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Music News

Watch Grizzly Bear Reunite to Play a Bernie Sanders Rally in Brooklyn

Music NewsWeston PaganoComment

After bringing Vampire Weekend out of hiding for various events across the country, Bernie Sanders has now awoken fellow indie darlings Grizzly Bear from their hibernation (are we tired of that joke yet?) for a rally in Prospect Park in Brooklyn today. For their first show in over two years the locals performed staple tracks "Two Weeks," "While You Wait For The Others," and "Knife," even going so far as to change the latter's lyric "Can't you feel the knife?" to "Can't you feel the Bern?", the senator's ubiquitous slogan.

Grizzly Bear Feel the Bern

A video posted by @matthewstrauss39 on

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My favorite three-part harmony by Grizzly Bear and I am happy. #grizzlybear #feelthebern

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Sanders, who plays David Bowie's "Starman" after most speeches, has found no shortage of endorsements from music's best, with Killer Mike and Big Boi coming out in support, as well Alex Ebert of Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, who explained his feelings on the Vermonter's run to Transverso in our recent interview.

Grizzly Bear have discussed their support for the social democrat across several social media posts, in addition to announcing a new album is in the works - one that will hopefully be released under a Sanders presidency.

You know you got a good boyfriend when they make you this. ❤️ u @simonviii #FeelTheBern

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"What You Talking About?" Peter Bjorn and John Finally Return With New Single, Album Announcement

Music News, New MusicWeston PaganoComment

Endlessly endearing Stockholm indie pop trio Peter Bjorn and John have been taunting followers with hints of #PBJ7 for what seems like ages now, though with only last year's one off single "High Up (Take Me to the Top)" to satiate us in the long five years since 2011's Gimme Some there's been little from the band to show for it.

That all changed today, with the release of lead single "What You Talking About" and the announcement that #PBJ7 will finally arrive on 6/10, titled Breakin' Point and released via the rockers' own label INGRID they cofounded with fellow Swedes Miike Snow and Lykke Li. It seems safe to assume that the two tracks premiered on NPR's World Cafe last summer - one of which was called "Breakin' Point" - will also be on the LP.

Breakin' Point will feature production from some well-known names, including Paul Epworth (Paul McCartney, U2, Florence + the Machine), Greg Kurstin (Beck, Adele), and Emile Haynie (FKA Twigs, A$AP Rocky).

Check out "What You Talking About?" below, in all its upbeat, disco-vibe glory.

Now We Are Alone: Majical Cloudz Is Disbanding

Music NewsWeston PaganoComment

Sadly, it seems like the majic is ending.

Only a month after former tour-mates Youth Lagoon did the sameMajical Cloudz has announced through social media today that they are breaking up. Including their most recent release, the Wait & See extended play, and last year's phenomenal full length Are You Alone? (which was Transverso's #2 album of 2015), the dreamy duo graced us with two LPs, two EPs, and a handful of one-off singles in the short four years since their first performance in March, 2012. Their final show is in Montreal this Thursday, March 10.

Devon Welsh and Matthew Otto combined to create some of the most sharply evocative music of our generation. A visceral series of confessions shrouded in the most soothing of soundscapes, it cut deep to the simple core and personified it in plain sight: a synthesizer, a microphone, a white shirt, an unwavering gaze.

I remember listening to Impersonator at my mother's house when it first came out. "Are you depressed or something?" she asked, and I laughed. Despite the undoubtedly melancholy outward appearance of Majical Cloudz, it was never an inherently negative emotional experience; even at their darkest points their songs are paradoxically uplifting upon the same waves of the flood that drowns you down, as ethereal melodies lift you over brooding, coursing vocals. It's a uniquely comforting closure. It's one we need now more than ever.

All along Welsh seemed to prepare us for the end. "If you won't be seen again / I hope you know you were my friend / And in my head the world will never hurt you," he offers in Are You Alone?'s aptly titled opener, "Disappeared." It's truly not easy news to swallow, but if we've learned anything from Majical Cloudz it's how to properly eulogize:

"He was obsessed, and it was okay."

Yeasayer Drops New Single "Silly Me," Announces Tour

New Music, Music NewsWeston PaganoComment

Following music videos for "I Am Chemistry" and "Prophecy Gun" Yeasayer have continued their Amen & Goodbye rollout with new single "Silly Me" and a bevy of tour dates.

With the first two tastes being "long and linear," the new offering is "something from a different spectrum," according to the band's Twitter. Opening with choppy acoustic stabs the track sharply transforms into a full blown dance lament with sparkling synth and an instantly infectious refrain of “Silly me / Where’s my head / I can’t believe now it’s over / She would be here if it wasn’t for silly me / Silly me.”

With glittering lines like "With crystal ball I now can see / That I'm a man of low degree," it's surely one of the most cheerfully upbeat confessions of guilt you'll ever have the pleasure of hearing.

Amen & Goodbye is due out 4/1 via Mute, and can be preordered here. Check out the song and schedule below.

'Silly Me' taken from the upcoming Yeasayer album 'Amen & Goodbye' which will be released April Fools' Day, 2016.

Starfucker Drops Single "Never Ever" Ahead of New Tour, Hints to Transverso About New Record

New Music, Music NewsWeston PaganoComment

To kick off their impending tour with Com Truise and Fake Drugs, Starfucker have released a single title "Never Ever."

Bursting with their signature danceability and the repeated question "What would I lie for," the Portland group are as upfront as ever. Hopefully this is a sign of new music to come soon, as it's now been almost exactly three years since their last LP, pop masterpiece Miracle Mile, hit shelves.

EDIT: Starfucker have hinted to Transverso that this may be the first of more to come after all:

Check out the track and tour dates below.

Catch Some "New Psych" From Ladada

New Music, Music NewsWeston PaganoComment

Virginia Beach-based Josiah Schlater's project Ladada (pronounced "luh-DAH-duh") released a self-titled debut back in 2014 that was quietly one of the best records floating around the indie lane of the information superhighway that year.

Ladada's most recent release, "New Psych," is just that, expanding upon Schlater's rich surf rock riffs and lazy vocals with a louder, punchier effort demanding to be heard. Purveying a self-described "soda pop" genre, the sound energetically ricochets between psych rock and shoegaze.

The track is the lead single from Ladada's forthcoming EP, Hi Five, which will hit hands everywhere 4/1 via Gold RobotHi Five will take physical form as a curious limited edition "transparent coke bottle green" 12" with Ladada on the flipside, which you can pre-order here.

Lead single off the forthcoming Hi Five EP, available as a limited edition 12" on transparent coke bottle green. Pre-order now: http://goldrobotrecords.bigcartel.com/product/ladada-hi-five

Bernie Sanders Ends Iowa Caucus Celebration Speech With David Bowie's "Starman"

Music NewsWeston PaganoComment

Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders has already collaborated with artists from Run The Jewels' Killer Mike to Vampire Weekend, and last night he kept the political revolution musical by signing off his post-Iowa caucus speech with a nice nod to the late, great David Bowie's classic "Starman."

The septuagenarian's song choice may harken back to past generations of rock 'n' roll, but after winning 86% of the votes from ages 17-24 the lines "Let the children lose it / Let the children use it / Let all the children boogie" seem perfectly appropriate.

And that's not all, Sanders plans to keep the tunes going and will be joined by Wilco's Jeff Tweedy, Killer Mike, and Red Hot Chili Peppers at the “Feel the Bern” benefit concert at Los Angeles' The Theatre at Ace Hotel this February 5.

"Starman" kicks in at about the 16:30 mark.

Read our review of Bowie's ★ (Blackstar).

Youth Lagoon Is No More

Music NewsWeston PaganoComment

It seems we must take a break from celebrating LCD Soundsystem's long-awaited reunion, for just as the Music Gods giveth they also taketh away.

Only a few short months after releasing his 3rd album, Savage Hills Ballroom, Trevor Powers has announced in a tweet that he is disbanding the beloved Youth Lagoon moniker, but will set out to begin different projects in the future.

Youth Lagoon's impressive trilogy of records, The Year of Hibernation, Wondrous Bughouse, and Savage Hills Ballroom will live on forever, but if you wish to catch a final fleeting glimpse of the original performer live and preserved on his aforementioned farewell tour the dates below are your last chances:

Yeasayer Announce New LP 'Amen & Goodbye', Release First Single and Video "I Am Chemistry"

New Music, Music NewsWeston PaganoComment

Yeasayer are officially following up 2012's fantastic Fragrant World with their 4th full length record, Amen & Goodbye, via Mute on 4/1. The Brooklyn band have been teasing quite thoroughly with several small snippets being sprinkled around the internet in past days, but have now revealed the first full taste with a music video for leading single "I Am Chemistry."

Featuring an unholy marriage of sci-fi and psychedelia, "I Am Chemistry" appears to be a faux-claymation computer animated hellscape in line with the captivatingly bizarre digital aesthetic first introduced circa Odd Blood. Deformed incarnations of the trio dance among undulating orchids to the sound of freak synth grooves and a curious choral interlude. 

The post-apocalyptic foreign world depicted even seems to contain a severed Trump dictator statue head rotting in the background at the 1:12 and 1:35 marks, which would be their first political foray since "Reagan's Skeleton."

EDIT: Yeasayer has confirmed:

A press release describes the forthcoming release as “a collection of strange fables from the Bible of a universe that does not yet exist," which, after viewing the tracklist, seems to be the only possible explanation.

Amen & Goodbye

  1. Daughters Of Cain
  2. I Am Chemistry
  3. Silly Me
  4. Half Asleep
  5. Dead Sea Scrolls
  6. Prophecy Gun
  7. Computer Canticle 1
  8. Divine Simulacrum
  9. Child Prodigy
  10. Gerson’s Whistle
  11. Uma
  12. Cold Night
  13. Amen & Goodbye
Amen & Goodbye

Amen & Goodbye

You can preorder Amen & Goodbye here.

The 58th Grammy Nominees Announced, Kendrick Lamar Leads With 11

Music NewsWeston PaganoComment

The annual music industry achievement / popularity contest extravaganza that is the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences' Grammy Awards has revealed its list of nominees today.

In the wake of his ubiquitous To Pimp a Butterfly, Kendrick Lamar leads the pack with 11 nominations for the shiny gold gramophones that will be passed out in the second latest ever ceremony in LA on February 15, narrowly missing out on matching Michael Jackson's all-time record of 12 in 1984. Taylor Swift and The Weeknd trail behind in second place with 7 each.

Check out the nominee lists of select categories below.


GENERAL


RECORD OF THE YEAR

  • "Really Love" – D'Angelo and the Vanguard
  • "Uptown Funk" – Mark Ronson featuring Bruno Mars
  • "Thinking Out Loud" – Ed Sheeran
  • "Blank Space" – Taylor Swift
  • "Can't Feel My Face" – The Weeknd

ALBUM OF THE YEAR

  • Sound & Color – Alabama Shakes
  • To Pimp a Butterfly – Kendrick Lamar
  • Traveller – Chris Stapleton
  • 1989 – Taylor Swift
  • Beauty Behind the Madness – The Weeknd

SONG OF THE YEAR

  • "Alright" - Kendrick Lamar
  • "Blank Space" - Taylor Swift
  • "Girl Crush" - Little Big Town
  • "See You Again" - Wiz Khalifa Featuring Charlie Puth
  • "Thinking Out Loud" - Ed Sheeran

BEST NEW ARTIST

  • Courtney Barnett
  • James Bay
  • Sam Hunt
  • Tori Kelly
  • Meghan Trainor

ALTERNATIVE


BEST ALTERNATIVE ALBUM

BEST DANCE / ELECTRONIC ALBUM

  • Our Love - Caribou
  • Born in the Echoes - The Chemical Brothers
  • Caracal - Disclosure
  • In Colour - Jamie XX 
  • Skrillex and Diplo Present Jack Ü - Skrillex and Diplo

ROCK


BEST ROCK PERFORMANCE

  • "Don't Wanna Fight" – Alabama Shakes
  • "What Kind of Man" – Florence + The Machine
  • "Something From Nothing" – Foo Fighters
  • "Ex's & Oh's" – Elle King
  • "Moaning Lisa Smile" – Wolf Alice

BEST ROCK SONG

  • "Don't Wanna Fight" - Alabama Shakes
  • "Ex's & Oh's" - Elle King
  • "Hold Back the River" - James Bay
  • "Lydia" - Highly Suspect
  • "What Kind of Man" - Florence + The Machine

BEST METAL PERFORMANCE

  • "Identity" - August Burns Red
  • "Cirice" - Ghost
  • "512" - Lamb of God
  • "Thank You" - Sevendust
  • "Custer" -Slipknot

POP


Best Pop Solo Performance

  • "Heartbeat Song" – Kelly Clarkson
  • "Love Me Like You Do" – Ellie Goulding
  • "Thinking Out Loud" – Ed Sheeran
  • "Blank Space" – Taylor Swift
  • "Can't Feel My Face" – The Weeknd

Best Pop Duo/Group Performance

  • "Ship to Wreck" – Florence + The Machine
  • "Sugar" – Maroon 5
  • "Uptown Funk" – Mark Ronson featuring Bruno Mars
  • "Bad Blood" – Taylor Swift featuring Kendrick Lamar
  • "See You Again" – Wiz Khalifa featuring Charlie Puth

Best Pop Vocal Album

  • Piece By Piece – Kelly Clarkson
  • How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful – Florence + The Machine
  • Uptown Special – Mark Ronson
  • 1989 – Taylor Swift
  • Before This World – James Taylor

Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album

  • The Silver Lining: The Songs of Jerome Kern – Tony Bennett & Bill Charlap
  • Shadows In The Night – Bob Dylan
  • Stages – Josh Groban
  • No One Ever Tells You – Seth MacFarlane
  • My Dream Duets – Barry Manilow (& Various Artists)

RAP


Best Rap Performance

  • "Apparently" – J. Cole
  • "Back to Back" – Drake
  • "Trap Queen" – Fetty Wap
  • "Alright" – Kendrick Lamar
  • "Truffle Butter" – Nicki Minaj featuring Drake & Lil Wayne
  • "All Day" – Kanye West featuring Theophilus London, Allan Kingdom & Paul McCartney

Best Rap/Sung Collaboration

  • "One Man Can Change The World" – Big Sean featuring Kanye West & John Legend
  • "Glory" – Common & John Legend
  • "Classic Man" – Jidenna featuring Roman GianArthur
  • "These Walls" – Kendrick Lamar featuring Bilal, Anna Wise & Thundercat
  • "Only" – Nicki Minaj featuring Drake, Lil Wayne & Chris Brown

Best Rap Song

  • "All Day" - Kanye West Featuring Theophilus London, Allan Kingdom & Paul McCartney
  • "Alright" - Kendrick Lamar
  • "Energy" - Drake
  • "Glory" - Common & John Legend
  • "Trap Queen" - Fetty Wap

Best Rap Album

  • 2014 Forest Hills Drive – J. Cole
  • Compton – Dr. Dre
  • If You're Reading This It's Too Late – Drake
  • To Pimp a Butterfly – Kendrick Lamar
  • The Pinkprint – Nicki Minaj

MUSIC VIDEO / FILM


Best Music Video