Zappagram #45
Discover more from Zappagram
Zappagram #45
Introducing Zappacast, my new lo-fi podcast of sorts, plus more long-form articles, artist interviews, album reviews, and more...
Hey friends,
This week, a few housekeeping things of note:
In the coming weeks, I’ll publish more long-form content here—articles, artist interviews, album reviews, and the like—however, I will not be sending these out via email.
You signed up for one weekly email, and one weekly email you shall receive.
I will simply publish these pieces here on Substack and link to them from within these weekly emails (like the one you’re reading now.) Some of this content will be available to free subscribers and some will be reserved for paid subscribers only.
Also, starting today (and included with this email) is a new audio format for this newsletter that I am affectionately calling Zappacast. This is essentially a podcast and will be available in the form of an accompanying audio file featuring yours truly reading and providing additional smart-ass commentary on the content of each weekly email. This will be available to everyone for the next four weeks after which time it will become a special bonus for paid subscribers only.
Here’s a limited-time offer you can’t refuse: Upgrade to an annual paid subscription and receive 20% off forever!
Ground control to whoever is reading this:
Take your protein pills.
Put your helmet on.
Hang onto your butts.
“Popular music tells us something about popular culture, which then tells us something about popular thought processes, or the absence thereof.”
—Frank Zappa
Tired of missing new music releases?
MusicButler is a brilliant service that alerts you of new music
by artists already in your music library.
Start your 30-day free trial today!
ROCK THE VOTE
:: MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD
Please follow along on Twitter, Instagram, Medium, Reddit, Spotify, Apple Music, TikTok, and (ugh) Facebook.
WEEKLY PLAYLIST #45
:: NEW MUSIC EVERY WEEK
Featuring: Pamela Chelin, Castle Pines, Shaed, Jonah Yano, Cautious Clay, Vision Video, Portico Quartet, Skye Wallace, Feist, Bully & Soccer Mommy, Ethel Cain, The New Pornographers, Black Honey
MASTER PLAYLIST (ALL WEEKS)
MUSIC NEWS
:: WHAT’S GOING ON
Wilco to Clean House and Sell Old Guitars, Amps, and Evan an Organ Online
Instruments up for grabs include a more-than-100-year-old pump organ and a 90-year-old Martin acoustic. [RollingStone]
Record Store Day 2023: Check Out the Full List of Releases
Taylor Swift, The 1975, Blur, Pixies, U2, London Grammar, Madonna, Ol' Dirty Bastard, Foals, Donna Summer and Björk are the artists with special releases incoming. [NME]
Pearl Jam’s Elusive Live Album Give Way Getting First Proper Release for Record Store Day
The highly sought-after CD from 1998 gets the release it deserves as an RSD 2023 Exclusive. [Consequence]
Feist Announces New Album Multitudes
The first three songs have been released and mark her first new solo tracks in six years, following the 2017 album Pleasure. [Pitchfork]
U2 Will Launch Las Vegas Residency This Fall, but Without One of Its Founding Members
Drummer Larry Mullen Jr. will take time out to undergo and recuperate from surgery in 2023. [LATimes]
Lana Del Rey Shares New Song “A&W”
Jack Antonoff co-wrote and co-produced the second single from her upcoming album Did You Know That There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd set for release March 24th. [Pitchfork]
Ben Folds’ First Album In Eight Years Arriving In June
10-track project includes guest appearances by Ruby Amanfu, dodie, and Tall Heights. [Spin]
Metallica Donates $250K to Turkey/Syria Earthquake Relief
“We’re at a loss for words to describe the devastation in southern Turkey and northern Syria," the band shared in a statement. [RollingStone]
Wilco Announce Alternate Version of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
Crosseyed Strangers will be released as a Record Store Day vinyl exclusive on April 22. [Pitchfork]
Beach House Announce New Become EP
Left over from the “Once Twice Melody” sessions, the five-song EP will be a Record Store Day exclusive first, with digital release to follow six days later and worldwide physical release in May. [Stereogum]
Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds and Garbage Announce Co-Headlining North American Tour
The run with Metric begins in early June and wraps in mid-July. Check the link for dates. [Pitchfork]
Bully Plots Tour, Drops First-Ever Collab With Soccer Mommy
"Lose You" was the "first time I’ve considered having someone else sing on a Bully song," Alicia Bognanno says. [RollingStone]
Crazy Horse Members Releasing New Album Under Their Own Names
The project has three songs each from Nils Lofgren, Ralph Molina, and Billy Talbot, and one from Neil Young. [Spin]
Fleet Foxes Extend Their Shore Tour
The band recently announced another leg of shows in support of their 2020 album, Shore. [AmericanSongwriter]
LINKS OF NOTE
:: MAY OR MAY NOT BE MUSIC-RELATED
De La Soul: A Final Look at an Iconic Career
In one of Trugoy the Dove's final interviews, the two MCs at the heart of the group talk about the stories behind 15 of their greatest songs. [RollingStone]
Spotify Letting Users Exclude Playlists From Affecting Recommendations
The new feature allows users to filter certain playlists out from affecting their personalized recommendations/algorithm. [BrooklynVegan]
Who Is U2’s Fill-In Drummer, Bram van den Berg?
Learn more about the guy holding down the kit during U2's Las Vegas concerts in light of Larry Mullen Jr.'s absence. [Billboard]
Geezer Butler of Black Sabbath to Release Career-Spanning Autobiography
The book will recount the origins of Black Sabbath and is set for release in June. [NME]
How an Alleged Con Man Tore Apart One of the Nineties’ Biggest Bands
Live had some of the alt-rock era's hugest hits, but in recent years the former bandmates have been bitterly divided by legal drama and interpersonal conflict. [RollingStone]
New John Lennon and Yoko Ono Documentary Announced
Daytime Revolution chronicles the week in 1972 the couple co-hosted The Mike Douglas Show. [Pitchfork]
Z-REX
:: ZAPPA’S RECOMMENDATIONS
+ Check out this fascinating and masterfully written piece by my friend Legs McNeil, “The Misfits: Tony Notarberardino has been a resident of the Chelsea Hotel—and its unofficial photo-portraitist—since 1994. [AirMail]
+ Matt Kessler from Too Many Records is back again this year with a great video on what to expect from Record Store Day 2023.
+ Watch this entire Radiohead concert recorded at Lollapalooza, Treptower Park, Berlin from September 2016. Absolutely brilliant performance.
NEW RELEASES
:: RECENTLY DROPPED MUSIC
Caroline Polachek: Desire, I Want to Turn Into You [listen]
Pamela Chelin: Heaven [listen]
Slow Fiction: Slow Fiction EP [listen]
RELEASE RADAR
:: UPCOMING RELEASES
- 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
The Church: The Hypnogogue
- MAR 3 -
Elvis Costello: The Songs of Bacharach & Costello
LANNDS: Music for the Future
Willie Nelson: I Don’t Know a Thing About Love
- MAR 10 -
Death Cab for Cutie: Asphalt Meadows Acoustic
Fever Ray: Radical Romantics
Lonnie Holley: Oh Me Oh My
- MAR 17 -
100 gecs: 10,000 gecs
M83: Fantasy
U2: Songs of Surrender
Unknown Mortal Orchestra: V
- MAR 24 -
Caroline Rose: The Art of Forgetting
Depeche Mode: Memento Mori
Lana Del Rey: Did You Know That There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd
Nickel Creek: Celebrants
Pink Floyd: The Dark Side of the Moon (Live at Wembley 1974)
Pink Floyd: The Dark Side of the Moon (50th Anniversary)
Sharon Van Etten: Tramp (Anniversary Edition)
- MAR 31 -
The New Pornographers: Continue As a Guest
- APR 14 -
Feist: Multitudes
ON THIS DATE
:: MUSICAL HAPPENINGS OF HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE
- FEB 20 -
Birthdays: Buffy Sainte-Marie (1941) • J Geils (1946) • Walter Becker (1950) • Poison Ivy of The Cramps (1953) • Kurt Cobain (1967) • Rihanna (1988) • Olivia Rodrigo (2003) • The single “Instant Karma!” by The Plastic Ono Band was released in the U.S. John Lennon had written, recorded, and mixed the track all in one day on the 27th January 1970. (1970)
- FEB 21 -
Birthdays: Nina Simone (1933) • David Geffen (1943) • Jerry Harrison of Talking Heads (1949) • American DJ Murry The K died. Murray is thought to be the first person to play a Beatles record on radio in America. (1982)
- FEB 22 -
Andy Warhol, pop artist and producer, died after a gall bladder operation. The founder of the Pop Art movement also produced and managed the Velvet Underground, designed the 1967 Velvet Underground And Nico 'peeled banana' album cover and The Rolling Stones Sticky Fingers album cover. (1987) • A category for Heavy Metal was included at the Grammy Awards for the first time. Metallica performed on stage, but the award went to Jethro Tull. (1989) • Mark Lanegan died age 57. (2022)
- FEB 23 -
Birthdays: Johnny Winter (1944) • Brad Whitford of Aerosmith (1952) • Howard Jones (1955) • Skylar Grey (1986) • Woody Guthrie wrote the lyrics to “This Land Is Your Land” in his room at the Hanover House Hotel in New York City. (1940) • Jay Z was set to become the first rapper inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. (2017)
- FEB 24 -
Birthdays: George Thorogood (1950) • Michelle Shocked (1962) • Kurt Cobain married Courtney Love in Waikiki, Hawaii. (1992)
- FEB 25 -
Birthdays: George Harrison (1943) • Doug Yule of the Velvet Underground (1947) • John Doe of X (1953) • Brian Baker of Minor Threat (1965) • Suze Rotolo, the one time girlfriend of Bob Dylan and the inspiration of some of his early songs, died from cancer. She appeared in one of the decade's signature images, walking with Dylan arm-in-arm for the cover photo of his breakthrough album The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan. (2011)
- FEB 26 -
Birthdays: Fats Domino (1928) • Johnny Cash (1932) • Jonathan Cain of Journey (1950) • Jaz Coleman of Killing Joke (1960) • Tim Commerford of Rage Against The Machine (1968) • Erykah Badu (1971) • Corinne Bailey Rae (1979) • Nancy Sinatra went to #1 on the U.S. singles chart with “These Boots Are Made For Walkin’.” (1966)
Please consider backing Zappagram with a paid subscription.
The mother of all music newsletters can only keep going and growing as a direct result of your generous support.
If you enjoy the newsletter, please share it with your friends (and especially your enemies) on social media, and follow along on Twitter, Instagram, Medium, Reddit, Spotify, Apple Music, TikTok, and (ugh) Facebook for more music-related content.
Thanks for being here.
Love, peace, and harmony…
🤘🏻
CZ
Zappagram #45
Love the audio addition!
Record Store day will screw my budget for years to come!