Dirty Projectors have released a teaser for a new piece of music in a video posted to Twitter. Check it out below. The video came with the cryptic text, “Do Not Wanna Live In A Li t t le Bub b l e.”
The band shared “Keep Your Name,” in September. It is their first new song since 2012’s About to Die EP. Their last LP was Swing Lo Magellan, released in 2012 as well.
Sleater-Kinney celebrated the new year with a special show at San Francisco’s Masonic, and they were supported by the Thermals and a DJ set from Spoon’s Britt Daniel. They covered George Michael’s “Faith” as a tribute to the late singer, then they were joined by Daniel and members of the Thermals to end their set with David Bowie’s “Rebel Rebel,” as Consequence of Sound points out. Watch it below as well as watch them lead a new year’s countdown (around the nine-minute mark).
Stefan Burnett, Death Grips’ MC Ride, has announced a solo art exhibition, as Spin pointed out. The show, called Solo Exhibition, will open on January 7th at Los Angeles’ Slow Culture, and will go until January 28. According to the gallery’s listing, it is his first solo showcase. Burnett has been selling acrylic paintings on his personal website since the start of 2016.
Death Grips also released two projects this year, Interview 2016 and Bottomless Pit.
Brian Eno’s new ambient album, Reflection, is out on New Year’s Day through Warp. A four-minute clip from the album was premiered today on BBC Radio 6, as Spin points out. Listen to it on Mary-Anne Hobbs’ page, you can hear the track at the 1:08:45 mark or start the minute before to hear an Eno-penned preamble read.
A “generative” version of the album will be on Apple TV and iOS, where users can explore its different visual and sonic aspects. “It’s a lot like gardening,” Eno explained. “You plant the seeds and then you keep tending to them until you get a garden you like.”
Aphex Twin shared a new track on December 25th on his user18081971 Soundcloud account, as RA points out. Listen to “tnodvood104” below. Aphex’s most recent official release was his Cheetah EP in June.
Frontman for Superchunk, Mac McCaughan, has released a new song titled “Happy New Year (Prince Can’t Die Again).” Stream it below. McCaughan posted the song on his Bandcamp with the note: “Written and recorded Dec 24, 2016 in a moment of trying to look at any possible bright side of the coming new year after the disaster that was this one.” The lyrics include “It was a year when everybody died” and “Next year might be better but I don’t see any proof.”
After announcing his retirement from music recently, Lupe Fiasco has announced a new album, DROGAS Light. Lupe shared the release date, February 10th, and what seems like cover art on Twitter. See the tweet here. His last album was 2015’s Tetsuo & Youth.
Lupe announced his plans to release a trilogy of albums in 2016 which he later took back due to “clearance and mixing issues.” He later shared a track named “Made in America,” reportedly from an album called Drogas Light planned to be released “at the top of 2017 via 1st & 15th/Thirty Tigers.”
His plans come to a halt when a lyric in a new song “N.E.R.D.” started anti-semitism claims among listeners. After defending the track on Twitter, Lupe announced his decision to retire from music: “Yo Lupe fans it’s been fun and I hope you’ve had fun,” he wrote, “I’m officially not releasing anymore music. Albums cancelled.” He briefly put his Twitter to private before starting debates with the CEO of the Anti-Defamation League.
Ryan Adams has shared a new song, “To Be Without You.” It is the latest track from his upcoming album Prisoner. He also shared the album’s first song, “Do You Still Love Me?” earlier this month. He rerecorded and pressed a new version of that song earlier this week, which he will put in some of his upcoming box sets. Listen to “To Be Without You” below. Prisoner is set to be out February 17th through Pax Am/Blue Note.
NPR have released footage from an entire Bon Iver concert, filmed in Brooklyn’s Pioneer Works earlier this month.
During the hour-long set, the band performed tracks from their latest album mostly as well as a few older tracks like “Beach Baby” and “Minnesota, WI” and “Creature Fear.” Justin Vernon was accompanied by two drummers and a five-piece sax ensemble for the concert. Watch it here.
Bon Iver launched a campaign called 2 A Million at the start of their current tour which seeks to raise support, raise support, awareness and “person-to-person connections in an effort to end gender inequality, domestic violence, and sexual abuse.” The band has been partnering with local nonprofits in each city they are performing in.
St. Vincent is on the cover of the January issue of Guitar World. In the interview in the magazine, Annie Clark talks about the beginning of her career and her work on the follow-up to her self-titled album, which came out in 2014. The new album does not have a name yet, but it is “due for release this spring” and Clark believes it to be a “‘real sea change’ in her sound.”
“I’ve been able to step back and reflect and not just be in the tour, record, tour, record cycle that I’ve been in for about 10 years. I think it’ll be the deepest, boldest work I’ve ever done,” Clark said about the album. She continued, “I feel the playing field is really open for creative people to do whatever you want, and that risk will be rewarded—especially now that we have such high stakes from a political and geo-political standpoint. The personal is political and therefore the political can’t help but influence the art. And only music that has something pretty real to say is gonna cut the mustard.”
Clark made a statement to go with her appearance on the Guitar World cover itself as well. Past “buyer’s guide” editions of the magazine have had scantily-clad women displaying the guitars. Clark holds her signature Ernie Ball guitar and wears a bikini t-shirt you would typically see in a gift shop on her cover, making her “own absurdist comment” on the magazine’s past. Check out the cover here.
The Melodic Tree 