Music News

Macklemore announced his North American Gemini Tour with a unique ultimatum.




"Everybody knows in the old days a tour was decided by a bow and arrow," said the Seattle rapper in a campy video. If the rapper shoots an arrow and gets a bullseye on the first try, he reveals the tour dates. If not: "I will stay home, get into progressive drum and bass and pierce my penis." After firing an arrow straight into the ground, Macklemore shrugs.

"Guess I'm getting a dick ring."

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At the Drive-In mine technology-driven paranoia and dread in their new "Call Broken Arrow" video. Director Rob Shaw weaves stop-motion animation throughout the clip – a prequel to his visual for "Hostage Stamps," from the band's recent fourth LP,in•ter a•li•a.





"Call Broken Arrow" follows the same disheveled prisoner and disturbing, faceless captors previously seen in "Hostage Stamps," with a cameo from street-swarming robot spiders. The new clip explores how the protagonist wound up in prison, though its shadowy shots of car-wiring, poisoning, surveillance photos and flaming corpses follow more of a dream logic than literal narrative.

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Wilco have released a new song titled "All Lives, You Say?" Monday night to help raise money for the Southern Poverty Law Center.
All Lives, You Say? by WilcoFans can download the track for $1 at Wilco's Bandcamp page, with proceeds going to the SPLC in the memory of Jeff Tweedy's father Robert L. Tweedy, who died on August 4th.





"My dad was named after a Civil War general, and he voted for Barack Obama twice. He used to say 'If you know better, you can do better.' America - we know better," Tweedy said in a statement. "We can do better."

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Green Day unveiled a stark and fraught new video for "Troubled Times" off their last album, Revolution Radio.




The clip opens with singer Billie Joe Armstrong wearing headphones and singing the track while ostensibly recording himself on a phone. That intimate image is soon surrounded by a rapidly shifting montage of chaos and strife including scenes of domestic violence, car crashes, workers in sweat shops, fleeing refugees, war zones and environmental decay.

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Future canceled his Saturday night concert in Charlottesville, Virginia, a week after the white supremacist march in the college town. The rapper's Sunday night gig in Virginia Beach, Virginia was also postponed.




"Out of respect for the tragic events I felt it wasn't rite [sic] to perform at this time. Please understand my heart mean well VA," the rapper tweeted Friday. "VA is important to me & always will be. I'm comin very soon, my word! Love Forever."

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Foo Fighters "rickrolled" the audience at Tokyo's Summer Sonic festival Sunday by having Rick Astley join the band on a grungy version of his "Never Gonna Give You Up."



This is fucking crazy," Grohl said before the performance. "I just met [Astley] two minutes ago." The singer was also booked for the Summer Sonic fest.

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Linkin Park will host a public event in Los Angeles to honor late singer Chester Bennington. The band announced their plans in a short but poignant note on Facebook, saying they would share specific details soon. Bennington died by suicide on July 20th.




Linkin Park also addressed their fans, writing, "Just wanted to say thank you to all our fans around the world for the tremendous outpouring of love, which has strengthened our spirit during this incredibly difficult time. The five of us are so grateful for all of your support as we heal and build the future of Linkin Park."

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MTV has extended 2017 Video Music Awards invitations to active duty transgender military troops, CNN reports. The military service members' attendance at Sunday's event will be contingent on military approval.





"At this time the Department of Defense is reviewing the parameters of the request," Pentagon Spokesman Lt. Col. Paul Haverstick told CNN. Active duty military members are under certain restrictions when it comes to participating in national public events.
"MTV has invited transgender members of the U.S. armed forces to the 2017 Video Music Awards and we would be honored if they could attend," MTV president Christopher McCarthy said. "Any patriot who is putting their own life at risk to fight for our freedom and stands for equality is a hero at MTV, and to young people everywhere."

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Katy Perry, host of the 2017 MTV Video Music Awards, kicked off the ceremony by descending down onto the stage in a metallic moon person outfit.




"You guys look so great because actually, before I left, I took a little break – and when I left it seemed like things were kinda screwed up," she said in her monologue kickoff, hinting at her music hiatus prior to the recent release of her album Witness.*"But you all look so happy and helpful and peaceful. And it feels like since I've been gone you've figured out all the problems in the world right now and the world is doing so well, right?"

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In May, Todd Rundgren released White Knight, his 27th solo album, which features guest appearances by everyone from Donald Fagen and Daryl Hall to Trent Reznor and Bettye LaVette. In advance of a fall tour with Ringo Starr's All-Starr Band, the veteran singer-songwriter took some time to discuss five classic songs of resistance that are still relevant today.

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