Multi-platinum selling, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame-inducted recording artist and songwriter Dave Gahan, along with long time musical partner Soulsavers (Rich Machin), will release a new album on November 12th. Entitled Imposter, Dave takes listeners on a personal journey of 12 meticulously chosen reimagined songs from across genres and time periods, including selections from Neil Young, Bob Dylan, PJ Harvey, Charlie Chaplin, Cat Power and Mark Lanegan, amongst others.
One would be remiss to refer to Imposter as a cover album. Rather, Imposter is a story of songs, which Dave Gahan & Soulsavers listened to, studied, absorbed, and gave a new life. All of the songs have deep meaning to Dave, making Imposter a reflection of Dave’s life – a story told by others, but in his own distinct voice.
“When I listen to other people’s voices and songs—more importantly the way they sing them and interpret the words—I feel at home,” Dave Gahan confesses. “I identify with it. It comforts me more than anything else. There’s not one performer on the record who I haven’t been moved by.” He adds, “I know we made something special, and I hope other people feel that and it takes them on a little kind of trip—especially people who love music and have for years.”
The first offering from Imposter will be “Metal Heart.” Written by Chan Marshall (Cat Power), and first released in 1998, the reimagined version from Dave & Soulsavers will drop on October 8th.
Imposter track listing:
The Dark End of the Street
Strange Religion
Lilac Wine
I Held My Baby Last Night
A Man Needs a Maid
Metal Heart
Shut Me Down
Where My Love Lies Asleep
Smile
The Desperate Kingdom of Love
Not Dark Yet
Always On My Mind
Unlike Dave Gahan & Soulsavers’ past albums which were transatlantic collaborations where the duo recorded separately and passed parts back and forth, the recording of Imposter was done live as a ten-member band at the famed Shangri-La Recording Studio in Malibu, CA in November of 2019. This allowed for not only a more intimate collaboration, but for Dave & Soulsavers to truly absorb the atmosphere and have the space to breathe a different spirit into the tracks. In an interview with podcaster and media personality Chris Black, Dave noted, “This was the first time we were all in one space. It was kind of lucky [timing] as well… Arriving at Shangri-La every day, it was magical. We’d have coffee, go in, and work.”
Imposter, also produced by Rich Machin and Dave Gahan, serves as the collaborators’ third album, following their critically acclaimed 2015 release Angels & Ghosts and their first release, 2012’s The Light the Dead See. The album will be released in digital, as well as physical formats, worldwide on November 12th through Columbia Records.
“The Real Me,” a new production from Pantheon Podcasts premiering Tuesday, Oct. 5, follows the emotionally powerful stories of young songwriters and performers with cancer who found hope, healing and connection through music.
Presented by Teen Cancer America (TCA), the national non-profit founded by Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend of The Who, “The Real Me” highlights the moving experiences of cancer patients in TCA’s Play It Back program, which matches them with music professionals to write, perform and record fully produced studio versions of their original songs.
“Music is in the DNA of our charity,” said Daltrey, whose familiar voice opens and closes each podcast episode. “Its therapeutic benefit to young people going through cancer is indisputable.”
Based in Los Angeles, TCA funds and develops specialized facilities and services for adolescent and young adult (AYA) cancer patients. The Play it Back program has attracted the participation of Grammy award-winning pop group Portugal. The Man and five-time BMI Songwriter of the Year, Benny Blanco, whose collaborations include hits written and produced with Ed Sheeran, Justin Bieber, Rhianna, Maroon 5, Halsey, Katy Perry, Kanye West, The Weeknd, Selena Gomez and others.
“The Real Me,” named for The Who’s 1974 hit song, is hosted by singer/songwriter Erin Alden and produced by Pantheon’s Christian Swain. Songwriter, performer and producer Kenli Mattus, music director for Play it Back, is featured on air helping each artist share their inspiring story.
“Pantheon Podcasts is very excited to be working with Teen Cancer America to fulfill the vision of Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend,” said Swain. “‘The Real Me’ podcast achieves a balance that makes these authentic stories so powerful – full of joy, sometimes sad, but always uplifting as we hear these young people find their wings and fly. It’s a privilege to share the journey with them.”
The debut episode features Juan Carlos “JC” Razuri, a Los Angeles native who was diagnosed with lymphoma while in high school. An active musician, JC was looking forward to pursuing music in college when life as he knew it suddenly changed. Through Play it Back, music helped him persevere during treatment. He recalls his first “a-ha” moment working on a song with Mattus, inspired while improvising on a violin, feeling the exhilaration of the creative process.
“It is extraordinary to hear these first-person accounts and to understand how important a program like Play it Back is to a young person facing a life-threatening situation,” said Simon Davies, Executive Director of Teen Cancer America. “We’re extremely grateful to the artists who donate their time and passion for music to the program.”
Sonic Reducers. 1 topic. 2 music nerds. 5 minutes.
We talk about the opportunity to buy shares in your favorite song, and debate whether it’s a great idea or a new way for the music industry to fleece the fans.
Few artists in music history can be credited with changing the industry nearly overnight and continuing to influence music culture three decades after the height of their popularity. Kurt Cobain and his bandmates in Nirvana appeared on the scene in the early ‘90s as generational talents who combined raucous, heavy tones, punk-infused energy and melodic hooks to create a sound that quickly attracted millions of fans and established grunge and alternative rock as a genre with legitimate mainstream appeal.
Although Kurt was seen playing a variety of Fender guitars over the years, his Fender Jaguar and Mustang remain the most iconic due to their use on the “Nevermind” tour and “Smells Like Teen Spirit” music video. Kurt designed the Jag-Stang to combine his favorite elements of both instruments and brought it to life with help from the Fender Custom Shop in 1993.
Commemorating the 30th anniversary of Nirvana’s seminal record “Nevermind,” this Jag-Stang comes equipped with the same features that made it Kurt’s ideal instrument. The alder body delivers a punchy tone perfect for big power chords, the 24” short-scale reduces string tension for easier playing, and the 7.25” radius rosewood fingerboard with maple neck has a comfortable feel that won’t fatigue your hands when chording. The vintage-style single-coil and custom humbucking pickups are perfect for recreating Kurt’s classic tones, while the Mustang slider switches provide the flexibility to dial in four distinct settings for a variety of in or out-of-phase tones.
You can get it here, perfect timing for the holidaze.
Neil Young & Crazy Horse’s new album BARN will be released December 10th, 2021 on Reprise Records, their longtime home since the beginning. The band’s debut album EVERYBODY KNOWS THIS IS NOWHERE came out in May 1969. Today, Crazy Horse features Ralph Molina on drums, Billy Talbot on electric bass and multi-instrumentalist Nils Lofgren. Lofgren, a founding member of the Horse, played on Tonight’s The Night, After The Gold Rush and Trans.
10 new songs that capture the raw, idiosyncratic rock and roll spirit and lyrical beauty that epitomizes a classic NYCH collaboration. Recorded this summer under a full moon, in a restored off-grid 19th century barn high up in the Rockies, the Horse was right at home and the album’s stunning love songs, reflective ballads and powerhouse rockers naturally burst into life.
Produced by The Volume Dealers – Neil Young and Niko Bolas, the album will be released on vinyl, CD, cassette, and digitally, including hi-res audio on Neil Young Archives (NYA). There will also be a deluxe edition that will include the LP, CD, and Blu-ray film.
The film of the same title – BARN captures this legendary band in their element – in the wild, their easy humor, their brotherhood, their humanity, and of course, the music, live, recorded in their unique spontaneous way. A Blu-ray of the film directed by Daryl Hannah, will be available as a stand-alone release.
BARN Tracklisting:
1. Song of the Seasons
2. Heading West
3. Change Ain’t Never Gonna
4. Canerican
5. Shape of You
6. They Might Be Lost
7. Human Race
8. Tumblin’ Thru the Years
9. Welcome Back
10. Don’t Forget Love
The official trailer for The Beatles’ “GetBack” is here! The Disney+ original docuseries, directed by Peter Jackson, will be arriving on Disney+ just in time for the Thanksgiving holiday. Made entirely from never-before-seen, restored footage, it provides the most intimate and honest glimpse into the creative process and relationship between John, Paul, George, and Ringo ever filmed. Be sure to check them both out, and don’t forget to watch “The Beatles: Get Back” when it rolls out over three days, November 25, 26, and 27, 2021, exclusively on Disney+.
Directed by three-time Oscar®-winning filmmaker Peter Jackson (“The Lord of the Rings” trilogy, “They Shall Not Grow Old”), “The Beatles: Get Back” takes audiences back in time to the band’s January 1969 recording sessions, which became a pivotal moment in music history. The docuseries showcases The Beatles’ creative process as they attempt to write 14 new songs in preparation for their first live concert in over two years. Faced with a nearly impossible deadline, the strong bonds of friendship shared by John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr are put to the test. The docuseries is compiled from nearly 60 hours of unseen footage shot over 21 days, directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg in 1969, and from more than 150 hours of unheard audio, most of which has been locked in a vault for over half a century. Jackson is the only person in 50 years to have been given access to this Beatles treasure trove, all of which has now been brilliantly restored. What emerges is an unbelievably intimate portrait of The Beatles, showing how, with their backs against the wall, they could still rely on their friendship, good humor, and creative genius. While plans derail and relationships are put to the test, some of the world’s most iconic songs are composed and performed. The docuseries features – for the first time in its entirety – The Beatles’ last live performance as a group, the unforgettable rooftop concert on London’s Savile Row, as well as other songs and classic compositions featured on the band’s final two albums, Abbey Road and Let It Be.
“Now you’ve met The London Boys, things seem good again” & “New York’s A Go-Go” as the David Bowie Estate launches Bowie 75, a year-long celebration marking David Bowie’s 75th birthday, with the opening of two curated experiential pop-up shops—one at the site of the earliest confirmed Ziggy Stardust sighting, and one in the adopted hometown where Bowie’s final album ★ (pronounced “Blackstar”) was created.
For a very limited window previewing October 25, 2021, 75 days before the anniversary, through late January 2022, the Bowie 75 locations will be up and running at 14 Heddon Street — the London location where the cover of The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars was shot and 150 Wooster Street — steps away from Bowie’s long-time downtown New York City neighbourhood.
LONDON – 14 HEDDON STREET
Open Monday to Saturday 11am – 8pm, Sunday 12pm to 6pm
NEW YORK CITY – 150 WOOSTER STREET
Open seven days 11am – 7pm
The pop-ups will offer visitors a unique and immersive career-spanning deep dive into the sound and vision of David Bowie, with features including:
• Immersive audio and HD video screening rooms in partnership with 360 Reality Audio, an immersive music experience using Sony’s spatial sound technologies. With music in 360 Reality Audio, fans will be able to hear and see Bowie content available for the first time in immersive audio, exclusively in the Bowie 75 locations.
• Hours of video content including previously unseen behind-the-scenes material, rare footage from the Heathen and Reality eras, and more.
• Opportunities to purchase limited edition releases of exclusive Bowie apparel and collectibles, as well as limited run LPs and CDs from both the Warner/Parlophone Records and Sony catalogues.
• Exclusive fine art photography including gallery installations documenting Bowie’s many iconic eras, personae, and Ch-changes.
• Intimate special guest events to be announced.
• Fans can place themselves in iconic costumes and set pieces to create fun and shareable social media moments.
• And more— For store hours, events calendars and other announcements and information, sign up and stay tuned to www.bowie75.com
In a sector soaring with growth, Canadian entrepreneur Michael Edwards is proof positive intergenerational insight on business positioning can pivot it for rapid expansion.
As co-founder and CEO of bespoke lifestyle brand, Wyndon, the Toronto-based e-commerce visionary and philanthropist has spent recent years single-handedly expanding his mother, Judy Doman’s legacy brick-and-mortar linens business, BedBoutique, online.
“My mother was always a one-woman show, with her efforts unnoticed most of the time,” Edwards shares. “She started in 1990 by manufacturing and selling comforters at major intersections — all from a sewing machine in the back of her van.”
Having eventually established 15 retail locations, ultimately, Edwards reveals, the rise of e-commerce deflated the regional mainstay. “BedBoutique had moved to one flagship, and this was where I saw an area where I could really be of help,” he says of the burgeoning online opportunity.
Bed sheets are no longer utilitarian, and now serve as status symbols in the realms of self-care and personal aesthetics. And with relative industry newcomers like Parachute and Brooklinen on the tips of tongues across social media, Edwards knew there was room in this disrupting global market — one that’s expected to hit $142.8 billion USD by 2027 — for his mother’s signature craftsmanship.
Shoppers agree; having amassed more than $1.5 million in sales over the past 12 months alone, Wyndon is at the forefront of pushing age-old boundaries around wellness and relaxation through high-quality linens and home goods.
“The COVID-19 global health pandemic also helped us recognize that bedsheets are not only for comfort and style, but also for improving personal hygiene and countering the spread of bacteria,” Edwards says. “It has been an honour to see our products serving such a vital purpose during these unprecedented times.”
Having started Wyndon in 2018, Michael Edwards credits a breadth of varied business experience, alongside an innate aptitude to sense trends, pivot when necessary, and trust getting back to the basics, as his recipe for success.
A long-time entrepreneur, he cites his 11th birthday gift — a pair of turntables — as his official start. “That year, I earned $200 for producing my elementary school’s senior cheerleading mix,” he grins. “By 14, I was booking various prom and private events; by 18, I co-founded Dub1six Records; while in school, I started an event company, Click Concerts; at 26, I was a shareholder in the San Francisco-based boutique music company, Firstquake Entertainment.”
He also co-founded the Canadian non-profit, HomeGrown International, in 2015 at age 22, receiving public endorsement from the Consulate Generals of Jamaica, Trinidad & Tobago, Barbados, Grenada, St. Vincent, and St. Lucia.
Along the way, however, there was both a life-threatening hurdle, and a life-lesson experience he had to overcome. “I was in a car accident at age 19,” he recalls. “I was air-lifted to the trauma unit without vital signs at the time.
“I had also accumulated a series of debts with respect to my previous business,” he continues. “On the one hand, this backed me into a corner, but on the other, it became a turning point. My career had been a collection of unusual and interesting experiences thus far, and that pause in momentum made me realize that, while I was off trying different things, this beautiful bedding business was in front of me all along.”
There’s one more, very important element intrinsic to Edwards’ inspiration and success: his mother. “She was the youngest of seven kids, and used to sell vegetables on the side of the road in Trinidad & Tobago to help combat her family’s poverty,” he shares. “She would often go days without food before she immigrated to Canada in 1988. My mother was a frequent business builder herself, and also the first person in her house to ever attend college.
“Working with mum has been a rollercoaster,” Edwards reveals. “At times, it’s hard to tell whether I’m her son or her employee, but even those funny moments have taught me a lot. She is a walking inspiration. Continuing her legacy while building my own feels like the ultimate efficiency because every kid wants to make their parents proud. I get to pave the way and steer the ship, while making her smile. It seems the more I’m able to take on each year, the less she has to carry, and the bigger that smile gets.”
With each song a piece of art unto itself, J-Pop indie sensation Shihori’s aptly titled new album, Mutation cleverly surmises her uncanny ability to fuse her eclecticism in music into a fluid think piece.
At 15-tracks strong, and available now, the dynamic debut LP features new single, “Under the Skin.” With her exquisite vocals clear, pristine, and with a touch of lilt that lands like the beauty of precious glass, Shihori shines on the track — its layered harmonies creating mesmerizing, siren-esque hooks that grab you from inside and refuse to let you go.
Weaving intricate melodies with pop culture edge, Shihori fluently mashes the harmonies with exciting instrumentation. Where she excels is her ability to lure you in and captivate you long enough to keep you around till the next track.
For example, among some of Mutation’s previously released breakthroughs “Perfect Imperfection,” “Jungle (Cyber Mix),” and “I Cover You” lays “Fire” — a song that breaks boundaries and incinerates all previous notions of what pop could do, be, think, or feel. Stomping its industrial beat over exciting rushing vocals, it mingles with effects, stripping back to raw and vulnerable, and challenges you to try and sit still. On “Fire,” Shihori dances between big ballad belts to spoken word, rap lyrics — a trick she executes flawlessly, both on the song and in its high voltage music video.
Hailing from Japan, Shihori’s venture into creating and developing music has been a precarious life-long process — and one that worked as an ability to relate to the world around her in a way she’d never understood prior.
Born deaf in her left ear, Shihori was also diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome (part of the Autistic Spectrum) at a young age. Seemingly trapped in her “isolation,” Shihori found the ability to break into her place in the world during a chance karaoke encounter with a group of school children. Her natural ability to perform would become the key that would unlock her.
And from that point forward, Shihori was destined for a life of music.
“I have rather considered my deafness as a ‘gift’, and the other ear is a ‘gift,’ as well, because my right ear has a perfect pitch by nature,” Shihori says.
Motivated by her love of song, despite a lack of formal musical education, she would go on to compose, learn, and listen to a variety of artists, honing and developing her craft. Her direction was fueled by passion, and her music became the words she’d never known how to previously articulate.
She’d found her voice.
Inspired by the all the anime she watched, and the classical works of Beethoven, whom she’d begun to learn as she began taking piano lessons, Shihori says these “unlikely bedfellows of vibrant pop and art music from the classical and romantic periods would come to shape the foundation of the music” she creates today.
Ultimately, Shihori would both move to Tokyo and sign with Lantis record label in 2007, going on to score her first Top 5 chart success with the single, “Never End Wonderland”. Her experiences living in the city, being a part of the new environment, and finding recognition in others who also struggled to discover their own identities shaped Shihori as songwriter, and a champion for acceptance of oneself. “As I was meeting new people and singing in new environments, my writing changed because I began to truly see the world and the hurt that is out there,” she says. “I felt the struggle.”
The young songwriter found herself with a higher purpose and a stronger calling: to provide words of love, support, and self-acceptance. “Why do I have to change my shape to be the same as everyone else? What’s wrong with looking different from others? I am not miserable!! I like how I was born!”
Her commitment to her creativity as an authentic storyteller coupled with the message on her heart granted Shihori a conglomerate of opportunities in the world of anime — including a commission to bring her songwriting abilities and talents to high-profile series such as Fairy Tale and The Irregular Magic at Highschool.
Shihori has also enjoyed international success performing lead vocals on composer Mason Lieberman’s charity single, “The Real Folk Blues,” which reached #6 on the Billboard World Digital Chart, as well as composing and performing the ‘Battle Queens’ theme song for the video game League Of Legends, which is closing in on 1 million Spotify streams.
These fruitful opportunities also land among some of Shirohi’s other major accomplishments in the industry, having collaborated with Kohei Tanaka (ONE PIECE) and Yoko Kanno (Ghost In The Shell). To date, Shihori has found incredible success on the Japanese song charts, with nearly a dozen of her songs selling more than 100,000 units each, achieving Gold-selling status in her home country.
“I have the desire to become one of the new role models of Asian women, to empower all the races, although not by being a stereotypical ‘cool Asian woman’ but more as being a super ‘Shihori,’” she shares. “I feel like I was destined to be here at this point in time, and to be involved in American society through my musical activity.”
In 2018, she would make the bold leap of faith to cross-over into the United States in an effort to pursue her musical journey. Her time in the US would primarily focus on a new creative process — developing her songwriting in English, in addition to touring across the country.
In Mutation, Shihori explores the struggle to evolve herself into her American version of Shihori through New York’s concrete jungles, and takes her music, melodies, and message to heights not yet discovered by the rest of the J-pop industry; she’s carving a path all her own. “Mutation is very diverse, and the songs showcase how I’ve mutated since I moved to the US in 2018,” Shihori reveals, adding, “Through those experiences [in life], ‘love who you are’ became the core message of my music…
“And now, I think America needs this message too,” she continues. “What does it matter if your skin color is white or black? What matters more is what your SOUL looks like.”
Get ready to shapeshift with an album that could be pop. It could be J-pop. It could be electronica, dance, world music, or, at the end of the day, is genuinely the Mutation of an artist who knows the only constant in music is change.
And she’s developing that change through a sound you can’t possibly understand to hear, until you dare to hear her lay it all on the song.
