Take a first look at Mulder and Scully in the latest season of the X-Files

The X-Files production is officially underway for its new season, and with that comes the first look at Fox Mulder and Dana Scully being reunited. 
The photo, which comes from X-Files Twitter account and can be seen above, also shows creator Chris Carter behind the camera. As well as writing the six-episode return, Carter is directing the first episode. 

The show’s new season will premiere January 26th, 2016 on FOX. Cast members include David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson as Mulder and Scully, as well as Mitch Pileggi as Walter Skinner, William B. Davis as The Smoking Man, and Joel McHale as Tad O’Malley. 

Palma Violets give an energetic performance on Late Late Show

Indie rock outfit, Palma Violets have been performing with new album, Danger in the Club in festivals throughout the US the last few months, creating new audiences throughout. The British band will likely gain a broader fan base with their performance last night on Late Late Show with James Corden where they performed a high-energy rendition of the LP track, “Girl, You Couldn’t Do Much Better On The Beach”. Compared to a festival, a TV studio is not as comparable but the band performed the same way nevertheless. Watch the replay below.

The Lighthouse and the Whaler share new song “I Want to Feel Alive”

If the band name has not already given it away, The Lighthouse and The Whaler are literary fans. The Moby Dick allusion is perfect for the indie rock outfit from Cleveland, having done most of their early career across the country looking out for their sound and getting new members since their creation in 2008. Now, two albums and three EPs later, the band is beginning to go on a new voyage. They  holed themselves up in Montreal to record their latest album, Mont Royal, which is due out on August 28th through Roll Call Records. They are now giving a sample of the new LP through their latest single, “I Want To Feel Alive”.

The band has said in a statement: “This song almost didn’t come with us to Canada, before we left we were kind of stuck on where to go with it, but once we got in the studio and really began to feel the connection we had with the place, it evolved into a song that really moved us.”

The track has the drama of classic literature with their significant vocals and guitars that have an emphasis on reverb. Listen to it here.

The Melodic Tree’s Weekly Playlist

1. Burning Down the House -Talking Heads

2. Jaigantic – Tora

3. Get Around It – One Night Only

4. Pot, Kettle, Black – Panda Su

5. World Spins Madly On – The Weepies

6. Maybe Later – Miracle Fortress

7. Pretty Boy – Young Galaxy

8. Toska – Broken Records

9. Drag – Day Wave

10. Waves – Gosh Pith

11. Danish Longball – Wyldest

12. Landed on Mars – Atlas Bound

13. Surface – Shallou

14. Inside Your Mind – Nick Leng

15. Fox Tales – Koloto

16. Tools – Yellerkin

17. Tuolumne – Incan Abraham

18. Desperation – Body Parts

19. Fever – Night Panther

20. Souvenir – Swimm

Buzz Osborne says Kurt Cobain documentary Montage of Heck is “90% bullshit”

Frontman of the Melvins, Buzz Osborne, is giving shade to Brett Morgen’s recent documentary, Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck, and declared that 90% of the film is “total bullshit.”

In his recent op-ed for The Talkhouse, the frontman questioned the facts behind the film, and claimed that most of what was said from Courtney Love was not completely consistent with what Cobain has told him personally. Osborne was a mentor and friend of Cobain’s during his early years and the pair attended high school together as well.

Including the issues that Love’s story had, Osborne also argued against other stories that were put in the film as facts. He claims that Cobain did not have any issues with his stomach saying, “[Cobain] made it up for sympathy and so he could use it as an excuse” in order to use heroin.

He also contested a story about how Cobain tried to sleep with a mentally handicapped female fellow student in high school. “I know the whole ‘I tried to fuck a fat retard’ story is complete bullshit. Not even an inkling of truth. That’s too good a story to have gone this long without me hearing about it, especially if, as he suggests, the girl’s father freaked out about it at the high school,” said Osborne, also adding, “In that small-town shit-hole, exciting news of that nature would have been common knowledge before the sun set. It never happened.”

Osborne added: “[Cobain] was a master of jerking your chain.”

Read the entire op-ed at Talkhouse and watch the Montage of Heck below.

Paul Westerberg says the Replacements just played their final show

During The Replacements’ performance at Primavera Sound today, Paul Westerberg announced that this would be he final time band would play together. After saying that the band stayed at the hotel instead of going for sound check, it has also said “lazy bastards to the end” and smashed his guitar.
During the band’s reunion tour over the pat two months, Weaterberg has worn a t-shirt every night with spray-painted letters on the front and back, spelling out two sentences on both sides. Fans who have been following the tour have pieced together the sentences on the Facebook page, Paul’s Shirt, and according to it, the message says: “I have always loved you. Now I must whore my past.”
Billboard reported last month that the reunited band has made seven or eight songs over the course of two recording sessions. “It’s just a question of what the band wants to ultimately do with them,” Darren Hill, the band’s co-manager said. 

In a more recent article from Billboard, a source is cited that their reunion could be short-lived and the band announced that they were canceling two make-up shows that were planned for next month. 

Stephen Colbert chooses Jon Batiste as Late Show band leader

As the first promo video gets out of the way, Stephen Colbert has checked off a second item off of his checklist. The host of CBS’s Late Show has chosen Jonathan Batiste as the new bandleader.

As a native to Louisiana and a graduate of Julliard, Batiste is a big name in the world of jazz and blues music. He is a prolific solo artist on his own terms but he has also worked with artists such as Prince, Wynton Marsalis, Allen Toussaint, and Dr. John over the years. He has an immensely charismatic personality, which can be seen on-stage with his rowdy live performances and off-stage in his acting such as his roles on HBO’s Treme and Spike Lee’s Red Hook Summer.

Colbert has also shared a new promo video introducing Batiste which can be seen here.

Colbert said in a statement: “His music makes the audience feel so good, we may have to install a ‘Do Not Make Love’ sign.”

Late Show with Stephen Colbert will premiere on September 8th.

Soundcloud may introduce paid subscription plans for users soon

There have been signs that are pointing to SoundCloud that it will eventually become a pay service for a while. Major labels and copyright owners have been taking down music from all over the website. Without any reliable stream of audio, fans will stop clicking. To ensure the flow will continue, SoundCloud would have to meet labels’ interests, and then begin to monetize their services. Ads have already been a part of the music-hosting website’s model, and now a leaked contract between SoundCloud and the National Music Publishers’ Association has showed more details on the subscription packages.

The contract, which consists of 19 pages and can be seen below, and is the takeaway that SoundCloud is working on a three-tier system. At the bottom is the free, ad-based service that will allow users to have limited access to the catalog on the sight. Next would an “Additional Services” level, which would remove ads and add more of the catalog, but not all of it. In order to have full access to SoundCloud’s audio, you would need to get the “Full Catalog Subscription Service”.

For how this will mean in terms of money for the labels, TechCrunch says that the companies will be owed 10.5% of all revenue from subscriptions and ads, or almost 22% of what would be earned through any recording rights that are owned by SoundCloud, whichever will be higher. There is a clause that states that the labels could take $0.18 from each Additional Services user and/or $.80 from Full Catalog Subscription Service subscriber if that would get the labels more than the  10.5% or 22% payouts.

“Most Favored Nation” clause as well that would make sure hat independent labels get equal compensation to deal cuts with larger labels after market shares are accounted for. SoundCloud also has offered an advance of  $350,000 to every independent label and publisher.

The contract is currently unsigned, so it is unknown if this is the actual deal NMPA agreed to last month. It is obvious that if listeners want to continue using SoundCloud’s full potential, they will have to start paying up the money.

Jack White’s Third Man Records expands to Detroit

Over the last five years, Jack White and his record label, Third Man Records have been based in Nashville. Now, however, White will go back home in Detroit with plans to expand the label’s operations in the city’s Cass Corridor.

Partnering with Tom Kartsotis, the founder of Shinola, a Detroit-based company that specializes in  watches, bicycles, shoe polish, and various other leather goods, White has purchased the building that is currently home to the Shinola Flagship store at 441 W. Canfield.

The building will serve as office and retail space for Third Man, and is set to open in time for Record Store Day’s Black Friday event on November 27th. The label promises “many special surprises in store.”

Cass Corridor is where The White Stripes’ played its very first show, in the place of White’s high school, and a part of the city that White refers to as “always been the most inspiring area of Detroit for me as an artist and as a Detroiter.”

Also in the statement, he added He adds, “From the great visual artists like Gordon Newton to the music of the Gories, and the birth of the Detroit garage rock scene, the Corridor has nurtured Detroit’s soul and inventiveness for decades. That spirit pushes forward with Shinola’s passion and will come full circle for the artists of the Corridor that work with Third Man Records to plant a new foundation there to help keep that creative spirit alive for decades to come.”

Richard Linklater to release “spiritual sequel” to Dazed and Confused

20 years before winning awards fo Boyhood, director Richard Linklater became known for his cult stoner classic, Dazed and Confused. After years of rumors about a “spiritual sequel” to the original film, it has finally come alive.

Test screenings for the film, which is now named Everybody Wants Some, not That’s What I’m Talking About as previously announced, are currently going on according to The Film Stage. The soundtrack will apparently have a big role in the film, besides from taking its name from a Van Halen song, the film will feature songs from Talking Heads, Devo, and Blondie.

The synopsis of the film is as goes: “A spiritual sequel to Dazed and Confused and set in the world of 1980 college life, Everybody Wants Some is a comedy that follows a group of friends as they navigate their way through the freedoms and responsibilities of unsupervised adulthood. Get ready for the best weekend ever.”

Members of the cast include Tyler Hoechlin from Road to Perdition and 7th Heaven, Wyatt Russell from 22 Jump Street, Ryan Guzman from Step Up, Will Brittain from The Doo Dah Man, Glen Powell from Sex Ed, and Zoey Deutch from Ringer and Vampire Academy.

Providing more context on a talk with Marc Maron earlier this year, Linklater said: “You show up at college and you’re listening to Van Halen, but you go to discos to chase women, but then you end up at a punk club or a country bar because Urban Cowboy was big at that time. All that stuff was on the table, so it’s an interesting cultural moment because they go to an art party and they’re listening to Talking Heads, so it’s a cultural moment where I’m like, ‘Who am I?’ Am I punk? Am I new wave? Am I heavy metal?”

Everybody Wants Some will be released through Paramount Theaters this fall.