Breaking News
INTERPOL MARAUDER OUT AUGUST 24 PRESS CONFERENCE STREAMING NOW LIVE FROM MEXICO CITY
Months of speculation come to an end today as details of the new Interpol album can finally be confirmed: One of the most critically and commercially acclaimed bands of the last decade and a half will release their sixth album, Marauder, August 24th on Matador Records.
As you read this, Interpol is currently revealing all details (Themes! Making-of! Album art! Producer! Visuals!) to a convergence of their most fervent fans and media, live from General Prim 30 in Mexico City via a livestreamed press conference.
Marauder’s first single, “The Rover,” can be heard HERE, and will be performed live on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert tomorrow, June 8.
“Marauder is a facet of myself. That’s the guy that fucks up friendships and does crazy shit. He taught me a lot, but it’s representative of a persona that’s best left in song. In a way, this album is like giving him a name and putting him to bed” -Paul Banks
But before he calls it a night, Marauder has a few tales to tell. Pull up a chair, because you’ll want to hear this…
GANG GANG DANCE New Song ‘Young Boy (Marika in Amerika)’
Gang Gang Dance’s long-awaited new album Kazuashita is released later this month, and following J-TREE’ and Lotus, today the New York act have released a third new song, ‘Young Boy (Marika in Amerika)’.
A piercing, heartfelt elegy, Lizzi Bougatsos empathetically sings for those lives unjustly lost to police brutality over weighty, tug-o-war synths and destabilising beats.
Founded by Lizzi Bougatsos, Brian DeGraw and Josh Diamond, Gang Gang Dance has consistently blurred the boundaries between the New York art and music scenes for nearly two decades. They are as comfortable performing rare improvisational sets at the Whitney Biennial as they are at Coachella and count Dash Snow & Dan Colen, Tinchy Stryder and the Boredoms as previous collaborators.
Kazuashita – the band’s first record together since the acclaimed Eye Contact in 2011 – is an intoxicating mix of shoegaze and electronic ambience and was produced by DeGraw after recording sessions across several New York studios and art spaces. The trio were joined by drummer Ryan Sawyer (who met the band through the Boredoms’ BOADRUM project) and Jorge Elbrecht (who worked on additional production and mixing duties).
EVERYTHING IS RECORDED RELEASES VIDEO FOR ‘SHE SAID (FEATURING OBONGJAYAR AND KAMASI WASHINGTON)’
Everything Is Recorded releases a brand new video for album cut ‘She Said (featuring Obongjayar and Kamasi Washington)’.
Directed by Dear Mr Quistgaard (famed for his fashion film tribute to David Bowie and Prince, ‘Slender Bodies’ and the Objekt-soundtracked love story set in a carpet store ‘Radical Hardcore’ among others), the video sees appearances from the enigmatic Nigerian-born, London-based artist Obongjayar and Richard Russell alongside the British Olympic judo team.
Speaking about the video, Richard Russell says:
“I first heard Steven (Obongjayar) via a demo he put up on Soundcloud while I was recording my album. At that time he was based in East Anglia. I invited him to a session at my place in west London and asked Damon in to play keys … the whole thing just clicked and we recorded “She Said” in 3 hours.
Obongjayar is just such a positive force. At the point we recorded the song he had no studio experience but he had great energy and instincts, the song was written and recorded spontaneously, then and there.
Making the video was a blast, Steven got beaten up by some badass female martial artists, and I got to use my bonsai skills.”
In February 2018 Everything Is Recorded – the collaborative artist project helmed by musician, record producer and XL Recordings co-founder Richard Russell – released his debut album Everything Is Recorded by Richard Russell to huge acclaim. The album, recorded at Russell’s Copper House studio in London, features an eclectic international and inter-generational cast of collaborators and musicians including vocalists Sampha, Giggs, Ibeyi, Obongjayar, Infinite, Wiki and Syd alongside instrumental contributions from Kamasi Washington, Damon Albarn, Rachel Zeffira, Peter Gabriel, Green Gartside, Owen Pallett and more.
BODY/HEAD ANNOUNCES NEW ALBUM THE SWITCH OUT JULY 13 ON MATADOR RECORDS
Body/Head, the duo of Kim Gordon (CKM, Sonic Youth, Free Kitten, etc.) and guitarist Bill Nace (X.O.4, Vampire Belt, Ceylon Mange, etc), will release their second studio album, The Switch, on July 13 on Matador Records.
Accompanying today’s album announcement is an early glimpse into its immersive, improvisational sound, pushing the limits of amplification, voice, and composition with the song “You Don’t Need.”
KAMASI WASHINGTON DEBUTS “STREET FIGHTER MAS”
Groundbreaking artist Kamasi Washington debuts a new song, Street Fighter Mas
Of the song, Washington says:
When I was younger, I was in between the end of the arcade generation and the beginning of the console generation. We used to go to this place called Rexall to play Street Fighter. At Rexall, there would be different people from different hoods there playing the game. It was the one place that was like an equalizer. It was just about how good you were at Street Fighter…for the most part. In other places, you were afraid of these dudes; there, you would just play the game and it was what it was, you know? I was really good at Street Fighter, so where the song really came from was me jokingly saying I was going to have my own theme song so that when I showed up to play Street Fighter they’d play my theme song before I came in, like a boxer. In the context of the album, it was the connection that we got with those guys in our neighborhood. We used to call them OGs, the older guys that we looked up to.
In a lot of ways, for me, video games was the way I connected with them because I was never affiliated with any gangs, but I knew them and I was cool with them and that was mainly through the video games. At an older age I thought how amazing would it be if the OGs could just play the game and solve their problems that way. The meaning within the scope of the record is a connection to the past and all of the many ways we can connect.
Heaven and Earth, the long-awaited follow up to Washington’s debut The Epic, is comprised of two halves, which find Washington confronting quotidian realities with cosmic themes. A further investigation of Washington’s world building ideas, the new album explores his reckoning with current global chaos and his vision for the future.
Washington convened his band, The Next Step, as well as members of the long running collective The West Coast Get Down at Henson Studios in Los Angeles to record the 16 tracks on Heaven and Earth.
The music was composed, written and arranged by Washington, with new arrangements of jazz and bebop legend Freddie Hubbard’s “Hubtones” and iconic kung fu film theme “Fists of Fury,” as well as one song by bandmate Ryan Porter. Thundercat, Terrace Martin, Ronald Bruner, Jr., Cameron Graves, Brandon Coleman, Miles Mosley, Patrice Quinn, Tony Austin and many more contribute to the album.
“Street Fighter Mas” follows “Fists of Fury” and “The Space Travelers Lullaby,” released in April alongside a pair of accompanying scenes created by acclaimed British artist and director Jenn Nkiru. The visual pieces are inspired by a more expansive collaborative Heaven and Earth film project that is due for release later in the year.
To celebrate the release of Heaven and Earth, Washington will tour globally with stops in London, Paris, Berlin, New York, Tokyo, Montreal, Toronto Vancouver and beyond.
