In The Number Ones, I’m reviewing every single #1 single in the history of the Billboard Hot 100, starting with the chart’s beginning, in 1958, and working my way up into the present. Book Bonus Beat: The Number Ones: Twenty Chart-Topping Hits That Reveal the History of Pop Music.
Experimental rock fans who use Spotify have suffered yet another loss. Just a few weeks after Deerhoof and Xiu Xiu each announced their intent to remove their music from Spotify — citing Daniel Ek’s $700 million investment in a military AI startup — Godspeed You! Black Emperor have also ditched the streaming platform.
This November was supposed to mark the third iteration of Soulshine At Sea, a four-day concert cruise that goes from Miami, Florida to Cozumel, Mexico. Today, however, the fest’s organizer Sixthman announced that the sold-out cruise has been canceled. Their statement didn’t give a reason for the cancellation, but it looks like it has something to do with accusations of abusive behavior from the cruise’s scheduled headliner, Michael Franti, who has denied the allegations.
Merchandise have largely kept quiet since their last album, 2016’s A Corpse Wired For Sound. While touring that record, the Florida punks had to cancel a bunch of shows because frontman Carson Cox passed out backstage and fractured his jaw. Luckily, he made a full recovery, and spent the next few years intermittently releasing new music outside of Merchandise. Now, Merchandise are ready for a proper return.
In October, My Morning Jacket’s fourth studio album Z turns 20. Earlier this week, the band announced they’ll be celebrating the anniversary with a deluxe reissue. It includes previously unreleased material, demos, and rarities like the Elizabethtown soundtrack song “Where To Begin” which is now streaming for the first time.
Earlier this year, Empire! Empire! (I Was A Lonely Estate) announced their first performance since 2016 when they were revealed as part of this year’s Best Friends Forever lineup. Now, the beloved emo revival band is going on a whole reunion tour.
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard are being cool as hell lately. The Australian psych-rock outfit released their 27th (!) studio album Phantom Island earlier this year, then gave a middle finger to Spotify and removed their music from the streaming service. Last night at their Buena Vista, Colorado festival Field Of Vision, they were joined by Jello Biafra for Dead Kennedys’ “Police Truck.”
The Oasis reunion hasn’t been without bumps. Last month Liam Gallagher apologized for posting a racial slur. A couple weeks ago a fan tragically fell to his death at one of the Wembley shows. Now, the frontman has been banned from throwing instruments into the crowd after an audience member sustained injuries from catching maracas.
SAULT, the Black British music collective that initially maintained a veil of secrecy around their operation, performed their second ever official live set today at the London music festival All Points East. Based on social media chatter from the gig, it started late and involved interstitial skits between songs, which seemingly were divisive among fans in attendance. The performance also included a guest appearance from Yasiin Bey, the rap elder formerly known as Mos Def. (A Filipino producer mashed up Bey and SAULT’s music in 2020, but that’s not what they performed.)
Ava Gore and producer Ethan P. Flynn have teamed up for a new project called Silver Gore. Both are accomplished musicians; the former has worked with FKA twigs, Nia Archives, and David Byrne, and the latter is a skilled drummer and classical vocalist who has worked with Black Country, New Road among others. After joining forces in 2021, the London-based duo is ready to release their debut EP Dogs In Heaven next month via Island Records. Today, they’ve shared two new singles “All The Good Men” and “Forever,” which are wildly different but both great for wildly different reasons.