Albert Hammond Jr.

Photo: Andrew Benge

News

Albert Hammond Jr., Beirut & Bob Mould Among First To Join Noise Pop 2019 Lineup

San Francisco's annual indie music and arts festival returns for its 26th year in February with another exciting lineup of established greats and up-and-comers

Ana Monroy Yglesias

GRAMMYs

Oct 25, 2018 - 5:16 pm

The Noise Pop Festival has kept the spirit of indie music and arts alive in the San Francisco Bay Area for 25 years, and as its 26th year approaches, has announced the initial lineup of the weeklong festivities that will continue to feature a mix of up-and-coming indie artists as well as established ones on Feb. 25.

Noise Pop is at its heart an indie festival, celebrating indie musicians and artists of all varieties. The Noise Pop 2019 Phase One lineup already boasts several established, fan-favorite artists including indie rock/folk darlings Beirut, The Stroke's guitarist Albert Hammond Jr., Bob Mould of '80s alt-rock group Hüsker Dü and Scottish alt-rock group Teenage Fanclub, who've been making music since 1990.

The festival also prides itself on bringing "early exposure to many emerging artists," plenty of which have gone on to become big names. The list includes GRAMMY-winners White Stripes and The Flaming Lips, GRAMMY-nominees Death Cab for Cutie and Modest Mouse and indie-rock classics The Shins and Bright Eyes.

This year, the initial lineup has already plenty of artists to watch out for, including L.A-based electro/dream-pop artist Baths, NYC-based indie-pop singer/songwriter Caroline Rose, Aussie electro-R&B duo Kllo, L.A.-based singer/songwriter Current Joys and more.

The festival will come to life through a variety of venues across San Francisco and Oakland, along with art shows, film screenings and happy hours to keep music lovers busy all week. Passes are available for access to all of the events, as well as individual tickets for shows. More information is available on Noise Pop's website.

Beirut Share Story Behind "Gallipoli" From Upcoming Album, Announce Tour

Zach Condon of Beirut

Photo: Rick Kern/WireImage/Getty Images

News

Beirut Share Story Behind "Gallipoli" From Upcoming Album, Announce Tour

Writing and recording "Gallipoli" in Italy "seemed to return me to the old joys of music as a visceral experience," Beirut's Zach Condon shares

Ana Monroy Yglesias

GRAMMYs

Oct 22, 2018 - 6:02 pm

Indie group Beirut, led by Zach Condon, have released the lead single and title track for their upcoming album set to be released on Feb. 1, 2019. The band will also launch a tour in support of the album that month.

"Gallipoli" is a joyful, bright track led by celebratory-sounding horns and organ notes, with Condon's vocals floating amongst them as he sings, "We tell tales to be known/or be spared the sorrow." The song was written by Condon after the group visited the small island town of the same name in Southern Italy while working on the then-unnamed album at a studio in a nearby town.

In a long note from Condon on the band's website, he shares that "Gallipoli started, in my mind, when I finally had my old Farfisa organ shipped to New York from my parent’s home in Santa Fe, NM." It was with this old, previously-abandoned organ that he used almost exclusively to write the majority of Beirut's first two albums, while still living in Santa Fe. After the organ arrived in Brooklyn at his home at the time in 2016, he began writing the first songs for Galliopoli, also using it for the first time in the studio.

After Condon moved from Brooklyn to Berlin in 2017, the group resumed working on the album, this time in a rural part of Southern Italy. It was there that Condon, along with two of his bandmates, Nick Petree and Paul Collins, and producer Gabe Wax had a strange and inspiring encounter.

"We stumbled into a medieval-fortressed island town of Gallipoli one night and followed a brass band procession fronted by priests carrying a statue of the town’s saint through the winding narrow streets behind what seemed like the entire town, before returning late to Sudestudio. The next day I wrote the song I ended up calling ‘Gallipoli’ entirely in one sitting, pausing only to eat. I eventually dragged Nick and Paul in to add some percussion and bass," he shares.

The creativity and inspiration he felt that night and the following day gave him the beautiful title track, and soon enough the rest of the album.

"I was quite pleased with the result. It felt to me like a cathartic mix of all the old and new records and seemed to return me to the old joys of music as a visceral experience," Condon said. "This seemed to be the guiding logic behind much of the album, of which I only realized fully at that point."

On NPR's All Songs Considered, Condon furthers the story of the night in Gallipoli:

"[Sound] was bouncing off the walls, and simultaneously every church bell in town was ringing, which just made for utter chaos. And the city is just claustrophobic, streets winding—you would have to live there your whole life to know where you're going."

Shortly after the album is released on Feb 1, Beirut will embark on a U.S. tour beginning Feb. 10 in Brooklyn and ending March 5 in Los Angeles. The European leg will follow, beginning in Berlin on March 30. More information on the tour can be found on the band's website.

SXSW Announces First Wave Of Artists For Music Festival In Spring 2019

Chicano Batman

Photo: Jeff Kravitz/Getty Images

News

Mike Tyson To Host Inaugural Kind Music Festival In The Coachella Valley Featuring Chicano Batman, Starcrawler & More

The new music event will feature a handful of bright Los Angeles-based talent

Ana Monroy Yglesias

GRAMMYs

Jan 3, 2019 - 2:11 pm

The Kind Music Festival has announced the lineup for their first-ever event set to take place in Desert Hot Springs, Calif. on Feb. 23.

Attendees will be able to soak up the diverse sounds and vibes of So Cal under the bright desert sun with a curated sampling of Los Angeles-based artists: GRAMMY winner Miguel, plus Chicano Batman, Starcrawler, Yonee and All My Friends Hate Me.

The organizers for what they are calling a "'pop-up' micro-festival" include former heavyweight champion boxer Mike Tyson, who is offering the site of future home to Tyson Ranch Resort.

Tyson recently broke ground on the property last month, which a press release for the festival says will be a "420-acre entertainment complex, luxury glamping resort and cannabis research and design facility." The Blast reports that Tyson has been a longtime believer in the healing benefits of cannabis and "says taking care of men and women who have served in the armed forces is a top priority" on the ranch.

Organizers also say that the event will be the first music festival to celebrate California's new 2019 marijuana legislation.

"Kind Music Festival is a revolution—leading the way for a new generation of health and wellness focused cannabis consumers, 'The Kind Generation,'" says a KIND festival producer. "The word 'kind' is defined as 'a group of people or things having similar characteristics' as well as 'of a good or benevolent nature or disposition…Kind Music Festival challenges conventional thinking while being mainstream."

Miguel On 'War & Leisure' & Essence Fest

A portion of ticket sales will benefit Standing United, a non-profit organization aimed at helping individuals recover from drug addiction and homelessness to "reintegrate into society and become upstanding citizens in their communities." Tyson himself, along with other Kind Festival employees, the press release reports, have struggled with addiction.

Tickets are available now at Kind Festival's website.

2019 Music Festival Preview: Noise Pop, Ultra & More

Woodstock 1969

Photo: Hulton Archive/Getty Images

News

Two Woodstock 50th Anniversary Events Planned For Aug. 2019

As the golden birthday of the historic music festival approaches, available rooms in Sullivan County for Aug. 15–18 are already in limited supply, even before the lineups or major details for either event have been announced

Ana Monroy Yglesias

GRAMMYs

Jan 2, 2019 - 1:54 pm

Judging by the rapid rate hotels and Airbnbs are been being booked in Sullivan County, the site of the iconic ’69 Woodstock Music And Arts Fair, music fans from around the world are ready and excited to celebrate the historic fest's 50th birthday.

Official Lineup Dropped 3/19: Woodstock 50 Performers: Jay-Z, The Killers, Miley Cyrus & More Announced

Two music festivals will take place on the anniversary weekend, one unofficial at the Bethel Woods Center For The Arts, and an official 50th celebration at a to-be-announced venue, hosted by organizers of the original event.

Bethel Woods Update: Carlos Santana, Ringo Starr Confirmed For Bethel Woods' Woodstock Anniversary

If you want to take part in the magic of the Woodstock 50th anniversary events and stay in Sullivan County during the long weekend of Aug. 15–18, you should think about booking a room soon. The Times-Herald Record Of Middletown reports that hotels, Airbnbs and everything in between have been booking up quickly, even before official news of an anniversary event had been revealed last month.

The newspaper also shared that many places to stay near the Bethel Woods Center—the venue which now lives at the site of the original event—are already completely booked with already-lengthy waiting lists. One hotel, which is still under construction and set to open this summer, is already fully booked with a waitlist, and shared that their first guest inquiry came in two years ago.

"There's a lot of interest on the domestic front and the international front, whether you were there in 1969, or just want to be here today," said Sullivan County Visitors Association CEO Roberta Byron Lockwood.

In terms of how exactly you can relive Woodstock in Upstate New York this August, the two major events are the aforementioned Bethel Woods Music and Culture Festival, hosted by Live Nation, INVNT (a "global brands communication agency") and Bethel Woods Center. Meanwhile, Michael Lang, the co-creator of the original event, has just confirmed an Official Woodstock 50 Celebration. Further details and a location are yet to be revealed.

The organizers of the Bethel Woods Festival describe their three-day event as a "pan-generational music, culture, and community event" with "live performances from prominent and emerging artists spanning multiple genres and decades, and TED-style talks from leading futurists and retro-tech experts." Attendees will get to visit the venue's year-round Woodstock-centric museum which will feature special new 2019 exhibit called We Are Golden: Reflections On The 50th Anniversary Of The Woodstock Festival And Aspirations For An Aquarian Future.

"50 years ago, people gathered peacefully on our site inspired to change the world through music," said Darlene Fedun, Bethel Woods Center CEO. "As the stewards of this historic site, we remain committed to preserving this rich history and spirit, and to educating and inspiring new generations to contribute positively to the world through music, culture, and community."

Lang, who was one of the main promoters for Woodstock '69 and has been hinting at an official 50th anniversary event for some time, confirmed minimal details with the Poughkeepsie Journal, who on Dec. 19 wrote that Lang had "definite plans" for an anniversary concert not held at the original location.

On Dec. 30, Woodstock Ventures, which runs the official Woodstock website and works with Lang, shared a statement from the co-founder:

"While the original site in Bethel remains close to our hearts, it no longer has the capacity to hold a real Woodstock Festival. I'm delighted that Bethel Woods is doing events in the coming year to celebrate what we brought to life in 1969," wrote Lang.

However you choose to celebrate Woodstock's 50th anniversary, Sullivan County is ready to welcome you this summer with peace and love vibes, complete with 36 fiberglass dove statues painted by local artists in '60s-inspired colors.

Just make sure to book a place to stay sooner rather than later, unless you want to relive the memories of many would-have-been-Woodstock-goers stuck on Route 17B, aka Woodstock Way.

2019 Music Festival Preview: Noise Pop, Ultra & More

Mozzy

Photo: Robin Marchant/Getty Images

Interview

One Take: Mozzy On His Dream Collab, First Music Video He Ever Watched & More

The West Coast rapper shares who he'd love to work with, what city he'd like to perform in next, some of his favorites, and more

Ana Monroy Yglesias

GRAMMYs

Jan 1, 2019 - 9:54 am

West Coast rapper Mozzy has been perfecting his craft over the years and released his latest LP, Gangland Landlord, on Oct. 5. The album has been receiving buzz, especially for "Thugz Mansion," a tribute to his biggest influence, Tupac Shakur. He stopped by our headquarters to play a round of One Take, GRAMMY.com's rapid-fire game that challenges your favorite artists to see how many questions about life, music and everything in between they can answer in 60 seconds.

One Take With Mozzy

In the episode Mozzy tells us what his favorite Tupac song is, the first album he ever bought and his favorite part about his hometown of Sacramento. He also reveals his favorite movie, the city he'd like to perform in next and who his dream collaborator is.