Chris DeVille

GUNK, NYC’s self-described “indie diy show paper & online blog,” has released a new charity compilation benefitting relief efforts in Palestine. Out today, For Palestine features 53 previously unreleased songs and demos from artists including Frankie Cosmos, Told Slant, Mutual Benefit, Why Bonnie, and more. The album is available for sale exclusively through Bandcamp, where its fundraising aims are explained like so:

Two members of Fontaines D.C. are on the new single by Belfast rap group Kneecap. “Better Way To Live,” Kneecap’s debut single for Heavenly Recordings, finds Fontaines singer Grian Chatten, fresh off his latest solo album, doing a sing-rapped hook over hip-hop production so colorfully funky it almost feels like a cartoon. In other words, they’ve made a pretty good Gorillaz song. Fontaines drummer Tom Coll is behind the kit for this one too, and the beat is by Toddla T.

Jessie Buckley also sings it in the new movie ‘Fingernails.’

The Homesick Festival, created and curated by Ceremony’s Anthony Anzaldo, will return to San Francisco this winter with another lineup that is, indeed, sick. Playing the Regency Ballroom this Feb. 2 & 3 will be a fantastic mix of newcomers and veterans on the punk-to-indie-rock spectrum: Superchunk, julie, SPELLLING, Fucked Up, Wicca Phase Springs Eternal, Harms Way, Light Asylum, Narrow Head, Zulu, MSPAINT, World Peace, Kumo 99, Poison Ruin, Upchuck, Dazy, and Crushed. Tickets go on sale Tuesda…

In March we named the Canadian siblings Softcult a Band To Watch largely on the strength of their See You In The Dark EP, a stylish blend of dream-pop, post-punk, and good old-fashioned ready-friendly alt-rock. Today the band has returned with their first new single since then. “Haunt You Still” keeps Softcult’s signature vibe going strong, emerging as if from a mirage and finding beauty in the static. “In a fog, like a distant shadow,” they begin. “In your thoughts like a poison arrow.” Listen…

With Grammy mainstays like Taylor Swift, SZA, Miley Cyrus, Jon Batiste, Billie Eilish, and Olivia Rodrigo are all over this year’s nominations, it can feel like same old, same old. But there are quite a few first-time nominees this year.

The Recording Academy are a predictable lot. We’re reminded of this every autumn when a similar cross-section of ultra-popular and comfortably respectable musical artists are anointed as Grammy nominees. Still, there are some storylines emerging from today’s nominations. Let’s have a look at some of them.

Militarie Gun blew through Columbus on their tour with Scowl last month. They sounded great in full-band form at Ace Of Cups, but that wasn’t their only performance in my city. Ian Shelton and Nick Cogan also stopped by our local independently owned alternative rock station CD92.9 for a brief acoustic set and interview in the Big Room. It was the band’s first ever acoustic performance.

Jeff Tweedy is making the rounds promoting his latest book, World Within A Song: Music That Changed My Life And Life That Changed My Music. In doing so, he has repeatedly pointed out how much his perspective on ABBA’s “Dancing Queen” has changed over the years. An excerpt from the book published in the New York Times last week is headlined, “I Thought I Hated Pop Music. ‘Dancing Queen’ Changed My Mind.”

Neil Portnow, the former head of the Grammys, is accused of rape in a newly filed lawsuit. As the New York Times reports, in the lawsuit, an anonymous musician alleges that Portnow, who stepped down as Recording Academy CEO in 2019, drugged and raped her in a New York hotel room in 2018. The musician is not named in the suit but is identified as an instrumentalist from outside the United States who once performed at Carnegie Hall. She contacted the Academy about Portnow’s alleged crime in 2018,…