Alex Ian Smith, the primary force behind the New York-based project Railings, sounds nothing like Cobain, but his voice induces similarly vicarious listening. In " Breaking the Bong," the opening track of Railings' 2017 album, ) (, he darts from guttural highs to velvety lows and then breaks into an effortlessly clear falsetto. It warrants the most preposterous-sounding comparisons: Prince meets David Lee Roth; David Thomas with the lung capacity of Benny "The Voice" Mardones.
Angels exist, I swear! If you were at the sold out Austra show on Monday, you would have witnessed Portland-born, Berlin-based multidisciplinary artist Colin Self descending from the heavens to bless us mere mortals with their angelic vocals and cherub-like presence. If you're looking for something to believe in, believe in music-it's one of the very few things with ability to unite complete strangers in dialog, movement, and tears.
In recent years, Lennox says, she's also gotten sober and started dating with greater intention. Her third album, Vacancy, documents this sense of resolve. "There's a space, a void I would love for someone to fill," she said in a recent interview. "But the reality is people be in and out like a gosh darn hotel." It's the potency of that still-unrequited desire and her indefatigable drive to fulfill it that's at the emotional crux of the record.
ILLIT's Not Cute Anymore came out a couple of months ago. It's an incredibly impressive pop song. It has this kind of, like, light, lithe, rocksteady vibe to it. I also hear it as a little bit of a pointed rebuke to how a lot of girl groups are framed in K-pop. Innocent. Sweet. And maybe it's a bit of a broadside in the ongoing K-pop war between NewJeans and their parent label, Hybe.
Boston screamo/post-hardcore band The Saddest Landscape are back with their first new album in a decade. Alone With Heaven is due out April 24 via Iodine, and produced in part by the late Steve Albini, one of the last projects he worked on before his death in 2024. They also recorded it with Jack Shirley, and it features appearances from Touché Amoré's Jeremy Bolm, Into It. Over It.'s Evan Weiss, and Julien Baker. We have an exclusive "Where Angels Ascend" cloudy vinyl variant, limited to 100 copies. Pre-order yours in the BV shop.
As he prepares to release new album The Fall-Off next week, J. Cole has surprise released a new EP to celebrate his 41st birthday. Hosted by DJ Clue-the rap mixtape pioneer and Power 105.1 radio DJ- Birthday Blizzard '26 is for sale on a pay-what-you-want basis, as long as you want to pay at least $1. Find that here before the album arrives on February 6.
Jeff Hanna, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band founder and de facto leader, is tucked into a nondescript booth at El Palenque, a 30-years-plus local restaurant in a Nashville strip mall, talking about "Nashville Skyline," a pensive track from their EP, "Night After Night." The family-owned Mexican restaurant is the kind of place he's gravitated toward since starting a jug band with friends in Long Beach before migrating to Los Angeles' folk/rock scene.
The Recording Academy has announced that this Sunday's Grammy Awards will feature Ms. Lauryn Hill performing during the "In Memoriam" segment in honor of the late D'Angelo and Roberta Flack. Elsewhere, Post Malone, Slash, Duff McKagan, and Chad Smith will pay tribute to the late Ozzy Osbourne, and Reba McEntire will be joined by Brandy Clark and Lukas Nelson to honor "some of the musical icons" who passed away in the last year.
In a world where plenty of rap elders are content to roll out unchallenging albums to steadfast fanbases, Roc Marciano still knows how to hold your head underwater. Few rappers boast a style so enveloping and detail-rich, every verse stuffed with taunts, velour victories, and nagging regrets rendered in granular, Gordon Parks-like radiance. New albums from Hempstead's veteran rapper-producer unfold like dispatches from a jet-setting uncle popping in for a visit: His tales scan as ridiculous, even a bit silly,
It also misses the point: rather than being one of the last avatars of a liberal order that has crumbled around our ears, Bowie prophesied the mayhem that has replaced it. In his later years, he thought that we had entered a zone of chaos and fragmentation. This is what allowed him to be so prescient about the internet not its promise, but its menace. There is no plan and no order. There is just disaster and social collapse.
Cabaret legend Justin Vivian Bond is this year's Joe's Pub Vanguard artist, and as part of their curated residency, "drag terrorist" CHRISTEENE played four sold out shows at the venue. Tuesday (1/27) was the final night, and CHRISTEENE covered songs by Lana Del Rey, Sinead O'Connor, Patti Smith, R.E.M., Tori Amos, Tina Turner, and more in addition to playing originals, backed by a band that included Mary Feaster on bass, Lyla Vander on drums, Cole Stone Frisina on sax, Joanie Drago on guitar, James Jackson on guitar and banjo, Cornelius Loy on theremin, and Adam Rineer on piano.
The Recording Academy has announced that this Sunday's Grammy Awards will feature a special tribute performance honoring the late Ozzy Osbourne. The performance will include Post Malone, along with Guns N' Roses members Slash and Duff McKagan, Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith, and producer Andrew Watt (who helmed the last two Ozzy albums). Elsewhere, Lauryn Hill will honor Roberta Flack and D'Angelo, while Reba McEntire, Brandy Clark, and Lukas Nelson will perform during the general
In the letter, he blamed both brain damage and ongoing struggles with bipolar disorder for his sustained and continued displays of antisemitic behavior. He also reiterated that he doesn't hold any Nazi-related beliefs or affiliations (despite recent career moves indicating otherwise). Finally, West took time to speak directly to the Black community by saying, "I am so sorry to have let you down."
sunn O))) recently announced their first album for Sub Pop and a tour, and they've now made a few noteworthy additions to the latter, announcing shows in San Francisco ( March 30 at The Regency Ballroom), Los Angeles ( March 31 at United Theater), and NYC ( April 12 at Town Hall, presented by Le Poisson Rouge). Tickets go on sale Friday, January 30 at 10 AM local.
Justin Bieber will perform at the 2026 Grammy Awards on Sunday, the Recording Academy confirmed. This marks his first public solo performance since he had to cancel his 2022 concert tour. The singer is nominated for four awards this year: Album of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Album for , Best R&B Performance for "Yukon," and Best Pop Solo Performance for "Daisies."
Japanese hip-hop duo Creepy Nuts, featuring rapper R-Shitei and DJ Matsunaga, are playing Coachella this year, and they've announced announced a few shows surrounding it, their first North American headlining run. They'll stop in NYC ( Hammerstein Ballroom on 4/13), Chicago ( The Auditorium on 4/15), and Mexico City ( Pabellón del Palacio de los Deportes on 4/19) around Coachella's two weekends in April.
When Braid broke up, guitarist/secondary vocalist Chris Broach formed The Firebird Band, and the remaining three members - frontman Bob Nanna, bassist Todd Bell, and drummer Damon Atkinson - recruited guitarist Mark Dawursk of Alligator Gun and continued on as Hey Mercedes. They recorded it with Jawbox's J. Robbins, who had also produced Braid's classic 1998 swan song Frame & Canvas, and in many ways, it picked up where Frame & Canvas left off.
"Yeah, I don't know about that... reverence for fist-f**king?," amusingly referencing "Stinkfist" from Tool's 1996 album Ænima, eliciting raucous laughter from Steve-O and his co-host Skinny Vinny.
The Grammys unveiled the lineup for the event, at which most of the awards are handed out. The Premiere Ceremony will also feature performances by Darren Criss and Helen J Shen, Tasha Cobbs Leonard, Zara Larsson, and an ensemble led by Grace Potter. Criss will serve as host, with the concert streaming on YouTube and the Grammys website starting Sunday at 3:30 p.m. ET.
"I was going to produce Fear of Men and instead we made something totally different I think." says Cox. "True collaboration which is my preferred way to work on music". What began as an Italo disco experiment evolved into a goth club anthem, charged and restless. It captures the push and pull of Weiss's themes - devotion as both destruction and release.
From league-run press events to invitation-only gatherings in San Francisco, the jam-packed week draws athletes, entertainers and executives together in the days leading up the league's championship game. Early programming sets the stage for nights headlined by figures such as Shaquille O'Neal and Dave Chappelle along with a variety of performances spread out through San Francisco by Kehlani, Post Malone and Calvin Harris.
Deep Water composer Miller is the co-coordinator of PSU's Sonic Arts and Music Production program. Miller sat at a table in the front row during the performance, operating Ableton from a laptop and running a video camera. These electronic elements added a new dimension to the chamber opera, using synthesized sounds and manipulated field recordings to evoke a cold, post-human world.
Tyla stopped by The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on Tuesday night to perform her 2025 single "Chanel." Adorned in several glittering necklaces, the South African singer and songwriter arrived in style for her performance on The Tonight Show. Her stage setup comprised a single large red heel, not too dissimilar in color and style from the heel on The Devil Wears Prada' s poster.
"We cannot rely on institutions to save us. We can only rely on ourselves and the community we have to fight for trans America - and that now includes throwing a badass 3-day benefit music festival," said Jael Holzman of Ekko Astral. "Let this incredible lineup be seen as a way of using art as a cultural battering ram against the people trying to erase us."
The lawsuit, filed in May 2021 by a former assistant to the musician, had been dismissed in December because it exceeded the statute of limitations, a maximum time period for initiating legal proceedings after the related events took place. But plaintiff Ashley Walters asked the court to reconsider her case in January, when a new law mandated a two-year window for the consideration of sexual assault cases that had already expired under the statute.
Alemán, originally from Cabo San Lucas, has toured most of South America, bringing his Spanish-language rap to millions of fans. According to Spotify, Alemán is 2026's most popular Mexican rapper. Gera MX, originally started by freestyling on the streets of San Luis Potosí and then joined the collective, the Mexamafia. But it was his co-penned "Botella Tras Botella" that was the first Mexican single to break into the US Billboard Top 100.
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready... Want to be among the first on the block with 2026 La Onda passes? Well, your chance comes when presale tickets for the popular Latin music festival go on sale at noon Jan. 30, LaOndaFest.com. The lineup for the La Onda festival which runs May 30-31 at Napa Valley Expo in downtown Napa will be announced on Feb. 11.
