Music News

Neon Indian releases first song in two years, “Annie”

Since the 2011 release of Era Extraña, Neon Indian has been quiet. The indietronica band had a song that was part of Grand Theft Auto V and released a remix EP in 2013 but have not been around since. Alan Palomo announced in December that he was working on a new album and shared the first taste of the effort today.

The song, named “Annie”, can be listened to below.

Neon Indian’s plans on releasing the new album later this year through Static Tongues and Mom + Pop Records. New material will be likely released when the band performs at FYF Fest this August. More new material will likely be on display when the band stops by FYF Fest this August. Check out the single artwork for “Annie” above.

Grimes to release new album in October

Having one of the most anticipated albums of the year, it’s clear why Grimes is brig meticulous about her fourth LP. Originally scheduled to be released in 2014, the album was scraped after Grimes thought it sounded too commercial. However, it seems she has recorded something she likes now. Responding to a fan on Twitter, Grimes revealed that the follow-up to Visions will be released in October.

Grimes is on tour currently with Lana Del Rey. Listen to two tracks from the “scrapped album” with “Go” and “REALiTi”.

Justin Vernon confirms comeback of Bon Iver

At one period of time, the future of Bon Iver was bland after an extensive world tour following the band.s self-titled sophomore album when frontman, Justin Vernon, expressed some disinterest in furthering with the project. He later went back from the comments, and in July, he will bring back the band to headline the first Eaux Claires Music Festival, for which he was a curator as well. In a recent interview promoting the upcoming festival. Vernon revealed that the performance will not be a one-off for the band but the beginning of the band’s third cycle.

Vernon explained to Minneapolis’ KARE 11: “It’s the perfect platform for us to be like, this is how we’re starting this new cycle, new life of the band. It makes so much sense to start it here.” Watch the full interview here.

Eaux Claires will take place July 17th – 18th in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, Vernon’s hometown. Beside Bon Iver, the lineup includes The National, Sufjan Stevens, The Tallest Man on Earth, and more.

Watch Miracles of Modern Science cover Foo Fighters’ “Everlong”

Since starting at Princeton University 10 years ago, Miracles of Modern Science haven almost perfected working arena-sized songs to symphonic-style composition. The Brooklyn-based band have worked this into their own material such as their debut album, Dog Years in 2011 and their upcoming LP, Mean Dreams, which is due out on August 14th. The band have excelled in their cover songs such as hits like Daft Punk’s “Get Lucky”, Charli XCX’s “Break the Rules”, and Foster the People’s “Pumped Up Kicks”.

The latest cover is “Everlong” by the Foo Fighters. Due to the anthem status and its part in David Letterman’s emotional send-off this week, it was an ambitious cover for the band. Even with that much ambition, they perform it exceptionally especially with instruments such as the violin, mandolin, and cello. Watch the performance below.

Elliot Smith documentary Heaven Adores You to be released on Blue-ray and DVD

It has been announced by Eagle Rock Entertainment that a home release of the new Elliot Smith documentary, Heaven Adores You. The Nickolas Rossi-directed film will be released on DVD, Blu-ray, and digital formats starting on July 17th.

The film is soundtracked by previously unreleased, and the occasional unfinished, songs as it focuses on Smith’s life and music through “the dense yet often isolating landscapes of the three major cities he lived in: Portland, New York & Los Angeles.” The release will come with an hour of extended interviews and a performance of “Heaven Adores You” from Aaron Espinoza from Earlimart.

Pre-orders for Heaven Adores You, which includes T-shirt bundles as well, are going on right now.

Ezra Koenig gives update on new Vampire Weekend album

It has been two years since the release of Vampire Weekend’s last album, Modern Vampires of the City. The frontman Ezra Koenig’s recent interview on the No Effects Podcast may have indicated that fans could have to wait longer for the band’s fourth album to come out.

Alrhough the band members have been in the studio in the past year, they have been spending time for various side-projects of their own and solo work. Koenig has worked with Karen O from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Major Lazer; Chris Baio has signed with Glassnote Records for his solo releases; and Rostam Batmanglij has been seen spending time with Charli XCX, Wavves, and Cloud Nothings since 2013. For the band as a whole, they are regrouping, slowly but surely.

Koenig says:“Right now we’re definitely gearing up to start working on another album but, we’re not in a zone of like getting in there everyday or anything. There have been discussions, of course there’s…in some ways, you know, we’re always working.”

Koenig hasn’t described what exactly it is they’re “working” on, but he does mention that some tracks may be from the Modern Vampires of the City sessions. “There are songs that are left over, not to diminish them, but songs that just weren’t quite right for the last album that I’m very excited about for the next album, so you know there’s little demos that I kind of listen to everyday.”

Koenig says that this period “in-between albums” is their “off-season,” something that s relazing and he emphasizes that it was a long time coming for the New York band. He says that they are “working on some other things, doing things here and there but you know, really just trying to not think about music too much.” “Every once in a while I’ll like, I’ll watch an interview with another musician, or hear a piece of music that gets me excited about it, but really this is kind of the point that … I’ve always wanted to reach – this is what I’ve been dreaming about for years,” Koenig explains.

He continues, “In some ways those three albums was like kind of one massive period of obsessing, making music, touring, all those things. And I think now for the first time in a long time I kinda feel like, a little bit more relaxed like ‘Yeah we’ll definitely make a fourth album.’ I’m not in a rush to dive into making an album because I feel like I want the next album to kinda feel like a new era anyway, so I’ve been kind of enjoying this time just chilling.”

Find the full transcription below:

Right now we’re definitely gearing up to start working on another album but, we’re not in a zone of like getting in there everyday or anything, it’s definitely…there have been discussions, of course there’s…in some ways, you know, we’re always working – there are songs that are left over, not to diminish them, but songs that just weren’t quite right for the last album that I’m very excited about for the next album, so you know there’s little demos that I kind of listen to everyday.

There’s songs that we’ve begun that I’m confident will be on the next album, but, right now it’s really kind of feels like the off season. Working on some other things, doing things here and there but you know, really just trying to not think about music too much. Every once in a while I’ll like, I’ll watch an interview with another musician, or hear a piece of music that gets me excited about it, but really this is kind of the point that…I’ve always wanted to reach – this is what I’ve been dreaming about for years.

I felt like all through my 20s, you know, with Vampire Weekend, it kind of felt like things started off at like a pretty fast pace and there was like a lot of pressure – you know, self-imposed pressure to make a follow-up album fairly quickly, and you know to make anything remotely good you know you have to put a lot of pressure on yourself, and then even with the third album, I still had this feeling personally of like, “Well okay. We made two albums, we have real fans, nobody could call us like a total flash in the pan or anything.” But even then, I still felt like, I still had this vision like “Yeah but if you could really make three albums, that’s like when it feels like a career or something”, and you know there’s something about the number 3 that seems like a natural type of unit. So I think finally–in some ways those three albums was like kind of one massive period of obsessing, making music, touring, all those things. And I think now for the first time in a long time I kinda feel like, a little bit more relaxed like “Yeah we’ll definitely make a fourth album”.

I’m not in a rush to…to dive into making an album because I feel like I want the next album to kinda feel like a new era anyway, so I’ve been kind of enjoying this time just chilling, and every once in a while like getting excited about making music but not quite to the point of wanting to be like making a schedule yet or anything like that.

Florence and the Machine release new song “Delilah”

Florence and the Machine will return with their highly anticipated album, How Big How Blue How Beautiful in under two weeks. There has already been a number of tracks released including “What Kind of Man”, “Ship to Wreck”, and “St. Jude”. The band jas now offered another new preview of “Delilah”. 

Although Florence Welch is still taking over a broken foot, her voice is still as strong as before. Listen to it below.

How Big How Blue How Beautiful will be released on June 2nd via Republic Records.  

How Big How Blue How Beautiful Tracklist:
01. Ship to Wreck
02. What Kind of Man
03. How Big How Blue How Beautiful
04. Queen of Peace
05. Various Storms & Saints
06. Delilah
07. Long & Lost
08. Caught
09. Third Eye
10. St Jude
11. Mother

Biopic about The Kinks underway from director Julien Temple

The Kinks commemorated their 50th anniversary last year with a career-spannijg anthology, which featured exclusive notes from David Bowie aptly named The Essential Kinks. The iconic rock band from Britain will now further with a new biopic named You Really Got Me.  

Julien Temples, who is best known for his Sex Pistols-based film, The Great Rock ‘n’ Roll Swindle and Glastonbury, a documentary about the history of the UK festival will be directing the film. This new  film apparently will focus on the intense relationship between the band’s brothers Ray and Dave Davies.

Temple  told Screen Daily recently: “This is an exciting chance to tell the Kinks’ story in a visceral and real way. The lyrics of The Kinks have always been fascinating to me and there is an amazing human story here as well which has yet to be captured on film.”
Johnny Flynn, singer-songwriter and actor, and George MacKay are planned to play Ray and Dave Davies respectively. Julien’s daughter, Juno Temple, will play Rasa, Ray Davies’ former wife, who would contribute to the band occasionally.  

You Reallt Got Me has apparently been a “long-time passion project” for Jeremy Thomas, the producer. He has secured the rights to both of the brothers’ autobiographies and has Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais writing the script. The film is set to start shooting later this year. 

Killer Mike discusses Baltimore, Bill O’Reilly, and racism

Killer Mike appeared on “Real Time With Bill Maher” last night with a panel of John Waters, political scientist Charles Murray, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, and public policy expert Heather C. McGhee. The panel talked about the assumed link between violence and hip-hop culture, Bill O’Reilly, and Baltimore. The most notable thing Mike said about O’Reilly: “He’s more full of shit than an outhouse.”

Watch a full recording of The 13th Floor Elevators’ first performance in 47 years

The influential psych rock band, The 13th Floor Elevators reunited for their first performance in 47 years last weekend at Austin’s Levitation Festival. The hour-long set had the original lineup of Roky Erickson, Tommy Hall, John Ike Walton, and Ronnie Leatherman performing songs from its discography. 

The 12 track set list included: “Nobody to Love”, “She Lives (in a Time of Her Own)”, and “Slip Inside This House” off of Easter Everywhere; “Roller Coaster”, “You’re Gonna Miss Me”, and “Reverberation” from The Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators. As shown in the video, the crowd had immense love for the hometown band who sounded just like their last 60’s show together. 

Watch the full set below, as well as the setlist.

Setlist:
She Lives (in a Time of Her Own)
Fire Engine
Earthquake
Tried to Hide
Slip Inside This House
(I’ve Got) Levitation
Splash 1
Kingdom of Heaven
Nobody to Love
Reverberation
Roller Coaster

Encore:
You’re Gonna Miss Me