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Fred Again.. and Thomas Bangalter’s Historic Alexandra Palace Set Premieres on YouTube Tomorrow

Eric Alper
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Fred Again.. and Thomas Bangalter’s Historic Alexandra Palace Set Premieres on YouTube Tomorrow

Fred Again.. closed out one of the most ambitious live campaigns in recent electronic music history, and now the world gets to see exactly how it ended. The full recording of his final USB002 show at London’s Alexandra Palace premieres on YouTube tomorrow at 5pm UK, 1pm NYC, and 10am LA, and it features something almost nobody expected: Thomas Bangalter of Daft Punk playing back-to-back with Fred to close the night, only his second live appearance in nearly 20 years.

The USB002 run was a genuinely remarkable undertaking. Ten shows, ten cities, ten weeks, wrapping with residencies in New York and London at the end of 2025. Each show brought a staggering lineup of collaborators to the stage. The Alexandra Palace closing night alone featured Benga, Berwyn, Blanco, CA7RIEL and Paco Amoroso, Coki, D Double E, Durrty Goodz, Ezra Collective, Flowdan, Hamdi, Kano, Jamie T, JME, JOY Anonymous, La Roux, Mala, MPH, Nia Archives, Oppidan, Romy, The Streets, Skream, and Underworld. That is not a guest list. That is a festival.

The Bangalter appearance is the centerpiece. One of electronic music’s most legendary figures, largely absent from live performance for the better part of two decades, stepping back onto a stage to close out a show with one of the most vital artists working in the genre right now. The significance of that moment is hard to overstate.

The full set streams tomorrow.


French-New Zealand Singer-Songwriter Max Allais Arrives With Debut EP ‘ANYWHERE & EVERYWHERE’ Out Now

Eric Alper
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French-New Zealand Singer-Songwriter Max Allais Arrives With Debut EP ‘ANYWHERE & EVERYWHERE’ Out Now

Max Allais has been building toward this moment for a while now. The French-New Zealand singer-songwriter releases his debut EP, ‘ANYWHERE & EVERYWHERE,’ today via Real Thing Records, Better Now Records, and Universal Music Group Germany, a six-track acoustic-driven pop collection that introduces one of the more compelling new voices to emerge from the online generation of singer-songwriters.

The EP draws on coming-of-age themes, longing, heartbreak, and closeness, anchored by radio hits “Wherever You Go” and “Everywhere” alongside new single “Close To You,” a guitar ballad about wanting to freeze a perfect moment in time. Allais describes it as “being there with someone, letting the world pause, and taking it all in together.” It is warm, unhurried, and genuinely affecting, the kind of song that earns its emotion rather than performing it.

Allais brings real credibility to this release. He has built a global following exceeding 4 million across platforms, earned that audience through consistent, quality songwriting, and is wrapping up a UK and European tour alongside British singer-songwriter Calum Bowie. “I’m super proud of this project,” he says. “It’s the first time I’ve been able to bring together a body of work that reflects so many sides of love and connection.”

‘ANYWHERE & EVERYWHERE’ is a confident, cohesive debut that signals an artist who knows what he wants to say and how to say it. Stream it now.

‘ANYWHERE & EVERYWHERE’ Track List:

  1. “Wherever You Go”
  2. “Everywhere”
  3. “Close To You”

Ax and the Hatchetmen Expand Their Debut With ‘So Much to Tell You (Deluxe)’ and New Video for “Cheesecake”

Eric Alper
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Ax and the Hatchetmen Expand Their Debut With ‘So Much to Tell You (Deluxe)’ and New Video for “Cheesecake”

Chicago’s Ax and the Hatchetmen have expanded their debut record today with ‘So Much to Tell You (Deluxe),’ out now via Arista Records, adding three new tracks to the original LP and dropping an official video for the New York City-inspired single “Cheesecake.” The deluxe edition rounds out a project that Atwood Magazine called “a dynamic, exhilarating debut LP” and closes the chapter on the band’s first full-length statement.

The three new additions each carry their own weight. “French Press” is a song about appreciating love before it disappears, driven by urgency and genuine emotional honesty. Frontman Axel Ellis puts it plainly: “Getting ghosted is never fun. All you want is to figure it out and talk but that’s exactly what you can’t do.” “Belt Loops” is a cover of producer Jake Sinclair’s early 2000s band The Films, reimagined with a horn section. Both tracks, along with “Cheesecake,” were recorded at Memphis Magnetic Recording in Tennessee.

“Cheesecake” is the deluxe edition’s centerpiece video, a woozy, jangly, brass-laced track backed by full-band handclaps and Beach Boys-style harmonies. It guest stars Axel’s own father, offering a glimpse into the future with a knowing wink. The original LP already boasts serious pedigree, produced by Jake Sinclair and featuring Albert Hammond Jr. of The Strokes on “Blurry Lights” and a long-lost Rivers Cuomo demo woven into the sunny “7×9.”

The band has a strong run of live dates ahead, including two hometown nights at The Salt Shed supporting Royel Otis in July, a slot at Milwaukee’s Summerfest, a New York appearance at BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn, and a September date at Red Rocks Amphitheatre supporting The Revivalists. These are not small rooms for a band still on their debut record.

‘So Much to Tell You (Deluxe)’ Track List:

  1. “Red Carpet”
  2. “Flagstaff”
  3. “Love Songs”
  4. “7×9”
  5. “Lucy”
  6. “Oasis”
  7. “Blurry Lights”
  8. “Hotel Room”
  9. “Model Citizen”
  10. “Sunscreen”
  11. “Stay // Honestly”
  12. “New Years”
  13. “French Press”
  14. “Belt Loops”
  15. “Cheesecake”

Ax and the Hatchetmen Live Dates:

Apr 02 – Sacramento, CA @ Sacramento State University

Apr 08 – West Lafayette, IN @ Loeb Playhouse

Jul 03 – Milwaukee, WI @ Summerfest

Jul 13 – Chicago, IL @ The Salt Shed *

Jul 14 – Chicago, IL @ The Salt Shed *

Jul 18 – New York, NY @ BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn *

Sep 25 – Morrison, CO @ Red Rocks Amphitheatre ^

  • supporting Royel Otis

^ supporting The Revivalists

Melanie Martinez Opens the Gates on 18-Track Album ‘HADES’ Out Now

Eric Alper
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Melanie Martinez Opens the Gates on 18-Track Album ‘HADES’ Out Now

Melanie Martinez has returned, and she brought the entire underworld with her. ‘HADES,’ her fourth studio album, is out now, an 18-track alternative pop record that documents a world already tipping into dystopia, filtered through the singular artistic vision that has made Martinez one of the most distinctive voices in modern music.

The album arrives with real momentum behind it. Lead single “POSSESSION,” her first release in three years, debuted with 2.7 million Spotify streams in its first 24 hours and has since surpassed 33 million global streams. Follow-up “DISNEY PRINCESS” has added another 11.1 million globally. The newest track, “UNCANNY VALLEY,” closes the creative loop on the album’s themes. Martinez wrote it last, and it may be the record’s sharpest statement, targeting how social media and AI have distorted our relationship with beauty and identity.

Martinez recently spoke with Ross Golan on And the Writer Is… and joined Justin Tranter’s Unfamous podcast alongside longtime collaborator and producer CJ Baran for a deep dive into the making of ‘HADES.’ On April 8, she celebrates the album with an exclusive evening at the GRAMMY Museum’s Clive Davis Theater in Los Angeles, featuring an in-depth conversation and a live mini performance in an intimate 200-seat setting. Tickets are available now.

The numbers behind Martinez speak to a fanbase that has grown with her across every project. Over 30 billion global streams, 5.54 billion official YouTube views, and 62.2 million followers across platforms. Her 2015 debut ‘CRY BABY’ logged 208 non-consecutive weeks on the Billboard 200. ‘K-12’ and ‘PORTALS’ both debuted Top 3 on that same chart, with all three albums hitting Number 1 on Billboard’s Alternative chart.

‘HADES’ is Martinez at her most urgent and unfiltered, an album she describes as a cracked mirror on the world we are already living in. It is essential listening.

‘HADES’ Track List:

  1. GARBAGE
  2. IS THIS A CULT?
  3. POSSESSION
  4. WHITE BOY WITH A GUN
  5. DISNEY PRINCESS
  6. GRUDGES
  7. MONOPOLY MAN
  8. AVOIDANT
  9. MONOLITH
  10. WEIGHT WATCHERS
  11. THE PLAGUE
  12. BATSHIT INTELLIGENCE
  13. GUTTER
  14. UNCANNY VALLEY
  15. THE VATICAN
  16. HELLS FRONT PORCH
  17. CHATROOM
  18. THE LAST TWO PEOPLE ON EARTH

The Crooked Skulls Bring Desert Heat and Doom-Soaked Riffs on Debut Album ‘Midnight Sun’

Eric Alper
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The Crooked Skulls Bring Desert Heat and Doom-Soaked Riffs on Debut Album ‘Midnight Sun’

The Crooked Skulls are not here to reinvent heavy rock. They are here to remind you why it matters. ‘Midnight Sun’ is out now on Electric Desert Records, a full-length desert rock slab from the New Jersey three-piece that hits with the kind of riff-first authority that fans of Orange Goblin, Fu Manchu, and Weedeater will recognize immediately.

Pete Koretzky handles guitar and vocals through a Gibson and Hiwatt and Orange amp setup that roars with genuine tonnage. His credentials run deep, including previous collaboration with Bob Balch of Fu Manchu and a recorded solo on Valley of the Sun’s 2023 track “Where’s This Place?” Chuck Snyder anchors the band with thunderous precision behind his Tama kit, channeling Ginger Baker and John Bonham without apology. Dave Van Auken drives the low end through Aguilar and Darkglass gear, pulling from Crowbar and ZZ Top while locking tight with Snyder and sharing vocal duties.

‘Midnight Sun’ was recorded with John Naclerio at Nada Recording Studio and mastered by Kent Stump at Crystal Clear Studios. The result is an album that hits hard while keeping its raw edge fully intact. Lyrically, the record covers endurance, reflection, and personal reckoning, honest and unfiltered throughout.

The album is a strong, confident statement from a band operating on chemistry and conviction. The riffs are enormous, the groove never lets up, and the whole thing lands with the kind of weight that sticks.

Megan Thee Stallion and Nickelback Team Up for the Most Unhinged Cheetos Video You’ll See This Year

Eric Alper
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Megan Thee Stallion and Nickelback Team Up for the Most Unhinged Cheetos Video You’ll See This Year

The crossover nobody saw coming just dropped. Megan Thee Stallion and Nickelback have linked up for “Pickle’s Back,” an official music video built around Cheetos Flamin’ Hot Dill Pickle, and it is exactly as chaotic and committed as that sentence sounds. The video tells what it calls “thee incredible almost true story” of how Megan got her Cheetos back, and the result is the kind of branded content that actually delivers.






Ingrid Andress Knows Your Move Before You Make It on New Song “Taillights”

Eric Alper
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Ingrid Andress Knows Your Move Before You Make It on New Song “Taillights”

Multi-Platinum singer-songwriter Ingrid Andress has a new song out today, and it arrives with the kind of earned confidence that only comes from lived experience. “Taillights” is out now, written by Andress and Lydia Sutherland alongside producer Paul DiGiovani, who also shares a production credit with Andress on the track. Listen here.

The song captures something specific and sharp: the moment you recognize a player’s moves because you’ve run them yourself. Andress puts it plainly: “‘Taillights’ is a song I wrote about the fact that you kind of see a one-night stand coming when you yourself have had plenty. Essentially this is game recognizing game and saying you can’t trick a trickster.” That self-awareness gives the track genuine weight. It lands with wit and emotional precision, a standout addition to an already formidable catalog.

“Taillights” follows “Now I Know,” released earlier this year and co-written with longtime collaborators Derrick Southerland and Sam Ellis, the same team behind her Multi-Platinum No. 1 debut single “More Hearts Than Mine.” Both tracks are pointing toward Andress’s third studio album, the follow-up to ‘Good Person’ and her landmark debut ‘Lady Like.’

Those records set the bar high. ‘Lady Like’ broke the record as the highest-streaming country female debut album of all time, earned GRAMMY nominations for Best Country Album, Best Country Song, and Best New Artist, making Andress the only country artist nominated in a Big Four category that year. ‘Good Person’ landed on Rolling Stone’s 100 Best Albums of the Year and produced the GRAMMY-nominated, Platinum No. 1 “Wishful Drinking (with Sam Hunt).”

Andress also has her “Low-Key Sessions” tour on the way, a six-city intimate run she curated directly from fan submissions on social media. The stripped-down shows will feature unreleased music and a scaled-back production format. Tickets are on sale now at ingridandress.com/tour.

Low-Key Sessions Tour:

5/8 – Newport, KY – The Southgate House Revival – Sanctuary

5/9 – Grand Rapids, MI – The Stache

5/10 – Indianapolis, IN – HI-FI Indy

5/13 – Omaha, NE – Slowdown

5/14 – Des Moines, IA – xbk

5/15 – Minneapolis, MN – 7th St. Entry

Mike Vernon, Producer Who Helped Define the British Blues Boom, Dead at 81

Eric Alper
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Mike Vernon, Producer Who Helped Define the British Blues Boom, Dead at 81

Mike Vernon, the English record producer, label founder, and studio owner whose instincts and dedication to raw, live-sounding recordings helped shape the British blues boom of the 1960s, died on March 2 at his home in Andalucía, Spain. He was 81. His daughter Alexis confirmed the news.

Vernon’s fingerprints are on some of the most important recordings in British rock history. His production of John Mayall’s ‘Blues Breakers with Eric Clapton’ in 1966 captured Clapton’s searing Les Paul tone in a way that changed everything, and is still considered one of the defining moments in British guitar music. The following year, Mayall’s ‘A Hard Road’ introduced Clapton’s replacement, Peter Green, to the world. When Green left to form Fleetwood Mac, he specifically asked Vernon to produce them because he valued what Vernon called “the earthy, homely feel” of his recordings. The resulting work, including the self-titled debut, ‘Mr. Wonderful’, ‘English Rose’, and the UK chart-topping instrumental “Albatross,” forms one of the most celebrated runs in blues-rock history.

Vernon also oversaw David Bowie’s 1967 self-titled debut and its follow-up single “Love You Till Tuesday,” and went on to produce Ten Years After, Robben Ford, and Climax Blues Band, alongside studio sessions with blues legends Freddie King, Otis Spann, and Champion Jack Dupree. In the mid-1960s, he and his brother Richard founded Blue Horizon Records, initially to reissue obscure American blues recordings in the UK, and later to champion a new generation of British blues artists. In 1971, the brothers opened Chipping Norton Recording Studios in Oxfordshire, which produced Gerry Rafferty’s platinum-selling ‘City to City’, debut albums by Duran Duran and Radiohead, and early records by Level 42.

My SiriusXM Show This Week

Eric Alper
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My SiriusXM Show This Week

My SiriusXM show: Interviews with Rik Emmett of Triumph (tour in 2026!); the amazing rock band Lit; Deirdre O’Callaghan, the brilliant photographer and author of The Drum Thing; country star Spencer Hatcher! Sat 8am + 2pm + 7pm, Sun 12pm, Wed 2pm + 7pm, Channel 167 + On Demand any time on the SiriusXM app.

An Ad From 1976 Encouraging Fans To Name The New Toronto Baseball Team

Eric Alper
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An Ad From 1976 Encouraging Fans To Name The New Toronto Baseball Team
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That Eric Alper

Eric Alper is a 6-time nominee for Publicist of the Year during Canadian Music Week and has overseen the publicity campaigns for over 183 JUNO Award-nominated albums (and 16 in 2025), 45 Grammy-nominated albums, including 47 JUNO Award, 58 Canadian Folk Music Award, 126 Maple Blues Award-winning albums and is also truly honoured to work with some of the biggest and most important artists of our time.

Contact me: eric@thatericalper.com

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