Internet love song: Scott Weiland wonders how he can be fired from Stone Temple Pilots, and says he first heard about it in the press this morning. Rolling Stone:
I learned of my supposed “termination” from Stone Temple Pilots this morning by reading about it in the press. Not sure how I can be “terminated” from a band that I founded, fronted and co-wrote many of its biggest hits, but that’s something for the lawyers to figure out. In the meantime, I’m looking forward to seeing all of my fans on my solo tour which starts this Friday.
Dylan and the Dawes: Dawes announced on Twitter today that they will be opening up for Bob Dylan on his next tour. We predict backstage mayhem. Hidden Track has the dates.
New Nine Inch Nails news: Lots happening with Trent Reznor‘s venerable band lately. In addition to adding guitarist Adrian Belew (wow, cool), the lineup now includes Eric Avery of Jane’s Addiction and Josh Eustis of Telefon Tel Aviv. Now comes news of some tour dates. Spin reports the band will hit a few international festivals before kicking off an arena tour this fall.
Return of The ‘Mats: After 23 years, beloved rockers The Replacements have released a new song. It’s a Gordon Lightfoot cover (obv.) called “I’m Not Sayin’,” and it’s streaming at Pitchfork.Chris Mars, Paul Westerberg, and Tommy Stinson reunited to record a 7-inch EP called Songs For Slim, to benefit their ailing former bandmate Slim Dunlap, who suffered a stroke last year. The band pressed just 250 copies of the EP and auctioned them off to raise over $100k. Nice.
Trent Reznor’s How To Destroy Angels have announced plans to embark on their first US tour of the year following the upcoming release of their new album, Welcome Oblivion.
Kicking off in Mid-April with a performance at Coachella, the latest outing from How To Destroy Angels will take the group from coast-to-coast in less than three weeks. Venues for every stop have yet to be revealed, but the cities they will be appearing in are as follows: Continue reading ‘How To Destroy Angels Announce US Tour; Stream New Album’
It’s nice to see that Trent Reznor has found a soul mate who is just as weird as he is. His new project, How To Destroy Angels, is comprised of him, his wife Mariqueen Maandig, and Nine Inch Nails contributors Atticus Ross and Rob Sheridan. The result on their second EP, An Omen (styalized on their website as An omen_ EP by How to destroy angels_) sounds more or less like a collection of creepy, experimental, minimalist, girl-fronted versions of NIN album interludes. That being said, it’s a fairly interesting and enjoyable listen.
The first track, “Keep it together,” is the most NIN-esque song on the album, with sparse electronic robot percussion and a two-note reverbed guitar line that repeats while dissonant synths wash over the whole track. The only difference is where you would expect to hear Reznor’s voice, you hear Maandig singing in a quiet cryptic way. But of course, before long, Reznor comes in with backup vocals and the two of them create harmonizing polyrhythmic layers repeating “I can’t keep it together” in a way that is reminiscent of “All The Love In The World” or “Every Day Is Exactly The Same” from NIN’s With Teeth. The structure and mood of this song set the tone for the rest of the album. Each track is a slow burn with very subtle dynamic variation, if any. Continue reading ‘Album Review: How To Destroy Angels – “An Omen” EP’
Nine Inch Nails mastermind and movie soundtrack composer Trent Reznor has written, recorded, and produced a theme song for the new first-person shooter warfare video game Call Of Duty: Black Ops II. The instrumental track is a dark and foreboding mix between unmistakable NIN electronics and distortion and Reznor’s equally as recognizable and suspenseful score-writing (as heard in the film The Social Netowork).
The game will be released tomorrow (Tuesday, November 13th), as will Reznor’s debut album for his and wife Mariqueen Maandig‘s new project, How To Destroy Angels. The EP entitled An Omen also features Atticus Ross and Rob Sheridan, both NIN collaborators.
While Reznor appears to have his hands full at the moment, we may be expecting some new NIN material in the near future. In the meantime, check out his theme for Call Of Duty: Black Ops II below.
If you like Trent Reznor’s work, then check out OurStage artist The Scientific Method.
Psy and Hugh Jackman go “Gangnam Style,” Wolverine-style
The claws came out, literally, when K-pop star Psy and Hugh Jackman met up on the set of The Wolverine in Australia. Watch the world’s hottest mutant go Gangnam style below.
fun. founds marriage equality organization
The guys in fun. have found the answer to their burning question, “What do I stand for?” Turns out, it’s marriage equality. The band is hoping to launch a nonprofit that supports gay marriage. Guitairst Jack Antonoff told Spinner that the fact that the band is made up of heterosexual makes their voices even more important. “Being part of a band of three straight men, we felt there was an inherent power in the fact that we aren’t gay, and yet we still care and we have a voice—there’s a responsibility there.” Listen to Antonoff stand for gay rights below.
The Bad
Snoop Dogg or Lion joins forces with Hot Pockets
While Jay-Z is busy endorsing President Obama, Snoop Dogg has thrown his weight behind something just as American: Hot Pockets. Honey Boo Boo must not have known this sponsorship was available when she announced her support for Obama. Watch the Lion formerly known as Dogg “pocket like it’s hot.”
Carly Rae Jepsen and Harvey Keitel perform “Call Me Maybe”
Hearing Carly Rae Jepsen sing lyrics like “ripped jeans, skin was showing” while looking at Harvey Keitel is, well, a little troubling. The actor joined the pop star onstage to perform “Call Me Maybe” for the autism benefit “A Night of Too Many Stars.” Watch this catastrophe unfold below.
The Ugly
One Direction and Wolfgang Van Halen’s son scrap
Eddie Van Halen’s son, Wolfgang, was in Birmingham, England on tour with Tremonti when he ran into One Direction in a hotel. Words were exchanged—the kind that make you want to go to Twitter to complain. Which is exactly what Van Halen did. You can read all about it here.
Trapped in the Closet is back – Oh Sh**
R. Kelly is releasing more installments of his epically idiotic “Trapped In The Closet” chronicle, thanks to the little devils at IFC. According to the trailer, there will be plenty of moments that will cause you to spontaneously vociferate expletives. Watch below.
Everyone’s favorite-ornery-recluse-turned-cool-uncle-who-never-visits Trent Reznor resurfaced online over the weekend with some big news for his fans. Especially the fans of his How To Destroy Angels project. For the Nine Inch Nails fans, not so much.
Reznor announced via info dump that How To Destroy Angels, the group consisting of Reznor, his better half Mariqueen Maandig Reznor, Reznor’s The Social Network Score collaborator Atticus Ross, and Rob Sheridan, would be releasing a slew of new material. Not only that but How To Destroy Angels was signing with major label Columbia Records for the releases and potentially more in the future.
Since you’re reading this post in a publication that is distributed through a music discovery Web site, there’s a good chance that you’re pretty familiar with the ins and out of the Internet. You’re on Facebook, maybe you’ve tweeted and there’s a good chance you’ve checked in on Foursquare. So, that’s it for social media, right?
Wrong. You can’t really think it’s OK to keep active with just the big players, the major social media platforms that everyone online is already familiar with. These days, you can’t just be on Facebook or Twitter or MySpace (even though your band hasn’t been logged into for years). The reason is that the game is changing every day. It seems every week there is some new social media or Web site that you need to get involved with. Since it can be daunting to peruse through all the different sites and understand both what they offer and what they can do for your band, we’re going to highlight some of the more useful blogging tools that musicians like you need now.
Tumblr has been around for a while now—founded on 2007, it’s a twentysomething in Internet years. But it really just began to come into its own in 2011, and now is as good a time as any to get into it. Why? There’s a few reasons. Tumblr’s simplified platform is easy enough for anyone to use and the various themes users allow anybody to make a clean, attractive blog. The ask and reply system allows for straightforward correspondence between users. But the most impressive aspect of the Tumblr experience? It’s personal. Facebook allows for mass communication, Twitter allows for mass broadcasts but Tumblr is far more intimate. The artists that do it right, like indie band Toro Y Moi or the Beastie Boys, combine little glimpses into who they are, from their interests to their lives. For more ideas and inspiration, check out the tumblrs for Tom Waits, Childish Gambino and OurStage’s own Bethesda.
Yes, you’ve heard of Google and chances are you’ve heard of (but maybe not used) Google+. Fair enough, you’re not alone if you’ve tried and not kept up with the search giant’s attempt to break into the social media game. However, it may just be the time to give it another look. A number of major name artists are beginning to make use of the burgeoning social media platform. Big names like Britney Spears, T-Pain, Mark Hoppus and Trent Reznor are all users. Google+ has already had it’s fair share of breakout stars, like OurStager Daria Musk. Daria has mastered the medium and became a sensation on Google+ overnight, with over 200,000 people tuning into her last livestreamed show. Check out footage from the Daria’s first Google Hangout concert below.
Finally, you would be forgiven if you’ve come across Pinterest and not thought anything about it with regards to your musical career. Pinterest is like an online cork board; users share images on their pinboards and can browse the pinboards of others for inspiration. At least at this early stage, Pinterest is like Tumblr but with a more human element, or Facebook without all the excess noise. While the number of musicians on Pinterest as of right now is limited—the Backstreet Boys appear to have the the biggest presence—the service is still very young and growing fast. In fact, the invitation-only site has seen explosive growth in the past six months, growing from 2 million to 11 million weekly visitors between September to December of 2011. So while there’s no obvious strategy for musicians on Pinterest—self-promotion is frowned upon and the service is image based for now—it would be good to get in on the ground floor of the wildly popular service.
There’s no arguing that Lana Del Rey has a beautiful voice, but there’s also no arguing that she is gangly as all get-out. The torchy chanteuse made her television debut on Saturday Night Live last weekend, and it turns out she’s quite a polarizing performer. Juliette Lewis initially dissed Del Ray, saying it felt like watching “a twelve year old in their bedroom.” But the next day Lewis woke up singing a different tune. Decide for yourself if Del Rey is “fresh and yummy” or wiggity-wack by watching her performance below.
Trent Reznor, Flaming Lips, Radiohead protest Internet legislation
Musicians are up in arms this week over the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect Intellectual Property Act (PIPA)—two bills making their way through Congress that will allow the government to block access to sites accused of copyright infringement before their court date. The Lonely Island, Nada Surf, MGMT signed this online petition, while Radiohead and Flaming Lips posted anti SOPA and PIPA banners on their Web sites and Twitter profiles. We’ll see if star power can move mountains, or at least Capitol Hill.
The Bad
Jay-Z hasn’t retired the b-word after all
This week numerous media outlets reported that Jay-Z had released a poem announcing he’d given up the word “bitch” in honor of his daughter, Blue Ivy. Turns out, the whole thing is a crock of bitch (hey, if he’s not retiring it, then neither are we). Jay-Z will still be going H.A.M. when it comes to profanity, which gives us a sneaking suspicion of what Blue Ivy’s first word will be.
Kate Bush stalker breaks in to propose
When Kate Bush sang “Let me into your window” in her song, “Wuthering Heights,” little did she know one day a fan would let himself into her window in an ill-fated attempt at a marriage proposal. Police arrested Frank Tufaro after he broke into the reclusive singer’s home with a $4,500 engagement ring. Bush wasn’t home at the time, but we’re guessing her answer would have been “no.”
The Ugly
Elton John and husband get catty with Madonna
Madonna won the Best Original Song at the Golden Globes on Sunday, much to the dismay of Sir Elton John and his husband, David Furnish. John was nominated for his song, “Hello Hello” from Gnomeo and Juliet, but lost to Madge’s “Masterpiece” from W.E. That pissed Furnish right off, and he let everyone know it on his Facebook page. You can read the rant here, and see a screenshot of Elton John’s sourpuss during Madonna’s acceptance speech.
Diddy loses another battle in the vodka wars
Page Six is reporting that P Diddy lost his cool once again when patrons of a pre-Golden Globe party were prohibited from drinking his Ciroc vodka because the event was sponsored by Grey Goose. Not that anyone was asking for Circoc, mind you. Maybe that’s what he was really mad about. Get the rest of the gossip here.
