News

Toro Y Moi and Astronauts, etc. cover Elton John’s “Rocket Man”

Toro y Moi will venture on a North American tour in a few days, featuring opening act Astronauts, etc., also known as Anthony Ferraro, who will play keyboards in his live band as well. To kick off the tour, both artists teamed up and recorded a cover of the Elton John classic, “Rocket Man.” Groove-filled and chill, it is a surprising cover that managed to fit into styles of Toro and Astronauts.

Listen to it below.

Find the tour dates below. Toro will be supporting his album, What For?, and surprise mixtape, Samantha. Astronauts will be touring in support of his upcoming full-length album, Mind Out Wandering, which is set to be released on August 18th.

Toro y Moi 2015-2016 Tour Dates:
09/18 – Sacramento, CA @ TBD Fest
09/19 – Portland, OR @ Revolution Hall *
09/20 – Seattle, WA @ Neumos *
09/21 – Vancouver, BC @ Commodore Ballroom *
09/24 – Minneapolis, MN @ Mill City Nights *
09/25 – Madison, WI @ Majestic Theatre *
09/26 – Des Moines, IA @ Wooly’s *
09/27 – Grand Rapids, MI @ Pyramid Scheme *
09/28 – Cleveland, OH @ Beachland Ballroom *
09/29 – Buffalo, NY @ Waiting Room *
09/30 – Burlington, VT @ Higher Ground *
10/01 – Brooklyn, NY @ Music Hall of Williamsburg *
10/02 – Brooklyn, NY @ Music Hall of Williamsburg *
10/03 – Richmond, VA @ The National *
10/04 – Baltimore, MD @ Rams Head *
10/06 – Charleston, SC @ Music Farm *
10/07 – Athens, GA @ Georgia Theatre *
10/08 – Jacksonville, FL @ Free Bird Live *
10/09 – St. Petersburg, FL @ State Theatre
10/10-11 – Miami, FL @ III Points Festival
10/12 – Pensacola, FL @ Vinyl Music Hall *
10/13 – New Orleans, LA @ Republic *
10/14 – Birmingham, AL @ Saturn *
10/15 – Memphis, TN @ Minglewood Hall *
10/16 – Saint Louis, MO @ The Ready Room *
10/17 – Columbia, MO @ The Blue Note *
10/18 – Lawrence, KS @ Granada Theatre *
10/19 – Omaha, NE @ Waiting Room *
10/21 – Denver, CO @ Gothic Theatre *
10/22 – Albuquerque, NM @ Sunshine Theatre *
10/23 – Phoenix, AZ @ Crescent Ballroom *
10/24 – Santa Ana, CA @ The Observatory
10/25 – Pioneertown, CA @ Pappy & Harriet’s *
11/06-08 – Austin, TX @ Fun Fun Fun Fest
11/07 – Cuauhtémoc, MX @ Sala
11/09 – Los Angeles, CA @ Teragram Ballroom
12/30 – Marion Bay, AU @ Falls Festival
12/31 – Lorne, AU @ Falls Festival
01/01 – Byron Bay, AU @ Falls Festival
01/09 – Busselton, AU @ Southbound Festival

* = w/ Astronauts, etc.

Heartbroken Robyn cancels La Bagatelle Magique shows

La Bagatelle Magique was conceived as a collaborative project between Robyn, Christian Falk, and and Markus Jägerstedt. However, when Falk passed away a year ago, the remaining others finished what they had left and put out their Love Is Free EP last month. They were scheduled to have their live debut at Dans Dakar, which was cancelled, and then they made up for it at Sweden’s Popaganda Festival during the end of August. Robyn realized that she would not be able to perform La Bagatelle Magique music for a while and cancelled their scheduled performances in San Francisco and Brazil. 

Here is what she had to say in a statement:

It was much harder singing these songs on stage than I thought. Even though it’s been a year since Christian passed, I’m heartbroken and performing them feels too heavy still. I’m sorry to disappoint the fans that have bought tickets to these shows, and I will do my best to come back to San Francisco and Brazil soon.

A press release says that a new video for the band is currently being worked on but that “requires a clean break from performing to focus on the future so she can return with new music.”

Kurt Vile premieres animated video for “Life Like This”

b’lieve i’m goin down…, Kurt Vile’s upcoming album, is set to be released on September 25 through Matador. After releasing “Pretty Pimpin’,” he has premiered the video for “Life Like This.” What begins as a few hints of animation added to footage of Vile in the studio to a fully animated psychedelic adventure. It was animated and directed by Adam Avilla.

In a statement, Avilla said “Life Like This” is “a story about getting at the heart of inspiration and the surreal disjointed journey that the pursuit entails.” He also said: “I feel that artists of all disciplines can relate to such a notion of getting pleasantly (or sometimes unpleasantly) lost in your own thoughts, and from them reap inspiration for our best work.”

Small Black premieres new song “Back At Belle’s”

The upcoming album from Small Black, Best Blues, is set to be released on October 16th through Jagjaguwar. This LP reflecting on loss and memories serves as the third from the band, following Limits of Desire from 2013.

Today, Small Black returns with “Back at Belle’s,” a buzzy track. Listen to it below.

Best Blues Tracklist:
01. Personal Best
02. No One Wants It To Happen To You
03. Boys Life
04. The Closer I Look
05. Big Ideas, Pt. 2
06. Back at Belle’s
07. Between Leos
08. Checkpoints
09. Smoke Around The Bend
10. XX Century

Sam Smith will be singing the next James Bond theme

With only a couple of months until the release of the new James Bond film, Spectre, there has been speculation on who will be singing the new theme song. Considered include Lana Del Rey, Lorde, Ed Sheeran, Adele, and Sam Smith. Although today, Smith tweeted and Instagrammed a black-and-white photo of his hand wearing a hand, with the octopus symbol for SPECTRE, the long-running set to make its first appearance in the modern movies with Spectre. See below. 

 

Smith confirmed this morning on Twitter that he will be singing the theme to Spectre. It is called “Writing’s On The Wall,” and he wrote it with frequent collaborator Jimmy Napes. Disclosure also provided production. The single will be out on 9/25. Here are the Teerts about it:
   
    
 

St. Vincent stars in new mini-documentary, returns home to Texas

Nowness has released a short documentary film that is following St. Vincent’s Annie Clark returning to her hometown of Marfa, Texas. The film is directed by Alan Del Rio Ortiz, who has been with St. Vincent on tour for years, and it sees Clark talking about her creative drive, and the fear and satisfaction in performing. She sings a jerky rendition of “The Star Spangled Banner” at a local small baseball game and creates a scene from a track from St Vincent, “Rattlesnake” by walking naked in a field. There is also a dance number that is narrated by Clark as she says, “There’s nothing more interesting to me than human nature, because it’s infinitely strange and just infinitely fascinating.”

Watch St. Vincent: Lone Star here.

Titus Andronicus covers the Weeknd’s “The Hills” on SiriusXMU

Anyone who has seen Titus Andronicus can say, Patrick Stickles loves to play covers. Like the rest of their shows, the covers can be sweaty in the best possible way. When he stopped by SiriusXMU, for an performance in-studio, he played a stripped-down emotional cover of the Weeknd’s “The Hills.” Listen here.  

D’Angelo gives first TV interview in over a decade on Tavis Smiley

D’Angelo’s year-end release of the long anticipated Voodoo took the world of music by surprise. It was his first release in almost 15 years and there was clamor for him to do press for the record. Eventually he broke the silence with an interview with Rolling Stone, teasing a companion piece to the album. He has now broken another silence and returned to do a TV interview on Tavis Smiley. This is his first TV interview in over a decade. Watch it here. Watch it here

Black Messiah is out now on RCA or buy it on iTunes

Stream Gary Clark Jr.’s new album The Story of Sonny Boy Slim

Gary Clark Jr. is set to release his new album, The Story of Sonny Boy Slim, on September 11th through Warner Bros. Records. The LP is currently streaming in full here via NPR.

The 13-track album is the blues rocker’z second LP following the Grammy-nominated Blak and Blu. Clark wrote, produced, and arranged the entire album, including playing the majority of the instruments himself. Shawn and Savannah Clark, his sisters, performed on the record as backing vocalists. In s promo video for the record, Clark noted, “The underlying tone of this album is faith and hope really at the end of the day. ‘Cause that’s all we need.”

Pre-orders are currently going on for the album. Clark will go on an extensive world tour later this year.

The Story Of Sonny Boy Slim Tracklist:

01. The Healing

02. Grinder

03. Star

04. Our Love

05. Church

06. Hold On

07. Cold Blooded

08. Wings

09. BYOB

10. Can’t Sleep

11. Stay

12. Shake

13. Down To Ride

Explosions In The Sky offshoot Inventions announce new Blanket Waves EP

Mark T. Smith from Explosions in the Sky and Eluvium aka Matthew Cooper, have teamed up for a new EP under their pseudonym Inventions. Blanket Waves is set to be released on October 16th through Temporary Residence and has two 12-minute songs. It is the followup to the band’s Maze Of Woods from earlier this year and their self-titled debut from 2014. 

Watch the teaser trailer here

Check out the Blanket Waves artwork above. 

Blanket Waves EP Tracklist:

01. Blanket Waves

02. Hearing Loss