Burna Boy has released “Whiskey”– a hard-hitting mini-documentary that displays gripping visuals of the continued pollution, flooding, and overall negligence in his hometown of Port Harcourt, Nigeria. “Whiskey” also appears as one of the Grammy-winning musicians most poignant songs on his sixth studio album, Love, Damini.
The mini-doc features first-hand accounts from members of the community, giving form to the realities they face including: an inconsolable mother who tearfully recounts the loss of her son due to sickness as a result of the pollution and a lack of medicine, a doctor reiterating the extreme effects of the damage to the oil city — with the water surrounding the city polluted by crude waste, to an old truck driver complaining about the bad roads, which has claimed the lives of people who have no choice but to use boats to be able to cross to the other side.
At an exclusive screening of the mini-doc in London last night, Burna Boy went on to say, “Everything was a lot worse than the way I left it. The air was fully polluted, everything would be black when you wake up, even the cars. It’s really what you see in the documentary. This is real life, everyday life for my people. I feel like we’ll make songs about everything else, so why not make songs about what’s really going on and what’s really affecting the people in real time. That’s what the song ‘Whiskey’ is. I hope it does its job and creates the necessary awareness and some type of change comes from this. If you don’t know, now you know.”
Burna Boy, who frequently partners with philanthropic initiatives, highlights The R.E.A.C.H. (Reach Every Available Communal Household) – a charitable organization based in Nigeria which helps to provide resources to the community that raised the African Giant. All donations to The R.E.A.C.H. go directly to victims of the community as they work to provide aid via food, clean water, household necessities and medicine.
Highlighting specific issues his hometown community is facing, Burna Boy hopes to shed light on other parts of Nigeria & Africa, the Caribbean, and the rest of world that suffers similar environmental issues. A proud Rivers State indigene who has been awarded a Distinguished Service Star (DSSRS), Burna Boy opens himself up to the world to show where he comes from, the part he’s played as an influential member of his society, and where he’s going – first as an individual, and then as an artist. Afterall, his first ever song was made in a tree house built on the pipelines in Port Harcourt.
For more information on The R.E.A.C.H. or to contribute with a donation please visit https://thereach.ng/.
Indie rock titans The Postal Service and Death Cab for Cutie have today announced plans for a landmark 20th anniversary co-headline North American tour. The extraordinary live run will see both iconic groups performing their seminal 2003 albums in full – The Postal Service’s RIAA Platinum-certified Give Up and Death Cab for Cutie’s RIAA Gold-certified breakthrough fourth studio LP Transatlanticism – two classics released within a mere eight months of one another that year.
Benjamin Gibbard, the co-founder of both bands, will pull double duty throughout the tour, performing with The Postal Service – comprised of Gibbard, Jimmy Tamborello, and Jenny Lewis – as well as with Death Cab for Cutie (alongside Nick Harmer, Dave Depper, Zac Rae, and Jason McGerr).
“I know for a fact I will never have a year again like 2003. The Postal Service record came out, Transatlanticism came out. These two records will be on my tombstone, and I’m totally fine with that. I’ve never had a more creatively inspired year.” – Gibbard
The tour was announced this morning via an exclusive trailer on the band’s socials (watch HERE).
The sure to be highly-anticipated run will kick off September 8, 2023 at Cross Insurance Arena in Portland, ME and continue through mid-October, with highlights including shows at New York City’s famed Madison Square Garden, Berkeley, CA’s Greek Theatre, and Los Angeles, CA’s Hollywood Bowl.
Pre-sales begin Wednesday, December 14 at 10 am (local) and continue through Thursday, December 15 at 10 pm (local). Sign-up for early access to tickets here. For the Hollywood Bowl show, American Express® Card Members can purchase tickets before the general public beginning Tuesday, December 13 at 10am PT through Thursday, December 15 at 10pm PT.
The upcoming tour will mark the first live performances from The Postal Service in over a decade, following 2013’s hugely successful 10-year anniversary reunion tour for Give Up – an album which still stands today as Sub Pop’s second highest-selling album in the label’s history, second only to Nirvana’s Bleach. The reunion tour was captured for posterity on a live concert film, Everything Will Change, released in 2014 and subsequently on a live audio album released in 2020 to digital streaming platforms.
Also in 2020, the trio joined forces to support HeadCount’s “Make Your Vote Count” campaign via a star-studded video of “Zoom Auditions” for new band members which featured appearances from fans including Anne Hathaway, Kenny G, “Weird Al” Yankovic, Slash, Huey Lewis, Caroline Polachek, Michelle Zauner, Big Freedia, and J Mascis, to name a few.
Meanwhile, 8x GRAMMY Award-nominees Death Cab for Cutie are currently celebrating the release of their critically acclaimed 10th studio album, Asphalt Meadows. Produced by GRAMMY® Award-winner John Congleton (St. Vincent, Sharon Van Etten, Wallows), the new LP includes the explosive “Roman Candles” and chart-topping “Here to Forever,” the latter of which reached #1 at Alternative radio in October, after spending a record-setting nine weeks atop the AAA airplay chart this summer. The album received tremendous praise from outlets including the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Vulture, SPIN, Stereogum, and Pitchfork, who lauded the record as “a late career masterwork… a restoration of their creative momentum when a mere ‘return to form’ would have sufficed.”
Formed in Bellingham, WA in 1997, Death Cab for Cutie immediately entered the ranks of the era’s most definitive bands, thanks in large part to the remarkable power of co-founder, vocalist, guitarist, and lead songwriter Ben Gibbard’s complex, often bittersweet songcraft. The band made their worldwide popular breakthrough with 2003’s RIAA gold certified Transatlanticism, later named by NPR as one of “The Decade’s 50 Most Important Recordings.” Fueled by critical acclaim, an array of high profile soundtrack placements, and such hit singles as “The Sound of Settling” and “Title and Registration,” the album debuted among the upper half of the Billboard 200 – Death Cab for Cutie’s first ever entry on the overall chart. A 10th anniversary edition of Transatlanticism containing previously unheard demos and outtakes arrived in 2013, prompting NPR to write, “For all its ubiquity and imitators, Transatlanticism holds up as an exquisitely produced, largely flawless record in which every song is bound to serve as someone’s favorite.”
2003 also saw Gibbard and Los Angeles, CA-based multi-instrumentalist Jimmy Tamborello (Dntel, Figurine) unite as The Postal Service, a long distance collaboration named for their working method of exchanging tracks via the US Mail. The duo – joined by a number of friends including singer-songwriter Jenny Lewis – proved a phenomenon with the February 2003 release of their one and only studio LP, Give Up, earning worldwide applause and eventual RIAA platinum certification thanks to infectious electro-pop smashes like “The District Sleeps Alone Tonight” (a top 3 sensation on Billboard’s “Hot Dance Singles” chart), “We Will Become Silhouettes (which reached the top 3 on the Canadian Singles Chart), and of course, the magical RIAA gold certified “Such Great Heights.” The album’s stature continued to grow in the years following its original release, ultimately spending 19 non-consecutive weeks at #1 on Billboard’s “Top Electronic Albums” chart. In 2013, The Postal Service reunited to mark the 10th anniversary of Give Up with their biggest headline tour ever, along with top-billed performances at such international festivals as Coachella, Primavera Sound, Lollapalooza, and Sasquatch. In addition, a commemorative 10th anniversary edition of Give Up saw the singular collection expanded with 15 bonus tracks, including two brand new songs, “A Tattered Line of String” and “Turn Around.”
THE POSTAL SERVICE // DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE
SEPTEMBER 2023
8 – Portland, ME – Cross Insurance Arena
9 – Kingston, RI – The Ryan Center
10 – New Haven, CT – Westville Music Bowl
12 – Boston, MA – MGM Music Hall
13 – Boston, MA – MGM Music Hall
14 – Washington, DC – Merriweather Post Pavilion
17 – Detroit, MI – Meadow Brook Amphitheater
20 – New York, NY – Madison Square Garden
21 – Philadelphia, PA – The Mann Center
24 – Minneapolis, MN – Armory
26 – Denver, CO – Mission Ballroom
27 – Denver, CO – Mission Ballroom
OCTOBER 2023
3 – Phoenix, AZ – Arizona Financial Theatre
4 – Las Vegas, NV – The Chelsea Ballroom at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas
7 – Seattle, WA – Climate Pledge Arena
10 – Berkeley, CA – Greek Theatre – UC Berkeley
13 – Los Angeles, CA – Hollywood Bowl
Here’s the recent BBC documentary on the story of the Hacienda nightclub in Manchester, featuring contributions from the likes of Peter Hook, Stephen Morris, Shaun Ryder, Noel Gallagher, Peter Saville, John Robb and others.
A raucous yet detailed look back at the evolution of the music press and the passionate rock and pop journalists who documented the sounds that changed our culture.
Totally Wired charts the coming of age of music publications covering the contemporary bands, trends, and scene. This book offers a history of the journalists who described the wild landscape of the rise of rock and its evolution from the 1950s to the 2000s, through R&B, pop, the Summer of Love, punk, and beyond. Author Paul Gorman chronicles the emergence of trailblazing music magazines in New York, Los Angeles, and London and their transformation into essential reading for anyone who cared about popular culture.
Gorman captures the extraordinary rise of the inkies on the back of rock and roll’s explosion into the postwar American and British youth culture. He recounts the development of individual magazines from their Tin Pan Alley beginnings to Creem, Blender, and Crawdaddy! followed by the foundation of Rolling Stone, NME, Melody Maker, and Sounds―as well as the emergence of dedicated monthlies such as Q, The Face, and Mojo. Evoking the golden age of the music press, the book is illustrated with iconic magazine artwork and archival photography throughout.
Writers such as Charles Shaar Murray, Greil Marcus, Nick Kent, and Tony Parsons not only documented the wild excesses of Led Zeppelin, the Who, and the Clash but also played an integral part in the development of the success of the bands themselves. Painting a complete picture of the scene, Gorman also tackles the entrenched sexism and racism faced by women and people from marginalized backgrounds as they tried to make it in the music industry, whether as musicians or journalists. An incisive and entertaining ride, this volume is perfect for anyone interested in popular culture, magazines, and underground cultural history.
Their story will be told. Daisy Jones and the Six, based on the book of the same name written by Taylor Jenkins Reid, takes the stage March 3, 2023 on Prime Video.
Today Lana Del Rey announces her highly anticipated ninth studio album ‘Did You Know That There’s A Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd’ which follows the recent success of previous albums ‘Blue Banisters’ and ‘Chemtrails Over The Country Club’, which were released last year to critical acclaim. Due for release on March 10th, 2023, the pre-order for ‘Did You Know That There’s A Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd’ is now live, with CD, cassette and various exclusive vinyl formats available at select retailers and www.lanadelrey.com
Alongside announcement of the new album and on sale pre-order, Lana today releases title track ‘Did You Know That There’s A Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd’ written by Lana Del Rey and Mike Hermosa and produced by Lana Del Rey, Jack Antonoff, Drew Erickson and Zach Dawes.
Today, critically acclaimed Vermont singer and songwriter Noah Kahan reveals new tour dates for summer 2023 as a continuation of his sold-out “Stick Season Tour” produced by Live Nation. The run includes stops at the iconic Radio City Music Hall in New York on June 7th, The Greek Theatre in Los Angeles on August 11th, and more with Joy Oladokun and Ruston Kelly as support—see the full list of new tour dates below. Tickets will go on sale via pre-sale on December 14th at 10AM local time and via general on-sale on December 16th at 10AM local time at https://noahkahan.com/tour/.
In addition to recently wrapping up the 2022 leg of his tour, Noah delivered stand-out live performances of “Stick Season” on Jimmy Kimmel Live! and “Northern Attitude” on The Kelly Clarkson Show. He also released a live acoustic performance of the fan favorite track “Homesick,” which was shot in his hometown of Strafford, VT—watch HERE.
Upon release, Stick Season debuted at #14 on the Billboard 200 Chart, #4 on Billboard’s Top Alternative Albums Chart, #5 on Billboard’s Top Rock Albums Chart, and #5 on Billboard’s Top Rock & Alternative Albums Chart. Not to mention, it skyrocketed to #6 on Spotify’s Weekly Top Albums USA Chart, and Noah had six songs from the album chart on Spotify’s Viral 100 Chart—the most of any artist on the chart. The viral breakout title track also recently hit #1 on the AAA Radio Chart, Noah’s first #1 at the format.
As Noah Kahan changes, he casts those experiences onto songs like light through a film projector. At the core of the music’s upbeat energy and unfiltered lyrics, you’ll hear who he was before and who he became—almost in real-time. The Vermont singer still pens songs straight from the heart and still cracks jokes with his signature, self-deprecating sense of humor; he’s just changed in all of the right ways (and chronicled them via his songwriting). He gained that understanding through quite the journey from small town Vermont to global renown. He’s racked up over one billion streams, released three full length albums (Busyhead, 2019; I Was / I Am, 2021; Stick Season, 2022) and a mid-pandemic EP (Cape Elizabeth, 2020), picked up a Gold Certification for “Hurt Somebody” feat. Julia Michaels, and performed on television shows such as Jimmy Kimmel Live!, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Late Night with Seth Meyers, TODAY, and The Kelly Clarkson Show. After 5 years of critical acclaim and global touring, he sought an even purer style of writing and arrangement inspired by his New England roots, a challenge from within to convey a vivid representation of what he loves, fears, and struggles with most passionately. The result is Noah’s critically acclaimed new album Stick Season, which features his viral hit single “Stick Season” and has become his most successful release to date. Following the album release, Noah embarked on his sold-out “Stick Season Tour” across North America, which will continue into 2023.
2023 “STICK SEASON” NORTH AMERICAN TOUR:
PREVIOUSLY ANNOUNCED DATES
January 27 Houston, TX White Oak Music Hall*
January 28 Austin, TX Emo’s*
January 29 Dallas, TX House of Blues*
January 31 Birmingham, AL Iron City*
February 2 Nashville, TN Ryman Auditorium*
February 3 Chattanooga, TN The Signal*
February 7 Indianapolis, IN Egyptian Room at Old National Centre*
February 8 Columbus, OH KEMBA Live!*
February 10 Detroit, MI The Fillmore*
February 11 Milwaukee, WI The Riverside Theater*
February 14 St. Louis, MO The Pageant*
February 15 Kansas City, MO The Truman*
February 17 Denver, CO The Mission Ballroom*
February 18 Denver, CO The Mission Ballroom*
*Sold Out
NEW DATES
May 26 Lewiston, NY ARTPARK Amphitheater^
May 30 Albany, NY Palace Theatre^
June 2 Montreal, QC MTELUS^
June 3 Lafayette, NY Beak & Skiff ~
June 6 Pittsburgh, PA Stage AE ~
June 7 New York, NY Radio City Music Hall^
June 9 Washington, DC The Anthem^
June 10 Philadelphia, PA Skyline Stage @ The Mann^
June 11 Charlottesville, VA Ting Pavilion^
June 13 Charlotte, NC Charlotte Metro Credit Union Amphitheater^
June 14 Raleigh, NC Red Hat Amphitheater^
June 17 Atlanta, GA Coca-Cola Roxy #
June 18 Charleston, SC Firefly Distillery #
June 20 Asheville, NC Rabbit Rabbit^
June 22 Cleveland, OH Jacobs Pavilion @ Nautica^~
June 23 Cincinnati, OH The Andrew J Brady Music Center^
July 29 Burlington, VT Waterfront Park^
August 8 Phoenix, AZ Arizona Financial Theatre^
August 9 San Diego, CA Cal Coast Credit Union Amphitheater^
August 11 Los Angeles, CA The Greek Theatre^
August 15 Redmond, WA Marymoor Park^~
August 16 Vancouver, BC Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre ^
August 18 Spokane, WA Pavilion at the Riverfront^
August 19 Bend, OR Hayden Homes Amphitheater^
September 12 Columbus, OH KEMBA Live! #~
September 13 St. Louis, MO Saint Louis Music Park #
September 15 Indianapolis, IN TCU Amphitheater @ White River State Park #
September 16 Detroit, MI Michigan Lottery Amphitheatre @ Freedom Hill #
September 17 Toronto, ON RBC Echo Beach #
^ with Joy Oladokun
# with Ruston Kelly
~ Non-Live Nation Date
Today, the CRTC updated its commercial radio policy to better support Canadian artists and provide flexibility to help the radio industry remain competitive in a changing environment.
To support Canadian artists, the CRTC is:
upholding requirements for Canadian content and French-language vocal music
ensuring that Canadian and French-language vocal music requirements can no longer be circumvented through montages of popular non-Canadian songs
setting an expectation that commercial stations play at least 5% of songs from emerging Canadian artists, and
launching, in the near future, a consultation that will examine the approach to Canadian content development (CCD) contributions by commercial radio broadcasters and ensure that funding reaches diverse initiatives.
To provide more flexibility to the radio industry, the CRTC is:
moving towards new criteria to determine if a song is Canadian, and refining some content categories that will broaden the eligible songs that stations can play to meet their Canadian content requirements
working to implement a new digital monitoring system and open music database that will reduce the regulatory burden on broadcasters
eliminating the “hits policy” in Montreal and Ottawa–Gatineau; and
allowing broadcasters to operate one more FM station in the same market, under certain conditions.
To increase support for Indigenous content and voices within mainstream radio, the CRTC also expects commercial radio stations to include Indigenous music in their playlists and to report annually on the amount of Indigenous content aired. Additionally, the Commission intends to gather information on the different funds and initiatives that help support, promote and ensure the sustainability of the Indigenous content through the launch of a follow-up proceeding.
Meanwhile, the Commission continues the co-development of a new Indigenous broadcasting policy with Indigenous Peoples of Canada. Some of the outcomes from that process may have an impact on commercial radio stations, as well as other sectors of the broadcasting industry.
Quotes
“The radio industry is in a transition period and is competing with digital services for listeners. A flexible approach will help it remain competitive, while ensuring that Canadians continue to have access to the content that serves their needs and interests. Radio is a very important medium to entertain, inform, discover new artists and ensure that local voices are heard.”
– Ian Scott, Chairperson and Chief Executive Officer, CRTC
Quick facts
Canada’s commercial radio sector includes all AM and FM radio stations, except those owned and operated by the CBC/Radio-Canada or licensed as campus, community, Indigenous or ethnic stations.
In 2020, the CRTC initiated a proceeding to assess the relevance and effectiveness of the rules currently governing commercial radio in Canada.
Throughout the proceeding, the CRTC heard how commercial radio is valued by Canadians and how they support the promotion of Canadian artists.
In a follow-up proceeding, the CRTC will seek comments on multiple elements related to Canadian content development, including how to ensure better contributions to Indigenous and diversity initiatives.
The CRTC will also examine whether broadcasters should collect gender and race-based data about Indigenous Peoples, persons with disabilities and people who identify as 2SLGBTQI+ from the initiatives benefiting from their contributions.
Abbey Road Studios partnered with music journalist David Hepworth to write the story of 90-year-old recording studios, out August 1, 2023. The book features interviews with artists, producers and sound engineers, transcripts, photographs, and a foreword by Paul McCartney.
Many people will recognise the famous zebra crossing. Some visitors may have graffitied their name on its hallowed outer walls. Others might even have managed to penetrate the iron gates. But what draws in these thousands of fans here, year after year? What is it that really happens behind the doors of the most celebrated recording studio in the world?
It may have begun life as an affluent suburban house, but it soon became a creative hub renowned around the world as a place where great music, ground-breaking sounds and unforgettable tunes were forged – nothing less than a witness to, and a key participant in, the history of popular music itself.
What has been going on there for over ninety years has called for skills that are musical, creative, technical, mechanical, interpersonal, logistical, managerial, chemical and, romantics might be tempted add, close to magic.
David Hepworth has been writing, broadcasting and speaking about music and media since the seventies. He was involved in the launch and editing of magazines such as Smash Hits, Q, Mojo and The Word, among many others.
