Iron Maiden guitarist Adrian Smith has joined forces with guitarist Richie Kotzen, best known for stints in Poison and Mr. Big, for a bluesy, hard-rock collaboration they’ve dubbed Smith/Kotzen. The artists will drop a self-titled release on March 26th, and they’re previewing it with “Taking My Chances,” which shows off …
Read More »Serpentwithfeet Announces New Album, Drops 'Fellowship' Video
Serpentwithfeet has announced his new album,Deacon, out March 26th via Secretly Canadian. As a preview of his second LP, he shared theKordae Jatafa Henry-directed video for lead single “Fellowship” on Monday, depicting the artist and his partner on the beach in a celebration of black queer love. “I’m so thankful …
Read More »'Notturno' Is Not Journalism, But Gianfranco Rosi's Movie Investigates the Heart of the Middle East
Gianfranco Rosi’s Notturno (“Nocturne”) was filmed over the course of three years, during the director’s travels through war zones in the Middle East. It is, in so many ways, a film full of pointed silences and absences — among them, a direct and immediate view of warfare in itself. Notturno’s …
Read More »Highway to Hell: A Trip Down Afghanistan's Deadliest Road
It’s past 10 a.m. on a Tuesday morning and Zarifa Ghafari is running late for work. Six days a week, she commutes from her home in Kabul to Maidan Shar, the embattled capital of Wardak province, where she serves as the youngest female mayor in the country. Her office is …
Read More »Weezer Preview New LP 'OK Human' With 'All My Favorite Songs'
Weezer have shared their new song “All My Favorite Songs,” the first single off the band’s surprise new album OK Human, out January 29th. In the Colin Read-accompanying video, the band straddle the line between the virtual world and reality. The video opens on Rivers Cuomo who is distracted from …
Read More »Jimmy Jam, Terry Lewis, and Babyface Perform Serene 'He Don't Know Nothin' Bout It' on 'Fallon'
Production duo Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis performed their recent single with Babyface, “He Don’t Know Nothin’ Bout It,” on The Tonight Show Monday, January 18th. The performance found the celebrated musicians in an intimate studio space as they delivered the throwback slow jam with characteristic aplomb. “If you put …
Read More »Duke Bootee, Rapper and Co-Writer of Hip-Hop Classic 'The Message,' Dead at 69
Duke Bootee, the pioneering rapper who co-wrote and appeared on Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five’s classic “The Message” — Number One on Rolling Stone’s list of the 100 Greatest Hip-Hop Songs of All Time — died Wednesday at the age of 69. Born Edward Fletcher, the rapper died at …
Read More »Bandcamp Will Make Vinyl Records For You
Bandcamp is gearing up for a wider release of its vinyl pressing service — giving indie artists more access to one of the few growing physical music formats in a digital-heavy marketplace. Bandcamp launched its pilot program for the pressing service last year, and on Thursday, the company opened up …
Read More »Trump Smashes Record for Most Presidential Impeachments
The House of Representatives on Wednesday voted to impeach President Trump for “incitement of insurrection,” making him the first president in American history to have been impeached twice. The vote comes exactly one week after Trump incited a mob of his followers to storm the U.S Capitol in a violent …
Read More »Yusuf/Cat Stevens Celebrates 50th Anniversary of 'Peace Train' With Children's Book
Yusuf/Cat Stevens has announced the children’s book Peace Train, out May 11th via HarperCollins. The book is in celebration of the song’s 50th anniversary; the track appeared on 1971’s Teaser and the Firecat. Yusuf has teamed up with Peter H. Reynolds for the book’s illustration. “I wrote these lyrics more …
Read More »