George Clinton, the legend behind Parliament/Funkadelic has announced his retirement from touring starting May 2019, as Billboard reports. “This has been coming a long time. Anyone who has been to the shows over the past couple of years has noticed that I’ve been out front less and less,” Clinton said in a statement to Billboard. He went on: “Truth be told, it’s never really been about me. It’s always been about the music and the band. That’s the real P-Funk legacy. They’ll still be funkin’ long after I stop.”
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Cecilia announces debut LP Adoration
Rome-based Halcyon Veil artist Cecilia, who guested on Rabit’s Le Fleurs du Mal LP last year, but is now releasing her own debut full length, Adoration, on the avant garde label on May 4th.
Adoration’s first track “Gros Animal” is available for streaming (below), and pre-order the record in digital, FLAC (wtf?), WAV, or vinyl formats.
Thundercat shares new song “Final Fight”
Thundercat has released a track called “Final Fight.” Listen below. It is the latest song on Adult Swim’s ongoing Singles Program. “Final Fight” is his first new song since Drunk, the album he released last year.
Watch Radiohead’s acoustic performance of “True Love Waits”
Thom Yorke performed an acoustic version of “True Love Waits” during their Rio de Janeiro, Brazil show yesterday. Watch it below via CoS. The song is on 2016’s A Moon Shaped Pool even though it took a long time for it to be attempted to be recorded, where it only ended up on their 2001 live album I Might Be Wrong. Producer Nigel Godrich released production notes that showed that the song dated back nearly 20 years.
Listen to Sufjan Stevens perform on “Live From Here”
Sufjan Stevens was the guest on the newest episode of “Live From Here.” He performed “Tonya Harding, ““Heirloom,” and his songs from Call Me By Your Name, “Visions of Gideon” and “Mystery of Love.” He also performed a hymn he said he sung growing up in the United Methodist Church. He said, “I was struck by it as a kid because it’s actually really dark and gloomy.” Listen to the performance, at the 13:00, 53:00, 1:43:30, and 1:54:45 marks.
Mitski collaborates with Xiu Xiu for new song “Between the Breaths”
Mitski and Xiu Xiu have put their forces together for a new song titled “Between the Breaths” for a film soundtrack. Listen to it below. It is from the soundtrack for John Cameron Mitchell’s upcoming sci-fi comedy film How to Talk to Girls at Parties, based on Neil Gaiman’s short story. The film is set to be released in the states on May 18th.
Watch CupcakKe’s new “Spoiled Milk Titties” video
CupcakKe has released a video for “Spoiled Milk Titties” from her new album Ephorize. The new video shows a spur-of-the-moment romantic excursion while she’s on her way to the hospital. She explains, “You know how you leave a cup out for so long, a cup of milk is going to spoil eventually? I’ve been naked so much I think my titties are, like, spoiled.” Watch it below.
Lotic announces debut album and single
Lotic has released a new track called “Hunted,” combining somewhat haunting whisperings and the beats that the producer from Berlin is known for.
Their upcoming debut album, Power is set to be out July 13th via Tri Angle and was made in the process of losing an apartment in Berlin. Music became more sporadic for them but was able to develop a vocal style in the process. The cover photo (above) was taken by Matt Lambert, styled by Rich Aybar, the clothes they wore was designed by Iris Van Herpen.
KEXP receives $10 million donation
KEXP, the iconic Seattle radio station, has revealed that it received $10 million from an anonymous donor, known as “Suzanne.” The initial investments that are set with the donation include “education programs aimed at inspiring younger audiences to engage their curiosity around music, services and programming for emerging artists, media creation experiences for aspiring DJs and music journalists, and outreach activities aimed at deepening KEXP’s connections to local communities.” It is the biggest donation KEXP has ever recieved, and, according to The Seattle Times, it’s believed to be one of the biggest public radio donations ever, next to a $200 million bequest to NPR.
“Suzanne’s love of music, her support for artists, her sense of philanthropy and service to the community, and the joy she found in exploration and discovery will live on in the programs and services that are made possible through this amazing and generous gift,” chief content officer Kevin Cole said in a press release. Cole put out a set of programming in her honor earlier today.
Duster return to studio for the first time in 18 years
Started in 1996, Duster only ever released two albums and one EP before breaking up in 2000, leaving a legacy of being every indie bands’ favorite indie band. The multi-instrumentalist of the band, Jason Albertini, continued making music with Helvetia and also became a permanent member of Built To Spill recently. Now it looks like they are coming back.
The band recently started an Instagram account where today, they posted a message to their fans: “hi. it’s been a long time but we are recording a little bit.” Find the post below.
The Melodic Tree 