A week of mourning in rock: Slipknot's drummer and ZZ Top's bass player die.
Slipknot founding drummer Joey Jordison dies at 46: Jordison formed Slipknot in his native Iowa in 1995 along with percussionist Shawn Crahan and bassist Paul Gray. With Slipknot, Jordison won a Grammy for best metal performance (2005) for "Before I Forget." It was one of seven Grammy nominations he received for his work with the band. Slipknot announced in December 2013 that Jordison and the band were "parting ways" after nearly two decades together, though the drummer later said in interviews that he was fired. Jordison formed the band Scar the Martyr in 2013 while he was still playing with Slipknot and was playing with Sinsaenum before his death. Via Billboard.
ZZ Top Bassist Dusty Hill Dead at 72: Hill, who played with the Texas blues-rock trio for over 50 years, died Tuesday at age 72. His rep confirmed the musician’s death, but said a cause of death was currently unknown. Hill wasn’t ZZ Top’s original bass player, but he joined shortly before they cut their debut LP, ZZ Top’s First Album, in 1971, and remained a pivotal part of the group through their most recent albums and tours. Throughout all that time, the lineup stayed just Hill, Gibbons, and Beard, making them one of the most stable acts in rock history. Via Rolling Stone Magazine.
Pink Turns Blue | You Still Mean Too Much to Me: Iconic Post-punk / Darkwave band Pink Turns Blue has announced that their new album 'Tainted' will be released in autumn on limited edition vinyl, CD and digitally via Orden Records. Ahead of that, they present their new single 'You Still Mean Too Much To Me', following up lead singles 'There Must Be So Much More' and 'So Why Not Save The World'. This album is the result of time well spent this past lockdown year writing, recording, mixing and mastering the new album in their Berlin recording studio. On ‘Tainted’, the band added an electronic element to their classical vocals, guitar, bass and drums. The album title itself relates to the state of our world: climate change, its effects, the reaction to it, the split within society, isolation, health risks and financial uncertainty. More Info.
As The Palaces Burn | For The Weak:With the new visual identity, As The Palaces Burn debuted the song ‘For The Weak’, the first single from the new studio album. To promote this new phase, the single arrives with the official lyric video. “'For The Weak' is a taste of what we're going to bring on the new album. The track addresses as its theme the crisis in the general scope of human existence”, explains guitarist Diego Bittencourt. "Wait for a modern and sophisticated album!", says vocalist Alyson Garcia. The Palaces Burn presents a sound focused on modern metal. The band unites technical mastery with old school heavy metal influences to create strong and heavy riffs, accents and broken beats in the right measure. Watch For the Weak.
The Great Leap Forward | Revolt Against an Age of Plenty: Alan Brown, frontman of Manchester agit-postpunk icons bIG*fLAME, will release 'Revolt Against An Age of Plenty' on July 30, his first album in nine years under the moniker The Great Leap Forward via Europe's A Turntable Friend Records. It will be available as a coloured double-vinyl gatefold LP, and it will also be available for digital download and on gatefold CD with 16-page lyrics booklet. What better way to announce the new release than a catchy video for the title track, a vibrant foreshadowing of what's to come on this vigorous, scintillating and life-affirming 13-track album. Railing against mass consumerism and media control, the accompanying video and imagery for 'Revolt Against An Age of Plenty' was created by Richard Gardner. More info.
Hranice Abyss | Aphagy: With several influences, ranging from The Black Dahlia Murder, Cattle Decapitation, Necrophagist, Death, Lamb of God and Slayer, mixing with more modern views of bands like Meshuggah, Slipknot and Decapitated, Hranice Abyss is the a new bet in the Death Metal / Deathcore scene, delivering a professional, modern work with reflective lyrics. "We visited Freudian psychoanalysis and using the Byronesian poetics, to raise questions about where the postmodern man fits, of its complexes and traumas, the resignification of life, of affective relationships. In this media world where everything is a product and mental spaces are getting smaller, we want to face the abyss and contemplate the void that plagues our soul to find our meaning and transform it into art”, explains the band. Listen to Hranice Abyss.
Vinaa | Mina Negra feat. Dicy Rocha e Núbia: Single is part of the album ‘Fé de Alimária’, which will be released in honor of composers from Maranhão (Brazil). The version of Vinaa for the song, originally released by Betto Pereira on the album ‘Terecô’ in 1992, features singers Dicy Rocha and Núbia on backing vocals, who present their voices in a duet with the singer. "'Mina Negra' is a song that represents a lot the energy of my city, São Luís. So, this song is an invitation not only for people to get to know the album, but also to know what exists in Maranhão, our Brazilian Jamaica "explains the singer. Listen to Mina Negra.
H2SO4 | Love and Death: For fans of Pet Shop Boys, New Order and Underworld, UK electronic indie outfit H2SO4 were one of the best kept secrets of the late '90s, releasing a slew of singles and a brace of albums at the turn of the millennium that were well received by pundits and public alike, with songs that can be heard in TV shows such as ‘The Sopranos’, ‘Six Feet Under’ and ‘Queer As Folk’. Now, via a collaboration with production duo Bombay Monkey, they have created a stunning new album of ’80s tinged electronic prog-pop interlaced with atmospheric soundscapes. Entitled ‘Love And Death’, explores the more poetic and visionary aspects of the quartet’s world view. Watch No Poems.
Prïnceps | Song 2.5: Described as a fusion of The Prodigy, Chemical Brothers, Bring Me The Horizon and The Used, Prïnceps is a London-based electronic rock duo consisting of Renz Byrne (singer) and Marko Press (bassist and producer). In the same vein as its predecessors, "Song 2.5" defies easy categorization, its provocative bassline underscored by a new combination of distorted power chords and staccato piano bursts into anthems centered around the ingenious combination of synth and soulful percussion. It's a radio-ready creation, with a catchy chorus that seeks to lodge itself in listeners' brains from the very first listening. Watch Song 2.5.
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Photos:
Slipknot @ Claremont Showgrounds (5/3/2012) By Stuart Sevastos, CC BY 2.0
ZZ Top performing in June 2016 (IMG_8527.jpg) by Brian Marks CC BY 2.0
Pink Turns Blue | You Still Mean Too Much to Me album art
As the Palace Burns by Gilson Naspolini
Hranice Abyss | Aphagy album art
Vina by Emílio Sagaz
H2SO4 | Love and Death album art