News

Björk gives first TV performance in 8 years on “Jools Holland”

Björk was a the musical guest on last night’s episode of “Later… With Jools Holland.” It was her first TV performance in eight years and she performed with an ensemble of flutists for Utopia’s “Courtship” and “The Anchor Song” from her album Debut. Watch it below.

Mutual Benefit announces new album Thunder Follows the Light, shares 2 songs

Jordan Lee, aka Mutual Benefit, has announced a new album called Thunder Follows the Lightset to be out on September 21st via Transgressive. In anticipation of the album release, the project shared two new songs, “New History” and “Storm Cellar Heart.” Listen below.

“I think people in power benefit greatly from a general lack of historic memory in the United States,” Lee explained “New History” in a statement. “I’ve been wondering if the first step in imagining a more just world is to study our history better, not just the linear revisionist one that is oft-repeated but all the unsung champions of equal rights as well as the acts of unthinkable cruelty that humans are also capable of.”

Watch Angel Olsen and Jim James cover Sonny & Cher

David Lynch’s Festival of Disruption hailed to New York at Brooklyn Steel this last weekend with acts such as Animal Collective, Angel Olsen, Au Revoir Simone, Flying Lotus, Jim James, Jon Hopkins, and Rebekah Del Rio. During the second night, Angel Olsen and Jim James performed together. During of which, they covered the Sonny & Cher song “Baby Don’t Go.” Watch it happen below thanks to Stereogum.

 

Aesop Rock shares new song “Klutz”

Aesop Rock has released a new song called “Klutz,” accompanied by a video directed by Rob Shaw. Shaw also directed Rock’s animated video “Shrunk” from Rock’s last album, The Impossible Kid. Watch it below.Aesop shared in a press release, “Klutz is such a moment. I had started a couple things to this beat before sacrificing it to the gods of not-shutting-up, but this seemed a fitting fate.”

Watch Courtney Barnett perform “Nameless, Faceless” on “Fallon”

Last night, Courtney Barnett performed “Nameless, Faceless” on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.” Watch the performance below. The song is on her latest album Tell Me How You Really Feel, which is out today via Mom+Pop/Marathon Artists/Milk!.

Alex Zhang Hungtai announces new album Divine Weight, shares video for “Pierrot”

Alex Zhang Hungtai has announced a new album called Divine Weight via NON Worldwide and is set to be out June 29th.

The new album stemmed from the last three years’ worth of “failed” saxophone compositions according to the press release. “From there it became the actual stem tracks that were heavily digitally disfigured until it no longer resembled the sound of saxophones. Like dreams, visions often come to us without us having the capability to measure or understand fully what they mean.”

Check out the full Divine Weight track list and watch the video for “Pierrot” below. Pre-order are up on NON’s Bandcamp page.

Divine Weight tracklisting:

01. Pierrot
02. Matrimony
03. This Is Not My Country
04. Yaumatei
05. Divine Weight

Snail Mail expands tour, shares new song

Snail Mail has released a new song from her upcoming album Lush, which is set to be out June 8th via Matador. Listen to “Let’s Find an Out” below. Lindsey Jordan, the person behind Snail Mail, has also announced new tour dates which can also be found below.

Snail Mail:

05-17 Brighton, England – Great Escape
05-19 Leeds, England – Brudnell Social Club
05-20 Manchester, England – Vullivers
05-21 Bristol, England – Louisiana
05-23 Brussels, Belgium – Witloof Bar
05-24 Groningen, Netherlands – Vera
05-26 Amsterdam, Netherlands – London Calling
05-27 Paris, France – Villette Sonique
06-05 Portland, ME – State Theater &
06-06 New Haven, CT – College Street Music Hall &
06-07 Brooklyn, NY – Music Hall of Williamsburg
06-09 Asbury Park, NJ – Asbury Park Brewing
06-12 Washington, DC – The Black Cat @
06-13 Pittsburgh, PA – Cattivo @
06-14 Toronto, Ontario – Velvet Underground @
06-15 Detroit, MI – Deluxx Flux @
06-16 Chicago, IL – Subterranean @
06-17 Minneapolis, MN – 7th Street Entry @
06-18 Des Moines, IA – Vaudeville Mews @
06-20 Denver, CO – Larimer Lounge @
06-22 Boise, ID – Funky Taco @
06-23 Seattle, WA – Crocodile @
06-24 Vancouver, British Columbia – Biltmore Cabaret @
06-25 Portland, OR – Holocene @
06-27 Oakland, CA – Starline Social Club @
06-28 San Francisco, CA – Swedish American Hall @
06-29 Visalia, CA – The Cellar Door @
06-30 Los Angeles, CA – Bootleg Theater @
07-03 Scottsdale, AZ – Pub Rock Live @
07-05 Austin, TX – Barracuda @
07-06 Dallas, TX – Three Links @
07-07 Fayetteville, AR – George’s @
07-08 Nashville, TN – The High Watt @
07-09 Atlanta, GA – Drunken Unicorn @
07-10 Durham, NC – Pinhook @
07-11 Richmond, VA – Strange Matter @
07-12 Baltimore, MD – The Parkway Theater @
07-14 Philadelphia, PA – Union Transfer @
07-15 Cambridge, MA – The Sinclair @
07-16 Montreal, Quebec – L’Escogriffe Bar Spectacle @
07-17 Burlington, VT – ArtsRiot @
07-24 Columbus, OH – Ace of Cups %
07-25 Louisville, KY – Zanzabar %
07-26 Bloomington, IN – The Bishop %
07-27 Grand Rapids, MI – Pyramid Scheme %
07-29 Cleveland, OH – Beachland Tavern %
08-17 Cardiff, England – Green Man Festival
08-20 Antwerp, Belgium – Antwerp OLT
08-22 Luxembourg City, Luxembourg – Conges Annules
08-23 Düdingen, Switzerland – Bad Bonn
08-28 Bergen, Norway – Perfect Sounds Forever
08-31 Asten-Heusden, Netherlands – Misty Fields
09-02 Dorset, England – End of the Road Festival
10-25 London, England – The Dome
11-07-10 Reykjavik, Iceland – Iceland Airwaves

& with Belle and Sebastian
@ with Bonny Doon
% with Long Beard

Constellation Tatsu releases Spring Batch

Oakland, CA’s Constellation Tatsu has notoriously combed through scores of music and yesterday, May 14th, dropped four collections of releases for their Spring 2018 batch.

Alex Crispin’s follow-up to the emotional Idle Worship on Sounds of the DawnOpen Submission, has its ethereal title track streaming below.

The next soothing track, “Blue Reminder,” from the collection is from Japanese composer Chihei Hatakeyama.

The contribution from Endurance comes as Shade Terrarium, with a sort of vibe to it that could be listened to at the dead of night. The track, “Sonata Primar,” has the soft keys and quiet field recordings of many of ambient classics.

The final track is from the Spanish ambient artist, Lunaria. The excerpt from “A Higher Energy Realm” is taken from the artist’s Ascension Now release.

You can go to C-Tatsu’s Bandcamp to purchase the entire the Spring Batch.

Mitski announces new album Be The Cowboy, shares new song “Geyser”

Mitski has announced a new album, Be The Cowboy out August 17th via Dead Oceans. “For this new record, I experimented in narrative and fiction,” Mitski said in a statement. While recording with her long-time producer Patrick Hyland, she said they continuously returned to “the image of someone alone on a stage, singing solo with a single spotlight trained on them in an otherwise dark room.” She continued, “For most of the tracks, we didn’t layer the vocals with doubles or harmonies, to achieve that campy ‘person singing alone on stage’ atmosphere.”

Mitski has also shared the album’s first single and video. Watch the video for “Geyser,” directed by Zia Anger below as well as the LP’s tracklist.

Be The Cowboy:

01 Geyser
02 Why Didn’t You Stop Me
03 Old Friend
04 A Pearl
05 Lonesome Love
06 Remember My Name
07 Me and My Husband
08 Come Into the Water
09 Nobody
10 Pink in the Night
11 A Horse Named Cold Air
12 Washing Machine Heart
13 Blue Light
14 Two Slow Dancers

Frightened Rabbit’s Scott Hutchison Dead at 36

Frontman of Scottish indie band Frightened Rabbit, Scott Hutchison, has died, the BBC reports. Hutchison’s family reported him missing on Wednesday to Scottish police after he never returned to his hotel in South Queensferry, Scotland. His body was found at Port Edgar at around 8:30 p.m the next night. On friday morning, the police confirmed the body as Hutchison. The First Minister for Scotland is among the many to have paidtribute.

His family said they were “utterly devastated with the tragic loss of our beloved Scott,” the BBC reports. The surviving members of the band wrote in a statement, “There are no words to describe the overwhelming sadness and pain that comes with the death of our beloved Scott but to know he is no longer suffering brings us some comfort.”

On May 9th, Frightened Rabbit’s accounts on social media posted a message asking for fans to tell the police if they had any information about Hutchison’s whereabouts. “We are worried about Scott, who has been missing for a little while now,” it said. “He may be in a fragile state and may not be making the best decisions for himself right now.”

Hutchison had tweeted from his Owl John Twitter account the previous night, “Be so good to everyone you love. It’s not a given. I’m so annoyed that it’s not. I didn’t live by that standard and it kills me. Please, hug your loved ones. I’m away now. Thanks.”

On a song on Frightened Rabbit’s 2008 album The Midnight Organ Fight,“Floating in the Forth,” Hutchinson’s lyrics included him imagining dying in Scotland’s River Forth, sayonh, “Am I ready to leap? / Is there peace beneath / The roar of the Forth Road Bridge?” and “I think I’ll save suicide for another year.” Hutchison’s body was found on the banks of the River Forth, near the Forth Road Bridge.

The Mirror shared a statement released by Hutchison’s family via Police Scotland that reads:

As a family, we are utterly devastated with the tragic loss of our beloved Scott. Despite his disappearance, and the recent concerns over his mental health, we had all remained positive and hopeful that he would walk back through the door, having taken some time away to compose himself. Scott, like many artists, wore his heart on his sleeve and that was evident in the lyrics of his music and the content of many of his social media posts. He was passionate, articulate and charismatic, as well as being one of the funniest and kindest people we knew. Friends and family would all agree that he had a brilliant sense of humour and was a great person to be around.

In addition to his musical success, Scott was a wonderful son, brother, uncle and friend. Despite whatever else was going on in his life he always had time for those he cared for. Depression is a horrendous illness that does not give you any alert or indication as to when it will take hold of you. Scott battled bravely with his own issues for many years and we are immensely proud of him for being so open with his struggles. His willingness to discuss these matters in the public domain undoubtedly raised awareness of mental health issues and gave others confidence and belief to discuss their own issues.

To all of those who have come forward with such kind messages of support over the past couple of days, we wish to express our most sincerest of thanks. We have been overwhelmed by the love that has been conveyed, not only to Scott, but to our family. It means the world to us. We also want to thank Police Scotland and the Dakota Hotel for all of their assistance since Wednesday. We now ask that our privacy be respected so that we may come to terms with our loss.