Eddie Vedder – “Brother The Cloud”

It’s finally here! Back at the end of March, Sky Ferreira began teasing a new single called “Don’t Forget.” She and producer Jorge Elbrecht posted about it on socials with a “coming soon” promise that had sort of implied it would be out in April. A few more teases and nearly two months down the road, and Ferreira is back with her first original solo song in three years.

“I don’t know where people get this idea that it’s supposed to be fun or something to play music,” J Mascis says in his signature hyper-relaxed drawl, near the beginning of the new documentary Freakscene: The Story Of Dinosaur Jr. “That seems to hinder a lot of people: ‘Well it’s not fun, why should I do it?’ That never occurred to us that it’s supposed to be fun. It’s just, music was really important and we wanted to do it.”

Imagine how we’d be talking about Celebration Rock if it was named literally anything else. If Polyvinyl label manager Seth Hubbard had it his way, that’s exactly what would be happening right now. Throughout the ongoing Polyvinyl Podcast series, nearly everyone involved in recounting the label’s 25-year history describes its brain trust as almost invariably hands-off and artist-friendly, including Japandroids. Drummer David Prowse recalls how he and guitarist/vocalist Brian King wanted to preview some rough drafts as they struggled through the writer’s block and self-doubt that had turned their second LP into an arduous, seemingly endless slog. Japandroids had made it abundantly clear throughout their relationship that they’d rather quit music altogether than commit to songs that were anything less than great, so Polyvinyl politely declined to hear the demos, trusting Japandroids’ internal quality control — that is, at least until they shared their idea for the album title.

RAY Liotta, the brilliant actor who made his name in Martin Scorsese's crime classic Goodfellas, has passed away. The star died in his sleep in the Dominican Republic, where he was filming Dangerous Waters, according to Deadline. There were no signs of foul play or anything suspicious about the death,...

Rise up! Gather round! Rock this place to the ground! Def Leppard, all-time masters of glammed-out stadium-level riffage, are back to active duty. Tomorrow, the Rock And Roll Hall Of Famers will release Diamond Star Halos, their first new album in seven years. Presumably, when Def Lep showed up on Jimmy Kimmel Live, they were there to promote that record. But the band’s regular on-air performance has not yet appeared on the Kimmel YouTube channel. Instead, we will have to content ourselves with a clip of Leppard cranking out three glorious arena bangers back-to-back-to-back. I suppose we’ll make do.

Mura Masa has announced a new album, demon time, the UK producer’s follow-up to 2020’s R.Y.C.. It’ll be out in September and it features guest spots from Lil Yachty, Slowthai, Channel Tres, Erika de Casier, Leyla, and more. Over the past few months, he’d dropped two tracks that’ll show up on it — “2gether” and “bbycakes,” which rounded up Lil Uzi Vert, PinkPantheress, and Shygirl for the same song. And today he’s back with a new single, “blessing me,” which features Jamaican dancehall artist Skillibeng and the British rapper Pa Salieu. Check it out below.

Wilco already released a country double-album. A quarter-century ago, backed by bassist John Stirratt and an otherwise different cast of bandmates than they share now, Jeff Tweedy kicked out two discs’ worth of incredible songs that pulled him out of Jay Farrar’s shadow forever. Being There was a tour de force not many saw coming on the heels of Wilco’s solid, straightforward debut A.M.: effortlessly toggling from somber twang like “Far, Far Away” to rootsy power-pop like “Monday,” pouring Tweedy’s bleeding heart out into tender sweetness and barroom bravado alike, making room for epic excursions like the drowsy “Sunken Treasure.” From the very first track, when the glassy-eyed ballad “Misunderstood” rumbled to life like hulking machinery and built to its thunderous finale, it was clear that Tweedy was destined to be much more than the other guy in Uncle Tupelo.

In November of last year, Momma released a new song, “Medicine,” their first new music since their 2020 sophomore album Two Of Me. Since then, they’ve released singles “Rockstar” and “Speeding 72,” all of which will be on Momma’s new LP Household Name. Now, the Brooklyn duo have shared a moody new track: “Lucky,” which also has a music video directed by Emma Penrose and Zack Shorrosh.

Last month, Lorely Rodriguez returned with a new Empress Of song called “Save Me.” Turns out that is the title track and opener of a new EP, billed as a transitional work between 2020’s I’m Your Empress Of and whatever Rodriguez has in store next. It’s out in late June.

Click here to read the full article. Jennifer Lopez is still reviving her Jenny From the Block style era, borrowing heavily from her New York City street style roots. Lopez was seen channeling the style yesterday in a dark blue jumpsuit and “Pine Green” Air Jordan 1s. Lopez’s jumpsuit was a deep V-neck cut with knotted straps. In a linen fabric, the material looked light, easily wafting through the summer breeze of the city. The jumpsuit can easily work with added layers of cardigans and sweaters, or as Lopez demonstrates during the summer season, without anything at all. The “Marry Me” star...

In March, Chance The Rapper returned with a new song called “Child Of God.” It was billed as a sort of “interdisciplinary” art piece, with a video featuring Chance alongside footage of Gabonese artist Naïla Opiangah painting the single’s cover art. Today, he’s back with another new song and a similar premise.

Earlier this year, the great Buffalo rapper Conway The Machine, one third of the core trio behind Griselda Records, released his excellent album God Don’t Make Mistakes. Conway got intense and personal on that record, and it was Conway’s first solo album for Shady Records. But Conway always maintains a sort of strange balance between his mainstream and underground material, and he’s always releasing new music. Today, there’s a new Conway EP out on the world, and it definitely does not have a major-label stamp on it.

Last year, Noga Erez released a new album called Kids, plus an acoustic version called Kids (Against The Machine). We last heard from her back in January, when she returned with a live cover of Lil Nas X and Jack Harlow’s “Industry Baby.” Today, she’s back with a new song of her own.

For the last couple months, MUNA have been rolling out their new self-titled album. So far, we’ve heard a couple songs from it, including “Anything But Me” and “Kind Of Girl.” (Their 2021 Phoebe Bridgers collab “Silk Chiffon” is also on the album.) Today, they’re back with another.

Why Bonnie have been around for a bit. They have three EPs under their belts: two from 2018, In Water and Nightgown, and one from 2020, Voice Box. Today, the band — who started out in Texas but are now based out of New York — are announcing their debut album, 90 In November, which is out in August.

Barely 10 days ago, Strange Ranger founding member Isaac Eiger released a new song under his Hollow Comet moniker. The delicate “Waiting For Today” followed Eiger’s 2019 self-titled Hollow Comet album and a 2020 Strange Ranger-curated benefit comp for Bernie Sanders. Now, Eiger is back with another Hollow Comet song. The piano-led “Right Now” is a quiet, hazy breakup ballad (“You said my shirt’s the same color as the sky/ The sun can set on this too/ It’s setting on me and you”) reminiscent of The Glow, Pt. 2-era Microphones. Listen below.

Bruce Hornsby, the ’80s hitmaker and adventurously laid-back elder statesman, has a new album out in the world. After working with indie rockers like Bon Iver and the National in recent years, Hornsby recorded his new LP ‘Flicted with producer Ariel Rechtshaid and guitarist Blake Mills. We’ve already posted Hornsby’s Ezra Koenig collaboration “Sidelines” and his cover of Chuck Berry’s “Too Much Monkey Business.” Now, we also get to hear what happens when Bruce Hornsby and HAIM’s Danielle Haim team up.

Neil Young has released many, many albums in his career, but he’s also shelved a ton over the years. In recent times, he’s been emptying out the vaults, releasing the legendary Homegrown about two years ago, alongside 1982’s Johnny’s Island and 1987’s Summer Songs last year. In April of last year, he also shared a bunch of details about upcoming archival releases, including a 2001 album with Crazy Horse called Toast.

Back in March, Orlando Higginbottom announced he’d released the first Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs album in 10 years, When The Lights Go. So far, we’ve heard two songs from it: “Blood In The Snow” and “Crosswalk.” Today, he’s back with another one. Higginbottom’s...

The New York rapper Your Old Droog works a lot. In the first few months of 2022, Droog released two full-length projects: Tha Wolf On Wall St 2: The American Dream, a team-up with longtime collaborator Tha God Fahim, and YOD Wave, which was produced entirely by Montreal’s Nicholas Craven. For Droog, that’s not even a particularly busy stretch; he’s been doing it like that for years. Today, Droog has once again released another record, and it’s up to his regular standards.