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Ground control to reader: Take your protein pills. Put your helmet on.
This music newsletter ain’t gonna read itself.
“The most important thing in art is the frame. For painting, literally. For other arts, figuratively, because without this humble appliance, you can’t know where the art stops and the real world begins. You have to put a box around it because otherwise, what is that shit on the wall?”
—Frank Zappa
ROCK THE VOTE
:: MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD
Email your suggestions to hey@chriszappa.com
WEEKLY PLAYLIST
:: NEW MUSIC EVERY WEEK
Featuring: Citrine, HOAX, Vision Video, Golden Blue, Honeycrush, Molly Parden, Hozier, Vines, Sufjan Stevens, Death Cab For Cutie, Bottlecap Mountain, Elephants And Stars, Cohost
ZAPPAGRAM #70
ZAPPAGRAM PLAYLIST (ALL WEEKS)
MUSIC NEWS
:: WHAT’S GOING ON
Sufjan Stevens Enlists Bryce Dessner, Covers Neil Young on New Album ‘Javelin’
The singer-songwriter unveils first single "So You Are Tired" on first solo LP since 2020's The Ascension [RollingStone]
Elliott Smith’s Pre-Solo Band Heatmiser Announce Rarities Compilation The Music of Heatmiser
The Portland band best known as Elliott Smith’s pre-solo career springboard has announced a new rarities compilation arriving October 6th via Third Man Records [Consequence]
Twitter/X Wants Music Publishers’ Copyright Lawsuit Tossed Out
Lawyers for Elon Musk's renamed social media site say the company cannot be sued for copyright infringement over content posted by its users [Billboard]
Gary Young, Pavement’s Original Drummer, Dead at 70
The colorful studio owner and producer appeared on indie-rock band's influential debut, 'Slanted and Enchanted' [RollingStone]
Jerry Moss, A&M Records Co-Founder, Dies at 88
The storied label boss signed acts such as the Police, Janet Jackson, Soundgarden, Sheryl Crow, and many more [Pitchfork]
Hozier Goes Through Hell and Tastes Ecstasy on ‘Unreal Unearth’
The Irish folk-soul singer-songwriter's third album is his strongest effort yet [RollingStone]
Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy Announces Book Tour for World Within a Song
The book, subtitled Music That Changed My Life and Life That Changed My Music, documents Tweedy’s reflections on the Replacements, Joni Mitchell, and Billie Eilish, among others [Pitchfork]
Nick Cave Announces Fall US Book Tour
In support of the paperback release of his memoir, Faith, Hope and Carnage [Consequence]
Hum Reissuing Four Albums on Vinyl
The Illinois shoegaze group will reissue the 1990s LPs Electra 2000, You’d Prefer an Astronaut, and Downward Is Heavenward, plus 2020’s Inlet [Pitchfork]
Green Day to Reissue Dookie for 30th Anniversary
The new box set features the original 1994 album, demos, outtakes, and live recordings [Pitchfork]
Joni Mitchell Announces New Rarities Album, Shares Early Court and Spark Demo
Archives, Vol. 3: The Asylum Years (1972-1975) features demos, alternate versions, and historical performances [Pitchfork]
Ministry Announce New Album, Unleash “Goddamn White Trash”
The industrial legends' 16th studio LP HOPIUMFORTHEMASSES arrives March 1st [Pitchfork]
Z-REX
:: ZAPPA’S RECOMMENDATIONS
Again this week, I’m still asking everyone to consider donating to those so tragically affected by the Maui wildfires. You can donate via the The Hawai'i Community Foundation, Maui United Way, or the Maui Food Bank.
Also, check this out: Researchers Reconstruct Classic Pink Floyd Song Using Brain Activity
NEW RELEASES
:: RECENTLY DROPPED MUSIC
Aerosmith: Greatest Hits [listen]
Cautious Clay: KARPEH [listen]
Grace Potter: Mother Road [listen]
Gregory Alan Isakov: Appaloosa Bones [listen]
Hozier: Unreal Unearth [listen]
Jon Batiste: World Music Radio [listen]
Sonic Youth: Live in Brooklyn 2011 [listen]
RELEASE RADAR
:: UPCOMING RELEASES
- AUG 25 -
Cindy Wilson: Realms
Grandaddy: Sumday: Excess Baggage
Hiss Golden Messenger: Jump For Joy
Hüsker Dü: Tonite Longhorn
- SEP 1 -
Pretenders: Relentless
Slowdive: Everything Is Alive
Speedy Ortiz: Rabbit Rabbit
ON THIS DATE
:: MUSICAL HAPPENINGS OF HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE
- AUG 21 -
Birthdays: Count Basie (1904) • Joe Strummer (1952) • Ramones guitarist Johnny Ramone had a four-hour brain surgery operation, after being found unconscious in a New York Street where he had been involved in a fight. (1983) • Don Everly, the surviving member of The Everly Brothers, died at the age of 84. (2021)
- AUG 22 -
Birthdays: John Lee Hooker (1917) • Vernon Reid of Living Colour (1958) • Roland Orzabal of Tears For Fears (1961) • Tori Amos (1963) • Layne Staley (1967) • Al Dvorin, the announcer who popularized the phrase "Elvis has left the building" died in a car crash, on his way home from an Elvis Presley convention in California. (2004)
- AUG 23 -
Birthdays: Keith Moon (1946) • Rick Springfield (1949) • Dean DeLeo of Stone Temple Pilots (1961) • Cedella Marley (1967) • Julian Casablancas of The Strokes (1978) • The Velvet Underground performed together for the last time at Max's Kansas City in NYC. (1970)
- AUG 24 -
The Doors started recording their first album at Sunset Sound Recording Studios in Los Angeles. (1966) • 17-year-old Bruce Springsteen joined a group called Earth. (1967) • Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts died at a London hospital at the age of 80. (2021)
- AUG 25 -
Birthdays: Leonard Bernstein (1918) • Wayne Shorter (1933) • Gene Simmons (1949) • Rob Halford of Judas Priest (1951) • Elvis Costello (1954) • Jeff Tweedy (1967) • Two female Beatles fans hired a helicopter to fly over the house The Beatles were renting in Beverly Hills, California and jumped from the helicopter into the swimming pool. (1965) • Bruce Springsteen released Born To Run. (1975)
- AUG 26 -
Birthdays: Leon Redbone (1949) • Shirley Manson (1966) • Allen Woody, former bass player with The Allman Brothers Band and co-founder of Gov't Mule, was found dead in New York aged 44. (2000)
- AUG 27 -
Birthdays: Alex Lifeson of Rush (1953) • Tony Kanal of No Doubt (1970) • Sarah Neufeld of Arcade Fire (1979) • British music entrepreneur and the manager of The Beatles, Brian Epstein, was found dead, locked in a bedroom at his London home. A coroner's inquest concluded that Epstein died from a sleeping pill overdose. (1967) • Stevie Ray Vaughan was killed when the helicopter he was flying in, hit a man-made ski slope while trying to navigate through dense fog at Alpine Valley Music Theatre, East Troy, Wisconsin. (1990)
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🤘🏻🖤
Zappagram #70: Get well soon, Boss!