Hayden Panettiere — known for her roles in Scream 4, Heroes, Remember the Titans and more — has died. She was 36 years old.
"It is with profound sadness that we share the tragic passing of our beloved Hayden. She was an incredible light and a force of nature who brought immeasurable love and joy to all who knew her — and to the millions who watched her onscreen," Panettiere's representative confirmed [via ABC].
Details about the nature of her passing have not yet been made public.
The actress released her memoir, This Is Me: A Reckoning — which reflected on her experience with fame, trauma, recovery and grief — earlier this year. In the book, Panettiere revealed that she is bisexual, recounted alleged inappropriate sexual encounters with Hollywood figures, wrote about her struggles with alcohol, and detailed her decision to let her daughter Kaya live with her ex, Wladimir Klitschko. She also delved into the death of her younger brother, Jansen Panettiere, who passed in 2023.
This is a developing story.
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Queens of the Stone Age have announced their next album. It's called Perfecth, and a new trailer suggests that it might be out September 30.
A teaser clip from the band shows frontman Josh Homme and guitarist/keyboardist Dean Fertita and playing five finger fillet, stabbing a knife between their fingers. They announce that the album is called Perfecth and that it will be out September 30 — although when Homme accidentally stabs his hand and passes out, the date is crossed out and it simply says "coming soon."
Interpret that how you will! Watch the very bloody clip below.
The band released the single "Easy Street last month via Matador Records. Their most recent album was 2023's In Times New Roman...
After only a handful of songs to open up their Crisis 20th anniversary set, it became abundantly clear that Alexisonfire are the best band to ever do specifically this. That particular 2000s blend of post-hardcore and screamo, with alternating glass-gargling screams and high, powerful melodic singing — they set the standard. There is simply no one better at these stylings than George Pettit, Dallas Green and Wade MacNeil. Their melodies are instantly recognizable and haunting, and they excel at telling stories with a mix of rage and longing.
Crisis was their third full-length outing, and it brought them a mainstream success unlike anything a screamo band had received before. Buoyed by their massive melodies, they dominated hard rock radio and MuchMusic in 2006. Dallas Green differentiated himself from every other "clean singer in a screaming band" by abandoning all trappings of that type of vocal — he whispered, he crooned, and he belted, but he never whined or begged the way their contemporaries did.
It was a homecoming for Alexisonfire on August 14, and the crowd was ready to stoke the fire. First, Vancouver art rockers Concrete Vehicles (f.k.a. Computer) brought weight and heat to kick things off, and Underoath launched into a career-spanning and body-crushing set, including highlights like "Hallelujah" and "A Boy Brushed Red Living in Black and White."
Then, the St. Catharines icons arrived. The pit was ready to lose it; all they needed was a spark from the band. Take the absolutely show-stopping classic "Boiled Frogs" — where Pettit unleashed a torrent of blue-collar rage on record two decades ago, and shredded the same lung-tearing verses on their first night of the double headliner at RBC Amphitheatre. With the catchiest guitar riff in all of post-hardcoredom and that gritty MacNeil-led second verse, plus a haunting outro sung by Green, the tune whipped the entire sold-out show into a frenzy. These vocalists sound as urgent and powerful as they ever have, and Pettit in particular was in top form across their Crisis-spanning setlist.
The intro drum part for "This Could Be Anywhere in the World" is a contender for the most dangerous solo drum section ever written, as Jordan Hastings (AOF's drummer since 2005) did the iconic ride bell groove before launching into the snare fill that launched a thousand mosh pits. By the time the iconic drop D riff hit, the band and the crowd were electric, as Pettit screamed his brains out: "This town has its claws buried in my neck / This town, it takes lives without mercy, without hate". A heartbreaking and bone crushing song about a city where "streets are in distress," it's more pertinent than ever — and the title is true. It could be about the band's hometown of St. Catharines, or Hamilton, Detroit, or Toronto. Take your pick: "This city is haunted by ghosts."
Even on songs without the same rock radio status as those two, the band brought heat. Back in 2006, the lone lead vocal feature on Crisis was Planes Mistaken for Stars' vocalist Gared O'Donnell (who died in 2021). Recreating his rasp was a duty best left for Wade MacNeil, who did show-stopping work for the first half of the swampy, doom-y "You Burn First" before the band launched into a heartfelt tribute to their fallen friend.
That feeling of honouring lost loved ones permeated the setlist — as the icy, grainy visuals of the titular "Crisis" called back to the 1977 catastrophic and deadly blizzard that struck Southern Ontario with archival footage. That event required military intervention, stranding over a thousand students in their schools for days on end, and tragically resulted in 29 deaths across the region.
It was, however, the deep album cut "To a Friend" that broke hearts on Friday night. Green began the usually fast-paced hardcore song completely solo, choosing to begin the song as a mournful ballad about a loved one lost to addiction. By the time he reached an apocalyptic crescendo of vibrato during his verse, belting, "And will you throw it all away / for nothing more than a simple taste?" the crowd erupted in stunned cheers and applause. The band's bassist (and a top-tier barber, dancer, hype man and jester) Chris Steele even went over to Green to kiss him on the cheek in support after that high note, lending support to his friend of a quarter century.
After running through the album in full, the band took a brief moment to recoup before roaring back on stage with the exceedingly rare and underrated Crisis bonus track "Thrones." They crushed the stoner metal-tinged paranoia of "Sweet Dreams of Otherness" (from 2022's Otherness) before giving the old heads a taste of early career Alexisonfire with the now-classic screamo of "Pulmonary Archery," complete with the eye-popping visuals consisting of projections of the band absolutely killing it draped in front of them.
For the finale, the Watch Out! ballad "Happiness by the Kilowatt" became a shaggy anthem, slowly morphing first into a crowd-sung version of Neil Young's "Hey Hey My My (Into the Black)" before Pettit took over the iconic "Hey hey, my my / Rock and roll will never die" with his throat shredding scream for the climax.
With a new record on the way, on the heels of this Crisis anniversary tour and their massive-sounding fan-favourite 2022 comeback LP, Otherness, the band makes themselves more vital than ever. The songs of Crisis sound as if they were written yesterday, and they were performed with the same heartbreaking rage and urgency as the day they were written.
As Pettit remarked, the first of two sold-out shows proved that the band's fan base has grown even larger as the years passed, as groups of teenagers, old fans and even parents spin the band's material for friends and newcomers alike. Their music is blasted all around the country, the world, and at "bonfires in Beamsville."
Alexisonfire are beloved for a reason. They're still the only band ever.
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What is it, 1994? Phoebe Bridgers just released her album Lost Weekend, and the physical versions have a hidden track.
While it was fairly common practice in the '90s to stick a hidden song on a CD's final track after a couple minutes' silence, this one is in the most secret of all places: in the pregap before the first song, meaning that one can only hear it by going to the first track and hitting rewind.
On the CD pressing, four minutes before the opening track is "Best Dressed," featuring former Black Country, New Road frontman Isaac Wood. Conor Oberst, Jack Antonoff and Jon Brion also have credits on the track. Neat!
It's a little less subtle on the vinyl version, since it appears at the end of side D.
As an Instagram post from New Hampshire record shop Renfield Record Exchange points out, there are also hidden credits and lyrics for the song embossed on the artwork.
CDs are back, baby! Hear "Best Dressed" below.
History was made this week when Pitchfork, one of the last bastions of music journalism, gave Tyga's new album $TARFACE a 0.0 score out of 10 — their lowest rating in 19 years.
This was, of course, after the rapper admitted to using AI to create the album, which the review makes seem painfully evident (I will not be finding out for myself). Yesterday (August 13), Tyga put a video call in to TMZ and delivered his official response to journalist Drew Millard's review of the record.
"I don't really know what Pitchfork is," the rapper bravely admitted. "All I know is that the devil uses a pitchfork."
Tyga also spoke about the AI controversy surrounding $TARFACE, chalking it up to the fact that "Gen Z can't read." He explained, "What I said was this: I used AI-assisted things in the production. All the vocals are me, I wrote all the songs."
"When it comes to the '80s synths and the guitar solos, yes I used AI for that," the rapper went on. "But I didn't make a full AI album. I was in the studio for three months working on this."
It's a bit of a weird flex to boast about putting three months of your life (not a very long time, frankly) into what has been somewhat unanimously declared to be absolute slop — no matter how much of it was actually AI-generated. If you can't play or program the synths and guitars yourself, what ever happened to simply hiring someone who could?
Anyway, based on Tyga's assessment that Gen Z can't read, a whole generation won't be capable of taking in the Pitchfork review unless they get Peppa Pig to read it in vertical video-form real quick.
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Fontaines D.C. certainly seem to have the follow-up to 2024's Romance on the way.
The Irish quintet has been teasing their upcoming era with a series of posts on social media today. A new group shot has appeared on their Instagram with the caption "5," which could allude to their next album being their fifth.
What's more, they've teased a new track on TikTok. The band are hinting that the song is called "Marianne," and the short clip of it seems to expand on the sonic template of Romance. Listen to it, and see the new group shot below.
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There are some very interesting (if you're a nerd) mathematical breakdowns of Angine de Poitrine's music, and the way the duo shift time signatures within the same loop. To get into the weeds for a second: "Fabienk" uses a 14-beat structure, which breaks into two bars of 7/8 in the opening passage, before shifting in three bars of 4/4 followed by one bar of 2/2.
That's a very technical explanation of why "Fabienk" goes so hard as an EDM song, as deadmau5 does away with that pesky 7/8 business and leans into the pure pulse of its 4/4 thump. He's been playing it at dance festivals this summer, tapping into the funky pleasure that highlights Angine de Poitrine's crossover appeal.
Yes, it's highly technical math rock with microtonal melodies — but, most importantly, it's fun as hell.
Derran "Derry" Brownson, the founding keyboardist of EMF, the British alt-rock group best known for their 1990 hit "Unbelievable," has died. He was 55.
The band shared the news on social media today, writing, "Late last night we started to hear the news that we have lost our Brother In Arms Derran Brownson. We are devastated, the only solace we can find is that we are eternally grateful Derry was able to join us on stage a couple times just a few short months back."
"Nothing will ever be the same again without our band mate and friend, fly high brother Derry," they added.
Brownson founded EMF in Gloucestershire's Forest of Dean music scene alongside bassist Zac Foley, drummer Marc Decloedt, DJ Milf and singer James Atkin. After adding guitarist and principal songwriter Ian Dench, they released their debut single, "Unbelievable," to massive success in 1990; it hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 3 on the UK Singles Chart.
Subsequent 1991 debut LP Schubert Dip also went to No. 3 in the UK, with follow-up albums arriving in 1992 (Stigma) and 1995 (Cha Cha). After the latter, EMF took their first hiatus.
The band reunited in 2001 for a London reunion gig and the release of a greatest hits album. Foley died of an overdose in 2002, and following his death, EMF played a few more shows before splitting up again.
They began their second reunion phase in late 2007, replacing Foley with Richard March (Pop Will Eat Itself, Bentley Rhythm Ace) and playing a handful of concerts before announcing in May 2009 that they wouldn't be continuing to perform together for the foreseeable future.
After one-off reunion gigs in 2012 and 2016 with new bassist Stevey Marsh, EMF released a career-spanning box set in 2020, followed by their fourth studio album, Go Go Sapiens, in 2022. They did some brief UK touring behind it, and continued on to release a fifth LP, The Beauty and the Chaos, in 2024.
Last year, the BBC released a radio special documenting the band's early years, and they've toured here in North America as recently as this past spring. In recent years, Brownson wasn't always able to perform with EMF after being diagnosed with a brain tumour, for which he was undergoing treatment.
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A movie theatre in Prince George, BC, has gone viral after an employee hand-drew his own poster for Spider-Man: Brand New Day — although the cinema has since been forced to take it down.
The Famous Players Six never received the official posters due to a shipping error. Drake Landon, a 19-year-old artist and employee of the theatre, stepped up when his manager asked him to draw a replacement. Specifically, the manager asked him to draw "Spooderman," a derpy meme version of Spider-Man dating back to 2011.
"I said I can draw actual Spider-Man, but I'm not gonna argue, I'll draw Spooderman," Landon told the CBC. He pointed out that the costume design is based on Spidey's Brand New Day look.
Underneath the image, he wrote, "Sorry! We never received the real posters! Sorry for any inconveniences!"
The poster instantly became a viral hit, and quickly became the top-upvoted post of the year on the subreddit r/marvelstudios. Subsequently, on Wednesday (August 12), Landon himself made a post on that subreddit, revealing that the theatre was forced to take it down.
He wrote, "I have the poster back, but sadly due to my boss telling me that head office called and asked for it to be taken down, for reasons that make sense now I realize. I don't wanna upset the studio so yeah. But I plan on copying and printing a limited amount and/or making re-drawn duplicates."
Of all of Marvel's blunders in recent years, forcing the removal of Spooderman is surely one of the worst!
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Surprise, surprise — the Weeknd isn't retiring after all. Having long teased giving up his stage name, Toronto pop prince Abel Tesfaye has now promised, "Imma be here forever with you."
"I'll never disappear. I love this too much to ever disappear," Tesfaye told the crowd during a recent concert in the Stockholm outskirt of Solna. "I tested retirement a little bit, and I don't like the way it feels." Footage from the show can be seen below.
Tesfaye has spent the last few years saying that he would step away from his music career. In 2023, he said he was going to "kill the Weeknd," and last year he promised that his 2025 album Hurry Up Tomorrow would be his last.
He said at the time, "You said what you had to say. Don't overstay at the party — you can end it now and live a happy life.' You know? Put the bow on it: 'Hurry Up Tomorrow'? Now we're here. When is the right time to leave, if not at your peak? Once you understand who I am too much, then it's time to pivot."
If he plans to make more albums, it would be a great idea if they were better than Hurry Up Tomorrow! His non-musical endeavours, such as the companion film Hurry Up Tomorrow and the TV show The Idol, have been critical and commercial flops.
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If you're a dude waiting in an enormous bathroom line at a Rush concert, here are some funny music memes to help you pass the time. It's gonna be a long wait! Also in this week's roundup, we've got separatist debates on Love Is Blind: Canada, as well as Good Charlotte becoming Bad Charlotte.
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Despite promisingly stormy weather forecasts, last night (August 12), losers unfortunately didn't get hella rained on when the Chris Brown and Usher co-headlining abomination tour had its second of two nights at Toronto's Rogers Stadium. Somehow, Lionel Richie sensed our disappointment, and decided to let it rain in the form of criticism of the known abuser and his co-compatriot's joint ventures in live music.
UPDATE (8/13, 3:56 p.m. ET): Brown has now tried his best to respond like a fine Christian man. Commenting on Phoenix radio station Sunny 104.3 FM's Instagram video, he wrote, "😂😂😂😂 damn unk [sic]. We love ya paw paw." Original!
On stage at the Mortgage Matchup Center in Phoenix, AZ, amidst his own headlining tour on Tuesday (August 11), Richie took a moment to weigh in on the R&B Tour.
In fan-shot video footage from the show, the former Commodores co-lead singer can be heard remarking, "Usher and Chris Brown, see, they trying to do something new! Commodores and Earth, Wind & Fire, we were doing that back 40 years ago. Only difference is, between then and now, we didn't go to jail!"
Richie continued, "We're fine Christian men, fine Christian men. Fine Christian men, that's right. See, we didn't have that Instagram and that TikTok and that go out and tell a lie and they go and post it."
Things got very "Sure grandma, let's get you to bed" near the end there, but his heart was maybe in the right place? Frankly, it's also confusing that he's calling out Brown and Usher of all people for not doing anything new, since neither of them have been relevant for ages — but Richie's timeline is generally wonky, since he was already out of the Commodores and well into his solo career 40 years ago.
A brief recap of Brown's stints in prison for those following along at home: in 2014, he served 108 days in county jail after admitting a probation violation over an altercation outside of a hotel in Washington, D.C. He was arrested again in 2016 on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon, but released from jail on $250,000 USD bail.
Brown was once again taken into custody last May after being charged with "inflicting grievous bodily harm" in connection with his alleged involvement in a February 2023 London nightclub attack. He was released on $6.7 million bail days later.
Last month, Brown pleaded guilty to affray for the 2023 nightclub incident and is facing three years in prison, with sentencing scheduled for September. But, of course, he's faced plenty of additional charges — many of which were dropped — over the years since he famously bludgeoned then-girlfriend Rihanna in 2009, and has seemingly suffered little consequence in the eyes of Team Breezy.
For his part, Usher's never been to prison — but he did defend Diddy, not to mention decide to embark on this tour. Not a great record! He's also caused controversy a couple of times on the R&B Tour already, going viral for some on-stage grinding on a fan that wasn't particularly well received, as well as for allegedly using a body double at a show.
Which is weirder: this nonsense, or the fact that people are paying to see Chris Brown and Usher? That, my friends, is the eternal question.
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As filming for Season 2 of Heated Rivalry continues, the softcore hit show has scored even more additions to its cast.
Canada's Drag Race star Priyanka is one of the five new actors joining in. She'll play Tarek, while Sabrina Jalees will play Farah Jalali.
The cast now also boasts Emily Hampshire (Schitt's Creek) as Vanessa, Edvin Ryding as Lucas Hass and Robert Naylor as Wyatt Hayes.
The news follows last week's announcement that Justice Smith and Charlie Gillespie are also on board for Heated Rivalry Season 2, which Crave says will air in Spring 2027.
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Fresh off last month's release of their new album Bring On the Psychics, reformed post-hardcore legends Quicksand have announced a fall co-headlining Canadian tour with Fucked Up. The stint on the road will bring the bands to 10 cities across six provinces this September and October.
The tour begins September 22 at Victoria's Capital Ballroom. They'll play another BC gig at Vancouver's Rickshaw Theatre (September 23) before moving on to Alberta for a pair of performances at Calgary's Dickens (September 25) and Edmonton's Pawn Shop (September 26).
Following stops at Saskatoon's Louis' (September 27) and Winnipeg's Park Theatre (September 28), the bands will complete the trek in the central part of the country, with Ontario appearances at London's Palasad Socialbowl (October 1), Oshawa's Biltmore Theatre (October 2) and Ottawa's Overflow Brewing (October 4), as well as a lone Quebec date at Montreal's Fairmount Theatre (October 3).
Tickets go on sale tomorrow (August 14) at 10 a.m. local time. See the full itinerary below, as well as more upcoming Canadian shows via Concert Central.
Quicksand and Fucked Up 2026 Tour Dates:
09/22 Victoria, BC - Capital Ballroom
09/23 Vancouver, BC - Rickshaw Theatre
09/25 Calgary, AB - Dickens
09/26 Edmonton, AB - Pawn Shop
09/27 Saskatoon, SK - Louis'
09/28 Winnipeg, MB - Park Theatre
10/01 London, ON - Palasad Socialbowl
10/02 Oshawa, ON - Biltmore Theatre
10/03 Montreal, QC - Fairmount Theatre
10/04 Ottawa, ON - Overflow Brewing
The latest roundup of new tours coming to Canada this year and next are Steve Lacy (pictured above) on his first headlining trek since 2022, a cross-country run from Protest the Hero, Hayden's Toronto residency and more.
Head over to Concert Central for more Canadian tour announcements, show listings, recommendations and more.
Luke Combs Tour Dates:
05/29 Edmonton, AB - Commonwealth Stadium
06/05 Vancouver, BC - BC Place
Frost Children Tour Dates:
12/05 Vancouver, BC - The Pearl
Gallant Tour Dates:
08/22 Vancouver, BC - Hollywood Theatre
12/06 Toronto, ON - The Mod Club
Hayden Tour Dates:
09/16 Toronto, ON - Revue Cinema
09/23 Toronto, ON - Revue Cinema
09/30 Toronto, ON - Revue Cinema
Iceage 2027 Tour Dates:
04/10 Toronto, ON - Lee's Palace
Kiwi Jr. Tour Dates:
10/09 Toronto, ON - Longboat Hall #
11/27 Montreal, QC - Toscadura
11/28 Ottawa, ON - FONO HiFi Lounge ~
~ with Backseat Dragon
# with Triples
Steve Lacy Tour Dates:
10/05 Toronto, ON - Coca-Cola Coliseum
10/06 Laval, QC - Bell Place
Pretty Sick Tour Dates:
11/08 Toronto, ON - The Mod Club
Protest the Hero Tour Dates:
11/12 Moncton, NB - Tide & Boar
11/13 Halifax, NS - Marquee
11/14 Fredericton, NB - Fredericton Farmers' Market
11/17 Quebec City, QC - Salle Montaigne
11/18 Montreal, QC - Fairmount Theatre
11/20 Ottawa, ON - The Bronson
11/21 Toronto, ON - The Opera House
11/22 London, ON - London Music Hall
11/25 Thunder Bay, ON - eVents Centre
11/26 Winnipeg, MB - Park Theatre
11/27 Saskatoon, SK - Louis'
11/29 Edmonton, AB - Pawn Shop Live
11/30 Calgary, AB - Arrowhead
12/03 Vancouver, BC - The Pearl
12/04 Victoria, BC - Wicket
Quicksand and Fucked Up Tour Dates:
09/22 Victoria, BC - Capital Ballroom
09/23 Vancouver, BC - Rickshaw Theatre
09/25 Calgary, AB - Dickens
09/26 Edmonton, AB - Pawn Shop
09/27 Saskatoon, SK - Louis'
09/28 Winnipeg, MB - Park Theatre
10/01 London, ON - Palasad Socialbowl
10/02 Oshawa, ON - Biltmore Theatre
10/03 Montreal, QC - Fairmount Theatre
10/04 Ottawa, ON - Overflow Brewing
Sadurn Tour Dates:
11/13 Montreal, QC - Bar le Ritz PDB
11/14 Toronto, ON - The Garrison
Omar Souleyman Tour Dates:
10/02 Montreal, QC - S.A.T.
10/05 Toronto, ON - Concert Hall
THEHONESTGUY Tour Dates:
11/05 Montreal, QC - Le Ministère
11/07 Toronto, ON - The Drake Underground
The End of Oak Street could only have been made by a filmmaker who grew up with Michael Myers and Jurassic Park, which I have to assume writer-director David Robert Mitchell did. A film so indelibly influenced by Steven Spielberg, The End of Oak Street gives it the old Cornell try in adapting the Amblin soul for modern audiences.
The film opens with a situating montage drowning in 1970s/'80s nostalgia so saccharine it becomes nearly comical. A neighbourhood block party with sack races, the clickity-clack of a typewriter, a teenage daughter climbing out of her window to lay back on the roof and view the stars, long-nosed vehicles that echo the vibrant colours and "action elegance" of the period — it's all here. But just as 9/11 irrevocably changed America's societal fabric, a mysterious blinding white light punctures this suburban bliss.
The logic Mitchell employs to explain this so-called cosmic event makes little sense, but that matters little when the bottom line includes dinosaurs. And these aren't your Spielbergian dinos either; they're rather grotesquely feathery, more monster than reptile.
The End of Oak Street follows the Platt family who live on the titular Oak Street at the time of this event. Denise (Anne Hathaway) and Greg (Ewan McGregor) act quickly to protect their children by putting that '70s wood panelling to good use and repurposing the slats to board up their home, taking an inventory of their food, and locating anything that can be used as a weapon. Their kids, daughter Audrey (Maisy Stella) and son Brian (Christian Convery), prove more annoying than resourceful, but in this Amblin world, we can accept their presence as necessary.
The film plays out like an '80s slasher with dinosaurs. They lurk in the background, quietly sneak up the stairs, and are relentless in their pursuit for blood and flesh. Mitchell paints every horrific encounter with a comedic edge, and while it'd be quick to dismiss the director and the film as gimmicky, a single sequence demonstrates just how effective a storyteller Mitchell is.
As Denise and Greg roam about their neighbourhood in search of their children, they come across two fornicating dinosaurs, a very humorous and oddly cute moment that sets up the boom. Quickly, we move from the comedy to a gruesome attack that also initially plays for laughs, until it doesn't. In an instant, the air was sucked out of the cinema in my screening — raucous laughter turned to cheers before an unsettling silence took over. Mitchell expertly guides our emotions, sending us on a journey where we feel four seasons in a day, and eventually landing upon the notes about family and sacrifice we know so well.
Mitchell dedicates the film to his late father, including a photo of a young Mitchell perched on his dad's shoulders after the credits. Seeing the picture brings The End of Oak Street together — yes, the film is about what dads do for their families, whether it's taking on a pizza delivery job to make ends meet or fighting off a T-Rex, but it's also about the passion and inspiration they impart.
The End of Oak Street is what Netflix's The Last House deemed itself too clever to be. It's what the many Jurassic Park reboot movies have been missing. It's a ridiculous movie that knows it's ridiculous and takes that seriously. Through The End of Oak Street, Mitchell composes an ode to an era of cinema that captured our imaginations and dared us to dream the impossible, like dinosaurs roaming around suburbia in 1982.
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In an age of ever-atomizing microgenres and scenes built around digital platforms, the Windmill — a venue in Brixton, UK — is a rare beacon of old-school IRL stability. The scene that coalesced around it for the last decade is now old enough to produce new generations of bands influenced by the cohort before it, iterations on the post-rock and post-punk adjacent sounds that are the Windmill's hallmarks.
Man/Woman/Chainsaw, on the other hand, are more like a consolidation of all those sounds, with their debut album Cannonball adding sharp indie rock and pop chops to the mix.
Billy Ward and Vera Leppänen started jamming together during COVID-19 lockdowns. They started playing at the Windmill regularly soon after the band's lineup stabilized around 2023, with Ward and Billy Doyle on guitar, Leppänen on bass, Emmie-Mae Avery on keys, Clio Starwoodwhen on violin and Lola Cherry on drums, as well as Ward, Leppänen and Avery trading vocal duties.
This early, more cacophonous version of the band culminated with 2024's acclaimed Eazy Peazy EP. For Cannonball, though, Man/Woman/Chainsaw finally figured out that they didn't all need to be playing at the same time, the newfound space bringing fresh dimensions to their songwriting.
"Nosedive" was the first indication of what the band were truly capable of: a slow, bubbling build that culminates in a triumphant emotional epiphany. It's the LCD Soundsystem playbook given an orchestral pop makeover.
"Only Girl" could be a lost Broken Social Scene song, while the slithering "Goddamn Lizard Man" sees Ward slip into some reptilian character work. In fact, each of the record's eleven songs bring something new to the table — some novel sound, twist, or turn of phrase that ensures it stands out from the rest.
More importantly, every track provides the sonic context for the next; "Get Up and Dance" might not be an obvious standout at first blush, but coming after the euphoric "Nosedive," its tumultuous build hits that much harder.
Musically adventurous yet concise in delivery, Cannonball mines familiar source material to spectacular effect. Man/Woman/Chainsaw have figured out how to make all of their disparate parts work together, and created something that feels entirely their own.
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Apparently, we have not been taking the American honey industry seriously enough. Andrew Patterson's The Rivals of Amziah King has poisoned bees, stolen honey, territorial beekeepers and, eventually, a full-blown heist. It makes a compelling case that everyone should cultivate a community willing to commit several felonies on their behalf, but for the first stretch of the movie, none of that seems remotely possible.
Matthew McConaughey's Amziah King, an Oklahoma beekeeper, bluegrass musician and small-town fixture, welcomes his former foster daughter, Kateri (Angelina LookingGlass), back into his life after the death of her mother. He brings her into the honey business and, more importantly, back into his orbit. Kateri arrives as something of an outsider to a world that has continued without her, and much of the film's first half is spent watching Amziah pull her back in.
Patterson takes his time with that process. Amziah knows everyone; everyone knows Amziah. In their small town, someone's always singing a song, telling a story or making a meal, and Amziah brings Kateri along for all of it. Folk and bluegrass music are especially important, functioning like a language everyone around Amziah already speaks. Kateri learns their songs, and by the time she gets absorbed into the hive, the audience also understands exactly what belonging to it means.
For perhaps the first time in a while, every bit of McConaughey-ness is exactly where it belongs. His schtick can be hit-or-miss these days, but Amziah demands it. He's drawling, storytelling, grinning, playing music, possessing the inexplicable confidence of a man who assumes every stranger will like him. Patterson gives that charisma a practical function. Of course everyone rallies around Amziah — he's Matthew McConaughey.
The trick is realizing Amziah isn't really the centre of the story — or, at least, he isn't going to stay there. He commands his community as completely as McConaughey commands the screen, while Kateri initially seems like our way into his world. Slowly, The Rivals of Amziah King reveals itself to be her story, with the bees offering the clearest explanation for how that shift works.
Patterson is less interested in any individual bee than in what keeps the hive alive. Amziah has built something similar: a community held together through music, work and the habit of showing up. When Kateri's world changes, the hive reorganizes and close ranks around her. LookingGlass makes that transfer possible without trying to become Amziah (or McConaughey) 2.0. Kateri remains distinctly herself while gradually becoming the person around whom the film — and eventually the community — restructures.
Naturally, Patterson expresses this lesson through an extremely stupid plan to steal a lot of honey. In the latter half of the film, The Rivals of Amziah King unveils the crime story hiding inside its genial Americana. The violence, simmering beneath the film all along, gets startlingly gruesome, while a group of people spectacularly unqualified for heisting attempt one anyway.
Rather than letting its communal folktale gradually curdle into a crime story, Patterson practically swaps films midway through. The songs recede, leisurely jam sessions disappear, and characters who seemed essential vanish for long stretches. By the time we've adjusted to the fact that The Rivals of Amziah King is now a cutthroat honey heist, it's already several steps ahead of you.
There's something fitting about a movie so interested in bees completely reorganizing itself halfway through. The hive adapts when its circumstances change; Patterson's film does too. But recognizing the logic behind that transformation doesn't make it any easier to follow. The first half delivers a wonderful, music-filled story about being welcomed into a community; the second is a genuinely thrilling crime movie about what that community will do to protect its own. The Rivals of Amziah King proves very good at being both. It's the space between them that never quite closes, leaving us trying to catch up with a movie that has already moved on.
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All of a sudden, the Toronto Blue Jays are getting hot, as they're finally putting together a winning streak. They beat the Boston Red Sox [so] yesterday (August 12) — and, just down the road at RBC Amphitheatre, Hilary Duff got into the spirit by sampling some Rogers Centre hot dogs while wearing a Joe Carter jersey.
A clip posted by local influencer Erin Chau notes that she tried a foot-long as well as a Loonie Dog, although the video only shows her eating the foot-long. (How would she even get a Loonie Dog? Those are only available on Tuesdays, and yesterday was a Wednesday.)
Looking slightly intimidated by the size of the foot-long, she clarified, "What's this one called, because this can't be a loonie? This has gotta be a couple toonies." She questioned the concept of maple and bacon on a hot dog — which is a foot-long hot dog option at Rogers Centre, although it's not clear if that's what she's eating.
Glizzy McGuire, as she was dubbed by one commenter on the post, took a pretty big bite of the dog — so much that she said with her mouth full, "I need a second."
At another point in the show, she explained that her Joe Carter jersey belonged to her tour manager and sound engineer JD, who saved up to buy it when he was eight years old.
Duff is a bit of a foodie who frequently hits up local food spots on tour. Earlier this year, she asked Torontonians for food recommendations.
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Luke Combs has announced a second North American leg to his My Kinda Saturday Night Tour, which will take the country artist across the US and Canada next spring and summer.
The tour will kick off in Arlington, TX, on April 3. He'll play several US dates into and throughout May, and will eventually head north of the border for Canadian shows at Edmonton's Commonwealth Stadium (May 29) and Vancouver's BC Place (June 5). The tour will conclude in San Diego, CA, on June 26. He'll be joined by Treaty Oak Revival, Avery Anna, Shenandoah and Wyatt McCubbin on all dates.
Presales will begin August 19 at 10 a.m. local time, which will be followed by general on-sale on August 21. See the schedule below, and head over to Concert Central for more Canadian tour announcements.
Luke Combs 2027 Tour Dates:
04/03 Arlington, TX - AT&T Stadium
04/10 Minneapolis, MN - U.S. Bank Stadium
04/17 Detroit, MI - Ford Field
04/24 Philadelphia, PA - Lincoln Financial Field
05/01 Foxborough, MA - Gillette Stadium
05/08 Pittsburgh, PA - Acrisure Stadium
05/15 Kansas City, MO - Arrowhead Stadium
05/29 Edmonton, AB - Commonwealth Stadium
06/05 Vancouver, BC -BC Place
06/12 Boise, ID - Albertsons Stadium
06/19 Denver, CO - Empower Field at Mile High
06/26 San Diego, CA - Petco Park
Actor Lucy Davis, the actor best known for playing Dawn Tinsley on the original British version of The Office, has revealed that she has "incurable" Stage 4 breast cancer.
On Instagram, she shared that she had been diagnosed a year and a half ago after discovering what she described as "a kind of hard spot" on her breast, so small that she almost didn't get it checked. The cancer has metastasized to her bones in her spine, hip and ribs. She wrote, "The cancer is incurable, and too late for chemo."
She continued that "the pain can be something else" and that she sometimes needs to use a wheelchair, but she's "trying to live out whatever might be left of my life in as fun a way as I possibly can." She added that she intends to keep working, both as an advocate for animal rights and as an actor.
Davis is 53. As well as starring in The Office from 2001 to 2003, she appeared in 2004's Shaun of the Dead, 2017's Wonder Woman, and Netflix's Chilling Adventures of Sabrina from 2018 to 2020. She had brief roles in the TV shows Bob's Burgers, Family Guy, Ugly Betty, Californication and many more.
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Violence Violence, Ceremony's 2006 debut album, is one of my favourite powerviolence albums of all time. Sophomore effort Still Nothing Moves You is also great, and there are genre switch-teasing portions on Rohnert Park that I also find compelling, but each subsequent release where they've leaned more into the new wave, post-punk sound has had diminishing returns.
Which is all to say: if you're into New Order, the Damned and the last two Turnstile albums, you'll probably like Tell Me Your Dream. But personally, this album just couldn't grip me.
Things get off to a strong start on "Prograde" with a pretty groovy bass line, but the rest of the song never really tries to match its catchiness. There's an occasionally great bass riff here and there on the record, but the guitars end up droning on the same chord progression, with no real melodies or any sense of dynamism. Near the end of "Justify," for example, the stifled guitar sounds like an Interpol lead that had half the notes removed.
In general, Tell Me Your Dream is very spacious. The bass fills in almost all of the soundscape, with the synths and guitars coming in and out like guests — which is maybe a good thing, since the ambulance siren synths of "Other Hells" live up to the song's title.
The songwriting is serviceable, but safe and sometimes redundant; it doesn't really do anything to push any of the ideas the band have been playing with for years forward. At this point, they've been post-punk longer than they were a hardcore band, and I'd expect that to be reflected in their songwriting.
A press release for Tell Me Your Dream claims that the album sees Ceremony go back to their roots, taking inspiration from bands like Discharge, Crass and other "anarcho-punk troupes." Am I losing my mind, or where the hell was any of that on this record? Aside from some angrier parts of "Other Hells" where the drums get punkier, much of this LP feels like a rejection of the band's early hardcore sound.
There's a line on "Dark Summer" that reads like a response to the most famous Ceremony lyric ever ("Pack your fist full of hate and take a swing at the world," from Violence Violence's "Kersed"), as vocalist Ross Farrar sings, "And I hate the colour blue / But hatred's soon to pale." Now that they've aged out of their youthful rage, the band are warning listeners that the hate that motivates them won't last forever.
If only the vehicle of this message were more well-formulated and compelling, it might've really worked. If you also used to love Ceremony, Tell Me Your Dream won't be the album to win you back; we'll just have to hold out for 2036, when there will hopefully be a 30th anniversary tour for Violence Violence — and it'll probably be the best show I ever see.
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Nick Reiner has been indicted by a Los Angeles County grand jury for the alleged murders of his parents, filmmaker/actor Rob Reiner and photographer/producer Michele Reiner, who were found stabbed to death in their home in Brentwood, CA, last December.
Back in February, 32-year-old Reiner pleaded not guilty to two counts of first-degree murder. He appeared in a downtown Los Angeles courtroom today to answer to the new charges, once again entering a not guilty plea.
The indictment — returned by the grand jury on July 20 and unsealed today — replaces the original 2025 murder case, adding the special circumstance allegation of lying in wait, as well as an allegation that Reiner used a knife to commit the murders. All considered, Reiner could qualify for the death penalty or life in state prison without the possibility of parole.
"This was a profound betrayal by someone who was loved and trusted by the very people he is accused of killing," Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman said in a statement. "We hope that by having a grand jury return an indictment in this case, it will bring us one step closer to a trial and achieving justice."
The new indictment allows prosecutors to skip the state's preliminary hearing process, meaning the case could now be brought to trial more quickly, and witnesses will not have to testify publicly. A pretrial hearing has been scheduled for September 15.
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Following the release of their new EP Tweaker Poem last month, St. Louis, MI-hailing pop duo Frost Children have announced a West Coast tour taking place this December.
The outing will begin in Englewood, CO, on December 1. They'll make their way further west over the next few days, and will play a lone Canadian date at Vancouver's Pearl on December 5. The tour will conclude five days later in Los Angeles.
Presales begin tomorrow (August 14) at 10 a.m. local time, and general sale will commence on Friday (August 14). Check out the schedule below, and head over to Concert Central for more Canadian tour announcements.
Frost Children 2026 Tour Dates:
12/01 Englewood, CO - The Gothic Theater
12/02 Salt Lake City, UT - Soundwell
12/04 Seattle, WA - Neumos
12/05 Vancouver, BC - The Pearl
12/06 Portland, OR - Wonder Ballroom
12/08 San Francisco, CA - The Castro Theater
12/10 Los Angeles, CA - The Fonda Theater
After kicking off the latest leg of his tour behind new album OCTANE at the beginning of the month, Don Toliver performed an abridged set to a sold-out crowd at Houston, TX's Toyota Center last night (August 11) due to a gun threat.
A representative for the Houston Police Department told TMZ that a 30-year-old man had attempted to smuggle a handgun into the arena, which got flagged by security when the weapon set off a metal detector. Security contacted a law enforcement officer, who then took the man into custody at Harris County Jail.
As the Houston Chronicle reports, Toliver had just performed "KRYPTONITE" and "Too Many Nights" when he walked off the stage at around 10:40 p.m. in what appeared to be a normal break in the show. An unseen person said "sit the fuck down" into a mic — but seconds later, the house lights came up and an announcer directed the crowd toward the exits, saying, "Sorry for the inconvenience. The show is over."
The rapper's setlist was slated to include an additional three songs, his performance having been cut short by about 10 minutes. Just 20 minutes before the concert was brought to an abrupt end, Houston City Councillor Edward Pollard and rapper Bun B had presented Toliver with a proclamation recognizing August 11 as Don Toliver Day.
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