Monday Music News

03/14/2016

Janice Headley

Check out two new videos from EL VY -- the stellar collaboration of The National's Matt Berninger and Brent Knopf of Ramona Falls (and formerly Menomena). The clip for "Sad Case/Happiness, Missouri" is a NSFW affair, filmed by Michael Brown and Ben Krall, and edited by Kelly Lyon. Matt's brother Tom (director of Mistaken for Strangers, and a bunch of other EL VY films) provides the visuals for "It's A Game." Both tracks appear on the duo's debut from last year, Return to the Moon, out now on 4AD. Watch 'em below, and then watch their KEXP in-studio from last fall here (and feel nostalgic for our old performance space!). [Pitchfork]

It's been seven long years since we last heard from Boston-based rapper Mr. Lif, but the celebrated emcee returns this spring with the full-length Don’t Look Down, out April 15th via Mello Music Group. Like previous releases, he gets by with a little help from his friends, including Edan, Akrobatik, and (as you can hear below) Del the Funky Homosapien. Stream the single "World Renown," which Lif tells Consequence of Sound, "Brought my portable lab over to Del’s crib to capture this madness. Wore my engineering cap and wielded my poetic license simultaneously to harness the chemistry of what has now become a long friendship between Del and I. Our goal was to bring you the uncompromised raw." Goal met: [Consequence of Sound]

Montreal-based musician Airick Woodhead (aka Doldrums) shares a new stand-alone single, the instrumental track "Gerbil." The frantic, glitchy synth-pop gem scampers along for a few fun minutes. Listen below. His most recent LP, The Air-Conditioned Nightmare, is out now via Sub Pop. [Under the Radar]

Following last week's heartbreaking news on the passing of producer George Martin, PBS has shared that they teamed up with the legend and his son Giles on a documentary series called Soundbreaking. Over the course of eight episodes, they spotlight 150 artists and producers, including Paul McCartney, Brian Eno, Nile Rodgers, Quincy Jones, Rick Rubin, Tony Visconti, RZA, Joni Mitchell, Dave Grohl, Questlove, Bon Iver, Beck, Ad-Rock, Roger Waters, Daniel Lanois, Mark Ronson, Ringo Starr, Roger Daltrey, Willie Nelson, B.B. King, Debbie Harry, Darryl "D.M.C." McDaniels, just to name a few. Check out a trailer for the series below, and a tribute to Martin. If you're in Austin, TX for SXSW, there's screenings of the first two episodes; the rest of us can catch the show on PBS in November. [Pitchfork]

Related News & Reviews

Daily Roundups

Electropop pioneers New Order stopped by the Late Show With Stephen Colbert last night in support of their most recent release, Music Complete -- their first new release in over a decade, and their first without founding bassist Peter Hook. Watch them perform the single "Singularity" below, compl…

Daily Roundups

Friday Music News

Rostam Batmanglij, who announced his departure from Vampire Weekend in January, has shared a new solo single called "Gravity Don't Pull Me." He's giving his name the Cher treatment and is releasing his music as Rostam. He's also unveiled the song's music video, which he directed along with Josh Gol…