Kings of Leon on 'Corden'

James Corden brought the Late Late Show to London this week and the UK's favorite American band, Kings of Leon, were on hand to perform "Reverend." Take a look!

Kings of Leon on 'Kimmel'

Watch Kings of Leon perform "Reverend" on Jimmy Kimmel Live!

Kings of Leon on 'Seth Meyers'

Watch Kings of Leon perform "Find Me" on Late Night with Seth Meyers.

Playlist

Our 27-song playlist for January is here. Take a listen to it on Spotify!

Kings of Leon on 'Fallon'

Watch Kings of Leon perform "Reverend" on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.

Another Look at 2016

via GIPHY

2016 was an odd year for music and like many creative things across the board, it is selective. 

See Our List of the 20 Best Gigs of 2016

In keeping with tradition, our correspondents Le-La Cloutier and RICH D SMOOV have unleashed their favorite albums of the year. 

The 10 Best Albums of 2016

Le-La's picks:

1.Glass Animals: How to be a Human Being

2. Beyonce: Lemonade

3. The Weeknd: Starboy

4. Childish Gambino: Awaken, My Love!

5.The Avett Brothers: True Sadness

6. Miike Snow: iii

7. Saint Motel: saintmotelevision

8. Kings of Leon: Walls

9. The Shelters: The Shelters

10.  Flume: Skin

See Our Pick for 2016's League of Their Own Album

RICH D SMOOV's list as broken down by his two favorite genres--  metal and hip-hop. 

Meet 2016's Best New Artist

1. Inquisition: Bloodshed Across The Empyrean Altar Beyond The Celestial Zenith.

2. Oranssi Pazuzu: Varahtelija

3. Wormrot: Voices

4. Anaal Nathrakh: The Whole Of The Law

5. Nails: You Will Never Be One Of Us

6. Sex Prisoner: Tannhauser Gate

7. Asphyx: Incoming Death

8. Destroyer666: Wildfire

9. Deafeated Sanity: Dharmata

10. The Dillinger Escape Plan: Dissociation

Honorable Mention: Vermin Womb: Decline

See Our Picks for the 2016 Honorable Album Mentions 

Top 5 Hip Hop Albums Of The Year In No Particular Order:

A Tribe Called Quest: We Got It From Here...Thank You 4 Your Service

 Czarface: A Fistful Of Peril

Apathy: Handshakes With Snakes

Masta Ace: The Falling Season

Run The Jewels : RTJ3

Honorable Mention: Craig G: I Rap And Go Home

Josh Homme Named Officially A Icon

Playlist

Here is December's playlist of 27 random musical musings.

Kings of Leon on 'Kimmel'

Watch Kings of Leon perform "Reverend" and "Waste a Moment" on Jimmy Kimmel Live!

QUICK SPINS

Dillinger Escape Plan – Dissociation

The mathcore band announced that after 20 years together and Dissociation was their swansong. If you are a fan of this band, this was a bittersweet farewell as one of the greatest and heaviest live bands around was saying goodbye but in typical fashion they were not doing it quietly. Dissociation is their way of letting fans knows they were going out with a bang on their explosive career.

FINAL GRADE: A-

The Pretenders – Alone

Linking up with Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys, Ohio’s finest Chrissy Hyde and the Arcs frontman bring their sounds and styles together from the Midwest. It is easily one of the best Pretenders records in decades as Auerbach gives the band a much needed modern twist but still maintain their identity.

FINAL GRADE: B+

Crocodiles – Dreamless

Six records in and the California noise pop band continue to bring a different atmosphere to their music with every record. Dreamless takes a slightly more shoegaze approach but still challenges their past material.

FINAL GRADE: B+

Kings of Leon – WALLS

The brothers Followill are back and return with their most solid record since their 2008 breakout, Only By The Night. Singer Caleb Followill assess his life and career on WALLS making it their most personal to date. The band started  rebuilding with 2013’s underrated Mechanical Bull but now come full circle.

FINAL GRADE: B+

Lady Gaga – Joanne

Mother Monster is back with her new album that is a hybrid of Americana, pop and rock. Gaga dives into her soul and comes out with an appreciation for life, women and herself as Joanne becomes her most personal album to date.

FINAL GRADE: B+

Green Day – Revolution Radio

It is no surprise that Green Day released a record during this election season but we are glad they did. The band come back and bring forth the political punk bite that made them enter a new chapter in their career back during Green Day’s American Idiot days.

FINAL GRADE: B+

Jimmy Eat World – Integrity Blues

How does an emo band survive in 2016? They look at how Jimmy Eat World have done it. The emo vets are back with one of their most solid records since Futures and show they still got some sugar in their tank.

FINAL GRADE: B+

CRX – New Skin

The Strokes’ Nick Valensi links up with a new band and Josh Homme to produce a biting rock and roll record and allows the guitarist to take center stage.

FINAL GRADE: B

Bell X1 – Arms

The Irish rockers return with their 10^th record and for fans it is another collection of solid songs for their arsenal.

FINAL GRADE: B

Sting – 57^th and 9^th

Sting returns to his rock roots and looks at his illustrious career with his latest. The artist was humbled by the passing’s of Bowie and Prince this year and took to the studio to assess what his life and career have been with this batch of songs.

FINAL GRADE: B

American Football

It has been over a decade since American Football released their debut and the emo indie heroes returned with a record for fans who have waited and grew up as they got older.

FINAL GRADE: B

Mike Doughty – The Heart Watches While the Brain Burns

The former Soul Coughing frontman’s new solo record is another lyrical adventure for fans to indulge as he adds to the growing collection of fantastic records he has given out over the years.

FINAL GRADE: B

Kaiser Chiefs – Stay Together

Using a crowdfunding campaign to record Stay Together, Kaiser Chiefs made a record totally for the fans as they didn’t experiment too much but crafted the same lovable rock and roll they became popular for.

FINAL GRADE: B-

Two Door Cinema Club – Gameshow

One of the finest bands around have released one of the most confusing records of their career. Two Door Cinema Club were known for poppy hooks and catchy riffs but on Gameshow they really try and push for a radio single in an era when radio singles are not as important as they once were.

FINAL GRADE: C

Quick News

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On November 19, Linden Boulevard at 192nd Street in the St. Albans neighborhood of Queens, New York will officially be renamed "Malik 'Phife Dawg' Taylor Way," in honor of the late Tribe Called Quest member, Phife Dawg, who passed away earlier this year. Phife's wife, Deisha Head Taylor was instrumental in working with Councilman Miller's office in choosing the name of the street as well as the logistics regarding the unveiling. She says, "The thought of having Linden Boulevard at 192, renamed to Malik 'Phife Dawg' Taylor is indescribable. This is a perfect representation of who Malik was, and what Queens meant to him. Whenever he mentioned Queens, Linden Boulevard at 192, was a focal point of reference, so I am certain he would be pleased with having it renamed in his honor. We are extremely grateful for those who were part of the entire process; from the initial effort to the signing of the bill, this historical moment means so much to his family, friends, and fans."

The Mezingers will release their new album, After the Party, in February. Take a look at the tracklisting, below:
1. Tellin’ Lies
2. Thick as Thieves
3. Lookers
4. Midwestern States
5. Charlie’s Army
6. House on Fire
7. Black Mass
8. Boy Blue
9. Bad Catholics
10. Your Wild Years
11. The Bars
12. After the Party
13. Livin’ Ain’t Easy

Next month, Refused will release the Servants of Death EP containing new songs and live cuts. Take a look at the tracklisting, below:
1. Servants Of Death
2. Stolen Voices
3. Thought is Blood (live)
4. Dawkins Christ (live)
5. The Shape of Punk to Come (live)
6. Tannhäuser / Derivé (live)

Matt Berninger of The National gave an update to Rolling Stone about the band's new record, saying it is going to be "dark." He said: "I’m going very dark with the new National record, which is a place I love to go. People have always described our music as dark and say it goes very melancholy, somber places. They haven’t heard anything yet! This next thing is crazy.” He added: "It’s about marriage, and it’s about marriages falling apart,” he said. “I’m happily married, and but it’s hard, marriage is hard and my wife and I are writing the lyrics together about our own struggles and it’s difficult to write, but it’s saving my marriage. Not saving my marriage, my marriage is healthy, but it’s good for everything! And so it’s gonna be a strange record, and I’m crazy about it.”

Nick Valensi of The Strokes discussed what it is like to shift into the frontman role in his new band, CRX. He told NME: "It took a little bit of time for me to figure out how my voice sounded the most natural and, to be perfectly honest, at first I really hated my own voice. I could barely stand to listen to it and I obviously didn’t want to feel that way so I just woodshedded with the singing and figured out the different ways I could sing and how I could sing in a way that wouldn’t bug me, so it did take a little while. And with the lyrics too, it did take me a little while to get the hang of being a lyricist too."

Nathan Followill of Kings of Leon discussed how the band nearly fell apart following the success of Only By The Night and trying to recreate that. He told Rolling Stone: "You put so much pressure on yourself after that – to at least maintain that momentum you’ve got going — and we really had a shitty time in the studio trying to do that. Trying to chase a hit or trying to recreate success you had on previous things. So going into this record we had the frame of mind of no pressure to recreate any success we’ve had prior to this.”

Kings of Leon on 'Fallon'

Watch Kings of Leon perform "Waste a Moment" on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.

Quick News

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Earlier this week, Liam Gallagher told Q magazine that he was working on new music but was not releasing a solo album. That all changed on Thursday after he released a press statement via Warner Brothers saying: "Very excited to be signing to the mighty Warner Brothers; looking forward to making some super sweet sounds. Keep the faith!” The record is due next year. Gallagher, always outspoken, called himself a cunt on Twitter after he felt he lied to his fans.

It's official I'm a cunt LG x

— Liam Gallagher (@liamgallagher) August 25, 2016

R.E.M. will reissue their seminal album, Out of Time in November for the record's 25th anniversary. The reissue will come in 3 formats - 2-CD, 3-LP, and a deluxe 4-disc set.

Former Keane frontman Tom Chapman will release his solo debut, The Wave, in October.

Kings of Leon have officially confirmed that their new album is called WALLS and released the tracklisting to the record that is arriving in October.
01 Waste A Moment
02 Reverend
03 Around The World
04 Find Me
05 Over
06 Muchacho
07 Conversation Piece
08 Eyes On You
09 Wild
10 WALLS

Quick News

via GIPHY


Prince's secretive Paisley Park estate outside Minneapolis will be turned into a museum according to the late musicians sister. The estate will feature guided tours were visitors will see his living quarters, recording studio, wardrobe and other personal items. Tours begin in October.

Carlos Santana, Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter and Marcus Miller have formed a super group called Mega Nova. The group are set to make their live debut on August 24 at the Hollywood Bowl.

Speaking to Q magazine, Pixies Frank Black said when the band broke up in the mid 90s it was because they needed a vacation. He said: "Kim and I just didn’t get along well after a time. She always had her own ambitions and became comfortable in a leadership role in her other band. It must have been hard for her to be in a band where some other guy was always pulling at the reins. We would have survived if we could have just stopped the train and taken a fucking vacation. The people around us who were older should have seen that.”

Green Day's Billie Joe Armstrong also spoke to Q about the band's forthcoming Revolution Radio album and said that the massacre's in Paris and Orlando inspired  the song "Troubled Times." The singer said: "I don’t think anything like terrorism hit home right in our backyard the way it did that night. At first, I wrote it and thought ‘I don’t know if I want this on the album.’ It’s really heavy to write about and I didn’t want it to be trite or maudlin.” The band eventually put it on the record which will come out this fall.

Kings of Leon's Caleb Followill also spoke to Q, apparently everyone did this week, and said that their new album, We Are Like Love Songs, was inspired by his wife, supermodel Lily Aldridge and his battle with booze. The record was announced yesterday and is expected this fall.

Taking to social media, Flying Lotus confirmed that he will be putting out the new George Clinton record that he and Thundercat have been working on via his label Brainfeeder. He said that details are coming soon.

For the first time in 17 years, Letters to Cleo will release new music. The band will release the New EP next month. Take a look at the tracklisting, below:
Hitch a Ride
Back to Nebraska
Can’t Say
4 Leaf Clover
Good Right Here

Quick News

Jimmy Eat World have confirmed that they will be releasing a new album this fall. The Arizona emo outfit have not given any other details aside from the fact that fans can expect a new record in the coming months.

After singer Gord Downie was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer this year, The Tragically Hip performed their final concert on Saturday night in Canada and longtime fan, Prime Minster Justin Trudeau paid tribute to the band following their Kingston, Ontario swansong. He took to Twitter to say:

Thank you, Gord. #courage pic.twitter.com/kpLKVzfY63

— Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) August 21, 2016

On behalf of Canadians, I thank Gord Downie and the Hip for their decades of service to Canadian music. Forever in our hearts and playlists.

— Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) August 21, 2016

Kings of Leon have confirmed that their new album, We Are Like Love Songs, will be released later this year. They released a teaser via Facebook for the album, featuring a snippet of a song called "Walls Come Down."

Feist has confirmed that she will appear on the upcoming Broken Social Scene album. While news of the reunion between the band and the singer have been sparse, the group have said they are working on new music earlier this year.

Dirty Orange have released the cover to their upcoming EP, The Short Story About the Lady of the Night.  Take a look, below:

Playlist

April's Playlist of 26 musical musings is here. Take a listen!

What's Coming in 2016

via GIPHY

A new year brings along new music. We look at the most anticipated records arriving in the first quarter of the year and albums that are allegedly coming in 2016.

January:

Suede – Night Thoughts

Bloc Party – HYMNS

Daughter – Not to Disappear

Yoko Ono – Yes, I’m a Witch, Too

Savages – Adore Life

David Bowie – Blackstar

Sia – This is Acting

NEVERMEN

Chairlift - Moth

February:

The 1975 - I Like It When You Sleep, For You Are So Beautiful Yet So Unaware Of It

School of Seven Bells - SVIIB

Elton John – Wonderful Crazy Night

The Cult – Hidden City

Ra Ra Riot – Need Your Light

Wolfmother – Victorious

Wild Nothing – Life of Pause

Flowers – Everybody is Dying to Meet You

Animal Collective – Painting With

Nicolas Godin- Contrepoint

Chuck Ragan – The Flame and the Flood

Santigold - 99¢

March:

Jeff Buckley – You and I

The Coral – The Distance InBetween

Underworld - Barbara Barbara, we face a shining future

Nada Surf – You Know Who You Are

Brain Fallon – Painkillers

April:

De La Soul – And The Anonymous Nobody

Read: The 20 Best Gigs of 2015

Other Albums and Artists Allegedly Coming in 2016:

U2 – Songs of Experience

Run the Jewels – Run the Jewels 3

Rihanna – ANTI

Modern Baseball – Holy Ghost

Miike Snow - iii

GZA- Dark Matter

Major Lazer – Music is the Weapon

Ty Segall – Emotional Mugger

The Big Pink – Empire Underground

Anthrax – All The Kings

The English Beat – Here We Go Love!

Action Bronson – The Human Highlight Reel 
Gorillaz

Deftones

Captain Murphy

Gorjira

Lady Gaga

Soundgarden

Red Hot Chili Peppers

Frank Ocean

Nas

The Afghan Whigs

Kendrick Lamar / J. Cole

Royal Blood

Catfish & The Bottlemen

Band of Horses

Kanye West

DOOMStarks

MF DOOM

The I Don’t Cares

The Rolling Stones

Jay Z

Band of Horses

Naked Raygun

Against Me!

Metallica

Jake Bugg

Save Ferris

The Killers

King Diamond

Brand New

The Last Shadow Puppets

The xx

Bayside

Explosions in the Sky

Sigur Ros

The Arcs

Banquet

Kings of Leon

AFRO

Snow Patrol 

M83

Read: The 10 Best Albums of 2015

Quick News

In the wake of what happened to Eagles of Death Metal at Le Bataclan in Paris last month, the band said that any artist covering their song "I Love You All the Time" will donate all proceeds to their charity, The Sweet Stuff, which will go to aid the victims of the tragedy. Now, artists like Florence and the Machine, Kings of Leon, Savages, Alain Johannes, Jimmy Eat World, My Morning Jacket, and others have all covered the song which is now on streaming services. The services will donate all streaming profits to the charity as well.
In a press statement EODM's Josh Homme said: “I made a plea to artists and business people alike to come together to use our solidarity as proof that we are stronger together, and that we can make a difference. We are proud to be a little part of such a big group of talent and good will. We can’t thank these artists enough for their donations of talent, love, time, and compassion. Now, the Play It Forward Campaign is in the hands of the fans to help us make a difference, and to help those affected by this tragedy. Please listen, purchase, play, and enjoy – and know that every time you do, you’re doing the sweet stuff that makes that difference.”

Nine Inch Nails' Trent Reznor has confirmed that the band will release new music next year. He tweeted 

New NIN coming in 2016. Other stuff, too.

— Trent Reznor (@trent_reznor) December 18, 2015

The late Scott Weiland's cause of death has been revealed. According to TMZ, he Hennepin County Medical Examiner revealed that he died of an overdose of cocaine, MDA and alcohol as well as having heart issues and asthma were contributing factors.

PJ Harvey will release her new album next spring. She made the record in public spaces in Kosovo, Afghanistan, London and Washington, D.C. 

Quick News

Speaking to BBC1 The Libertines discussed the making of their new album, which arrives in September. Pete Doherty said, "In a short period of time just before Christmas last year when Carl appeared out of the blue while I was having some treatment to curb my enthusiasms and we spent a bit of time together. We find ourselves picking up guitars at odd times, doing a few tunes and with Carl mucking about, we decided to make music at the end of it!" Carl Barat spoke about the reunion and burying the hatchet, saying, "It's been part of our friendship that we decided to make music again. We communicated through making music anyway."

After the death of Adam "MCA" Yauch, the surviving Beastie Boys members Adam "Ad-Rock" Horovitz and Michael "Mike D" Diamond said they would never make music together again using the name of the group. Now the duo have confirmed they will never perform live as Beastie Boys again either. The duo filed a trademark and patent application with the U.S. Patent and Trademark offices for the Beastie Boys name in conjunction with "live performances by a musical group." Pitchfork reached out to the band's rep for comment and said in a statement: "There will never be Beastie Boys live performances without Adam Yauch."

 Kings of Leon have begun work on their seventh album. The band confirmed the news this week on SiriusXM and said they will work on the record in Nashville.

Former Gallows frontman Frank Carter's new band, Frank Carter and the Rattlesnakes will release their debut Blossom next month. Take a look at the cover:

Quick News

Sad news to report, pioneering Sugarhill Gang rapper Big Bank Hank has passed away after a battle with cancer. He was 57. Our thoughts go out to his family and friends.

In his new memoir, Sound Man, producer Glyn Johns wrote that Bob Dylan wanted to collaborate with The Beatles and Rolling Stones on a massive scale. In the book, Johns wrote, "I had it all figured out. We would pool the best material from Mick and Keith, Paul and John, Bob and George, and then select the best rhythm section from the two bands to suit whichever songs we were cutting.” Wow.

When he is not acting, directing, studying, producing, writing, painting, photographing, James Franco is making music, because, why not? The Oscar nominee is in a Smiths inspired band called Daddy and plan to release their debut next year. The album will feature forming Smiths bassist Andy Rourke on a collaboration of "This Charming Man."

Are Refused working on a new album? According to Autry of Midnight Masses and Trail of Dead, the singer / guitarist recently posted a photo of the band ”in austria tonight for the ahoi pop festival weekend along with st. vincent and this guy’s band invsn which he’s doing between finishing vocals for the new refused album that’s coming out next year.” This comes as the band's former guitarist Jon Brannstrom announced that he was fired from band, prompting the band to post, "Any collective effort will have its ups and downs and when people really pour their hearts into something, things get complicated. We cut ties with Jon already in 2013 because he did not share our passion for the band. We don't know why he decided to emit this narrative on facebook or why he did it now, instead of just calling one of us up, but we wish him the best in his future endeavors." No official word of a Refused record has been made, we will have to wait and see, and the Instagram post from Autry has since been taken down.

Mark Ronson will release his new album, Uptown Special, in January.

Taking to Twitter, Kings of Leon drummer Nathan Followill announced that the band's seventh album is "Coming soon."

Speaking of upcoming seventh albums, Biffy Clyro's Simon Neil spoke to NME to give an update on his band's recording status. He said, "We're getting [the next album] together. Realistically it won’t be out until the end of next year. We’re working on the songs now, but we don’t want to rush it – we’ve been in everyone's faces for the last couple of years, so I think it's important to disappear for a wee while and then come back all guns blazing."

Jamie Cullum will release his new album, Interlude, in January. Take a look at the cover below:

Kings of Leon on Fallon

Watch Kings of Leon with Questlove of The Roots filling in for ailing Nathan Followill on The Tonight Show!