Glen Matlock joins Blondie for new album

Mike Wass As the reigning queens of K-pop, there’s a lot riding on Blackpink’s sophomore album. The girl group would be forgiven for playing it safe, but they defy expectations on “Pink Venom” (out now) by touching on timely topics, adding a certain F-word to their vocabulary, and sprinkling in slow jams. Assisting Jisoo, Jennie, Rosé and Lisa with the pivot is an eclectic batch of collaborators, who are now lifting the veil on the creative process. Bekuh Boom — aka singer-songwriter Rebecca Rose Johnson — has been with Blackpink since the beginning. Literally. “I met them when they were still trainees,” she remembers. “We had the same Korean teacher.”

Jem Aswad Senior Music Editor Rina Sawayama is one of a handful of artists who released an album just as the pandemic was beginning and watched, astonished, as their stars rose during lockdown. The Japanese-British singer’s debut, “Sawayama,” was a wild fusion of Lady Gaga with nu-metal guitars, but also showed a penchant for sentimental ballads amid the power chords and intensity. The album won a co-sign from none other than Elton John, and its videos got her cast in the fourth installment of Keanu Reeves’ “John Wick” series, due in March. In fact, Elton was one of many people who spoke out against Sawayama’s exclusion from eligibility for England’s BRIT and Mercury awards because she isn’t a U.K. citizen, even though she’s lived in England since the age of 5. After #SawayamaIsBritish became a trending topic on Twitter, the British Phonographic Industry changed the eligibility rules to include anyone who lived in the country for at least five years, including her.

Mykki Blanco has released the latest single from their upcoming album, ‘Stay Close To Music’, a track called ‘Pink Diamond Bezel’.“I am always hoping to create a new alchemy for my sound and for my entire career I have been experimenting with how far I can push rap – from the production to the musical choices to the inspirations”, says Blanco. “Much of my new album and last year’s ‘Broken Hearts & Beautysleep’ is a departure from anything I had done in the past and I hadn’t really made a hip-hop track in years when I wrote ‘Pink Diamond Bezel.’ The song feels as if it’s the love child of Pharrell Williams and The Neptunes as much as Jack White”.“When I think about the vibe of ‘Pink Diamond Bezel’ I imagine a stretch limousine riding through snow-capped mountains, drinking Kahula and cream with a group of friends in cashmere sweaters, very après-ski, then out of nowhere a shaman appears in the middle of the road, the car halts – a spell is cast, the road catches fire, and we’re forced to kneel in supplication to the forces of nature”, they go on.

Hamish Hawk has announced that he will release his new album ‘Angel Numbers’ early next year, following on from 2021’s ‘Heavy Elevator’.Out now is new single ‘Think Of Us Kissing’, of which Hawk says: “’Think Of Us Kissing’ comes at you like a cannonball. It’s a tragic, romantic song about the music industry. It looks at the lengths an artist may or may not go to in order to have glory showered upon them.

White Lies have shared a new song called ‘Trouble In America’, taken from an upcoming bonus edition of their 2022 album ‘As I Try Not To Fall Apart’.The trio’s latest album came out in February, and featured the singles ‘Blue Drift‘, ‘I Don’t Want To Go To Mars‘, ‘Am I Really Going To Die‘ and the album’s title track.On October 21, they will release a bonus edition of the album featuring four previously unreleased tracks. Bassist Charles Cave explained: “We gave up on b-sides years ago, and go into making an album with the sole aim to fit the most cohesive 40mins of music onto two sides of a 12″ that we can. Unfortunately that means some music is sidelined at the final hurdle.”Cave added: “Unfortunately that means some music is sidelined at the final hurdle.

New York-based experimental punk trio Show Me The Body has revealed its third studio album Trouble The Water. It's out October 28 via Loma Vista Recordings.

Fred again.. has announced details of his third album, ‘Actual Life 3 (January 1 – September 9 2022)’ and shared its first song.The latest album in the artist and producer’s ‘Actual Life’ series will land on October 28 via Atlantic, and is being previewed today by first single ‘Danielle (smile on my face)’.The record follows debut album ‘Actual Life (April 14 – December 17 2020)’, which came out in April 2021, and follow-up ‘Actual Life 2 (February 2 – October 15 2021)’ from later that year.After a US tour that begins next week, Fred again..

Grimes has taken to social media to update fans on forthcoming new musical releases, leaving her record label, and a recent health scare, among other subjects.The Canadian artist promised new music arriving on September 30, stating that her new album was finished and now simply “waiting on approvals for [the] next single and mixing”. Asked if the record, reportedly called ‘Book 1’ according to an earlier interview, is still about AI lesbianism, Grimes replied that it was “about militarised AI courtesans among other things”.The record also appears likely to include a contribution from Jennie from BLACKPINK, confirming rumours after the K-pop star appeared in the video for ‘Shingami Eyes’ and were spotted together in 2021.

Bruce Springsteen has a new album in the pipeline, according to Jann Wenner.The former Rolling Stone founder let slip that The Boss is releasing a new record in an interview about his new memoir Like A Rolling Stone with Billboard.When asked about current pop and hip-hop music, he said: “There’s a lot of good stuff, and there’s a lot of trash and trivial stuff. Honestly, I don’t think it’s as good as [rock ’n’ roll].

The Snuts have won the battle to release their forthcoming new album ‘Burn The Empire’ a week early.It comes after the band recently called on their fans to “bombard” Parlophone Records so that they can hear the record before their UK tour kicks off at Bristol O2 Academy on October 2.They wrote on Twitter at the time: “Growing up watching bands we always wished we could hear their new album before going to the show. We asked our record label Parlophone if we could release out second record ‘Burn The Empire’ early to allow us all to be able to connect with the new songs together and absolutely rip it up on the tour – to this we were told no.”They continued: “Since then, we have found out the records are ready to go to the store and can be delivered to you all.

Death Cab For Cutie frontman Ben Gibbard has told NME about how the creation of the band’s upcoming tenth album ‘Asphalt Meadows’ made them “feel like a new band”, while also revealing that one of the album’s tracks took 25 years to complete.The band are releasing their follow-up to 2018’s ‘Thank You For Today’ this Friday (September 16) via Atlantic, and so far it has been previewed by the singles ‘Foxglove Through The Clearcut’, ‘Roman Candles’ and ‘Here To Forever’.Work on what would become ‘Asphalt Meadows’ began prior to the pandemic, but Gibbard told NME that the opportunity that was given to the band to “get off the touring treadmill” during the COVID lockdowns changed the album they were making for the better.“I remember specifically saying to my wife, at some point in January 2020, ‘I just wish I had a year off’,” the singer recalled. “The band had intermittent things planned that year, but there were a couple of own goals I had [made] too.

Chicago rapper G Herbo has announced his new album Survivor's Remorse with its lead single "Me, Myself & I" featuring New York's A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie. The new track continues on the path Herbo laid with his 2020 project PTSD, an album about wounds both physical and unseen, and how easy it is to get sidetracked on the road to healing. Judging from Herbo's lyrics, he's wrestling with the same demons that defined so much of PTSD: "I been tweakin' (Trippin'), hardly ever sleepin' (Slippin') / Always overthinkin' (I feel it), tryna duck the reaper (That's how I'm livin')" A Boogie's verses are a bit too cloying to stack up next to Herbo's, though, even when they're trading bars in the final verse.

Gold Panda has announced that he will release his new album, ‘The Work’, later this year, with new single ‘The Corner’ out now.It samples the Dean Friedman track ‘Lydia’ which, the producer says, was given to him by a friend a few years ago. On originally hearing the track – and especially the sampled lyric “I’m down here on the corner” – he says: “I had to loop it up and mess with it.

Björk has released ‘Atopos’, the first single from her upcoming new album ‘Fossora’, alongside the first of a series of videos created by photographer Viðar Logi.“It is a good intro [to the album], kinda like [its] passport”, she said on Twitter. “Sonically a heavy bottom-ended bass world, we have six bass clarinets [and] punchy sub drilling, nesting and digging us into the ground”.“The lyrics are inspired by what Roland Barthes described as the unclassifiable ‘other’”, she added.

The Snuts have encouraged their fanbase to 'bombard' their record company, Parlophone, in order to release their second album early. The West Lothian rockers announced their highly anticipated second album, Burn The Empire, back in June and currently isn't due to hit shelves until October 7.

Suede surprised fans by playing a secret London club show last night (Monday September 5), performing new album ‘Autofiction’ in full under the pseudonym ‘Crushed Kid’.Rumours of the show spread after NME obtained photos of gear being loaded into the intimate 300-capacity London venue with the words ‘SUEDE LONDON’ branded on the carrying cases. Ticketing website Dice noted that Moth Club was hosting the debut show from unknown act Crushed Kid, who are also set to perform at The Deaf Institute in Manchester this evening (September 6).The latter venue describes Crushed Kid as a “brand sparkling new post punk band”. ‘Crushed Kid’ could also be viewed as a synonym for ‘Suede’.With tickets sold out, fans gathered at Moth Club before Suede promptly took to the stage at 9pm and burst into recent single ‘She Still Leads Me On’.A post shared by Mikaela Rennerfelt (@mikaela.rennerfelt)“We are Crushed Kid,” said frontman Brett Anderson as he greeted the audience.

Sex Pistols’ Glen Matlock is to appear on Blondie‘s new album.The bassist previously stepped in for Leigh Foxx on Blondie’s April 2022 UK and US tour after Foxx suffered a back injury. Now, the musician has been announced to play bass on the band’s follow-up to 2017’s ‘Pollinator’ while Foxx recuperates.Speaking to Classic Pop magazine, guitarist Chris Stein said: “Glen has just been great.

Waiting for the host to let you in to a Zoom interview with Louis Tomlinson, we're extremely conscious you're about to speak to one of the world's most accomplished musicians. It's quite nerve-racking, really. Even having interviewed Louis many times across his career, from the early One Direction days, we can't help but wonder if the fame's somehow changed him.

In August, Gorillaz premiered a brand new song called "New Gold" at London’s All Points East Festival. The track features Bootie Brown of The Pharcyde and Australian psychedelic rock stars Tame Impala, and quickly got fans of the virtual band very hyped.