I mean… sure. Why not? Via Instagram, appliance manufacturer Whirlpool is giving away a limited edition Front Load Washer (capitalization theirs) that plays Outkast’s Stankonia hit “So Fresh, So Clean.” Get it? Ha ha. Big Boi, the far thirstier and more brand-friendly half of Outkast, is on board to promote this initiative, which is designed to showcase Whirlpool’s FreshFlow™ Vent System (capitalization again theirs).
It was a harrowing sight: a man brutally beating a woman in the audience at Rüfüs Du Sol’s Rose Bowl show last Saturday, allegedly provoked by a spilled drink. The victim, Shelby Elston of Phoenix, announced her plans to sue the attacker, who she believed had been identified through some crowdsourced detective work helped along by a viral video of the assault circulated by concert-focused Twitter/X account @TheFestiveOwl.
Lil Nas X was arrested for battery of a police officer and hospitalized for a possible overdose early Thursday morning after being found walking down the middle of LA’s Ventura Boulevard wearing nothing but his underwear and cowboy boots. It looks like he’ll be staying behind bars for at least a few more days. TMZ reports that because LNX, real name Montero Hill, was arrested for battery of a police officer, he needs to go before a judge to have his bail set, and that won’t happen until at least Monday due to his place in the queue.
Earlier this year, R&B star Kali Uchis released her new album Sincerely. Right now, she’s two nights into a three-night stand at the sold-out Kia Forum in Iglewood, and the first two nights have involved some big surprise guests. Last night, the biggest star who came through was SZA, currently in between international legs of her stadium tour with Kendrick Lamar. Together, Uchis and SZA sang their 2021 duet “fue mejor.”
Carl Newman was on an unstoppable tear — an all-time NBA Jam “HE’S ON FIRE” power-pop onslaught. His band the New Pornographers had exploded out of Vancouver with their high-powered, ultra-catchy 2000 debut album Mass Romantic, becoming an underground sensation and somewhat of a supergroup in reverse (as the New Pornos further bolstered Neko Case’s already ascendant alt-country career, shined a much brighter spotlight on oblique poet-crank Dan Bejar’s eternally evolving Destroyer project, and confirmed Newman as a generational talent in his own right). The band’s second album, 2003’s Electric Version, kept that momentum going with another set of turbo-charged pop-rock tracks that made impressive use of the group’s multi-vocalist arsenal. And with The Slow Wonder, his 2004 solo debut album as A.C. Newman, he’d delivered some of the finest songs of his career, tunes that proved he could thrive both inside and outside the New Pornographers’ blown-out template.
In 2021, extremely young punk band the Linda Lindas became viral stars for a lockdown-era performance of their song “Racist, Sexist Boy” at the Los Angeles Public Library. Since then, the Linda Lindas have become a full-time band, continually touring and putting out records. They’ve got a connection to Paramore leader Hayley Williams, touring with Paramore and remixing the band’s song “The News.” (Also, two Linda Lindas are daughters of record producer Carlos de la Garza, who worked on the last few Paramore records.) Last night, the Linda Lindas played London’s O2 Academy Islington, and Hayley Williams joined them as a surprise guest.
A decade ago, we named the UK post-punk trio Shopping one of the Best New Bands Of 2015, and they were a fixture of our coverage in the late 2010s. But Shopping haven’t released anything since COVID, and now they’re officially calling it quits.
Two weeks ago Zach Bryan released his latest single “Bowery,” a collaboration with 2000s rock yowlers Kings Of Leon that was the best song I’ve heard from that band in a long time. Today, Kings Of Leon have returned the favor, sharing a new Bryan collab called “We’re Onto Something.”
You may not have many more chances to see the band Garbage live. In March, shortly before the release of their new album Let All That We Imagine Be The Light, the veteran alt-rockers announced plans for a North American tour that’ll kick off next month. It’ll be their first headlining tour on this side of the pond in about a decade, and apparently it’ll also be their last. In an Instagram post last night, Garbage said that their upcoming run will be their “last North American headline tour.”
