Bob Dylan launches whiskey line Heaven’s Door

Bob Dylan has come out with a whiskey line named Heaven’s Door and it will feature a straight rye, a Tennessee bourbon, and a double barrel whiskey. He partnered with the co-founder of Angel’s envy, Marc Bushala, for the release. “We both wanted to create a collection of American whiskeys that, in their own way, tell a story,” Dylan told The New York Times. “I’ve been traveling for decades, and I’ve been able to try some of the best spirits that the world of whiskey has to offer. This is great whiskey.”

Working with Dylan, for Bushala, involved figuring out what a lot of his comments about each sample whiskey meant.

George Clinton to retire from touring in 2019

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.”

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.

https://as-embed-player.adultswim.com/singles/2017/?trackid=d10098d2-5720-480e-abaf-665fcc21483e

Artist to Watch: Brian Ishiba

Almost three years later and the Artists to Watch section will be returning on a semi-regular basis and why not start off with pop music being created from a recent Tokyo transplant, Brian Ishiba. Having recently moved to Japan from the suburban life outside of LA, his latest album, which came out in February, is about how he was feeling getting ready to leave the “controlled chaos of urban living and the stress that comes with” to Tokyo.

His music, especially “How Can I Be Sure” (listen below) creates a sense of nostalgia in the listener for what could have been if you never embraced the new and confronted the future.  Ishiba said, about his music, “these songs are little episodes in my life over the course of the past six months. They’re about feeling lost and dealing with my fears about the future.  They’re about accepting the things in life you can’t change.  They’re me whining to myself.  They’re about saying goodbye.”

Listen to the full EP below.

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.

The Melodic Tree’s Weekly Playlist

1. Keep Me Under Your Arms – Modern Vices

2. Tired – Moaning

3. Sunlight – Yuno

4. Mean Maybe – Yellowbirds

5. Niagara Falls – Jaymay

6. Flowers – Palmas

7. Cab Deg – Good Morning

8. Bowlly Goes Dancing Drunk Into the Future – Loving

9. Feelin Blue – Aldous RH

10. Forevertime Journeys – naran ratan

11. Don’t Run Into the Dark So Quickly – Jon Bap

12. Red Clay – Charlotte Dos Santos

13. Dent Jusay – Matt Martians

14. Kittyliter – Swarvy

15. I’m Just Snacking – Gus Dapperton

16. Lover Boy – Phum Viphurit

17. Labelle – Telex Telexs

18. With Me – Plastic Plastic

19. Yuuwahuu – Gym and Swim

20. Lost in Jane – Solitude is Bliss

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.