Award-winning Manchester, UK cinematic alt/prog-rockers Elbow just released new album Giants of All Sizes and a video for lead single, "Empires," which depicts a dystopian, post BREXIT world that pretty much crumbles to the ground. Frontman Guy Garvey credits the dark subject matter to personal and political mourning- his beloved father died last year and he’s despondent at what he calls his county’s “cultural disaster,” leaving the European Union. Oysterhead, the "supergroup" featuring Trey

Chris Martin of Coldplay joined Beck for a spirited sitar-spiced rendition of "Loser" at the Gala in the Garden event in LA over the weekend, which honored filmmaker Jordan Peele and artist Judy Chicago. Mountaintop , a documentary which chronicled the making of Neil Young's first album with Crazy Horse in seven years is out next week, and in an online trailer for the film, the rock and grunge legend can be seen yelling and cursing about sound levels not being loud enough in his monitor. And

Avant garde spoken word and performance artist Laurie Anderson has received the 2020 Vanguard Award by The Public Theater in New York City. She will perform a yearlong residency at their Joe's Pub space, starting in March. Third Man Records is co-producing a new podcast all about the early years of the White Stripes called Striped: The Story of the White Stripes , though Jack and Meg White won't lend their voices to it. And Boston's Palehound has put out a note-for-note, but pretty awesome cover

Grab your hip beanie hats and sweaters, because Justin Vernon of Bon Iver and Aaron Dessner of The National are curating the debut Eaux Claires Hiver Fest, November 21-24 in his native Eau Claire, WI. Polica and Ani DiFranco are among the artists slated to appear. The gathering and resulting collaborations will foreshadow the 2020 return of the larger Eaux Claires Festival, which went on hiatus last summer. Twin Cities' Channy Lenneagh of Polica has announced a new album When We Stay Alive,

Chicago rocker Liz Phair blazed a trail for female musicians during an especially testosterone-fueled era of rock. The singer/songwriter/guitarist kicked down the dude rock door with girl retort classics, Exile in Guyville and Whip Smart . She's chronicled the underbelly of that period of her career as well as her later transformation into a pop artist in her debut memoir Horror Stories , which is out today. Elton John details how he wore out his welcome when he made a guest appearance during a

Kim Shattuck, known for her raspy scream/singing in The Muffs, an LA alt-rock band that came to prominence in the 90's with tuneful rockers like "Sad Tomorrow" and a stellar cover of Kim Wilde's "Kids in America," has passed away from ALS at age 56. Tributes from Green Day, Waxahatchee and others have been pouring in for Shattuck's style and big, loud songs. She also was a member of The Pandoras ("In and Out of My Life in a Day") and in 2013, was the Pixies bassist after Kim Deal left. But

Michael Stipe is 59. His former band R.E.M. formed in 1980. And, unbelievably, he has yet to put out any solo material. Until Saturday. That's when the single "Your Capricious Soul" will be out on his website. You can either buy it for 77 cents or download it for free. He's hoping you'll buy it because proceeds benefit Extinction Rebellion, a nonprofit climate action group who are organizing protests on October 7th for climate justice. Barrie Masters of pub rock pioneers Eddie and the Hot Rods

David Gilmore, Loudon Wainwright III and Bob Mould were among the guests who joined Richard Thompson onstage at London’s Royal Albert Hall last night, for the master guitarist and literate songwriters' 70'th birthday celebration. Thompson's ex-wife Linda also joined in for a song. Electronic dance music pioneer Moby introduced a Deutsche Bank whistleblower to House Intelligence Committee Chairman, Congressman Adam Schiff at a party in LA, prompting an investigation of ties between the global

Foo Fighters frontman and Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl revealed in a recent BBC interview which celebrated the 50th anniversary of Abbey Road, that when he hears The Beatles’ "In My Life." he gets a knot in his stomach because it was played so movingly at Kurt Cobain's 1994 funeral service. He also cried over the weekend at the Rock in Rio Festival in Brazil when Weezer played a crunchy cover of Nirvana's "Lithium." In celebration of The Band's self-titled sophomore album's quarter century in

A new billboard alongside Interstate 35 in Austin, Texas honors honorary citizen Daniel Johnston, who died earlier this month. The beloved cult artist, who hailed from West Virginia, cut his teeth in the proudly weird music city, passing out cassette tapes of his minimalist songs and earning acclaim from Kurt Cobain, Tom Waits, Nick Cave and many others. Nirvana's MTV Unplugged in New York turns 25 years old and to celebrate, it's being re-released on vinyl and streaming sites November 1st. And