What Happened?

Taylor Swift announced new album, released new single

 

A post shared by Taylor Swift (@taylorswift) on Aug 23, 2017 at 9:39am PDT

T-Swift stopped the presses Wednesday morning when she finally announced her new album Reputation (due out Nov. 20) after teasing music fans everywhere for multiple days on her social media accounts. Thursday night saw the release of the album’s first single “Look What You Made Me Do” to mixed-opinions.

The fact that Taylor Swift still thinks anyone is this invested in her stupid victim playing feuds with celebrities is so pathetic.

— Nigel Zeff (@nigelandrewzeff) August 25, 2017

I am completely unashamed about how much I love @taylorswift13 #LOOKWHATYOUMADEMEDO #Repuation

— Sarah Parker (@sarah_parker17) August 25, 2017

LCD Soundsystem broke up for money?

Everyone’s favorite disco-punk group originally disbanded back in 2011 after an epic final show which took place at Madison Square Garden. The almost four-hour-long show spawned a feature-length documentary, a vinyl-box-set which probably cost more than the ticket to the show, and brought closure to the band’s heralded career.

But as we all know, James Murphy got the gang back together at the end of 2015 and headlined pretty much every festival in the world, and even has a fourth LP releasing next week. But speculation has risen as to if LCD Soundsystem potentially split primarily to sell tickets for their final show at MSG.

“‘My theory was, if I make it our last show, we’ll sell it out in two weeks,” said Murphy to The New York Times last week.

Promoters of the show weren’t sure that the band themselves could sell out MSG on their own and began searching for a co-headliner. Murphy, in response, thought that making it their last show would lead to the show selling out in a matter of weeks. It later sold out in a matter of seconds.

The band’s multi-instrumentalist Al Doyle came back a few days later to justify/abolish the rumor in a string of tweets. 

Hoo-kay. Some commentators extrapolating from the @nytimes article that LCD broke up so we could “make more money off ticket sales”. Oh boy.

— al doyle (@aldoyletweets) August 21, 2017

No matter how you feel about LCD Soundsystem’s disbandment and eventual reunion, the group’s fourth full-length release is expected to release Sept. 1, with a lengthy tour to follow.

What’s New?

Albums

“Villains” – Queens of the Stone Age

The desert rockers’ seventh studio release is, in many ways, a perfect counterpart to their sixth LP, “…Like Clockwork.” While “Clockwork” featured many low-key, down-tempo, almost doomed-feeling tracks, “Villains” kicks up the beat of the record, which leads to a more dance-able collection of songs. This most-definitely was influenced by the record’s producer, Mark Ronson, the mind behind “Uptown Funk” (No it wasn’t Bruno Mars). It’s still very much a Queens record, so buckle up for a trip through the desert.

“Good Nature” – Turnover

Turnover’s third LP feels like the opposite side of the same coin as their sophomore release, “Peripheral Vision.” While both records see the Virginia rockers bringing out their subtle, melodic vibes, and both feature very breezy guitars soaked in reverb, the overarching tones are very much different. Where “Peripheral Vision” was very introspective, focused on the inner-issues we all have, “Good Nature” is obsessed with enjoying and appreciating everything around us. Whether that be the great outdoors, or the company of others, Turnover wants to stress to us that there’s always something inviting, as long as we take a look around.

Singles

“Look What You Made Me Do” – Taylor Swift

The new track draws influences from a variety of artists including Lorde and Meghan Trainor, and seems to go in a darker direction, as compared to “1989’s” brighter, almost whimsical tone. The change in tone is drawing a fair amount of criticism, but also shows that Swift isn’t afraid of change, even as she continues into her purely-pop era. 

“The Sky is a Neighborhood” – Foo Fighters

Foo Fighters have been kicking around for quite some time now, almost two decades, to be exact. The group already released the lead single to their upcoming ninth studio album “Concrete and Gold” (due out Sept. 15) in June, but “Sky” is a great continuation of the sounds that are hopefully fleshed out even more on the LP. The new track’s mid-tempo stomp compliments the bluesy chords/melody well, and the grittier production of the song’s verses effectively opens up to the epic, sprawling chorus. Spin this for sure.

In Case You Missed It…

Foo Fighters befriend Rick Astley at Japanese Festival

Did anyone in the world wake up Monday morning expecting to be given the gift of a Foo Fighters/Rick Astley mashup? If so, unless those people happened to be at the Japanese Fest, their wish was granted in the form of a YouTube video featuring the mashup of Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit” and Astley’s “Never Gonna Give You Up”. Frontman Dave Grohl was originally the drummer in the 90’s grunge band, so the choice of song makes the mashup that much more of a truly monumental occasion. Is monumental an over-exaggeration? That’s up for you to decide after watching the video on repeat all week.