwriter who has also released an entire EP of Drake covers. "He took the thought process of a rapper into singing and proved you don't need all the theatrics," adds Brian Warfield, one half of the writing-production duo Fisticuffs (Jazmine Sullivan, Miguel).

For decades, R&B was synonymous with vocalists who could execute virtuosic runs and slather tracks with wrenching ad-libs. "Before [Drake], when recording the hook in an R&B song, you would stack it four times, you would have background vocals," Warfield explains. "Harmonies and ad-libs was where you got to flex your muscle, show your vocal ability and your ear."

Drake dispensed with much of that tradition, or imported it – via samples of Nineties singers like Jon B or features with rising stars like the Weeknd. The primary vocal lines stayed approachable. "Drake doesn't do vocal acrobatics most of the time," Fred says.

This democratized a genre once known for heroic feats. "Drake sets his octave lower, so it's less flamboyant," explains songwriter August Rigo (Kehlani, SWV). "And because it's in an octave close to speaking, it allows everybody who can't sing to sing a Drake song. His sing-ability is a ten."

"He made his own lane, and the person I would compare him to in that regard is Lionel Richie"

Drake also inverted structural expectations for R&B songs. He loves Jodeci and sampled them, but a Drake ballad never erupts like a Jodeci ballad. He sings in long, graspable lines, snuggling up to notes rather than attacking and embellishing them. His song form matches this vocal approach – even in "Passionfruit," an undeniable hit, there is no cathartic release during the hook. "Usually songs build from the verse and the chorus explodes," Rigo says. "In Drake songs, the chorus will come in and everything will drop out – it's kind of backwards." R&B singers are often known for jumping up the scale; Drake is just as likely to modulate downwards.

Drake's innovations worked like crazy. "He made his own lane, and the person I would compare him to in that regard is Lionel Richie," says Mark Batson (Beyoncé, Anthony Hamilton). "When everyone was doing hard funk music, Richie created this smooth lane, and wrote great songs." (Drake did Richie one better, since he was across the aisle making the modern day equivalent of hard funk – hip-hop – at the same time.) The purest example of the Drake R&B sound remains "Marvin's Room" from 2011, surely one of the least dynamic tracks to reach Number 21 on the Hot 100. The single is magnetic precisely because Drake's puddle of jealousy never boils over musically – there is no resolution in this R&B, no satisfyingly angsty explosion, only stasis.

An entire class of young singers took this style as gospel – here were tools they could use to survive in a world driven by hip-hop. You hear echoes of Drake in Bryson Tiller and Tory Lanez, Tinashe and Jhene Aiko, Post Malone and Kehlani, A. Chal and 6lack, Majid Jordan and PARTYNEXTDOOR, Roy Woods and DVSN (the last four are all signed to Drake's OVO label). For years, it was impossible to turn on the radio without hearing a Drake disciple. The allure of this template was such that even R&B veterans like Alicia Keys and Beyonce, who specialize in old-school vocal displays, moderated their energy on tracks Drake co-wrote ("Unthinkable (I'm Ready)" and "Mine," respectively).

Since all these artists were pushing Drake's sound, it was easy for him to indulge other interests. Starting after Take Care, when singing and swinging for the charts, Drake began jetting to new genres, including Jamaican dancehall, Nigerian afrobeats and South African house. He allowed other artists to take the lead vocals on entire tracks – letting PARTYNEXTDOOR wail and moan on "Wednesday Night Interlude," handing the mic to Sampha on the keening "4422." And even though Drake had so much success elevating melody, he worked hard to hone a bruising, quarrelsome rap style, which carried him from "Worst Behavior" to If You're Reading This It's Too Late, from What a Time to Be Alive to "Free Smoke" and "No Long Talking."

For much of Scorpion, especially the first half, this remains Drake's mode: Head down, fists up. But the second part of the new album serves as a change of pace. The transformation is foreshadowed on the final track of Side One by Nai Palm of Hiatus Kaiyote, who harmonizes with herself during an impressive snippet of an Aaliyah cover. When Drake returns on Side Two, he is staggering around in a familiar R&B-induced stupor. "Peak," "Jaded" and "Finesse" are wonderfully lackluster – no one could deliver the line "honestly, I can't stand ya" with less bite than Drake. These could all be one long track, artfully deflated and eminently singable. There's more momentum in "Summer Games," "Ratchet Happy Birthday," "Don't Matter to Me" and "After Dark," but you know these partially-committed melodic patterns and nonchalant croons – you've been hearing them for almost a decade.

For Drake, this part of Scorpion is both a welcome return to form and surprisingly conventional. When R&B was struggling, he helped clear a path for it move forward. But now he offers up a rigid vision of R&B – especially at a time, maybe the first in a decade, when his grip on the genre is weakening. Several young singers on the charts today, including Daniel Caesar, Ella Mai and Jacquees, owe little to Drake's sound. And by far the most successful R&B act of the last three months has been Ty Dolla $ign, who loves the sort of vocal drama that Drake sent into exile: For Ty, the more complex harmonies and melismatic acrobatics, the better.

So when Ty shows up twice on the second half of Scorpion it feels startling and momentous, an alien incursion in Drake-land. He's there in "Jaded," emoting wildly somewhere behind Drake like an R&B feelings-translator. And on "After Dark," Ty moves into the forefront, pleading and ad-libbing through an entire verse without restraint. After years of relying on Drake's blueprints, R&B is moving on. But these two songs suggest that Drake might consider moving with it.

Death Grips' 'Black Paint' Is the Song of the Summer

Sat, 30 Jun 2018 10:00:00 -0400

Cardi B's cravensexybrilliant "I Like It" is shaping up to be the consensus pick for 2018's Song of the Summer. What's more, it's on track to take the trophy from DJ Khaled's "Wild Thoughts" in the all-time contest for most shameless yet undeniable pop reboot of an already-iconic song. But "Black Paint," from rap-rock-industrial-noise-punk computer viruses Death Grips, is worth consideration as a different kind of summer jam. Even though the whole paint-your-windows-black, 'noided agoraphobe vibe isn't exactly my summer feeling of choice, the aggro "I require privacy" chorus of "Black Paint" will still resonate in the relative isolation of a sunny headphone walk.

Think of it this way: "I Like It" paves the way forward with a new twist on a familiar recipe, sampling the 1967 Pete Rodriguez original whose biggest cultural moment prior to this came from a mid-Nineties Burger King commercial. Death Grips pave their road to the always-online future by pointing back to another stretch of the Nineties, the one between Woodstock '94 and Woodstock '99. "Black Paint" is Nine Inch Nails, the Judgment Night soundtrack, Atari Teenage Riot, Korn, Deerhoof, Onyx, Boredoms and Bomb Hip-Hop Records' Revenge of the B-Boy turntablism albums. Plug in and paint it, black.

Eric B & Rakim Ready 'Complete Collection' Vinyl Box Set

Fri, 29 Jun 2018 22:01:22 -0400

Eric B & Rakim will reissue their entire catalog on vinyl for the first time with the pioneering rap duo's The Complete Collection 1987-1992.

The 8-LP, 2-CD set collects the duo's four albums – 1987s Paid in Full, 1988's Follow the Leader, 1990's Let the Rhythm Hit Em and 1992's Don't Sweat the Technique – as well as two discs worth of remixes, many of which will be made available digitally for the first time as part of The Complete Collection.

The Complete Collection 1987-1992, due out July 13th and available to preorder now, also comes with a 36-page deluxe booklet, the albums' original liner notes, a ridged slipcase and more.

Nearly 25 years after the rapper and producer parted ways, Eric B & Rakim reunited in 2017 for a Paid in Full anniversary concert. The one-off reunion turned into a full-fledged tour in 2018, including a gig at the all-star Yo! MTV Raps concert in Brooklyn.

PAID IN FULL

1. I Ain't No Joke
2. Eric B. Is on the Cut
3. My Melody
4. I Know You Got Soul
5. Move the Crowd
6. Paid in Full
7. As the Rhyme Goes On
8. Chinese Arithmetic
9. Eric B. Is President
10. Extended Beat

FOLLOW THE LEADER
1. Follow the Leader
2. Microphone Fiend
3. Lyrics of Fury
4. Eric B. Never Scared
5. Just a Beat
6. Put Your Hands Together
7. To the Listeners
8. No Competition
9. The R
10. Musical Massacre
11. Beats for the Listeners

LET THE RHYTHM HIT EM
1. Let the Rhythm Hit 'Em
2. No Omega
3. In the Ghetto
4. Step Back
5. Eric B. Made My Day
6. Run for Cover
7. Untouchables
8. Mahogany
9. Keep 'Em Eager to Listen
10. Set 'Em Straight

DON’T SWEAT THE TECHNIQUE
1. What's on Your Mind?
2. Teach the Children
3. Pass the Hand Grenade
4. Casualties of War
5. Rest Assured
6. The Punisher
7. Relax with Pep
8. Keep the Beat
9. What's Going On?
10. Know the Ledge
11. Don't Sweat the Technique
12. Kick Along

Josh Homme Shares Letter Anthony Bourdain Wrote to Rocker's Daughter

Fri, 29 Jun 2018 20:13:13 -0400

Josh Homme has shared a letter Anthony Bourdain wrote to the Queens of the Stone Age frontman's daughter Camille that encapsulates the friendship between the rocker and the late chef.

"Tony, I miss you bad. Once Camille was so mad at you. She was defending me. & So were you. Defending me. As we had done & would do many times over the years for each other. & you, with great care, such empathy, such sweetness… you apologized to a little girl who was defending her daddy," Homme wrote of the letter, noting to Bourdain's own daughter, "Ariane, this was your father."

In Bourdain's letter, he apologized to Camille for smashing one of Homme's guitars during a promo for the Parts Unknown episode that Bourdain filmed with Homme in the California High Desert.

"You saw me take Daddy's guitar and smash it against a tree and I'm sure that was upsetting," Bourdain wrote, explaining that the promo was a "not so subtle" ode to a similar scene in National Lampoon's Animal House where John Belushi's character destroys an acoustic guitar.

"Know that that was in fact not really Daddy's guitar, and that we were both just playing around," he continued. "Daddy would have been very angry were I to do such a thing – and as he is a large man, I would not still be here to write this letter. I like your Daddy very much. We are friends."

As evidence of their close friendship, Bourdain colorfully reminisced about an incident at the bar Pappy & Harriet's were a "superfan" accosted Homme, who "guided him by the thorax" to a security guard.

"I would have broken my beer glass across the man's skull and then jabbed the remnants into his ****ing neck. That's the kind of guy I am," Bourdain wrote. "I had your Daddy's back – just like he had mine."

Bourdain closed out the letter by praising the "completely brilliant" Homme, stating that the rocker never got drunk during filming despite the frequent tequila drinking and asking what Homme cooks for her at home.

Following Bourdain's death by suicide on June 8th, Homme paid tribute to his friend both on social media and onstage, with Queens of the Stone Age dedicating "Long Slow Goodbye" to his "brother" Tony.

Tony, I miss you bad. Once, Camille was so mad at you. She was defending me. & So were you. Ariane, this was your father. Humbly yours, Joshua pic.twitter.com/sR3mwO5WBI
— QOTSA (@qotsa) June 29, 2018

Drake’s Favorite Collaborators are Ghosts

Fri, 29 Jun 2018 17:23:46 -0400

It’s unclear how, exactly, Drake pulled it off. On “Don’t Matter To Me,” a late song on the rapper’s latest album Scorpion, he recruits Michael Jackson for a duet. The late King of Pop is listed as a feature, and true to that billing, his voice handles chorus duties over a brooding beat that feels tailor-made for a Drake song called “Don’t Matter To Me.”

Jackson’s estate declined to comment on how his vocals made it to Scorpion, but sampling his voice isn't entirely unheard of. Large Professor famously flipped “Human Nature” for Nas’ classic Illmatic cut “It Ain’t Hard To Tell,” in 1994, establishing the move as a flag in the ground. Since then, sampling Jackson is designed to show you’re at the top of your game, a flex by publishing rate.

Just sampling Jackson, though, wasn’t enough for Drake. Instead, he uncovered an unreleased song (or, equally as likely, an unfinished chorus), secured the Jackson estate’s permission, and built a song around it. “Don’t Matter To Me” opens like most Drake songs, with gloomy, atmospheric synths and Drake singing sweetly to an ex-lover. Then Jackson comes in; even with some digital quivering added to his vocals, he's unmistakeable. While the “featuring Michael Jackson” billing would feel like an unnecessary flourish in almost any scenario, it’s close to earned here.

This retroactive style of collaboration with Jackson has happened once before, when Justin Timberlake – another ostensible heir to the King of Pop mantle – dueted with him on “Love Never Felt So Good,” a single from Jackson’s 2014 posthumous album Xscape. In that case, though, Timberlake was invited and inserted into a Jackson album, not the other way around. Drake created the song in a similar manner, but “Don’t Matter To Me” is wholly his.

Just one track later, Drake repeats the feat, this time placing Static Major – the late, influential songwriter of Ginuwine's "Pony" and Lil Wayne's "Lollipop" – alongside man of the sumer Ty Dolla Sign on “After Dark.” That means that of the four listed features on Scorpion (there are more that are subtler, and unlisted), half are posthumous appearances. It’s an attention-grabbing move that's in line with Drake's entire career.

This is not the first time Drake has dug up Static Major material: The singer, a tragically gifted figure in modern R&B, also popped up in the form of a sample on “Look What You’ve Done,” Drake’s touching ode to his family from 2011's Take Care. The sample there came not from a recorded song, but a YouTube clip of Static rehearsing in an echo-y room, accompanied only by a piano, that producer Chase N. Cashe discovered and chopped before 40 built it into its final version.

Five years later, on Views, Drake excavated an unreleased Pimp C verse for the track “Faithful.” The UGK rapper died in 2007, but left behind some music. One of his unreleased verses made its way to Drake, whose passion for all things Houston lends the move some credence; he dropped it into the song alongside OVO signees dvsn.

Drake takes pains to find samples that no one else has, and weaves them into songs to make them feel like features – collaborations, even.

Drake's most persistent, deeply felt musical relationship outside of his closest collaborators is his relationship with Aaliyah. Drake’s sampled Aaliyah, has a tattoo of Aaliyah, interpolated Aaliyah on Scorpion and once embarked on producing an ill-fated album of Aaliyah’s unreleased material.

All of this to say: Drake really likes working with artists that are no longer here. Rappers deploy samples of dead artists all the time. The way Drake does it is different. He takes pains to find samples that no one else has, and weaves them into songs to make them feel like features – collaborations, even – rather than just a clip used to create a beat

A cynical reading of this is that’s he’s showing off his influence (and his bank account); these artists are hard to get to, and Drake loves to flex. Kanye West has rapped about being the next Michael Jackson for about a decade, but getting his estate on your side is a more difficult proposition. Of course, that’s not all that’s going on here. The artists Drake picks seem to be the artist he genuinely believes he would be working with, had he been born in another time.

Getting an artist like Jackson, or Aaliyah, or Static Major, or Pimp C on a song does function as a straightforward prestige move. It provides an immediate sense of sadness to the proceedings – a quality Drake prizes in much of his music – but it also ties Drake to a broader historical legacy (in rap, lending a feature to someone is as strong a cosign as they come). By including these voices in his own catalog, he influences how he’ll be talked about when he’s not in the conversation.

In the curious case of “Don’t Matter To Me,” the trend bends further than it ever has to date. From listening to it, the song doesn’t sound like Drake found an unreleased Michael Jackson song and made it work for his purposes. It sounds like Drake wrote a hook for Michael Jackson to sing. The effect is an odd one, closer to Drake cosigning the biggest pop star to ever live rather than the other way around. Everything feels uncanny when you play with death.

Brendon Urie Pledges $1 Million Supporting LGBT Youth

Fri, 29 Jun 2018 16:35:00 -0400

Brendon Urie partnered with GLSEN (the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network) to help create GSA (Gender & Sexuality/Gay-Straight Alliance) clubs in high schools across America. To mark the new alliance, Urie pledged $1 million dollars to GLSEN to launch the initiative.

"For years my fans have inspired me with their determination and creativity as they have created a safe and inclusive community," the Panic! At the Disco singer said in a statement. "I felt the time had come for me to join them boldly, to bring that energy and power to bear on the huge challenges facing our whole society."

Urie's partnership follows the creation of Highest Hopes Foundation, which will help support human rights advocacy across all marginalized communities. GLSEN is the first beneficiary following the foundation's launch.

Earlier this month, Panic! At the Disco released their sixth studio album Pray for the Wicked. The LP follows the Grammy-nominated Death of a Bachelor and Urie's Broadway debut as Charlie Price in the musical Kinky Boots. The last two albums are the first with Urie billed as the sole member of the group; the group's founding drummer Spencer Smith departed in 2015 after a two year hiatus spent dealing with alcoholism and prescription pill addiction.

This July, Panic! At the Disco will embark on an extensive tour in support of Pray for the Wicked. Hayley Kiyoko will be the tour's opening act.

An Ode to 'Summer Games,' The Best Track on Drake's 'Scorpion'

Fri, 29 Jun 2018 15:39:50 -0400

Drake tucked away the finest song he's made this summer on "Side B" of Scorpion. In an album full of drama, emotion and answers to burning tabloid questions, "Summer Games" is the surprise highlight: an elegant sigh of resignation from an artist whose bravado-fueled bachelor lifestyle has helped make him an unbeatable musical force for the past decade.

"Summer Games" enters loudly, opening with a thick synth riff that boomerangs off itself. The sound is distinctly mid-Aughts: It wouldn't sound out of place over scenes of a pastel-clad Kirsten Dunst running around Versailles, or in the credits of a particularly devastating indie romance where the guy most definitely does not get the girl.

"Summer Games" is more than a little out of place in an album that's otherwise dominated by "Tuscan Leather"-rich soliloquies over lush beats and expensive samples. It's almost too innocent for the New Drake, the one whose long-brewing paranoia has come to a head following a particularly rough month in the public eye. He spends much of Scorpion reflecting on all that – but for one brief moment, he shifts instead to a sullen summer fantasia where his biggest concern is Instagram politics between himself and his beloved, the person breaking his heart and his art during the best time of the year.

It's Scorpion's "Find Your Love" or "Teenage Fever," a gorgeous, midtempo heartbreaker that lets Drake reinvent his own wheel and take his rightful spot on the sad boy throne. Summer's just started, and this song's potential reign has only just begun.

See Marilyn Manson Cover 'Lost Boys' Theme With 'Cry Little Sister' Video

Fri, 29 Jun 2018 14:42:33 -0400

Marilyn Manson released the gloomy new video for "Cry Little Sister," the shock rocker's cover of the theme song from the cult Eighties vampire flick The Lost Boys.

Manson initially debuted his industrial spin on Gerard McMahon's goth classic live in concert earlier this month. Manson recorded his version as the featured track on the soundtrack for the X-Men horror spinoff The New Mutants, but that film was pushed from April 2018 to July 2019.

Rather than keeping the cover under wraps for another year, Manson paired his "Cry Little Sister" with a colorful yet creepy visual directed by Bill Yukich.

"Cry Little Sister" is Manson's first new song since he released his new album Heaven Upside Down in October 2017. That album's producer, Tyler Bates, also served that role on "Cry Little Sister."

In July, Manson and Rob Zombie will revive their Twins of Evil co-headlining tour for a 30-date track through North America.

Warped Tour Heroes Black Veil Brides Contemplate the End of an Era

Fri, 29 Jun 2018 14:26:00 -0400

Andy Biersack is only 27 years old. Yet backstage at a February tour stop in Atlanta, the Black Veil Brides singer sounds like a grizzled veteran. A few months before his band would embark on the final Warped Tour ever – and the future of Black Veil Brides would be called into question – he takes a moment to reflect on the potential end of a scene. "When I was a kid, my dream was not to win a Grammy," he says. "My dream was to play on Warped Tour. Now I don't know what's gonna happen without it – our safe place as a genre is going away."

When the singer left his hometown of Cincinnati for Los Angeles in 2008, he was a high school dropout living in his car, sleeping in vacant lots among other lost boys. As he began recruiting for the revamp of his teenage garage band, Black Veil Brides, the formula was simple: Take the momentum of late-2000s metalcore, but draw in the technique of classically steeped shredders like Randy Rhoads, then channel the high drama of hard-rock heavyweights like Mötley Crüe and Kiss.

Yet at the same time, Black Veil Brides tapped into themes of bullying and alienation, striking a chord with a generation of outsider teens. (Their era-defining clip for 2009's "Knives and Pens" follows a punk cherub with a shag cut and bandana, who tears away signs that say "emo," "fag" and "kill yourself" to get to his locker.) Their 2010 debut, We Stitch These Wounds, struck a chord, climbing to Number One on the Independent Albums chart and Number 34 on the Billboard 200. The band has never been nominated for a Grammy, but their sales numbers remain consistently positive in an industry overtaken by digital streaming. Following their debut, every consecutive Black Veil Brides album has cracked the Top 20 – including their most recent offering, this year's Vale, which peaked at Number 14 and topped the Hard Rock Albums chart.

Following the album's January release, Black Veil Brides' momentum seemed steady. On June 21st, the band embarked on a series of Warped Tour dates, revisiting the setting that had helped break them. But the day before, breakup rumors circulated after bassist Ashley Purdy let slip in a podcast, "You better see us before you don’t see us."

When Biersack meets Rolling Stone in the green room of the Atlanta venue Tabernacle, there are subtle hints that the singer is gearing up for a new chapter. He once donned face paint, but here he arrives dapper in a T-shirt, jeans and leather jacket a few hours before the band goes on. Now sober to the point of instating a dry bus on the tour, he's been finding mundane ways to unwind. Before the interview, he has just finished watching yet another episode of The Office in his bunk. "I've watched the entire series three times on this tour so far," he says. "Including non–Michael Scott seasons. It's this weird like comfort blanket. I'm not even watching it, or listening to it. It's just there."

His low-key demeanor obscures the fact that his band is thriving. The previous night saw Black Veil Brides play a sold-out show at Philadelphia's Electric Factory, a feat they would repeat in Atlanta. The following day, together with their British counterparts Asking Alexandria, the band would announce three more weeks of shows. "We're selling records, we sell out shows, our record hit Number One on the [Hard] Rock chart," Biersack's bandmate Purdy tells Rolling Stone outside the green room. "The numbers speak for themselves!"

The singer, on the other hand, seems resigned, not only to the potential twilight of his band but to the decline of rock music as a whole. "[Rock culture] is nostalgia," says Biersack. "If I were a young kid, I could choose [between] these hip-hop artists who are doing such interesting and cool innovative things, or I could choose a genre that is largely antiquated and steeped in things that our grandfathers did."

Yet despite Biersack's ambivalence, it's clear that Black Veil Brides fans remain as pumped as ever about seeing their guitar heroes. At shows, both parents and children cry out the names of their favorite members; Andy's toothy grin alone elicits jubilant screams. And online, members of the "BVB Army" commune over the band's selfies and author fan-fiction stories, which continue to circulate throughout Tumblr. "In the early days, people used to write them analog, pen on paper," says Biersack, "and they'd give them to us at shows. I remember one in particular where we were foxes having sex with each other? I don't know that it's for me, but if I inspire [their] creativity, I'm emotionally supportive of that."

John Feldmann – frontman of Goldfinger and coveted producer of hitmakers such as Blink-182 and Five Seconds of Summer – took a chance on a different kind of band when he produced Black Veil Brides' 2013 rock opera, Wretched and Divine: The Story of the Wild Ones, and later Vale. "There's so many hard-rock bands that come and go," he says. "But Andy is a true leader and a true superstar. A lot of bands think it's not their job to connect with their fans unless they're playing a show, but [Black Veil Brides] understand the value of building a relationship with [their] audience."

Outside Philadelphia's Electric Factory, 30-odd fans in black hoodies stand doggedly in the rain next to the tour buses, chanting the names of band members behind a barricade of metal fences. Roadies say it's a typical scene after a Black Veil Brides show – but among them is a teen daring to stand out in a Pooh Bear suit and glasses. ("I wear this so the band will notice me," says Emily, 19. "Go big or go home!" ) Nearby Cierra, 20, and Taniya, 19, admire her bravado; "I'm feeling her look," says Cierra.

"[Tonight] was the first time they've played 'Knives and Pens' in forever!" says Taniya. "You remember when MTV was cool? I saw that video in sixth grade and they've been my favorite band ever since." Cierra adds, "That song really changed my life. They've been doing different things now, but I will always stick with them because of that."

Throughout the Resurrection Tour, the Brides sated their audience by revisiting the song for the first time in years, as well as some other fan favorites. Yet today's Black Veil Brides are less focused on internal turmoil of their youth, and more on the concepts they first explored on Wretched and Divine, and again on Vale. Black Veil Brides play the Wild Ones, a band of rebels and hackers facing down a nebulous authoritarian government called F.E.A.R. (For Every and All Religion). At their Philadelphia show, Black Veil Brides project images of the White House surrounded by tall barbed wire fences – an unusually politically charged move for the band, though ambiguous enough to fit the narrative of the Wild Ones.

"How do I fit in my personalfeelings without political heavy-handedness?" asks Biersack. "People [undergoing] daily drudgery don't need any more drudgery. But, I alsodon't want to be silenced and complacent. ... So when it came to developing the concept record that we did, and using those characters on this most recent record, it was a way of saying, 'We feel bad right now, but let's remove ourselves from that feeling and escape into a story where we can defeat it.'"

But can the band power through their own real-life demons? On a recent episode of Another FN Podcast – now wiped from the Internet – Purdy said, "We are going to do eight [Warped Tour] dates through the Southern California area. And that is where you are going to see Black Veil Brides for the last time ever in your entire lives. So, you better fucking go, because that's gonna be it."

The band declined to speak to Rolling Stone about the breakup rumors. Biersack, however, swiftly countered Purdy's account in an interview with Loudwire. "As far as I know, there are no plans to break up the band," he said. "I spoke to the band this morning, and that seems to be echoed by everybody." In fact, he added, "The plan is to do an entire re-record of [We Stitch These Wounds]. We recorded it for just a few thousand dollars in a studio that didn’t really have the capacity to do that big of an album. We always felt it wasn’t representative, sonically, of the rest of our catalog."

Perhaps the move cements the band's capitulation to a nostalgia-driven rock industry. Or maybe it's a special gift to their loyal fan base, who have continued to resist the fleeting gratification of streaming by buying their records. Feldmann, who will play a consulting role in the project, chalks it up to perfectionism. "When [Black Veil Brides] first started," he says, "Andy didn't know how to sing the way that he sings now. Plus he's got much better musicians than before. If nothing else, they need to prove that their first record is better than it may have aged. It's a combination of having better players, having better recordings and owning it for themselves."

Biersack's feelings about rock nostalgia aside, the band seems prepared to milk their legacy for all it's worth. The 10th-anniversary We Stitch These Wounds redux will be supplemented by new music, a live DVD and never-before-released songs from their early days. In addition, the band has teased assorted side projects in the works: guitarist-producer Jake Pitts and his wife, Inna, are recording music under the name Aelonia. Meanwhile, Biersack is writing a memoir, as well as material for his synth-punk solo venture as Andy Black.

"I'm fascinated and thrilled that we have a career and these kids are so excited for what we do," says Biersack, turning back to the pros of his band's longstanding popularity. "Whatever the futureholds, the only thing that any rock artist can hope for, is that [we] still make people wanna throw up their fists and kick ass."

Black Veil Brides' fan base seems more than happy to oblige. "I feel like [Black Veil Brides] care about us," says Taniya. "They write songs that relate to us. When they perform for us, they areperforming a service. And when a band develops their sound, you don't just leave them. If you really are dedicated fan, you will stick with them through their journey."

Adds Cierra, "The least we can do is show them we're with them until the end."

10 New Albums to Stream Now: John Coltrane, Drake, Florence and the Machine and More Editors' Picks

Fri, 29 Jun 2018 14:16:00 -0400

EDITORS' PICK: John Coltrane, Both Directions At Once: The Lost Album
This previously unreleased 1963 session captures the jazz legend with his "Classic Quartet," which was rounded out by pianist McCoy Tyner, bassist Jimmy Garrison and drummer Elvin Jones. "This set has its own scrappy, off-the-cuff appeal," writes Hank Shteamer. "Most importantly for Coltrane buffs, The Lost Album offers compelling clues about where the saxophonist was headed."
Read Our Review: John Coltrane's New "Lost Album" Captures a Day in the Life of His Greatest Band
Listen: Amazon Music Unlimited | Apple Music | Spotify | Tidal

Drake, Scorpion
This 25-track double album will make headlines for its tabloid-ready verses about the hip-hop mogul's recent fatherhood – a big shift for the man who most personified this decade's "millennial bachelor" ideal. But the real surprise is that releasing behemoths seems to be working for Drake; Scorpion achieves most of what he tried to do on Views, with the added benefit of sharp repackaging that's gunning to own this summer. Brendan Klinkenberg
Listen: Amazon Music Unlimited | Apple Music | Spotify | Tidal

Florence and the Machine, High As Hope
Florence Welch co-produced her fourth full-length with Emile Haynie (Lana Del Rey, Kanye West) – and the result is "heightened intimacy and experimentation," notes Will Hermes. "The duo build tracks from Welch's mostly naked voice, ramping up into her signature hall-of-mirrors gospel choirs against slow or midtempo grooves. It gets a bit samey over the course of the record, but it's effective, and the space around Welch's mighty voice gives every nuance room to be heard."
Read Our Review: Florence and the Machine's Powerfully Intimate High As Hope
Listen: Amazon Music Unlimited | Apple Music | Spotify | Tidal

Guns N' Roses, Appetite For Destruction: Deluxe Edition
The mega-reissue of Guns N' Roses' snarling debut features 73 tracks, including a bunch of demos that had only been available via unofficial channels. "Do you need any of this? No. But that's not the point," writes Kory Grow. "As with everything Guns N' Roses from the period, it's not so much all access as it is all excess. And that's exactly what you want from a reissue like this. It'll bring you to your sha-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-knees. "
Read Our Feature: Guns N' Roses' Massive Appetite for Destruction Box Set: A User's Guide
Read Our Review: Guns N' Roses' Epic, Excessive Appetite for Destruction: Super Deluxe Edition
Listen: Amazon Music Unlimited | Apple Music | Spotify | Tidal

Gorillaz, The Now Now
While last year's Humanz was full of high-profile guest spots and clashing musical ideas, Damon Albarn's sixth album under the Gorillaz banner is more focused in terms of songwriting, yet still politically minded, writes Will Hermes. "On 'One Percent,' Albarn conjures a race of people searching and listening to one another 'on the training ground for the new world,'" notes Hermes. "It's optimistic by his usual gloomy standards, especially compared to the apocalyptic vibe of Humanz. But it's on point, and a pretty good metaphor for our present now now."
Read Our Review: Gorillaz' The Now Now Is a Focused Call for Unity In Hard Times
Listen: Amazon Music Unlimited | Apple Music | Spotify | Tidal

Charles Lloyd & The Marvels with Lucinda Williams, Vanished Gardens
"Charles Lloyd's engagement with rock is no passing dalliance: In the Sixties and Seventies, the saxist-flutist played the Fillmore, gigged with the Beach Boys and recorded with the post-Morrison Doors," writes Hank Shteamer. "But even that history doesn't prepare the listener for how graceful and engaged the 80-year-old NEA Jazz Master sounds on this program – the second release by his genre-blurring Marvels quintet – half of which features the gorgeously weathered voice of Lucinda Williams."
Read Our Review: Charles Lloyd and Lucinda Williams Fuse Jazz and Roots on Vanished Gardens
Listen: Amazon Music Unlimited | Apple Music | Spotify | Tidal

The Flaming Lips, Seeing the Unseeable: The Complete Studio Recordings of the Flaming Lips 1986-1990
This compilation of pre-Warner Bros. releases tracks the Lips' evolution from scrappy post-punkers to pop-psych craftsmen. "We couldn't even quite figure out the chords we were playing [on the Lips' second album Oh My Gawd!!!], but we thought, 'Let's just record them, and we'll figure out sounds that go with them,'" frontman Wayne Coyne told Rolling Stone. "It's so absolutely amateurish, but we were fumbling our way thought it. And sometimes that fumbling is so beautiful. And it's hard to capture, especially when people have abilities and are really good. You want to hear those imperfections, and with the Flaming Lips, there are so many imperfections."
Read Our Feature: Wayne Coyne Looks Back on the Flaming Lips' Beautifully Amateurish Early Years
Listen: Amazon Music Unlimited | Apple Music | Spotify | Tidal

Jim James, Uniform Distortion
The My Morning Jacket frontman's "loving tribute to old-school faves" is "informed by dirtbag classic rock and slacker post-punk," writes Will Hermes.
Listen: Amazon Music Unlimited | Apple Music | Bandcamp | Spotify | Tidal

Let's Eat Grandma, I'm All Ears
Rosa Walton and Jenny Hollingworth are teenaged BFFs from Northeast England with a surrealist sense of humor, as their moniker suggests. Album two departs the willfully weird fringe for the mainstream, sorta, and is stronger for it: I'm All Ears is a set of bubblegum synth-pop with bleeding-edge production (SOPHIE, David Wrench). Make way for Generation XCX. Will Hermes
Listen: Amazon Music Unlimited | Apple Music | Bandcamp | Spotify | Tidal

Container, LP
On releases like 2014's Adhesive and 2015's LP, this Providence beatmaker threw dance music into the mosh pit and noise music onto the dancefloor. His distorted, gritty, squawking, blown-out glurpbangers had all the charred and flayed edges of your favorite power-electronics bloodletter, but they were still decidedly funky, a place where big beat rhythms met Big Muff scuzz. His fourth full-length (like the other three, also titled LP), seems a little speedier and caffeinated. It's redolent of the corroded outsider dance music of acclaimed labels like L.I.E.S. or Opal Tapes, but only if they were subject to the speed and violence of Nineties gabber techno. Many of the tempos sprint along in the 160-180 bpm range, and slightly off-kilter rhythms are used to disorienting effect. A dance music mutator takes one step closer to chaos. Christopher R. Weingarten
Listen: Apple Music | Spotify | Tidal

Watch J Balvin's 'No Es Justo' Video With Zion & Lennox

Fri, 29 Jun 2018 13:45:17 -0400

J Balvin unveiled his new video for "No Es Justo," the reggaeton superstar's new single featuring Zion and Lennox.

The video finds the three singers hanging out with three younger versions of themselves on the streets of Brooklyn. "No Es Gusto" is the latest single off Balvin's new LP Vibras, which opened atop the Billboard Latin Album Charts upon its release in May.

Earlier in the day, Nicky Jam and J Balvin shared their all-star remix for their single "X," with Puerto Rican hitmaker Ozuna and the Colombian pop-reggaeton star Maluma.

"No Es Justo" is J Balvin's latest salvo in the Columbian singer's rise to worldwide fame; he recently appeared on Cardi B's "I Like It" and Liam Payne's "Familiar" after enjoying a jolt of success in America when Beyonce jumped on a remix of his hit "Mi Gente" in 2017.

"The beautiful thing about 'Mi Gente,'" J Balvin told Rolling Stone in May, "is that I wrote it in Spanish with Willy William, a producer from Paris ... and it hit Number One [in charts] around the world. After Beyoncé jumped in [with] the remix, it wasn't a strategy to make it bigger ... It was for the culture."

Hear A$AP Ferg's Twitter Love Letter on New Song 'Verified'

Fri, 29 Jun 2018 13:41:00 -0400

Over minimal electronics and airy, synth-like ambience, A$AP Ferg daydreams of a crucial career boost via Twitter on his new song "Verified."

"At 7 a.m. I wake up to the green/ I take my phone up out my jean," he rhymes. "Wake up and I'm proud of me/ That blue check on the side of the screen/ That blue check is gon' validate me/ That blue check now they gotta hate me."

The A$AP Mob member also released another new song, "Not the Boy," which veers through one-liners and pop culture references in its brief run time. "We could do it on the road, Jay-Z, 'Big Pimpin'," he rhymes over booming drums and warped keys. "Come on momma why you riffin'?/ Go and bust that ass while I laugh, Eddie Griffin."

"Verified" and "Not the Boy" follow A$AP Ferg's recently issued "Harlem Anthem," recorded for the Uncle Drew soundtrack, and his 2017 mixtape, Still Striving. The rapper will launch the final North American stretch of his "Mad Man" tour on July 7th in Portland, Oregon.

Charli XCX Is a Pop Princess Par Excellence With 'Focus,' 'No Angel'

Fri, 29 Jun 2018 13:28:54 -0400

Charli XCX wants to be your new queen of summer. Her case? A hot streak of experimental pop bangers that have bent and contorted our pop expectations over the last few months — all of which have led to her latest double release of "Focus" and "No Angel."

Charli has hit the ground this year running hard and fast, following up last year's back-to-back mixtapes with a slew of solo singles and collaborations with the likes of Rita Ora, Tove Lo and Lil Xan. The sound of most of these songs suggests one clear goal: finding common ground in pop between the major genres that currently dominate public consciousness. In Charli's world, PC Music's bubbly beats get broken up by cracking trap drills while she toys with her own British twang to move between punky, bratty whines and angelic harmonies.

While her previous single "5 in the Morning" leaned hard toward trap, "Focus" and "No Angel" are all about Charli's pop-princess prowess. The first is an unrepentant earworm, with that trademark XCX style of delivering an almost cruelly addictive, simple chorus. The latter song showcases more of her attitude – it has the effortless cool that makes so many of her songs sound fresh and unmistakably her own.

The real question is whether or not any of these releases will be a runaway hit. Charli has been there before, with "I Love It," "Fancy" and "Boom Clap"; more recently, she's pushed herself into a world outside of the expected and the radio-friendly. She's an artist who leaves even casual fans puzzled as to why she's not constantly Number One on the charts – but she also seems entirely unbothered by the race that leads some other artists to chart-oriented soundalikes. Leave it to Charli to say it most effectively: "I might not be the biggest, but I'm definitely one of the best."

i might not be the biggest, but i’m definitely one of the best.
— CHARLI XCX (@charli_xcx) June 21, 2018

Joshua Hedley's 'Let’s Take a Vacation' Is the Song of the Summer

Fri, 29 Jun 2018 12:33:19 -0400

No one ever said that summer songs have to be upbeat. With "Let's Take a Vacation," country crooner Joshua Hedley delivers a warm-weather song for the brokenhearted, those poor souls among us for whom summer memories are inextricably linked to the one that got away.

And Hedley knows from heartache – his debut album, Mr. Jukebox, succeeds on the strength of his sad-sack ballads. In the devastating "Let's Take a Vacation," with its well-placed steel and plaintive piano, he's lamenting his own lost love, daydreaming about reuniting for one last make-or-break getaway. "Let's take a vacation and fall in love again," he sings, giving no damn where they end up, be it somewhere in the country or the beaches of Hedley's native Florida, where, with any luck, they'll "get some sand in the bed." (Which is one hot line, no matter if it only comes true in his dreams.)

Hedley even revives the classic-country tradition of recitation with some smoldering mid-song spoken word that'll melt hearts like an ice cream cone on a hot boardwalk. Doing his best Conway Twitty – whose own "Don't Take It Away" is required for any summer lovin' playlist – he intones a few lines about old flames, unchanged feelings and future plans. Still, Ol' Hed ain't rushing things. "We can talk about that later," he promises, "after our vacation ends."

Watch Coheed and Cambria's Eerie Sci-Fi Video for New Song 'Unheavenly Creatures'

Fri, 29 Jun 2018 12:22:23 -0400

Coheed and Cambria released an eerie video for their new single "Unheavenly Creatures," the title track from the prog-rock band's upcoming ninth LP, Unheavenly Creatures.

In the clip, director P.R. Brown creates a visual counterpart for the concept album's opening chapters, following two captured criminals (Creature and Colossus) as they walk through a ship to receive judgment. The duo flash back to their lives as criminals, teasing how their friendship crumbled on the way. Frontman Claudio Sanchez appears throughout the video, his face hovering like a digital phantom.

In contrast with the sprawling, heavy approach of their previously issued, 10-minute prog saga "The Dark Sentencer," "Unheavenly Creatures" finds the band in power-pop mode. The track opens with plinky sequenced synths worthy of a retro video game and builds through distorted riffs to a massive sing-along chorus. "I fear, my dear, the end is here," Sanchez sings. "So run, run, run, run like a son of a gun."

Vaxis – Act I: The Unheavenly Creatures, out October 5th via new label Roadrunner Records, marks the band's return to conceptual storytelling as the first act of a new story arc within their Amory Wars universe. A limited-edition deluxe box set will include an exclusive, 80-plus-page, hardcover illustrated sci-fi novel; a complete Act 1 novella from Sanchez and his wife, Chandra Echert; a CD copy of the regular album and an exclusive bonus album of demo versions, The Crown Heights Demos, among other items.

Coheed and Cambria will launch a co-headlining summer tour with Taking Back Sunday on July 6th in Miami, Florida.

Margo Price's 'Cocaine Cowboys' Is the Song of the Summer

Fri, 29 Jun 2018 11:53:47 -0400

Some records just sound better in the summer – the soundtrack to 1972's The Harder They Come, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers' Live Anthology, just about anything by the Grateful Dead. It turns out Margo Price's October 2017 release All American Made is one of those albums. That's especially true of the LP's second half, where Price veers from her usual clever roadhouse country into more soulful territory. She's got slower grooves, wah-wah effects and melodies the Staple Singers would be happy delivering (check out "Do Right By Me").

The best of these songs, no doubt about it, is "Cocaine Cowboys." Over a groove in the loping vein of the Dead's "They Love Each Other" or the Band's second album, Price croons a funny story about a type she no doubt pegged herself when she moved from the Illinois country to Nashville in her early twenties: the faux cowboys of the 21st century. "They're all hat, they don't rope no cattle," Price sings. "They don't ride no bulls...With their bloodshot eyes and their cigarette teeth/I wish someone warned me stay away from them cocaine cowboys." The song has a humor and lightness that are perfect for the open road.

Earlier this month, I saw Price perform the song at a small late-night show at New York's Brooklyn Bowl. Midway through, she put down her acoustic guitar and got a second drum kit, launching a long, psychedelic funk jam that turned into a five-minute frenzy that kept peaking and peaking. (This clip from another recent show will give you an idea of what it was like.) That moment proved that Price has a lot of musical territory she hasn't touched yet. How cool would it be if she made a whole album of songs like this? For this summer, we have "Cocaine Cowboys."

Hear Charli XCX's Synth-Driven New Songs, 'Focus,' 'No Angel'

Fri, 29 Jun 2018 11:19:39 -0400

Charli XCX slips into hip-hop and synth-pop mode, respectively, on her two addictive new singles, "Focus" and "No Angel."

On "Focus," the singer utilizes reverb-coated synths and programmed drums, moving from a borderline rapped flow to her expressive, heavily auto-tuned head voice. "I just want you to focus/ Better keep your composure like you trying to earn that diploma," she sings. "Do it over and over, yeah/ Make it pop, Cola-Cola; make it hot, Barcelona."

"No Angel" nestles somewhere Eighties synth-pop and DJ Mustard-styled production. "Baby, I'm bad to the bone," she sings over thumping bass. "I just want to let you know that I'm no angel, but I can learn."

The singles follow the May-issued "5 in the Morning" and recent guest spots on Rita Ora's "Girls" (alongside Cardi B and Bebe Rexha), Tove Lo's "Bitches" (with Icona Pop, Elephant and Alma) and Lil Xan's "Moonlight."

The wave of new music follows her 2017 mixtapes Number 1 Angel and Pop 2. The singer – who is opening for Taylor Swift on her massive Reputation stadium tour – recently told Rolling Stone she will probably record another album, though she's growing disinterested with release formats.

"I think I will make [another] album, but what even is an album anymore?" she said. "My intent at the moment is that I just want to be releasing as much music as possible, whether that's collaborations or my own songs. I think that just because it's called a mixtape doesn't mean it's less valid. Over the past year and a half, I've realized how much I love being in the studio and how much I love collaborating and how much of a good curator I am. I just want to do that, whether that's in mixtape form or album form or whatever."

Saudi Female Rapper Celebrates Lift of Driving Ban With New Video

Fri, 29 Jun 2018 11:10:27 -0400

A female rapper in Saudi Arabia made a huge splash in her native country after dropping a music video that celebrated the lifting on a ban that prohibited women from driving.

Following the end of the decades-old ban on June 24th, rapper Leesa A hopped behind the wheel of a Hyundai to film the video for a track that touted her driving independence.

"I don't need anyone to take me / Drivers' licence with me," Leesa A says on the track, the BBC reports. " I am not kidding, today I can drive myself. The steering wheel in my hands, the pedal under my foot."

The video soon went viral in Saudi Arabia, accumulating over 1.5 million views on YouTube and Instagram combined. The BBC reports that Leesa A had a small social media following prior to the video, which ends comically with the newly behind-the-wheel rapper running into some beginner drivers issues.

Last September, Saudi Arabia announced it would cease the ban that prevented women from driving automobiles; Saudi Arabia was the only country in the world that banned women from driving. The ban, a longtime target for women's rights activists, became a symbol of defiance in the country, with many women posting videos on social media of themselves driving in recent years.

Rapper M.I.A. commented on the Saudi women's defiant response to the ban with her "Bad Girls" video, although even that video was shot in Morocco as she feared arrest if it was actually filmed in Saudi Arabia.

Review: Florence and the Machine's Powerfully Intimate 'High As Hope'

Fri, 29 Jun 2018 10:58:23 -0400

Florence Welch is the big sister you wish you had: wild enough to be a co-conspirator, together enough to be an inspiration, even a role model. On High As Hope, the fourth and most intimate Florence + the Machine LP, she recalls hijinks on MDMA, confesses to an eating disorder, and apologizes for ruining your birthday. Or someone’s, anyhow. It’s cool, though -- you’ll forgive her, ‘cause that’s just Flo, y’know?

Her confidences may be performative, but they’re palpable. “June” opens with a slow-drawn breath, upright bass tones, muffled piano chords, and a shivering admission – perhaps to a lover, or maybe just a drug buddy -- of being so high that Welch can’t help repeating “I’m so high.” On "Big God," a Prince-like conflation of religious imagery and sexual innuendo, she gets rawer still, announcing “you need a big God/big enough to fill you up” in a guttural heave, gulping for air, amidst synth flashes and orchestral brass, unfurling an extended animal snarl right before a Kamasi Washington saxophone coda. In the spirit of Kate Bush, it’s the tangible sound of a purebred hound of love.

Credit the heightened intimacy and experimentation in part to the production. Gone is the rotating cast of A-list producers, notably pointman Paul Epworth (Adele, Coldplay), the Sir Christopher Wren of English pop. Instead Welch co-produced the entire set with Emile Haynie, best known for his tight-focus atmospherics with Lana Del Rey. The duo build tracks from Welch’s mostly naked voice, ramping up into her signature hall-of-mirrors gospel choirs against slow or midtempo grooves. It gets a bit samey over the course of the record, but it’s effective, and the space around Welch’s mighty voice gives every nuance room to be heard.

Now that she’s filling arenas, the challenge for Welch seems to be maintaining her brand’s around-the-way-girl vibe. You hear it in “Patricia,” a fangirl paean to Patti Smith delivered with a Motown stomp and swirling orchestrations; "The End Of Love," a mash note about songwriting and a “summer in New York” (where Welch worked on the LP with Haynie) lofted on handclaps; and “South London Forever,” an anthemic reverie about youthful adventures that namechecks landmark LGBT pub The Joiners Arms. To similar ends, she’s also published a diary-style scrapbook, Useless Magic, full of lyrics, doodles, snapshots, poetry fragments and elaborate selfies mimicking museum art. It’s art as sharing-of-secrets, and it’s echoed in High As Hope’s finale, “No Choir,” unique on the LP because, surprise: no choir. It’s just Welch and a piano, whispering “I gathered you here/to hide from some vast unnameable fear,” as she’ll likely be doing soon at an arena near you.

Dave Grohl on the Foos' Tour, Classic-Rock Retirements and Lost Nirvana Reunion Footage

Fri, 29 Jun 2018 10:00:00 -0400

Dave Grohl had a day off in Memphis yesterday, so he dropped by Graceland, which got him thinking about Elvis Presley as just another kid with a guitar trying to deal with "the effect that young stardom can have." But unlike Presley and certain other tortured souls, Grohl seems built for the long haul, in part because he enjoys the journey so much. He’s currently on a world tour with Foo Fighters, who released the strong, Greg Kurstin-produced Concrete and Gold in September. Twenty-three years into the band’s career, Grohl talks about the shows like he’s just getting started. "It’s probably uncool to say," he says, "but honestly, I’m just scanning the audience all night trying to get each and every one of them out of their seats. And if I get a whole audience standing for three hours, then I walk offstage like, 'That was a good show. We had them fucking jamming.’'"

So how much coffee have you had today?
Maybe six cups. A reasonable amount to get my day started.

You were having caffeine-induced chest pains. Any plans to cut back?
You realize you’re talking to someone that’s never done cocaine in his life. You can only imagine what would happen if I got my face in a pile of that shit. We wouldn’t be on the phone right now. But after I got my diagnosis that I should decaffeinate, I tried decaf for, like, a week, and I came to the conclusion that decaf blows.

Have you attempted to quit smoking?
You know, I quit smoking. I kind of go back and forth. I get on it and then I get off it and then I get on it and I get off it. I was off for eight years and then I got on it and then I was off it for years. With quitting anything, you have to have that gut feeling that turns into, you know, like a physical epiphany where you're just like, "Oof, this is not good." I remember I actually quit smoking in Nashville, ten years ago just from feeling like shit on the road and it took. It really lasted a long time.

How do you feel about seeing classic-rock acts retire?
I started thinking about it at the 12/12/12 concert, where you had all the greats — McCartney, the Stones, the Who, Roger Waters. And most of those people came from a specific time frame. I was thinking, “Well, God. Does that mean at some point there’s going to be that window closing, and it’s gonna dissipate really quickly?”

Have you grappled with the idea that you guys – and bands like Pearl Jam and Guns N’ Roses – will be stepping into their shoes to an extent?
I would never put ourselves in that category or that echelon. But it’s weird. First of all, I can’t believe we’re still a band [after] 20-whatever years. And I can’t believe we’re playing arenas and stadiums. And that it’s gotten to this point where I look out at the audience and I don’t just see Foo Fighters T-shirts anymore. I see people in their sixties and seventies. I see kids that are 10 years old, teenagers, and it seems to me that when we come to town, people hear there’s a rock show and they just come on out. So we’ve gotten to the point where I think that we represent something . . . um . . . general [laughs]. You know?

And what does reaching that point mean to you?
The band is such a huge part of our lives, but not the only part of our lives. So, when we're out here doing it, we're focused on what we have to do every night. I don't think anyone's really taken the grand scheme into consideration. In fact, okay, I mean I know I have to be down in the lobby in 45 minutes. So, I gotta pack my bag, I gotta take a shower, I gotta get down to the bus, I gotta go over to the gig, and then I gotta read a setlist, then I have to have a Coors Light, get up on stage and play for three hours, then I have to walk off stage and eat a piece of pizza and get in my bunk. Like, that's all I'm focused on right now. [laughs] And there's so many great rock and roll bands that I feel have the same opportunity that we had. The path isn't overgrown. There are bands that can still do it. I mean, don't you imagine that at some point the Arctic Monkeys will be doing the same thing? I bet they will. I was just texting with a friend of mine from Cage the Elephant. I would imagine at some point, they'll be in the same position.

You played with Tom Petty. That's a loss everyone's still feeling.
I know. That was a tough one. I saw him maybe a week before he died. I saw his last show, and and it was wonderful. It was exuberant and beautiful and happy and sounded amazing and the band was better than I had seen them in a long time and ... and then he's gone. It's hard to believe he's gone, but fortunately we have his music. That was a real tough one. That one hurt a lot.

Listening to the new album, it feels like Greg Kurstin really helped you push your arrangements farther than you’ve ever gone. What did you learn from him?
Oh, my God. He is without a doubt the most talented musician slash producer I have ever met in my entire life. I honestly would put him up there with Brian Wilson or George Martin. It sounds insane, but I am not kidding. He can [co-]write and arrange a song as simple as “Hello” by Adele or make the most fucked up Beck song you've ever heard in your life. You can watch him draft and demo a quartet string arrangement in about eight minutes. All the strings and the harmonies in "The Sky Is A Neighborhood," that crazy fucking Fantasia Disney section? He did that in about five minutes. And you listen and you're like, "What fucking planet are you from, man? " I thought it would be exciting to work with him because typically with the Foo Fighters, we don't really work with people we don't know. I had known Greg for a few years before we went in to make the record and I only met him because I recognized him from the band that he's in, the Bird and the Bee. I didn't even know he was a fucking producer. But I thought, you know, since he's a friend and since he [won] producer of the year, why not still make a rock record? Which he had never done.

When you’re trying to make melodic hard rock, the two things can sometimes clash. What do you do to try to achieve some balance?
Well, it always starts with the melody. Always. So, all of those songs were written on an acoustic guitar. I mean whether it's "Run" or "Sky Is A Neighborhood," any of those. They were written on an acoustic and before I even take it to the next step, I make sure that they'd have some sort of melody braided around the riff. Noise is easy. I have to be honest. Like, I know that people are, you know, romanced by the idea of noise and drone, but the fucking challenge really is making something that's simple with melody. And then it changes live. Like, I was listening to the studio version of one of our songs the other day that we play every night and I was just like, "Oh, my god, that sounds so tame." Because then when we get out on stage, it's just like a fucking bulldozer. And it's a three hour show, so the 45 minutes we're going on I feel like, "Oh, god. I gotta run this fucking marathon again." And the first five or six songs, we don't even stop. I don't even say hello until we're an hour into the show, and that's when it starts to get fun. We just do what we do. I don't really know how to do anything else.

You recently called Lil Pump the new punk rock. What do you actually like about “Gucci Gang”?
Pat Smear and I had this conversation as we both became huge fans of Lil Pump, because imagine playing a Germs record for your father who was a classically trained musician. What do you think he would think? When I was a kid listening to punk rock, all I wanted was noise and rebellion, whether it was satanic death metal or industrial noise. If anybody dug into my record collection then, it’s like, “This is noise!” I love a good trap beat and a nice 808. And one of the things I love the most about “Gucci Gang” is it’s two minutes long. It's like a DRI song or a Minor Threat song. Look, I’m not going out and getting face tattoos anytime soon, but if [Lil Pump’s] “D Rose” comes on, I am down.

What’s going on with a second season of Sonic Highways?
Well, we’ve been working on it for six years now, and . . . I’m kidding. That door is always open. And a lot of great things have stemmed from that series. There are now kids in schools across the country making their own Sonic Highways about the little towns where they live. I still have the concept for the second season, so, someday.

The night of Nirvana’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction, you and Krist played an all-star show of Nirvana songs at a tiny club in Brooklyn – and you filmed it all. What’s going to happen with that footage?
I don't know. When we realized that we were going to do it, I just called the people from my production company and said, "We need to film this," and we loaded some cameras in there and and shot it without knowing what would ever come of it. But it would be a shame for that evening to be only a memory and and we've got it. And it was fucking great. It was cathartic and everybody involved, I think, understood that they were part of something like a dream.. I remember playing and looking and seeing Carrie Brownstein in the front row in the pit singing along to every song and, you know, getting to play drums behind Joan Jett or, god, playing "School" or fucking “Pennyroyal Tea” with J Mascis. It really was amazing. It was something else. Someday, I'm sure everybody'll see it.

When you play, say, “Everlong,” are you still connecting with the original emotion behind it?
Oh, yeah. There are nights where you’re thinking about what toppings are on the pizza on the bus and whether you need to do laundry tomorrow, but when you launch into a song like that, it immediately brings you back. We’re not robots. What chokes me up is when I see people singing lyrics back to me with the same emotion. So if you hear me kind of giggling in the middle of a song, it’s because I’m trying not to just fucking totally break down in front of everybody like a fool [laughs].

"There are nights where you’re thinking about what toppings are on the pizza on the bus. But when you launch into a song like 'Everlong,' it immediately brings you back."

Neil Peart is retired. What would you do if Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson asked you to play drums for Rush on a tour?
I would say, “I’m not physically or musically capable, but thanks for the offer.” Neil Peart, that’s a whole other animal, another species of drummer. I know the arrangements, but I’m like Meg White to Neil Peart. And she’s one of my favorite drummers! She’s my daughter’s favorite drummer, too. My daughter plays drums to two types of music: White Stripes and AC/DC. I’m like, “That’s exactly what you need to be doing.”

Questlove had a lot of praise for Meg when I talked to him recently – he was explaining how she plays ahead of the beat in a really interesting way.
She is one of those drummers that if you hear 15 seconds of her recording, you'll know who it is and that to me has always been the gold standard. That's always been the challenge. You want to know when you hear it, like, you're like, "Oh, that's John Bonham. Oh, that's Charlie Watts. That's Ringo. That's Stewart Copeland. That's Meg White." And that's not easy to do. That means you're playing from the heart. No, she's great, man. I mean honestly. Like the doorbell song ["My Doorbell"]? Ugh. Come on. One of my favorite drum beats of all time. That's a classic. It's a riff. You know? It's songwriting, but with sticks in your hands. It's fucking great.

Finally, I was reading an interview with your mom where she said that her biggest fear about you becoming famous was that “Madonna would snatch him up." Did she ever express that to you?
Yes. She did, actually. [laughs] Like, right around the Truth or Dare movie. "I don't want you to date her." I'm like, "Mom, don't worry. As if." She’s pretty funny. Gotta love your momma.

Rolling Stone Yahoo Music Feed

On the Charts: Panic! At the Disco Take Number One With 'Pray for the Wicked'

Related Content:

Selena Gomez's 'Back to You' Is the Song of the Summer

Related Content:

Lil Wayne Tour Bus Shooter Has Conviction Overturned

Related Content:

Drake's 'Scorpion' Shatters Single-Day Streaming Records

Related Content:

Hear Vic Mensa Confront Addiction, Demons on New Song '10K Problems'

Related Content:

Drake Was Once R&B's Savior. On 'Scorpion,' He Returns to the Genre He Reinvented

Related Content:

Death Grips' 'Black Paint' Is the Song of the Summer

Related Content:

Eric B & Rakim Ready 'Complete Collection' Vinyl Box Set

Related Content:

Josh Homme Shares Letter Anthony Bourdain Wrote to Rocker's Daughter

Related Content:

Drake’s Favorite Collaborators are Ghosts

Related Content:

Brendon Urie Pledges $1 Million Supporting LGBT Youth

Related Content:

An Ode to 'Summer Games,' The Best Track on Drake's 'Scorpion'

Related Content:

See Marilyn Manson Cover 'Lost Boys' Theme With 'Cry Little Sister' Video

Related Content:

Warped Tour Heroes Black Veil Brides Contemplate the End of an Era

Related Content:

10 New Albums to Stream Now: John Coltrane, Drake, Florence and the Machine and More Editors' Picks

Related Content:

Watch J Balvin's 'No Es Justo' Video With Zion & Lennox

Related Content:

Hear A$AP Ferg's Twitter Love Letter on New Song 'Verified'

Related Content:

Charli XCX Is a Pop Princess Par Excellence With 'Focus,' 'No Angel'

Related Content:

Joshua Hedley's 'Let’s Take a Vacation' Is the Song of the Summer

Related Content:

Watch Coheed and Cambria's Eerie Sci-Fi Video for New Song 'Unheavenly Creatures'

Related Content:

Margo Price's 'Cocaine Cowboys' Is the Song of the Summer

Related Content:

Hear Charli XCX's Synth-Driven New Songs, 'Focus,' 'No Angel'

Related Content:

Saudi Female Rapper Celebrates Lift of Driving Ban With New Video

Related Content:

Review: Florence and the Machine's Powerfully Intimate 'High As Hope'

Related Content:

Dave Grohl on the Foos' Tour, Classic-Rock Retirements and Lost Nirvana Reunion Footage

Related Content: