Breaking News
ALL HELLZAPOPPIN’ BREAKS LOOSE IN SATANIC DANCE PRODUCTION
“The Way You Used To Do,” the recently released first single from Queens Of The Stone Age’s ominously approaching seventh album Villains, has been realised as a fever dream Satanic dance ritual extravaganza—featuring QOTSA founder and frontman Joshua Homme lighter on his feet and darker in his soul than ever before.
Conceived by Joshua Homme, directed by Jonas Akerlund and produced by Serial Pictures, “The Way You Used To Do,” somehow fit its multiple sets, wardrobe changes and intricate dance routines into one day of shooting August 8th in Los Angeles. Considering potential reactions to the sinister shuffle of “The Way We Used To Do” being translated into a panoramic soul-selling dance trip, Homme says “It’s our way of paying tribute to Cab Calloway and the film Hellzapoppin’. I fully realise that may be a little more than some are open to, and that’s perfectly fine with me. There’s the door. If some of the more close-minded are gently pruned, that just leaves more room on the dance floor for the open-minded ones to get loose. That’s been the spirit of Queens Of The Stone Age and the space we’ve worked to create from day one.”
QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE UNVEIL NEW SONG ‘THE EVIL HAS LANDED’
Queens Of The Stone Age today unveil ‘The Evil Has Landed’, premiered by Zane Lowe as his World Record on Beats 1, the second track to be released from their eagerly anticipated album ‘Villains’ (out August 25th on Matador Records).
Produced by Mark Ronson, and written by Josh Homme, Dean Fertita, Mikey Shuman and Troy Van Leeuwan, ‘The Evil Has Landed’ sees Queens on classic form in a monstrous six and a half minute epic. Melding fuzzed out melodic guitars, trademark falsetto vocals, and lyrics of hedonistic abandon, the tracks’ grinding groove giving way to a gloriously full blown boogie.
Villains, produced by Mark Ronson and co-produced by Mark Rankin and mixed by Alan Moulder, is the first full album offering from Queens Of The Stone Age since 2013’s …Like Clockwork gave the band its first #1 album in the U.S. (and #2 in Canada… but really, who’s counting?).
Like the stunning artwork of returning illustrator Boneface, the sonic signatures of the lineup that took …Like Clockwork around the world and back—Founder/guitarist/vocalist/lyricist Joshua Homme, Troy Van Leeuwen (guitar, keys), Michael Shuman (bass), Dean Fertita (keys, guitar), Jon Theodore (drums)—are as unmistakable as ever, though coexisting with sufficient new twists to induce recurring double takes.
Praise for Villains
‘Villains is brilliant. It’s all the things that make QOTSA such a thrilling band condensed into a jolting, compact rock record’
Q Magazine **** (four stars)
‘Heroic stuff…..Homme had already done more than anyone of his generation to pump new heart into rock. Now with an unlikely ally, he’s revived the soul too.’
MOJO**** (four stars)
‘A surprisingly welcome balance between Black Sabbath and disco’
Uncut 8/10
‘A reinvention that manages to sound both quintessentially QOTSA and forward-thinking… Villains cuts comfortably shoulder the best of QOTSA’s back-catalogue’
Kerrang **** (four stars)
‘(QOTSA’s) most danceable offering yet – and all the better for it’
DIY ***** (five stars)
THE NATIONAL RELEASE NEW ALBUM TRACK ‘CARIN AT THE LIQUOR STORE’
The National has released ‘Carin at the Liquor Store’, accompanied by a video directed by Casey Reas, filmed by La Blogothèque and edited by Matthew Miller.
‘Carin at the Liquor Store’, along with the previously released Guilty Party and The System Only Dreams in Total Darkness, are off the band’s seventh studio album Sleep Well Beast, out on September 8.
Following its premiere as Zane Lowe’s World Record on Apple Music’s Beats 1 Radio, Carin at the Liquor Store is now available everywhere.
The National have announced the opening acts for their mostly sold-out world tour. North American openers include Daughter, Local Natives, This Is The Kit and Adia Victoria.
In advance of the tour, The National played Glastonbury in the second to headlining slot on the Pyramid Stage, performed two intimate nights in the round at Hudson’s Basilica and will play this week at Haven Festival in Copenhagen.
KAMASI WASHINGTON’S HARMONY OF DIFFERENCE OUT SEPTEMBER 29TH ON YOUNG TURKS
Music titan “Kamasi Washington’s”: http://www.kamasiwashington.com/hod new EP Harmony of Difference, the first new music from Washington since his universally acclaimed 2015 debut album The Epic, will be released on September 29th via Young Turks.
Furthermore, Washington has confirmed a very special run of North American headline shows this fall in partnership with AEG Presents. The dates kick off November 7th in Milwaukee, and include a visit to Toronto (November 16th – Danforth Music Hall).
Please see below for full tour details.
Harmony of Difference originally premiered as part of the Whitney Museum of American Art 2017 Biennial alongside a film by A.G. Rojas and also featuring artwork by Kamasi Washington’s sister, Amani Washington. The new music is an original six-part suite that explores the philosophical possibilities of the musical technique known as “counterpoint,” which Washington defines as “the art of balancing similarity and difference to create harmony between separate melodies.” Beyond the artistic impulse to expand the possibilities within counterpoint, Washington wanted to create something that opened people’s minds to the gift of diversity.
Each of the first five movements is its own unique composition. “Truth,” the sixth movement, fuses all five compositions into one simultaneous performance. Echoing this fusion, Amani created five paintings focused on raw shapes and colours, each inspired by one of the first five movements of the suite. Amani then combined these paintings to create a sixth: an abstract depiction of a human face.
The film, directed by A.G. Rojas, brings the metaphoric ideas found in both the music and paintings to life. While still quite abstract, it focuses on the harmony found in people from South Central and East Los Angeles and shows the beauty in their differences.
Harmony Of Difference will be available on all digital services, as well as on 12” vinyl with a 14-page concertina booklet featuring original artwork by Amani Washington and still images from the film by A.G. Rojas. The EP is available to pre-order via http://y-t-r.co/harmonyofdifference
“My hope is that witnessing the beautiful harmony created by merging different musical melodies will help people realize the beauty in our own differences.”—Kamasi WashingtonHARMONY OF DIFFERENCE TRACK LIST
1. Desire
2. Humility
3. Knowledge
4. Perspective
5. Integrity
6. Truth
KAMASI WASHINGTON LIVE
November 1 Zurich, Switzerland Jazznojazz Festival
November 2 Torino, Italy Club To Club
November 3 Paris, France Pitchfork Festival
November 4 Eindhoven, Netherlands So What’s Next
November 7 Milwaukee, WI Turner Hall Ballroom*
November 8 Madison, WI Majestic
November 9 Minneapolis, MN First Avenue
November 10 Chicago, IL The Riviera
November 11 Cleveland, OH Agora Ballroom
November 14 Urbana, IL Canopy Club
November 15 Detroit, MI Majestic Theatre
November 16 Toronto, ON Danforth
November 17 Burlington, VT Higher Ground*
November 18 Northhampton, MA Calvin Theatre
November 20 Boston, MA The Royale
November 22 New York, NY Terminal 5*
November 24 Washington, D.C. MGM National Harbor
November 25 Philadelphia, PA Union Transfer
November 27 Pittsburgh, PA Mr. Smalls
November 28 Cincinnati, OH The Taft
November 30 Charlottesville, VA Jefferson Theater
December 1 Richmond, VA The National
December 2 Raleigh, NC Duke Energy PAC
December 3 Asheville, NC The Orange Peel
December 5 Birmingham, AL The Saturn
December 6 Athens, GA Georgia Theatre
December 8 Atlanta, GA Variety Playhouse
December 9 Nashville, TN Marathon Music Works
December 10 Louisville, KY Headliner’s Music Hall
December 11 Memphis, TN New Daisy Theatre
BELLE AND SEBASTIAN RELEASE NEW SINGLE ‘WE WERE BEAUTIFUL’
Today, Belle and Sebastian release new single We Were Beautiful – the first new music to surface from the group since 2015.
The song was recorded in Glasgow and produced by the band and Brian McNeill.
Belle and Sebastian will be touring North America throughout July and August, with festival stops at Panorama in NYC and Osheaga in Montreal,
