Calum Scott has released his sophomore album Bridges!
29.05.2022 - 22:13 / variety.com
Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music CriticFor the last 25 years, almost, the group Wilco has been running away from any sort of descriptive tag that has “country” in it, as a suffix or anything else, after Jeff Tweedy’s previous band, Uncle Tupelo, helped kick off the wave of alt-country that continues to be a fixture of modern American music as we know it. Of course, no matter how far they strayed, if you had ears to hear, the influence never really went away.
Now, ironically and deliberately, they’ve done a 180 and embraced that qualifier, with some qualifications, in an album titled “Cruel Country,” preceded by an entire essay Tweedy wrote explaining why they’d stopped trying to get rid of the albatross around their neck and, for the length of this record, at least, re-embraced country music. So now that the Wilco-loving world has heard “Cruel Country,” which came out this weekend, does it actually sound like a country album, or most people’s idea of one? Yes, you could say, for two or three or maybe even four songs out of its 21-song length.
But the shortest answer is: No, not so much. Now, with the band embracing country, as then, with the group denying it, you could boil it down to a Shakespearian phrase: The band doth protest too much.That doesn’t mean that fans should start a class-action suit against Wilco for false advertising — or that “Cruel Country” isn’t one of the year’s best albums.
And it doesn’t even mean that there isn’t value in Tweedy jumping in and being willing to do what so many other artists refuse to and affix a genre tag to his music, even if, in this case, it ends up being a slightly misleading one. These are useful discussions to have.
Calum Scott has released his sophomore album Bridges!
Country star Brett Eldredge has released a new album that confronts his own anxieties. Eldredge released his seventh studio album, "Songs About You," Friday and expressed that this album gave him "confidence" he was lacking in the early stages of his career.
Kendrick Lamar has discussed new album Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers for the first time in a mini-documentary produced by Spotify. Lamar travelled to Ghana as part of the doc, stopping off at the Freedom Skatepark in the capital city Accra.
Beyoncé‘s new album ‘RENAISSANCE’ is set to reportedly feature country and dance tracks.The pop icon is due to release the follow-up to her latest album, 2016’s acclaimed ‘Lemonade’, on July 29.According to Variety, the record will feature pop and country tracks with contributions from hit songwriter Ryan Tedder, who co-wrote her 2008 hit ‘Halo’ and Raphael Saadiq, who has crafted hits for Mary J. Blige, Stevie Wonder, and Beyoncé’s sister Solange’s 2016 album ‘A Seat At The Table’.Recently, Beyoncé deleted her profile pictures from her official social media accounts as she prepared to enter her next solo era.Yesterday (June 16) ‘RENAISSANCE’ was announced by the singer and fans can now pre-save/pre-add the release here.The countdown has officially begun.
Drake‘s new album is out!
Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music CriticAs the days grow shorter in late fall, there will still be something to smile about for fans of Thom Yorke, Jonny Greenwood and Tom Skinner. The first American tour by the group, collectively known as the Smile — and not to be confused with Greenwood and Yorke’s other group, Radiohead — has been set for late fall.The trio’s shows in the U.S. will all take place in mid-sized theaters, beginning Nov.
Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music CriticOn the heels of the release of his “Twelve Carat Toothache” album, Post Malone is announcing a 33-city fall arena tour, with one of the featured artists on the album, Roddy Ricch, as the opening act on all but a few dates.The “Twelve Carat Tour” kicks off Sept. 10 in Omaha at the Chi Health Center and wraps up Nov. 15 at L.A.’s Crypto.com Arena.Actually, two of the final dates are in L.A., albeit at different venues — there’s a Nov.
Dixie D’Amelio hits the stage for a private performance and meet and greet at the PUMA Flagship store in New York City on Friday (June 10).
Carrie Underwood has a new album out!
Asylums have announced details of a new album called ‘Signs Of Life’ – get all the details on the record below.The follow-up to the Southend band’s Steve Albini-produced LP ‘Genetic Cabaret’ from 2020, will come out on October 14.Back in April, the album was previewed by new single ‘Crypto Klepto’, the four-piece’s first new music in two years.The album was recorded at the legendary Rockfield Studios in Wales and produced by Dave Eringa (Manic Street Preachers, Idlewild, The Proclaimers).Speaking to the Southend Echo, vocalist and guitarist Luke Branch said: “So many iconic pieces of music have been made in the room at Rockfield Studios which we recorded in, Yellow by Coldplay, Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen and many more.“”We brought in a string quartet for a day to play and it was one of the most creative and rewarding musical experiences we have shared.”Listen to ‘Crypto Klepto’ below.“I can honestly say this is one of the most unhinged songs I’ve ever produced and up above 215bpm one of the fastest too,” Eringa said of the track.
Editors have shared details of their new album ‘EBM’ and released new song ‘Karma Climb’ alongside news of a UK and European tour.‘EBM’ is released on 23 September via Play It Again Sam (pre-order here). The music video for ‘Karma Climb’, which follows last month’s single ‘Heart Attack‘, is out now.The band’s seventh album is being showcased along with classics at their newly announced UK and European tour, which kicks off in Spain this month and wraps in Bristol next February.Editors will take in dates at London’s iconic Troxy, with further dates in Nottingham, Manchester, Glasgow, Dublin and beyond in Europe.
Panic! At The Disco announced that their seventh studio album is on the way while releasing the song and video for the title track “Viva Las Vengeance” on Wednesday.
Yeah Yeah Yeahs have announced details of ‘Cool It Down’, their first new album in nine years – watch the video for its first single, the Perfume Genius-featuring ‘Spitting Off The Edge Of The World’, below.The New York City trio will follow up 2013’s ‘Mosquito‘ with the new eight-track album on September 30 via their new label home of Secretly Canadian.“To all who have waited, our dear fans, thank you, our fever to tell has returned, and writing these songs came with its fair share of chills, tears, and euphoria when the pain lifts and truth is revealed,” Karen O said of the band’s return in a statement.“Don’t have to tell you how much we’ve been going through in the last nine years since our last record, because you’ve been going through it too, and we love you and we see you, and we hope you feel the feels from the music we’ve made. No shying away from the feels, or backing down from what’s been gripping all of us these days.
Tom Grennan has spoken to NME about his recent attack ordeal in New York, as well as revealing that work is almost complete on his third album.Last month, the singer-songwriter was the victim of an “unprovoked attack and robbery” in the US, which led to him suffering a ruptured ear, torn ear-drum and issue with his previously fractured jaw – forcing him to postpone a number of shows.After telling fans that he was in “good spirits” and that “the show must go on“, Grennan last week told NME that he was feeling “positive” and looking to move past the incident.“To be honest, I’m trying to take positives from it,” he said. “The guy was obviously in ill health.
Lorde has praised Kendrick Lamar‘s new album ‘Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers’, particularly noting the record’s emotional maturity and attempt to process difficult subjects through creative expression.“I’m loving Kendrick,” the singer-songwriter said in the latest instalment of her fan newsletter.
Suede have performed their new single ‘She Still Leads Me On’ live for the first time, as well as sharing insight on their their ninth album ‘Autofiction’. See footage below, along with our interview with frontman Brett Anderson.After announcing their new album and sharing the single yesterday (Monday May 23), the NME Awards’ Godlike Genius alumni then debuted the song live a show in Brussels last night that was also live-streamed online.In contrast to Suede’s recent trilogy of ambitious and expansive albums – 2013’s ‘Bloodsports‘, 2016’s ‘Night Thoughts‘ and 2018’s ‘The Blue Hour‘ – ‘Autofiction’ saw the band consciously seeking a stripped down sound, as Anderson explained.“Every record is a reaction to the last record to some extent. You don’t want to just keep going in the same direction,” Anderson told NME shortly before the band went onstage in Brussels.
Spielbergs have unveiled details of their second album and have shared two new songs – check them out below.The follow-up to 2020’s ‘This Is Not The End’ is called ‘Vestli’ and will arrive on August 19 via their new label, Big Scary Monsters.The band have given fans a taster of what to expect via new singles ‘When They Come For Me’ and ‘Get Lost’.Both tracks will feature on the record along with their last single ‘Brother Of Mine’, and 2020’s ‘Go!’.Check out the new songs here:‘Vestli’ tracklist:1. ‘The New Year’s Resolution’2. ‘When They Come For Me’3. ‘Every Living Creature’4. ‘Go!’5. ‘Kano GM’6. ‘There Is No Way Out’7. ‘Goodbye’8. ‘Me and My Friends’9. ‘Brother of Mine’10. ‘Get Lost’11. ‘George McFly’12. ‘You Can Be Yourself With Me’Commenting on new single ‘When They Come For Me’, singer and guitarist Mads Baklien said: “Sometimes I feel like I am right on the verge of going crazy.
Olivia Wilde steps out for a stroll through New York City on Friday (May 20).
Harry Styles‘ new album is about to be released and he surprised some lucky fans at a Spotify Album Celebration Party!
The Cure have spoken to NME about progress on their long-awaited new album ‘Songs Of A Lost World’, as well as what to expect from their upcoming tour.Having long teased the band’s long-awaited “merciless” new record – after telling us that two new albums were on the way back at the last NME Awards back in 2020 – Smith revealed to NME earlier this year that one of them would be “real very soon” and would be called ‘Songs Of A Lost World’.Then today (Thursday May 19), after he and bandmate and songwriting partner Simon Gallup picked up the Icon Award at the Ivor Novellos, Smith again gave reassurance that the album was on the way and would be out before their upcoming winter tour.“We will be releasing a new album,” Smith told NME. “I get fed up of saying this now! We will be playing from October and the new album will be out before then. We walked on [stage at the Ivors today] to a bit of new music, actually. Hopefully no one recorded it!”At this point, Shakira interrupted the interview to shake hands with “her favourite band of all time”, before Gallup replied: “It is a surreal day”.Back to ‘Songs Of A Lost World’, Smith then confirmed that “it’s almost finished”.“Reeves [Gabrels] our guitar player has come over from America for the day just to finish a couple of solos, I’ve got to finish a couple of vocals,” he revealed.