Arcade Fire celebrate fourth UK Number 1 album with WE

Will Butler has shared his first solo tracks since his departure from Arcade Fire, as well as a host of US tour dates.You can take a listen to the two songs below, the slow-burning ‘A Stranger’s House’ and the intense, dramatic ‘Nearer To Thee’. ‘A Stranger’s House’ also comes with an intense and gothic video starring Butler himself.The two songs are released today via Merge Records, and will be supported with a run of North American tour dates in August with his five piece band.

J Balvin is opening up about his nine-month-old baby boy, Rio.

Arcade Fire took to The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon to perform ‘Age of Anxiety II (Rabbit Hole)’ – check out the performance below.The band have been playing a number of late-night TV slots around the release of new album ‘WE’, which came out last week (May 6) and gave the band their fourth UK number one album.Arcade Fire played Saturday Night Live last week, where, introduced by guest host Benedict Cumberbatch, they performed recent singles ‘Unconditional I (Lookout Kid)’ and ‘The Lightning I, II’ in the legendary New York studio.The band then took to Fallon this week to share another track from the new record. For the rendition of ‘Age of Anxiety II (Rabbit Hole)’, the band were watched over by a giant eye, the same that hung above the stage for the band’s recent London gig at KOKO.Watch the performance below.Reviewing ‘WE’, NME wrote: “Our global journey from fear to appreciation is played out in what Arcade Fire themselves accurately describe as a ‘concise 40-minute epic’.

Arcade Fire have scored their fourth UK Number One album with their sixth studio album ‘WE’.The Canadian collective shot straight to the top of the album chart and the vinyl albums chart, with their latest record beating Sigrid‘s ‘How To Let Go’ into second place, according to the Official Charts Company.It comes after their previous LPs – 2010’s ‘The Suburbs’, 2013’s ‘Reflektor’ and 2017 album ‘Everything Now’ also went to Number One.Frontman Win Butler recently told the NME Big Read, that the album title was inspired by the 1924 dystopian novel WE by Yevgeny Zamyatin, which itself inspired George Orwell’s 1984.“The seeds of everything that we’re ever going to do are within us,” he explained. “Reading that Zamyatin novel connected this dot in my childhood, then to Orwell, and then allowed me to be inspired by its own merits.“I didn’t know what ‘WE’ was, but I knew that it was in there and that I’d use it at some point.

Harry Styles makes it to a mammoth six consecutive weeks at Number 1 in the UK with As It Was. 

Arcade Fire celebrate their fifth Number 1 on the Irish Albums Chart with WE. 

Arcade Fire performed as part of a live-stream to unveil the first image of the black hole at the centre of the galaxy – watch below.The picture was produced by a global research team called the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) Collaboration, using observations from a worldwide network of radio telescopes. Known as Sagittarius A*, the object is four million times the mass of the Sun.“These unprecedented observations have greatly improved our understanding of what happens at the very centre of our galaxy, and offer new insights on how these giant black holes interact with their surroundings,” said EHT Project Scientist Geoffrey Bower.Coincidentally, ‘Sagittarius A*’ is the subtitle of a song on Arcade Fire’s new album ‘WE’ (‘End Of The Empire IV’).

Tickets for Arcade Fire's four-stop UK tour will go on sale today including a Manchester date on 3 September.

Arcade Fire have put their own spin on Harry Styles’ “As It Was”.

Arcade Fire have covered Harry Styles’ song ‘As It Was’ during a live session at the BBC‘s Maida Vale Studios – watch their rendition of the track below.The band, who released their sixth studio album ‘WE’ earlier this month, recorded the Styles cover for BBC Radio 2 following a longer session with 6 Music’s Steve Lamacq.Arcade Fire’s lively, full-band cover of Styles’ ‘As It Was’ has now been shared on YouTube. The original ‘As It Was’ will feature on Styles’ upcoming third studio album ‘Harry’s House‘.You can watch Arcade Fire take on Styles’ ‘As It Was’ below, and watch their full 6 Music set, where they perform cuts from ‘WE’ as well as 2010’s ‘The Suburbs’, here.Both Arcade Fire and Styles performed at last month’s Coachella, with the latter headlining the California festival’s main stage.

Arcade Fire have shared their performance of ‘End Of The Empire II’ from their appearance on Saturday Night Live last weekend – watch below.The Canadian band featured on the hit US show on Saturday (May 7) in support of their sixth studio album ‘WE’, which came out the day before (May 6).Introduced by guest host Benedict Cumberbatch, Arcade Fire played their recent singles ‘Unconditional I (Lookout Kid)’ and ‘The Lightning I, II’ in the legendary New York studio. Frontman Win Butler ended the powerful latter performance by speaking out about abortion rights.In a rare move, SNL allowed its most recent musical guests to play a third track.

DEALSWarner Chappell has signed film composer Daniel Blumberg. “I’m really happy to be working with the team at Warner Chappell Music in this new chapter of my career”, he says. “I’m looking forward to developing my practice as a songwriter and composer over the coming years, starting with a new solo album and some upcoming film projects”.————————————————–APPOINTMENTSBMG has appointed Sarah Mitchell as head of its UK-based neighbouring rights business.

Jack Harlow has announced an arena tour of North America in support of his second studio album, ‘Come Home The Kids Miss You’.The tour, announced today (May 10), will start in Nashville at the city’s Municipal Auditorium. An ensuing 21 dates will follow across September and October, wrapping at Atlanta’s State Farm Arena on October 16.

Arcade Fire have shared a new video for ‘Unconditional I (Lookout Kid)’, filled with the tube men that have appeared at their recent live shows – watch it below.The track, shared last month, is the second single from the band’s sixth album, ‘WE’, which came out last week (May 6).The video centres around a host of inflatable tube men, which have also danced around while the band played the song at a number of recent shows at Coachella, in New York and at London’s KOKO.Speaking to NME for last week’s Big Read cover feature, frontman Win Butler was reminded of a scene from the Coachella set, when one of the tube men didn’t inflate properly and needed a kick in order to begin dancing with his friends.“I think when we were making these songs, we weren’t sure what world we were making it for,” he responded.“There’s so many precarious things in the world and so much to have anxiety about, but I’ve been trying to really appreciate these moments when I’m in them. When the world is a beautiful place, I’m trying to allow myself to appreciate it in a way that I wouldn’t have before.”Butler added: “The concept of the video for ‘…Lookout Kid’ is that one of those tube men is depressed and their whole family is happy around them.”Watch Arcade Fire’s new video below.‘Unconditional I (Lookout Kid)’ was given its live debut last month during that surprise performance at the first weekend of Coachella 2022.

Arcade Fire look to set to claim their fourth UK Number 1 album with WE this week.

Arcade Fire‘s Win Butler has discussed the divisive reputation of the band’s fifth album, 2017’s ‘Everything Now’, in a new interview with NME.Speaking to NME for last week’s Big Read cover feature, released on the same day as the band’s new record and ‘Everything Now’ follow-up, ‘WE’, Butler said he doesn’t think negatively of the band’s last album – while many fans and critics were left divided over it.“I don’t have any insecurity about that record,” Butler told NME. “I think a lot of journalism has become very ‘cut and paste’ and there needs to be some sort of storyline in interviews, so I’m happy for ‘Everything Now’ to take the hit and be maligned… Like, I know there needs to be a cliché and story and [‘WE’] is, like, ‘the comeback’.

Arcade Fire appeared on Saturday Night Live last night (May 7), performing two tracks from ‘WE’ and seemingly speaking out about abortion rights.Earlier this week, a leaked draft from the US Supreme Court suggested the organisation is preparing to overturn Roe V. Wade – a 1973 ruling that made abortion legal on a federal level.Arcade Fire used their performance on Saturday Night Live to seemingly critique the proposed draft.After a powerful performance of ‘The Lightning I,II’, vocalist Win Butler returned to the mic to say “a woman’s right to choose forever and ever and ever.

Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito’s leaked draft opinion that threatens to overturn Roe v. Wade loomed large over Saturday Night Live, from the cold open to the Weekend Update to the curtain call. As they walked out to take a bow, the episode’s host, Benedict Cumberbatch, and several Saturday Night Live cast members wore white T-shirts with 1973 on them, which is the year the Supreme Court’s landmark decision was made. Garments with 1973 emblazoned on them have been used to show support for Roe v. Wade.

Zack Ruskin Though the threat of apocalypse has long loomed large throughout their discography, Arcade Fire’s driving energy has, by contrast, always been found in songs that invite us to embrace the full-throated catharsis that comes from remembering we’re alive. While just over a decade ago, Win Butler was lamenting the fantasized loss of San Francisco and singing about packing it in, on Arcade Fire’s superb new sixth album, it appears things have only gotten worse.

Blossoms have scored their third UK Number One album with ‘Ribbon Around The Bomb’, it has been confirmed.The Stockport band’s latest record follows their previous full-length releases, 2016’s ‘Blossoms’ and 2020’s ‘Foolish Loving Spaces’, in topping the Official UK Album Chart.As well as hitting the top spot on the main album chart, the new album has also claimed the Number One position on the Official Vinyl Albums Chart. Physical formats accounted for 90 per cent of ‘Ribbon Around The Bomb’’s total sales, the Official Charts Company has revealed.“It’s happened again! Ribbon Around the Bomb is the Official UK Number 1 album this week – [our] third time,” the band told OfficialCharts.com.