Zomboy's New Track Is His "First Real Step Into Drum & Bass": Listen

For his first foray into drum & bass, Zomboy has teamed with Micah Martin for “Monsters,” out now via his own Rott N’ Roll Records imprint.

“Monsters” takes the best of Zomboy’s signature hard-hitting sound and perfectly translates it into a rumbling drum & bass heater. The track is masterfully executed, using Martin’s distinctive vocals as a gateway into the madness.

Sharp synths, steady percussion and powerful bass take center stage during both drops, making “Monsters” an instant crowd-pleaser.

“Not only has this song been absolutely destroying the dancefloor, but it will forever symbolize a very difficult yet positive part of my life,” Zomboy said in a statement. “Everyone deals with their ups and downs in different ways, and I am just so glad I could call on Micah to help me vocalize these feelings and emotions. I really hope everyone enjoys my first real step into drum & bass, something I’ve wanted to do for a long, long time.”

While Zomboy has been relatively quiet in 2023 when it comes to new music, he’s seen consistent festival bookings throughout the year including Moonrise Festival, Escapade, Ubbi Dubbi and more. 

Listen to “Monsters” below and find the track on streaming platforms here.

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Charli XCX suggests she’s working on a new album


Charli XCX has indicated work on her next album is in progress.

The artist shared several photos and a video on her Instagram in a gallery captioned “album 6 i guess”. The post included a photo of her holding a notebook evidently full of lyrics for a song called ‘The Apple’, another of her producer and creative director A.G. Cook and one of her with The 1975‘s George Daniel.

Charli also shared a video of her in the studio, recording a song with the line “When I go to the club I want to hear those club classics.”

The album in question would be the follow up to ‘Crash’, which was released last year.

Meanwhile, Charli also shouted out the writers of EastEnders this week for naming a baby after her in a storyline on the show.

The artist reposted a clip from last night’s show (September 5), on X (formerly Twitter) with the caption: “Shout out my gays in the writers room!”

In the clip, it is revealed that Lily Slater (Lillia Turner) and Ricky Mitchell (Frankie Day) have named their baby after Charli.

Lily’s mum, Stacey Slater (Lacey Turner), asks what they’ve called the baby and Ricky says she’s called “Charli” adding “after Charli XCX” to correct Stacey who assumes the name was after her late uncle Charlie.

Last month, Charli addressed speculation on the internet that she had fallen out with Rina Sawayama.

Some eagle-eyed fans had noticed that Charli had unfollowed Sawayama on her social media, leading to speculation on the internet that they had been feuding.

She confirmed in a statement that  there had been a “personal disagreement” between of the two of them which now appears to have been resolved.

“look – this all got a bit crazy – me and rina spoke about things on the phone just now,” she wrote. “my unfollowing (which happened a couple of weeks ago) was over a personal disagreement between friends which we’ve now spoken about <3”

She added in a further post: “anyways stream beg for you!”





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Alison Wonderland and MEMBA Collide on Mind-Bending Collaboration, "Fight or Flight"

After teasing their long-awaited collaboration at EDC Las Vegas back in May, Alison Wonderland and MEMBA have finally released  “Fight or Flight” via the former’s FMU Records imprint. 

“Fight or Flight” sees both Wonderland and MEMBA at their finest, concocting a mind-melting trap track powered by metallic synths and a booming low end. The former’s signature vocals pair with the latter’s hypnotic production in mesmerizing fashion to help paint a vivid soundscape, enthralling us from start to finish.

It’s been a big year for Wonderland, who recently had her first child. She’s remained as prolific as ever, launching FMU Records and resurrecting her spellbinding Whyte Fang alias, who took the stage at Coachella for a spectatcular performance while pregnant. MEMBA have also been on a tear, releasing a pair of standout EPs, Apply The Pressure and UNI(*)N, and performing at Webster Hall, Red Rocks and other iconic venues.

Listen to “Fight or Flight” below and find the new collaboration on streaming platforms here.

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Olivia Rodrigo might release songs that didn’t make ‘Guts’ tracklist


Olivia Rodrigo has suggested she may eventually release some songs that didn’t make the final cut for her new album ‘Guts‘.

The singer was speaking to Zane Lowe about her second record, which was released yesterday (September 8), on his Apple Music 1 show, when he asked how many songs she’d worked on for the album.

“Probably like 25, not anything too crazy,” Rodrigo answered. “I think some of them will definitely see the light of day. I don’t know. In crafting an album track list, there’s just intricacies. Like, oh, too many of these songs and I want to save this for later, and stuff like that. So I bet some of them will see the light of day.”

The artist also went into some more detail about some of the songs on the album.

“I really love the song ‘All American Bitch’,” she said. “It’s one of my favorite songs I’ve ever written. I really love the lyrics of it and I think it expresses something that I’ve been trying to express since I was 15 years old, this repressed pressed anger and feeling of confusion or trying to be put into a box as a girl. So yeah, I think that that’s one of my favorite songs on the record.”

Credit: Press

Meanwhile, on the subject of album closer ‘Teenage Dream’, she added: “That’s actually the first song we wrote for the record that made it onto the record. The last line is a line that I really love and it ends the album on a question mark. The line is, “They all say that it gets better. It gets better the more you grow. They all say that it gets better. What if I don’t?”7

“I like that it is like an ending, but it’s also a question mark and it’s leaving it up in the air what this next chapter is going to be. It’s still confused, but it feels like a final note to that confusion, a final question.”

Rodrigo debuted ‘Get Him Back!’ live on ‘The Today Show’ to celebrate the release of the album yesterday to celebrate the album’s release – check out footage of the performance here.

In a five-star review of ‘Guts’, NME wrote: “‘Guts’ doesn’t just feel transitional in a musical sense. It marks the end of Rodrigo’s teenage years, a moment that has gravity given that she recently said in a statement that she felt like she grew “10 years” between the ages of 18 and 20.

“Here, she offers blunt self-analysis while reflecting on wider cultural ideas of performance and swallowing anger in order to comply with the wants and needs of others. It works as a display of real power, range and versatility – all of which Rodrigo possesses in abundance.”





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Pendulum Drop Vibrant Drum & Bass Single, "Colourfast"

Pendulum are swinging back into action with a vibrant drum & bass track, “Colourfast.”

The legendary electronic music outfit’s new single stands as an equal and opposing tonal force to its predecessor, “Halo,” a gritty song formulated alongside Matt Tuck of Bullet For My Valentine. 

On “Colourfast,” Pendulum make their grand entrance with heavy-hitting drums coupled with voluminous chords. Rob Swire’s initial verse paves the way for an accelerated rhythmic blitz of biting drums and euphoric, almost gamified lead synths. For longtime fans, the combination will likely feel reminiscent of some of the band’s 2010-era work, specifically their Immersion album.

Announcing the release, Pendulum acknowledged “Colourfast” was a track in the arsenal which fans had been waiting for. The group previewed the single on the road during their recent stadium live sets, as captured in its accompanying music video.

Pendulum are set to continue conquering stadiums with a new run of shows in the U.K. in 2024, their largest tour in the region in over a decade. Tickets are on sale now.

Check out the “Colourfast” music video below and stream the new track here.

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Swedish gang members reportedly using Spotify to launder money


Gang members in Sweden have reportedly been using Spotify to launder money, according to a Swedish newspaper.

The publication, Svenska Dagbladet, reported that gang members convert money received from drug deals, robberies, fraud, and assassination missions into Bitcoin, which they then use to acquire fake streams for artists with gang associations. They then collect the money paid out to those streams at a later date.

One source Svenska Dagbladet spoke to said that Spotify is “very good for recruiting purposes,” since gang members can use popular artists, particularly in Sweden’s gangster rap scene, as a front for their activities. “If you’re a network and you want to attract kids and you have a rapper who’s going big, that’s half the job for you,” the source said.

One French study found that 3 per cent of streams on services like Spotify are known to be fraudulent. The vast majority of those detected in 2021 – 84.5 per cent – were found to be from hip-hop artists. However, hip-hop is the most popular genre in the French streaming market, and only 0.4 per cent of the total hip-hop streams recorded in the country in 2021 were determined to be fraudulent.

Credit: Alamy Stock Photo.

Spotify declined to comment for the Svenska Dagbladet story and insisted that they had  “no evidence” that money laundering occurs on the streaming platform.

In other Spotify news, Taylor Swift has made history by becoming the first female artist to hit 100million monthly listeners on Spotify.

Earlier this year, the streamer increased its subscription prices for the first time, affecting users in the UK and the US.

For the UK, the Premium plan now costs £10.99 per month, up from the previous price of £9.99 monthly. Various plans for multiple users have also gone up by £1 per month, with a Duo subscription now priced at £14.99 and a Family plan – covering six people – now faring at £17.99. So far, the only plan to remain unchanged is the Spotify student subscription, which remains at £5.99 each month.

 





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KOAN Sound Lead Fans to a World Away With Stunning Album, "Led by Ancient Light"

KOAN Sound are embarking on their most ambitious piece of musical storytelling yet with their new album, Led by Ancient Light.

It’s been nearly five years since the influential glitch hop and neurofunk duo’s prior effort, Polychrome. And in that time they’ve been very intentional about setting up the mise-en-scène of their latest chapter.

The resulting inventive concept album is accompanied by a novella and documentary from KOAN Sound, who have created a multi-dimensional experience that transcends the standalone audio alone. 

KOAN Sound.

Sarah Koury

From a production standpoint, Led by Ancient Light is a multi-genre masterpiece that captures the highs and lows of the hero’s journey. The innovative tandem build tension with the smoldering opener “Embers of Chaos,” add to the mystique with “Temple of Fervor” and drift into a dreamlike bliss with “Kindred Void.”

All the while, KOAN Sound remain uncompromising in maintaining their signature sound while expanding upon it with the inclusion of orchestral instrumentation and intricate soundscapes. All said and done, it’s a tour de force.

“We want the album to feel like an immersive journey that transports the listener into the narrative and sonic world that we constructed. We hope that the heartfelt message of the story resonates with listeners,” KOAN Sound said in a press release. “In a world with increasing uncertainty about the future, we wanted to write a story about how deep personal meaning can be found under any circumstance, as well as the importance of the connection between all of us and the environment that we inhabit.”

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Brian May and Roger Taylor announce ‘Queen Extravaganza’ tour line-up


Brian May and Roger Taylor have confirmed the line-up of their ‘official tribute band’ Queen Extravaganza and announced a run of tour dates for 2024.

Queen Extravaganza has been touring together for over a decade and features a line-up that was hand-picked by May and Taylor to perform their music.

May and Taylor have now confirmed that the line-up for next year’s tour includes Nick Radcliffe on guitar, François-Olivier Doyon on bass, George Farrar on drums and Alirio Netto and Gareth Taylor on vocals.

You can see the full list of 2024 dates below and buy your tickets here.

FEBRUARY
26 – Wolverhampton, Civic Hall
27 – Bradford, St George’s Hall
28 – Newcastle, O2 City Hall

MARCH
1 – Glasgow, SEC Armadillo
2 – Derby, Arena
4 – Swansea, Arena
5 – Bristol, Beacon
6 – London, Eventim Apollo
8 – Stockton, Globe
9 – Manchester, O2 Apollo
10 – Oxford, New Theatre
12 – Eastbourne, Congress Theatre
13 – Ipswich, Regent Theatre
15 – Plymouth, Pavilion
16 – Bournemouth, International Centre 
17 – Truro, Hall For Cornwall
19 – Dublin, Olympia Theatre
21 – Belfast, Waterfront Hall

Queen Extravaganza. Credit: Elena Di Vicenzo/Getty

Meanwhile, in other Queen news, an auction took place earlier this week saw over 1,400 of Freddie Mercury’s personal possessions sold off, which May admitted was “too sad” to think about.

The auction saw handwritten lyrics for some of Queen’s most famous songs, jewellery worn by Mercury, and his collection of artwork go under the hammer.

In a social media post, May said of the action:  “Freddie’s most intimate personal effects, and writings that were part of what we shared for so many years, will go under the hammer, to be knocked down to the highest bidder and dispersed forever.

“I can’t look. To us, his closest friends and family, it’s too sad.”

The singer died in 1991 of AIDS-related pneumonia. He was aged 45.

More items are set to be auctioned off and proceeds are expected to reach around £6million in total.





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James Blake Challenges Expectations With Sixth Album, "Playing Robots Into Heaven"

Playing Robots Into Heaven marks James Blake’s sixth studio album, and it’s one where the generational artist increasingly finds himself straddling worlds creatively. 

The prolific producer has long been revered for his minimal electronic style, soulful vocals and rhythmic, dubstep-tinged framework, all of which fans will find on his new album. However, Blake simultaneously didn’t hesitate to add a fresh perspective to the mix.

James Blake performing at the DoLaB stage at Coachella 2023.

Don Idio

The album’s lead single, “Big Hammer,” notably saw Blake delving into trap with a splash of high-energy dancehall vocals. The blow-the-doors-off banger wouldn’t necessarily set the tone for the rest of the record, but it did illustrate Blake’s willingness to switch things up. He doesn’t hesitate to riff on the tempo in the scope of the project either, with tracks like “Loading” and “I Want You To Know” bringing tangible house grooves to the table.

The rest of Playing Robots Into Heaven sees Blake flexing his vocals with a slew of aching verses. The album’s opener, “Asking To Break,” stands as one such example with Blake weaving in melodic keys amid plotting dubstep drums. It’s a combination he often returns to, and one his fans will find most familiar on tracks like “Fire The Editor,” among others.

Take a listen to the new album below and stream it here. For more on Blake, read our intimate interview with the Grammy-winning electronic music virtuoso.

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Smashing Pumpkins to recreate ‘Siamese Dreams’ release party


Smashing Pumpkins will commemorate the 30th anniversary of their seminal album ‘Siamese Dream’ by restaging its 1993 release concert.

From September 14-17, Madame Zuzu’s – the tea shop and art studio in Illinois co-owned by frontman Billy Corgan and his fiancee Chloe Mendel – will be transformed into a re-creation of Tower Records, where the original ‘Siamese Dream’ release show was held.

The weekend will conclude with the band playing two acoustic sets featuring the same setlist they played at Tower at midnight on July 27, 1993, the day of the record’s release. One will take place at 6pm, the other at 9pm.

“The Smashing Pumpkins played an unforgettable in store performance at Tower Records, Chicago,” said Tower’s president Danny Zeijdel in a statement [via Stereogum]. We’re excited to celebrate ‘Siamese Dream’ once again, 30 years after hosting the original album release party. In the future, we intend to provide the same platform for young, emerging artists. We will continue with this at Tower in Brooklyn and new online experiences forthcoming.”

Tower Records closed in 2006 but the franchise was revived in 2020, opening a physical space called Tower Labs in Brooklyn.

NETHERLANDS – JULY 01: Photo of Smashing Pumpkins; Smashing Pumpkins photographed in London. July, 1993 (Photo by Paul Bergen/Redferns)

Earlier this year, Corgan revealed he once told Pantera to “shut the fuck up” after they started questioning Metallica’s ‘90s output.

Corgan recalled in an interview a time he was backstage with Pantera, who were discussing “one of Metallica’s mid-’90s [albums], it might have been ‘Reload’ or something,” and there was “a lot of controversy about where Metallica was trying to go and what happened to Metallica and are they still metal [if] they’re wearing makeup now”.

“They were just going on and on about Metallica,” continued Corgan. “Not in a negative way, more confused like, ‘I love Metallica, but I don’t get it and they’re not metal and what’s going on?’.”

“I knew them well enough that they would sort of listen to me and I said ‘You know what? Shut the fuck up’,” added Corgan, with the room apparently going silent.

“’Listen, set aside Metallica for a second’,” continued Corgan. “‘You guys right now are the best metal band on the fucking planet, okay? You just focus on Pantera. You just focus on being the greatest metal band on the fucking planet. Metallica will work it out’, and they did, right?”





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