Zappagram #42
R.I.P. Tom Verlaine, patchnotes released an incredible new album, and the weekly playlist is getting longer
Hey friends,
In addition to bringing you the latest music news every week, one thing I’m enjoying immensely is discovering and promoting emerging, or perhaps lesser-known established artists. I do this by including them in the weekly playlists, as well as by highlighting their music in the New Releases & Release Radar sections in every newsletter.
One of these exciting emerging bands you’ll want to keep your eyes (ears?) peeled for is The Utopiates out of the UK. Their new single will be released Feb 3rd and their debut album The Sun Also Rises is set for release May 5th. Watch this space for more about them and of course their new single and album drops will be linked here when the time comes.
There’s so much great music to share that I’ve decided to make the weekly playlists longer. From here out, each playlist will feature 13 songs instead of 10.
I hope you enjoy and discover something new you love. Please let me know if you do.
Okay. Take your protein pills. Put your helmet on.
Let’s do this shit.
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“I lose myself in music because I can't be bothered explaining what I feel to anyone else around me.”
-Robert Smith
SHOUT SHOUT
:: LET IT ALL OUT
The nominations for the 2023 Grammy Awards have been announced. Below are the nominees for Best Rock Album minus Machine Gun Kelly. Although his name is on the official nominees list, I refuse to include him on this poll because it’s ridiculous that such a fucking talentless poseur should be on any such list to begin with. But we already knew that the Grammys have a long history of being full of shit anyway…
WEEKLY PLAYLIST #42
:: GREAT MUSIC EVERY WEEK
Featuring: Patchnotes, GoGo Penguin, Twin Ritual, SYML, Dana and Alden, Bird and Byron, Andrew Belle, Butch Bastard, Illiterate Light, The National, Modern Tongue, The Velveteers, Adam Simons
MASTER PLAYLIST (ALL WEEKS)
RECENT ARTICLES
:: BY YOURS TRULY
Remembering Music Legend David Crosby
Once, in a tweet, I told him how I’d grown up listening to his music and how much it always meant to me. I thanked him. He liked the tweet…
MUSIC NEWS
:: WHAT’S GOING ON
Tom Verlaine, Singer and Guitarist of Punk Legends Television, Dead at 73
Emerging out of the CBGB era, Verlaine influenced the sound and songwriting of punk and what followed with 1977 masterpiece Marquee Moon. [RollingStone]
Daft Punk’s Thomas Bangalter Announces New Solo Album Mythologies
His first independent orchestral work will arrive on April 7. [Pitchfork]
New Order Announce Spring 2023 Tour Dates
Including an appearance at this year’s SXSW. [Consequence]
Josh Klinghoffer Subbing For Dave Navarro On Jane’s Addiction Tour
Navarro is still suffering from symptoms of long COVID. [Spin]
Mudhoney Announce New Album Plastic Eternity
Grunge pioneers Mudhoney have announced their 11th album, Plastic Eternity, due April 7 via Sub Pop. [BrooklynVegan]
Metallica Announce ‘72 Seasons’ Movie Theater Listening Parties
The new album will debut in cinemas with “special surprises" on April 13. [Revolver]
Beck and Phoenix to Co-Headline 2023 Summer Odyssey Tour
The 19-city run will also feature opening acts Japanese Breakfast, Jenny Lewis and Weyes Blood. [Billboard]
Willie Nelson Unveils Star-Studded 90th Birthday Concert Plans
The April event at the Hollywood Bowl is to feature Neil Young, Margo Price, Bob Weir, Kacey Musgraves, Snoop Dogg, Nathaniel Rateliff, and Tom Jones among many, many others. [Spin]
John Mayer Announces First-Ever Solo Tour
The 19-date North American jaunt promises a mix of acoustic, electric, and piano performances. [Consequence]
Indie-Rock Supergroup boygenius Returns
This week, the group returned with the promise of a full album and three new songs. [NYTimes]
Depeche Mode’s ‘Never Let Me Down Again’ Flying High After ‘Last of Us’ Streaming Bump
The alternative greats' 1987 classic was featured as a message of "trouble" in the new HBO series' pilot episode. [BillboardPro]
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard Share 86-Track Live At Red Rocks Album
The full release runs for close to nine hours in length. All other jam bands can suck it. [NME]
Dave Matthews Band Announce Tour and New Album
Walk Around The Moon is out May 19 via RCA. [Pitchfork]
Belle and Sebastian Cancel North American Tour Over Health Concerns
Stuart Murdoch writes that, "my health took a dive around November 2022." [AVClub]
Atlanta Rhythm Section’s Dean Daughtry Dead At 76
Dean Daughtry, keyboardist and co-founder of Southern soft-rock act Atlanta Rhythm Section, who helped co-write 70s hits such as “So Into You” and “Imaginary Lover” has died at 76. [Stereogum]
Kansas City Prosecutors Drop Assault Charge Against Tool’s Danny Carey
The legendary drummer had been arrested in December 2021 at Kansas City International Airport. [Spin]
LINKS OF NOTE
:: MAY OR MAY NOT BE MUSIC-RELATED
Funkin’ Up Fine Art: The Psychedelic Visions of George Clinton
The P-Funk pioneer has become an accomplished painter and visual artist, expanding his universe on canvas. [RollingStone]
Bernie Taupin Sets Release Date for ‘Scattershot’ Memoir
The memoir is said to detail Taupin and Elton John’s lifelong creative partnership, also promising anecdotes about Bob Marley and Frank Sinatra. [NME]
Ozzy Is the Co-Worker From Hell in Super Bowl Commercial Preview
The prince of darkness in a tie is just too much. [YouTube]
Marc Maron Goes From Bleak to Dark in the Trailer for New HBO Special
This February, America’s foremost doom-and-gloom comedian, Marc Maron, returns to share his cheerful disposition. The trailer is hilarious. [AVClub]
Harry Styles Splits Trousers in Front of Jennifer Aniston at L.A. Show
Harry disclosed that Aniston was his first celebrity crush. [NME]
Aqua Teen Hunger Force Returns to Adult Swim After Eight-Year Hiatus
Frylock, Master Shake, and Meatwad are officially back: Adult Swim has announced the return of the cult classic animated comedy Aqua Teen Hunger Force for Season 12. [Consequence]
RECOMMENDATIONS
:: WORTHY OF YOUR TIME
My friends Ryan and Abby run Bothering The Band which just so happens to be one of the best music podcasts ever, partly because they ask their guests the most interesting (and purposefully ridiculous) questions that nobody else ever would. Their 100th episode with the wonderful Fred Armisen is a great place to start. ###
Earlier this month, David Marchese did a fantastic interview with Iggy Pop for The New York Times Magazine. ###
I just found this video from 2016 of Cat Stevens and Chris Cornell dueting on Stevens’ beautiful classic “Wild World.” It’s every bit as great as you think it will be. Watching this reminds me of what a treasure Cat Stevens is and how badly I miss Chris Cornell. ###
NEW RELEASES
:: RECENTLY DROPPED MUSIC
Aoife O’Donovan: The Apathy Sessions [listen]
The Arcs: Electrophonic Chronic [listen]
Elle King: Come Get Your Wife [listen]
Green Day: Nimrod (25th Anniversary Edition) [listen]
Hammock: Love In The Void [listen]
Kimbra: A Reckoning [listen]
King Tuff: Smalltown Stardust [listen]
Meg Baird: Furling [listen]
New Order: Low-Life (Definitive Edition Box Set) [listen]
Patchnotes: Endless Surrender [listen]
Twin Ritual: “Allie” [listen]
RELEASE RADAR
:: UPCOMING RELEASES
- JAN 31 -
The Smashing Pumpkins: ATUM – Act 2
- FEB 3 -
Korn: Requiem Mass
The Waeve: The Waeve
The Velvet Hands: Sucker
WILSN: Those Days Are Over
Young Fathers: Heavy Heavy
- FEB 10 -
El Ten Eleven: Valley of Fire
Mogwai: Mogwai Young Team (Remastered)
Paramore: This Is Why
The Rolling Stones: GRRR Live!
Tennis: Pollen
Yo La Tengo: This Stupid World
- FEB 14 -
Caroline Polachek: Desire, I Want to Turn Into You
- FEB 16 -
Slow Fiction: Slow Fiction EP
- FEB 24 -
Algiers: Shook
Death Valley Girls: Islands in the Sky
Gorillaz: Cracker Island
Neutral Milk Hotel: The Collected Works of Neutral Milk Hotel
Philip Selway: Strange Dance
ON THIS DATE
:: MUSICAL HAPPENINGS OF HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE
- JAN 30 -
Birthdays: Marty Balin of Jefferson Airplane (1942) • Phil Collins (1951)
The Beatles performed their famous, final concert on the rooftop of their Apple Records building in London.
- JAN 31 -
Birthdays: Terry Kath of Chicago (1946) • Johnny Rotten (1956) • Lloyd Cole (1961) • Jeff Hanneman of Slayer (1964) • Minnie Driver (1970)
The Beatles spent a second day at Knole Park, Sevenoaks, Kent, England to complete filming for the 'Strawberry Fields Forever' promotional video. The film was shot in colour, for the benefit of the US market, since UK television was still broadcasting only in black and white. Taking time out from filming John Lennon bought a 1843 poster from an antiques shop in Surrey which provided him with most the lyrics for The Beatles song 'Being For The Benefit Of Mr Kite'. (1967)
- FEB 1 -
Birthdays: Don Everly (1937) • Drummer Jimmy Carl Black who worked with Frank Zappa on Hot Rats (1938) • Rick James (1948) • Mike Campbell of The Heartbreakers (1950) • Lisa Marie Presley (1968) • Laura Marling (1990) • Harry Styles (1994)
RCA Records issued the first ever 45rpm single, the invention of this size record made jukeboxes possible. (1949) • Andy Gill of Gang Of Four died. (2020)
- FEB 2 -
Birthdays: Graham Nash (1942) • Ross Valory, bassist for Journey (1949) • Eva Cassidy (1963) • Robert DeLeo, bassist for Stone Temple Pilots (1966) • Ben Mize, drummer for Counting Crows (1971)
Sex Pistols bassist Sid Vicious died of a heroin overdose in New York City. (1979) • Marilyn Manson was dropped by his record label following claims by actress Evan Rachel Wood that she was "horrifically abused" by him. (2021)
- FEB 3 -
Birthdays: Dave Davies of The Kinks & Melanie Safka (1947) • Killer Kane, bassist of The New York Dolls (1949) • Lee Ranaldo of Sonic Youth (1956) • Lol Tolhurst of The Cure (1959)
Buddy Holly, The Big Bopper, and Ritchie Valens died in a plane crash shortly after take-off from Clear Lake, Iowa. (1959)
- FEB 4 -
Birthdays: Alice Cooper (1948) • Tim Booth of James (1960) • Natalie Imbruglia (1975)
Fleetwood Mac released Rumours. (1977) • Karen Carpenter died, aged 32, of cardiac arrest at her parent’s house in Downey, California. (1983) • Lux Interior, singer and founding member of The Cramps, died aged 62. (2009)
- FEB 5 -
Birthdays: American songwriter, record producer and musician Al Kooper (1944) • Nigel Tufnell of Spinal Tap (1948) • Duff McKagan (1964)
A new species of black tarantula, Aphonopelma johnnycashi, that lives near Folsom Prison, California, was named after Johnny Cash. (2016)
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Until next week,
🤘🏻
CZ
The deaths are stacking up in my psyche.
If there's any justice in the world, Lucifer on the Sofa will take the Grammy, and MGK will be relegated to a footnote in music history. 'Course this is also the academy that awarded best hard rock album to Jethro Tull over Metallica, soooo.