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Watch Moses Sumney and Halsey in First MaXXXine Trailer
Ti West’s upcoming A24-distributed horror film, MaXXXine, has a new trailer. The movie, which takes place in Hollywood in the 1980s, is the third installment of West’s X franchise, which kicked off with 2022’s X and its prequel, Pearl, released the same year. Soundtracked by Laura Branigan’s 1984 single “Self Control,” the trailer features Mia Goth, Kevin Bacon, Elizabeth Debicki, and Giancarlo Esposito, plus musicians Moses Sumney and Halsey. Check out the trailer for MaXXXine, which arrives in theaters on July 5, below.
J. Cole, at Dreamville Festival, Calls Kendrick Lamar Diss Track “the Lamest Shit I Ever Did in My Fucking Life”
J. Cole headlined his annual Dreamville Festival last night (April 7) at Dorothea Dix Park. The performance happened just days after Cole dissed Kendrick Lamar on the new song “7 Minute Drill,” and Cole took time during his set to address the track, explaining that he felt conflicted about making and releasing it.
Missy Elliott Announces First-Ever Tour of North America
Missy Elliott will embark on her first-ever headline tour this summer, enlisting Ciara, Busta Rhymes, and Timbaland for an opening slate of two dozen dates across North America. Dubbed Out of This World — The Missy Elliott Experience, the tour kicks off on July 4 in Vancouver and wraps August 22 in Rosemont, Illinois. Check out the dates below, and find the announcement video on Instagram.
Chappell Roan, Charli XCX, and More: This Week’s Pitchfork Selects Playlist
The staff of Pitchfork listens to a lot of new music. A lot of it. On any given day our writers, editors, and contributors go through an imposing number of new releases, giving recommendations to each other and discovering new favorites along the way. Each Monday, with our Pitchfork Selects playlist, we’re sharing what our writers are playing obsessively and highlighting some of the Pitchfork staff’s favorite new music. The playlist is a grab-bag of tracks: Its only guiding principle is that these are the songs you’d gladly send to a friend.
The Sunset Violent
Mount Kimbie are once again seeking transformation. Over the past 15 years, the UK duo of Dominic Maker and Kai Campos have swerved from post-dubstep to post-punk, techno to R&B, ambient garage to lo-fi pop, releasing DJ mixes and double albums, collaborating with James Blake and Jay-Z and King Krule and Travis Scott. Now they’re back with something slightly different: a gritty, shoegazy, post-rock album called The Sunset Violent. With help from new bandmembers Andrea Balency-Béarn and Marc Pell, Mount Kimbie dust off their guitars and turn up their distortion, hoping to become Stereolab for a new generation, an electro-rock outfit whose work is as familiar as it is obscure.
Delight
What does yearning sound like? A composer versed in Hindustani classical music might reach for Raga Bageshri, a melodic framework meant to stir longing for reunion with one’s lover. Bageshri dictates the melody of a slew of romantic film soundtracks, including “Aaja Re Pardesi,” theme to the mystical meet-cute amid the misty pines of northern India that opens the 1958 film Madhumati. Just like that film’s protagonist, electronic musician and vocalist Arushi Jain turned to Bageshri in a landscape filled with wildlife, using the raga to compose the nine tracks on her latest record in a makeshift studio on the shores of Long Island. What Jain yearns for on this record, however, is not a lover but an emotion. On Delight, Jain grasps for a joy that lies tantalizingly out of reach, bringing melodies informed by Raga Bageshri into dazzling contact with modular synthesis and digital manipulation.
All Quiet on the Eastern Esplanade
In Carol Reed’s classic film The Third Man, Orson Welles’ slippery anti-hero Harry Lime justifies his descent into criminality by comparing the cultural output of Renaissance Italy during the turbulent rule of the Borgia family with that of Switzerland. The Swiss, he concludes, “had brotherly love and they had 500 years of democracy and peace. And what did that produce? The cuckoo clock.” It is a reference that the Libertines, with their love of fading Albion, would surely appreciate, though perhaps not when directed at All Quiet on the Eastern Esplanade, their second album since reforming in 2010.
Beyoncé Earns Eighth No. 1 Album With Cowboy Carter
Beyoncé has topped the Billboard charts once again. Cowboy Carter debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, marking the biggest sales for an album so far in 2024, and No. 1 on the Top Country Albums chart, making Beyoncé the first Black woman ever to debut at the summit, reports Billboard. This is the eighth time Beyoncé’s had a solo album reach No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart.
Raye Performs “Escapism” and “Worth It” on Saturday Night Live: Watch
Raye was the musical guest on last night’s episode of Saturday Night Live, hosted by freshly robed five-timer Kristen Wiig. For her musical performances, Raye sang ornate, orchestral versions “Escapism” and “Worth It,” from her debut album, My 21st Century Blues. Watch her performances, and her SNL promo video with Kristen Wiig and Bowen Yang, below.
CrazySexyCool
The original concept for CrazySexyCool was simple: Women contain multitudes. The title, an amalgamation of their personalities, was a way to subvert the public’s perception of each member: Tionne “T-Boz” Watkins as the “cool” one, Rozonda “Chilli” Thomas as the “sexy” seducer, and Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes herself supposedly “crazy.” She figured, rightfully, that each of them was all of those things at once. Straightforward enough—and yet some of the album’s male producers initially missed the point about the self as a many-layered construct. “They’d do a crazy song for me, a sexy song for Chilli, and a cool song for Tionne,” Left Eye told Vibe in 1994. “We had to explain that CrazySexyCool doesn’t just describe us individually. It describes all the parts of every woman.”
Erbil
It’s been a turbulent few years for dabke-techno king Omar Souleyman. In 2021 the Syrian singer was arrested in Urfa, the city in southeastern Turkey where he had been living and running a bakery since escaping Syria’s civil war in 2011. Accused of being a member of the Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) militia, which authorities in Ankara consider a terrorist organization and an extension of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), Souleyman was held for a little over 24 hours before being released without charges.
Pharrell Williams Quietly Releases New Album Black Yacht Rock, Vol. 1: City of Limitless Access
It looks like Pharrell Williams has released a new album on the occasion of his 51st birthday. The 10-song release is available exclusively on BlackYachtRock.com. It’s unclear who worked on the album, but Williams’ voice is prominent throughout. It’s also not even clear what the album is called, but the cover artwork (below) suggests that it’s titled Black Yacht Rock, Vol. 1: City of Limitless Access. And maybe that it’s by a group called Virginia. In any case, head to the website to find the album.
Dolly Parton Covers Tom Petty’s “Southern Accents”: Watch
Dolly Parton has released a new cover of Tom Petty’s 1985 song “Southern Accents.” It’ll appear on the forthcoming compilation Petty Country: A Country Music Celebration of Tom Petty. Watch Parton’s new “Southern Accents” music video, directed by Trey Fanjoy, below. “I was...
Listen to Chappell Roan’s New Song “Good Luck, Babe!”
Chappell Roan has shared a brand new single following her 2023 debut LP The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess. The track is called “Good Luck, Babe!” and you can hear it below via Amusement/Island. “I needed to write a song about a common situationship within queer...
There’s Nothing Wrong With Love
Built to Spill have announced a tour celebrating the 30th anniversary of their 1994 LP There’s Nothing Wrong With Love. The band will perform the album in its entirety each night during a slate of concerts across North America. Built to Spill will commence the trek on August 9 in Boise, and stop over in Portland, Seattle, Milwaukee, Chicago, Cincinnati, Detroit, Boston, Atlanta, Omaha, Denver, and many more cities before their closeout show in Sacramento on September 29. Find their full schedule below.
A Guide to Solar Eclipse 2024 Concerts and Festivals
On Monday, April 8, 2024, North America will witness its first total solar eclipse in seven years, reminding us, once again, that, despite our cosmic tininess, the universe does like to put on a show for us. Following suit this year are a handful of festivals, sound baths, and other musical events, including an Arkansas indie extravaganza in Hot Springs National Park, an interstellar rave in rural Texas, and a Vampire Weekend show in Austin with complimentary eclipse glasses. Laraaji will be in his element, too, hosting a starbound day of healing and wellness in New York, with bonfire drumming to dance away your post-eclipse comedown. Scroll through for a selection of the country’s finest celestial treats.
Doja Cat Shares Songs With A$AP Rocky and Teezo Touchdown on New Scarlet 2 Claude Deluxe Album: Listen
Doja Cat has released the deluxe edition of her latest album, Scarlet. The new release, titled Scarlet 2 Claude, includes collaborations with A$AP Rocky and Teezo Touchdown. Find the new album, as well as the music video for Doja Cat’s new song with Teezo Touchdown, “Masc,” below.
Omar Apollo Shares Video for New Song “Spite”: Watch
Last month, Omar Apollo teased a new album, writing on social media, “LP2 💽.” The Warner Records artist has now shared a new song, “Spite.” The track arrives with a music video that director David Heofs shot in Mexico City. Watch it below. Blake Slatkin...
Orville Peck Announces Tour, Shares New Video With Willie Nelson: Watch
Orville Peck is now a Warner Records artist, and he’s shared his first single for the label: a cover of Ned Sublette’s “Cowboys Are Frequently Secretly Fond of Each Other.” Peck made his new song with Willie Nelson (who previously covered Sublette’s original in the 2000s). Watch the video for the collaboration below.
“7 Minute Drill”
Rap beef is just not for J. Cole. He doesn’t have the heart for the lying, disrespect, and animosity it requires to make an effective diss track. A memorable diss feels like the equivalent of someone getting their grave spit on. J. Cole’s are like your camp counselor pulling you to the side, putting their hand on your shoulder, and advising you to stop belly-flopping in the pool or else you might get hurt. That was made clear on “Snow on tha Bluff,” the time he finger-wagged at Noname for being mean and reading too many books. Now he’s back at it with “7 Minute Drill,” his response to Kendrick Lamar’s forgettable blitz on Cole and Drake’s status in rap culture. An already boring rap beef gets even more boring.
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