Rock & Pop

"I wanted it to be the biggest sounding Foo Fighters record ever. To make a gigantic rock record but with Greg Kurstin's sense of melody and arrangement… Motorhead's version of Sgt. Pepper… or something like that." So speaks Dave Grohl of the mission statement made manifest in Foo Fighters' ninth epic, the aptly-titled Concrete and Gold, due out September 15 worldwide on Roswell Records / RCA Records. Concrete and Gold was written and performed by Foo Fighters, produced by Greg Kurstin and Foo Fighters, and mixed by Darrell Thorp.

The Killers are releasing their 5th studio album Wonderful Wonderful on 9/22. Featuring the singles "The Man" and "Run For Cover", the album is produced by Jacknife Lee alongside The Killers with Additional Production by Erol Alkan on "The Man" and Stuart Price on "Out of My Mind". The band will be embarking on a North American tour in early 2018.

Ariel Pink will release his new album, Dedicated to Bobby Jameson, on September 15. The recording is his first solo album since his highly acclaimed 2014 prog-pop opus pom pom, and first full-length release with the Brooklyn-based independent label Mexican Summer. The new release’s title makes a direct and heartfelt reference to a real-life Los Angeles musician, long presumed dead, who resurfaced online in 2007 after 35 reclusive years to pen his autobiography and tragic life story.

For much of the three and a half year period since the release of Lost In The Dream, The War On Drugs' frontman, Adam Granduciel, led the charge for his Philadelphia-based sextet as he holed up in studios in New York and Los Angeles to write, record, edit, and tinker-but, above all, to busy himself in work. Teaming up with engineer Shawn Everett (Alabama Shakes, Weezer), Granduciel challenged the notion of what it means to create a fully realized piece of music in today's modern landscape. Calling on his bandmates - bassist Dave Hartley, keyboarding Robbie Bennett, drummer Charlie Hall and multi-instrumentalists Anthony LaMarca and Jon Natchez -- continuously throughout the process, the result is a "band record" in the noblest sense, featuring collaboration, coordination, and confidence at every turn. Through those years of relocation, the revisiting and reexamining of endless hours of recordings, unbridled exploration and exuberance, Granduciel's gritty love of his craft succeeded in pushing the band to great heights.

Tom Morello, Tim Commerford and Brad Wilk of Rage Against The Machine, Chuck D and DJ Lord of Public Enemy and B-Real of Cypress Hill have lived the resistance from day one. So it's no surprise that in the midst of 2016's tumultuous election, the revolutionary musicians would join together as Prophets of Rage to combat the coming storm, whatever it may be.

While the fierce independence and enduring influence of their collective lineage is nearly impossible to overstate, these creative kindred spirits knew immediately this was a different beast. Set for release in September of 2017, Prophets of Rage, their explosive, self-titled debut LP, exemplifies the band's commitment to creating a more decent and humane world. The 12 tracks, produced by Brendan O'Brien fuse the diverse styles, sonic firepower and hard-hitting social consciousness of the group's previous work into an inventive and commanding new musical statement.

Recorded at Ringo’s home studio in Los Angeles, Give More Love has 10 new tracks featuring collaborations with friends including: We’re On The Road Again featuring Paul McCartney, Joe Walsh, Edgar Winter, Steve Lukather; Laughable co-written and performed with Peter Frampton as well as Benmont Tench, Timothy B Schmit, Richard Page and Amy Keys; Show Me The Way co-written and performed with Steve Lukather and with Paul McCartney; Speed of Sound co-written with Richard Marx and featuring Steve Lukather, Peter Frampton and Nathan East; Standing Still co- written with Gary Burr; King of the Kingdom including performances by Dave Stewart and Edgar Winter; Electricity co-written with Glen Ballard and featuring Joe Walsh and Don Was; So Wrong For So Long co written and performed with Dave Stewart; Shake It Up co written and performed with Gary Nicholson and including Don Was and Edgar Winter; and Give More Love co-written with Gary Nicholson including Timothy B Schmit and All Starrs Richard Page and Gregg Bissonette. Give More Love also has four bonus tracks: Back Off Boogaloo, You Can’t Fight Lightning, Photograph and Don’t Pass Me By. This version of Back Off Booglaloo is based on the original recording Ringo made when he wrote the song. He recently discovered the tape when he moved houses. The other three bonus tracks are collaborations based on performances from Starr’s 2016 Peace & Love Birthday event. Alberta Cross performed You Can’t Fight Lightning and Vandaveer performed Photograph and Don’t Pass Me By. Starr loved their renditions and asked them to each record them for his new album, also adding his own vocals. In October Starr will hit the road in the US with his All Starrs, the same beloved lineup he has performed with since 2012: Steve Lukather, Todd Rundgren, Gregg Rolie, Richard Page, Warren Hamm and Gregg Bissonette.

In their 15 years as a band, Shout Out Louds have toured the world many times. The band played a show in the Brazilian rainforest with a freezer box for a dressing room. They once performed in Yokohama, Japan, for an audience of two Austrians. They played in a Sicilian rainstorm so heavy they had to shake out their instruments afterwards, with the soaked backdrop left hung to dry on a hotel façade. The music sites will remind you that the band have performed for David Letterman and Jay Leno and toured with The Strokes during their heyday, but most importantly, they have released four albums of brilliant pop music. Ease My Mind, the band’s fifth full-length, is a welcome return from these Swedish pop masters. After the departure of drummer Eric Edman who played on 2013’s Optica, the band recruited Lars Skoglund, known for his drumming with Lykke Li. One could say that Shout Out Louds returned to their roots. They recorded the album with Fredrik Swahn (from the band The Amazing) who filled the band with such new energy that they were willing to commute to the ’burbs during the darkest months of the year. He was joined by Måns Lundberg who produced the song “Souvenirs” and Axel Algmark who produced “No Logic” and “Angel.” After a three-year break for family life and side projects, Adam, Bebban, guitarist Carl von Arbin, and bassist Ted Malmros decided to focus on Shout Out Louds once again. This was an active choice—as it has to be, perhaps, to keep going after having already spent half a lifetime together. The four band members have been friends since high school and grew up together as colleagues and travel companions. You never get to know someone as closely as you do when you’re crammed together in the same touring vehicle, mile after mile. Are the band members more like siblings or an old married couple, then? “We’re more like siblings than anything else. We all know what everyone else hates about ourselves at this point,” they all agree. “We all have sides that are easy to make fun of. We play because we enjoy it so much, but we’ve also done this for half our lives. We’ve learned not to take everything to heart, and to just go for it.” The title of the second track, “Paola”—Bebban’s given name—was chosen by Adam as a tribute to the band members’ longstanding friendship. He explains, “It’s about a time in our lives before we started the band. It’s about finding a different way of living than the one you came from. Choosing another path. I had different lyrics for it at first, but then I felt like the album needed a song like this one.” Adam and Bebban write: “The world is a different place now than it was in the beginning of the 2000’s. We didn’t grow up very aware of political messages in music and probably didn’t feel much of an urgent need to understand the world around us, in that sense. However, that has changed over the years. The world has seemed extremely dystopic and frail for quite a while now, and having children and getting older forces you to open your eyes to issues more devastating than heartbreak and feeling lost. But in our music, we still allow ourselves to address things the way we always have: through emotions rather than analysis. Music as a means of escape, a need to take a break from feeling petrified with fear. Ease My Mind is a lot about that for us.”

Medicine at Midnight is the new album from Foo Fighters, and packs nine new songs into a tight-ass 37 minutes. This collection includes the smoldering new single, “Shame Shame.” Medicine at Midnight is produced by Greg Kurstin and Foo Fighters, and is the band’s 10^th album.

Foo Fighters are Dave Grohl, Taylor Hawkins, Nate Mendel, Chris Shiflett, Pat Smear, and Rami Jaffee.

"I can whine about it all but I won't." -Samuel E. Beam The first Iron & Wine song that I ever remember hearing was “Dead Man's Will,” originally featured on the Yeti 1 compilation CD. Its hushed eloquence and unadorned beauty lent it a sort of soft power*, a triumph of instinct over overstatement. That was in 2001. In 2017, Beast Epic, Iron & Wine’s fourth album of new material for Sub Pop and it's sixth overall, recasts soft power as a series of vignettes, observations and regular old songs that redeem through joy and a certain expectation of grace. Even the instant classic, “Bitter Truth”, with a lyric as pained and direct as any I've heard from Iron & Wine, is leavened with background vocals recalling The Jordanaires. Sam Beam has called Beast Epic his "most personal" album to date. It is the first Iron & Wine album that he's produced since The Creek Drank The Cradle, though the results are vastly different. This album brims with surprise flourishes, classic touches and an appealing confidence that is evident on songs like “Call It Dreaming." After a decade and a half of prodigious expression and exploration, recording as both Iron & Wine and eponymously, Sam Beam confessed that he has finally figured out how to make records. He had me fooled all along. Beast Epic will be available worldwide through Sub Pop Records on August 25th. It's my favorite Iron & Wine album by a mile. - Jonathan Poneman Iron & Wine’s Beast Epic was written and produced by Sam Beam, and recorded and engineered by Tom Schick at the Loft in Chicago in July 2016 and January 2017. The musicians who played on Beast Epic include longtime Iron & Wine collaborators Robert Burger (keys), Joe Adamik (percussion), and Jim Becker (guitar, banjo, violin, mandolin), along with bassist Sebastian Steinberg (Soul Coughing and Fiona Apple), and Chicagoan Teddy Rankin Parker (cello). Beast Epic was mastered by Richard Dodd in Nashville, Tennessee. *The term "soft power" was cribbed from author and Harvard professor Joseph Nye, but used in a different context.

Kesha reclaims her place in the music world with her new song, "Praying" - the initial advance track from 'Rainbow', her first album in nearly five years. Kesha wrote "Praying" with Ryan Lewis, Ben Abraham, and Andrew Joslyn; Lewis (Macklemore & Ryan Lewis) produced the track. 'Rainbow' will be released August 11th on Kemosabe Records/RCA Records. The music video for "Praying," is directed by Jonas Åkerlund. 'Rainbow' marks a new beginning for Kesha, one based around inner strength and musical exploration as she achieves her vision for the album by enlisting a roster of collaborators ranging from Eagles of Death Metal to Dolly Parton. Ben Folds produced the title track with Kesha, while Ricky Reed produced and wrote numerous tracks as well. Wrabel co-wrote a collaboration that features the Dap-Kings horn section. Eagles of Death Metal are featured on two tracks, while Parton guests on a version of her 1980 country chart-topper "Old Flames Can't Hold a Candle to You." The track was co-written by Kesha's mother Pebe Sebert, who also has other songwriting credits on 'Rainbow'.
Kesha has had 9 Top 10 hits on The Billboard Hot 100, including four #1 singles at Top 40 Radio - "TiK ToK," "Your Love Is My Drug," "Die Young," and "Timber." Kesha took home the MTV EMA for Best New Act in November 2010 and was nominated for 2 American Music Awards, 3 MTV VMA Awards, and 6 Billboard Awards. She has performed on dozens of television programs all over the world, including MTV Europe Music Awards, Much Music Awards (Canada), Echo Awards (Germany), X Factor (Australia), American Music Awards, Billboard Awards, American Idol, Saturday Night Live, and The Today Show Summer Concert Series

Jack Johnson returns with his 8th album 'All The Light Above It Too' releasing on 9/8. The album is being led by first single 'My Mind Is For Sale' which will be impacting radio this July, followed by a run of North American tour dates. Jack will also embark on a run of dates in the Southeast following album release. The press anticipation on the music is massive with early support from Rolling Stone, NPR, Coastal Living, Surfer, SiriusXM and forthcoming TV bookings around album release.

Something To Tell You, is the highly anticipated sophomore album from HAIM. When the time came to record the eleven tracks that make up Something To Tell You, HAIM decided to "go in and record as a band, keeping it a little more organic. That was kind of a mission statement for the album" offered Danielle Haim. HAIM first announced the release of Something To Tell You with an in-studio video version of album track "Right Now," which was shot and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson (Magnolia, Boogie Nights). HAIM then released the single "Want You Back," which Rolling Stone described as having "a Hot 100 ready sheen." Pitchfork gave "Want You Back" its coveted Best New Track saying "Haim are pulling the rug out from under our feet in the run-up to releasing their second album." Entertainment Weekly declared "Want You Back" sees HAIM returning to their sonic roots as a funky, pop-inspired trio, complete with groovy strings, sprightly percussion, a soulful chorus, and a spritz of electronic sheen."

Memories…Do Not Open is the debut full-length album from Grammy Award winning artist/producer duo The Chainsmokers. Comprised of Alex Pall and Drew Taggart, The Chainsmokers have evolved into a dominating musical force with a diverse repertoire of songs that have led them to become today's hottest young artist/producer duo. With a signature sound that deftly reaches across indie, progressive and pop realms, their original tracks and remixes have topped the charts throughout the world.

Pure Comedy, Father John Misty’s third album, is a complex, often-sardonic, and, equally often, touching meditation on the confounding folly of modern humanity. Father John Misty is the brainchild of singer-songwriter Josh Tillman. Tillman has released two widely acclaimed albums – Fear Fun (2012) and I Love You, Honeybear (2015) – and the recent “Real Love Baby” single as Father John Misty, and recently contributed to songs by Beyoncé, Lady Gaga, and Kid Cudi. While we could say a lot about Pure Comedy – including that it is a bold, important album in the tradition of American songwriting greats like Harry Nilsson, Randy Newman, and Leonard Cohen – we think it’s best to let its creator describe it himself. Take it away, Mr. Tillman: Pure Comedy is the story of a species born with a half-formed brain. The species’ only hope for survival, finding itself on a cruel, unpredictable rock surrounded by other species who seem far more adept at this whole thing (and to whom they are delicious), is the reliance on other, slightly older, half-formed brains. This reliance takes on a few different names as their story unfolds, like “love,” “culture,” “family,” etc. Over time, and as their brains prove to be remarkably good at inventing meaning where there is none, the species becomes the purveyor of increasingly bizarre and sophisticated ironies. These ironies are designed to help cope with the species’ loathsome vulnerability and to try and reconcile how disproportionate their imagination is to the monotony of their existence. Something like that. Pure Comedy was recorded in 2016 at the legendary United Studios (Frank Sinatra, Ray Charles, Beck) in Hollywood, CA. It was produced by Father John Misty and Jonathan Wilson, with engineering by Misty’s longtime sound-person Trevor Spencer and orchestral arrangements by renowned composer/double-bassist Gavin Bryars (known for extensive solo work, and work with Brian Eno, Tom Waits, Derek Bailey).

The music industry sees artists come and go on a regular basis. Plans change, life gets in the way and bands fade away. Occasionally we’re lucky enough to see an important band return from their silence: enter At The Drive In. While At The Drive In was quiet, the members (Omar Rodriguez-Lopez, Cedric Bixler-Zavala, Tony Hajjar and Paul Hinojos) were incredibly busy, selling millions of albums, winning Grammys and putting out a lot of quality music with their other projects (The Mars Volta, Antemasque, Gone Is Gone and many more). After a 15 year break, the band returned to the studio to create the follow-up to 2000’s Relationship of Command. It’s the moment fans have been waiting for since their return to the stage as 2012 Coachella and Lollapalooza headliners…prepare for in·ter a·li·a. Produced by the band’s own Omar Rodriguez-Lopez and Rich Costey (Muse, Sigur Rós, Santigold), in·ter a·li·a includes eleven songs that resonate the classic At The Drive In intensity that fans love, while breaking the band’s 15-year drought with something fresh and exciting, that slides right into 2017. Their impressive catalog has earned At The Drive In positions on the Billboard Top 200 chart, spots on various “Greatest Albums” lists, and performances on David Letterman, Jools Holland, Conan O’Brien and more. This album is sure to provide nothing less. The band will be touring throughout 2017 to support this release, as well as perform on late night television. The silence is finally broken…resume transmission.

Featuring seven live(ish) tracks from Oczy Mlody reimagined as a fictional/fantastical live Flaming Lips performance on the International Space Station.

The culmination of twelve monthly 2016 singles from the acclaimed Danish duo. The Raveonettes have completed their RAVE-SOUND-OF-THE-MONTH which began at the start of 2016 where the band would release a freshly recorded track on the last Friday of every month throughout the year. The album features a collection of new tracks that aren't bound by the constraints of the format. Previous 2014 album Pe'ahi reached #5 on Billboard's "Heatseekers" soundscanning over 10,000 albums and received praise from NPR, Stereogum, Brooklyn Vegan, NME and more. They've issued seven albums since 2003, via Columbia, Vice, and their own Beat Dies imprint.

2017 EP release from the vocal group. Pentatonix is a five-member American a cappella group from Arlington, Texas. Along with their original material, the group is widely known for their medley-form song covers-their work characterized by pop-style arrangements with vocal harmonies, basslines, riffing, percussion and beatboxing. Includes their cover of John Lennon's "Imagine" and "Jolene" (featuring Dolly Parton).

'Cohesive.' It's a word New Pornographers founder A.C. Newman still sounds a little bit surprised to say as he describing the band's seventh album, Whiteout Conditions. It's a quality that you wouldn't necessarily intuitively associate with a so-called supergroup that, by its very collective nature, seems bound to have a good deal of stylistic variance built into the formula (or lack of it). Can an outfit built on the appeal of multiple frontmen and frontwomen develop a signature sound after all? Maybe, and maybe better late than never.