This Week In Music - Daft Punk Retires, New Green Day, New HAIM & Taylor Swift, New Ariana Grande, New Kevin Gates, New Chevelle, Nathaniel Rateliff Crushed SNL, And Some New Playlists
Back with another week in all things new music.
To start we have a new featured playlist for the week made up of all random cover songs-
And my updated New Shit Playlist. Give this a follow on Spotify or Apple Music to stay up to date automatically-
Here's what happened this past week in music, genre by genre-
POP
- Olivia Rodrigo’s “Drivers License” topped the Billboard Hot 100 for the fifth week straight. This is getting out of hand. "Drivers License" isn’t slowing down!
- Ariana Grande dropped the deluxe edition of Positions. The deluxe version features all 14 original tracks, plus the recently released "34+35" remix featuring Megan Thee Stallion and Doja Cat. Grande also added four previously unreleased songs, "Someone Like U (Interlude)," "Test Drive," "Worst Behavior" and "Main Thing."
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- HAIM dropped two new remixes. A fire remix of “Gasoline” featuring Taylor Swift
And a new version of "3 AM" featuring Thundercat
- Lizzo's girl, Dizzy Fae dropped a new song “360 Baby” and it's catchy as hell. Plan on catching this one on the radio soon
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- Charli XCX protégé ELIO has teamed with her mentor for a remix of “CHARGER”
EDM
- Daft Punk announced they were "calling it quits" today in an 8-minute video they released that feels more like a PR stunt than a retirement announcement.
Our boys Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo dropped the 8-minute video called "Epilogue" … which features an excerpt from their 2006 film, "Electroma" for the first five or so minutes.
The reason I call bullshit on the two "splitting" or quitting is because these videos were "leaked" way back in 2014 and nobody had any fucking clue what they were-
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Was this all planned out 6 years ago? Or did they find a way to craft some really ambiguous footage into a narrative to help frame their next itteration? Guess we'll see.
But another reason I don't but it is because they've been best buds since 1987. They met at school in Paris and formed an indie rock band called "Darlin".
A negative review which trashed "Darlin" as "daft punky trash" gave the pair the name for their new group- "Daft Punk".
They released their first single, "The New Wave" in 1994
With their landmark debut album, Homework, being released 3 years later in 1997. The album featured the hit #1 single "Around The World"
The duo was helmetless at this time. (For a dozen or so pics check out this link)
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Four years later in 2001, they released their sophomore album, Discovery, where they had adopted their mythical robot costumes and helmet personas. Discovery was a commercial and critical smash success. It featured hit singles “One More Time”, “Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger”, and “Face to Face”-
The duo put out their third studio album, Human After All, in 2007. They also embarked on their first world tour in 10 years, “Alive”, which saw them perform from within a giant pyramid structure. At the time it was visually groundbreaking.
A live album capturing the tour, Alive 2007, later won the Grammy for Best Electronic/Dance Album.
In 2010, the duo scored Disney’s Tron: Legacy, and they also made a cameo in the film.
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2013 saw the duo release their fourth and final studio album, Random Access Memories. The album saw them opt for a more organic, disco-inspired sound, Bangalter and Homem-Christo recorded the album using drum machines, custom-built modular synthesizer, and vintage vocoders. They were joined in the studio by a powerhouse of guest contributors, including legends Nile Rodgers, Giorgio Moroder, Julian Casablancas, Paul Williams, and Pharrell Williams.
Since Random Access Memories the duo has been collaborating with The Weeknd, lending him some gem instrumentals for his Starboy album: “Starboy” and “I Feel It Coming”.
They've also been contracted to score Dario Argento's upcoming film, and Disney's upcoming Tron movie.
They have continued to change the sound of electronic music for 30 years now. Everything they do sonically somehow manages to balance the line between sounding familiar and pushing the envelope. They're pioneers who continue to innovate.
I dropped a blog celebrating their leaked set from Lollapalooza a few weeks ago that includes one of their best sets of all time.
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- Sultan + Shepard released the third single off their upcoming album, “nCTRL”
- GRiZ dropped his first release of 2021, “Vibe Check”
- John Summit dropped a remix of Gorgon City and DRAMA’s “You’ve Done Enough.”
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- A-Trak and Friend Within released “Know Each Other” and this one goes-
ROCK
- Green Day premiered a new single, “Here Comes the Shock” during the NHL's Outdoors game at Lake Tahoe yesterday.
- Chevelle has a new album coming, NIRATIAS, and it arrives on March 5th. They dropped the first single “Remember When”-
- The National’s Matt Berninger shared a new song “Let It Be” which is one of six bonus songs included on the deluxe edition of Serpentine Prison
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- Andrew W.K. returned with his first new single in three years, “Babalon”
- Crowded House have returned with news of their first album in over a decade, Dreamers Are Waiting. The record is due out later this year, but the Australian rockers are giving fans a taste with a new song called “To The Island”
RAP
- Kevin Gates surprise released his new mixtape Only The Generals Part II
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- Bobby Shmurda gets released from NY state prison tomorrow…
And Quavo is going to pick him up.
In 2016, on the eve of his trial, Shmurda pleaded guilty to one count of third-degree conspiracy and one count of weapons possession, and was sentenced to seven years in prison. Under the terms of the deal, Shmurda was credited with two years time served.
Following his conditional release on Tuesday, Shmurda will be on parole until 2026.
Shmurda signaled his impending release early Monday by posting a clip from Christopher Walken’s 1990 neo-noir crime thriller King of New York. “How the fuc y’all forget about me” reads the accompanying caption.
(How are people in prison allowed to use social media? This had to be one of his guys right?)
COUNTRY
- Nathaniel Rateliff made his Saturday Night Live debut alongside his band the "Night Sweats".
For his first performance, the folk singer-songwriter treated viewers to his recent song "Redemption," a stirring ballad about being freed from one's past. The moving track was written for Justin Timberlake's latest film, Palmer, which premiered on Apple TV+ in January.
For his second performance, the Denver-based artist sat behind the keys for a rousing rendition of the R&B-tinged song "A Little Honey," from his 2018 album with the Night Sweats, Tearing at the Seams.
- RVSHVD (pronounced Rashad) hit #1 on iTunes Country charts with "Raised Up." Hails from south Georgia and grinding his way into the scene.
- Carly Pierce released "29", the title track to her EP. A personal album reflecting on her 2020 divorce to Michael Ray, and 2019 loss of her friend and producer busbee. "29" is well written juxtaposing what society says you should be doing at that age vs. what actually happens. EP features a lot of dobro and fiddle… don't sleep on either.
- "Black Myself" by Our Native Daughters earned a 2020 Grammy for Best American Roots Song. Amethyst Kiah released a solo version featuring a more of a rock sound. It bangs.
h/t Augie