The Mekons started out in late-’70s Leeds as a collective art project, and that’s basically what the band still is, more than 40 years later. Over the years, the Mekons have moved from sound to sound — political punk, skittery post-punk, experimental quasi-reggae, doom-laded country-folk, various combinations of all of those. They’ve remained cult heroes, […]
Anderson .Paak Shares Anti-Racist Juneteenth Protest Song "Lockdown": Listen
Up until now, the most high-profile thing that Anderson .Paak did in 2020 was rapping about cultural appropriation in the children’s movie Trolls World Tour. But today, like so many before him, .Paak has come out with a new single about the current global uprising against police brutality and racism. It’s presumably not a coincidence […]
Hot Chip's Remix Gives Hayley Williams' "Dead Horse" New Life
Given the way Hayley Williams chose to roll out her debut solo album Petals For Armor — trickling out almost the whole album, one song at a time, over the course of months — you may have tuned out by the time she dropped “Dead Horse.” If so, you messed up. The reggae-inflected rocker is […]
Public Enemy Attack Donald Trump On The New DJ Premier-Produced Single "State Of The Union (STFU)": Listen
The last time we heard from righteous rap legends Public Enemy, things were not so righteous. Back in April, the group announced that their noisy split from longtime hypeman Flavor Flav was a hoax, and that it was all staged to promote the new album from Public Enemy offshoot Public Enemy Radio. That sucked! Nobody […]
Toro y Moi – "Ordinary Guy" (Feat. The Mattson 2) (Joe Bataan Cover)
Toro y Moi has teamed up with the Mattson 2 for a cover of Latin soul singer Joe Bataan’s “Ordinary Guy.” Chaz Bear originally played his version of the song in a radio show last year, but today it’s being officially released. Toro y Moi’s most recent album, Outer Peace, came out in 2019. He […]
Stream Teyana Taylor’s The Album Feat. Ms. Lauryn Hill, Erykah Badu, Missy Elliott, & More
Teyana Taylor’s last album, K.T.S.E. (short for Keep That Same Energy), came at the tail-end of Kanye West’s Wyoming sessions. It was a concise and precise 8 tracks and it made our list of the Best Albums Of 2018. At the beginning of this week, Taylor announced the imminent release of her follow-up, simply called […]
Stream Bob Dylan's New Album 'Rough And Rowdy Ways'
Three months ago, Bob Dylan came out of nowhere with a sweeping new 17-minute song centered around the JFK assassination called “Murder Most Foul.” He followed that up a month later with “I Contain Multitudes” and a month after that with “False Prophet,” which is also when he announced the official release of Rough And […]
TJO (Tara Jane O'Neil) – "Cruel Summer" (Bananarama Cover)
Next month, Tara Jane O’Neil is releasing a covers album called Songs For Peacock, meant as a mixtape for her late brother, who died last year. O’Neil’s last proper album came out in 2017. For this one, she’s going by just her initials TJO and she recorded it at home. It includes covers of songs […]
Watch Haim Play New Song "Gasoline"
Haim are just about a week out from releasing their new album, Women In Music Pt. III. They were all set to release it back in April, but pushed the album’s release date back due to the pandemic. They’ve spent their time in quarantine wisely, though, releasing two new singles — “I Know Alone” and […]
Noname – "Song 33"
Noname has released a new track called “Song 33,” which was produced by Madlib. It’s her first new song in over a year, since “Song 32,” and it’s a response track to J. Cole’s recent “Snow On Tha Bluff,” which was about Noname and a tweet she sent out calling out some of rap’s biggest […]