Credit: Lemonly
Peter Bjorn and John
Photo: Xavi Torrent/Redferns/Getty Images
Today, Swedish indie-rock stalwarts Peter Bjorn and John revealed they'll be releasing their ninth studio album, Endless Dream, on March 13, 2020 via INGRID. The announcement comes with the LP's catchy lead single, "Rusty Nail," and dates for a supporting 2020 U.S. tour.
The start of the new decade also marks the Stockholm-based band's 20th anniversary, so what better way to celebrate then with new music and a run of shows?
We celebrate our 20-year anniversary in 2020 with the release of our ninth full-length studio album – Endless Dream – due out March 13th via INGRID. The first single “Rusty Nail” is out now! #rustynail #endlessdream pic.twitter.com/f9BqtUTfxp
— Peter Bjorn and John (@PeterBjornJohn) October 18, 2019
The tour kicks shortly after the album drops, on March 23 in Los Angeles, at the Teragram Ballroom. After a string of dates on the West Coast, the "Young Folks" will hit up St. Paul, Minn. on April 3 and Chicago the following day. After a few more dates, including two nights in Philadelphia, they'll wrap things up with an April 10th show at the newly reopened Webster Hall in New York and, finally, at Brighton Music Hall in Boston on April 11.
Endless Dream follows their three-track EPBJ EP, released February of this year, which served as a B-sides of sorts (the music was recorded during the same time) to their 2018 album, Darker Days. A press release for the forthcoming album notes the creative journey of this album began "almost immediately after Darker Days."
"We were in a good place," Peter Morén explained, via the press release. "It's the light to the darkness—the day to the night." John Eriksson added, "This time the tone is bright. It's about people trying to find colors in this dark world."
While the work on the ninth album began not long after the eighth, they approached the creative process a bit differently, stripping things down.
"We realized we wanted to cut the crap, so we rehearsed songs in the same room and recorded together. For post-production, every guy was on his own taking care of his baby—and then we came back and had our baby together," Bjorn Yttling said.
More info on the tour, including ticketing info, can be found on the band's site.
Green Day, Weezer & Fall Out Boy Unite For 2020 Hella Mega Tou
Damian Lazarus
Photo: Santiago Felipe/Redferns/Getty Images
Today, British DJ/Crosstown Rebels label head Damian Lazarus, beloved for the otherworldly soundscapes he channels in his DJ sets around the world, has revealed details for his Day Zero Tulum 2020 event. The Jan. 10 party once again features an epic offering of experimental house and techno DJ/producers, including Lazarus himself, from across the globe.
Helping guide the sound journey amidst the magic-filled Tulum jungle venue is South African house maestro Black Coffee, Berlin techno queen Ellen Allien, GRAMMY-winning Iranian-American house and techno heavy-weight Dubfire and London-based Italian vibey house master Francesca Lombardo, to name a few.
— Damian Lazarus (@damianlazarus) October 18, 2019
Lazarus' one-day (well, his set typically journeys hours into sunrise the next morning) extravaganza is returning to Tulum for the seventh year. He first launched Day Zero in 2012, to coincide with the end of the Mayan calendar (Dec. 21, 2012, which was believed to be the end of the world).
He has since brought Day Zero to a select other locations, including Playa del Carmen, Mexico and, most recently, in Israel, for the first Day Zero Masada: Dwellers of the Dead Sea, at the base of an ancient palace. His Get Lost parties, launched as an alternative experience (really, an alternate dimension) at Miami Music Week over a decade ago, are another showcase of his eclectic musical tastes, many talented friends and next-level experiential parties.
Last weekend marked the very lit looking Get Lost New York debut. Damian will also be bringing his spooky, spacey sounds to a few more U.S. events this year, including DJ sets at Space Miami on Halloween and at HARD Day Of The Dead in Downtown Los Angeles on Nov. 2.
Tickets for Day Zero are not yet on sale, but will be posted, along with more details, on the event's site.
Here come the Men In Black!
At the 40th GRAMMY Awards in 1998, Will Smith won Best Rap Solo Performance for his title track to the hit comedy Men In Black. In the latest edition of GRAMMY Rewind, the Fresh Prince himself walked up to the podium with his frequent musical collaborator D.J. Jazzy Jeff and gave a poignant speech.
"Hey! This is actually the first time that I've ever been on a GRAMMY stage!" he exclaimed before recounting his at times fraught experience with the Academy: "In 1988, [Jazzy] Jeff and I won the first GRAMMY ever given to a rap artist. But the GRAMMYs weren't televising the rap portion, so we boycotted. In 1991, we won our second GRAMMY, I ain't think we was gonna win, so we didn't come. And now this year we won, so if you guys'll bear with me, I wanna give my speech from '88 and '91.
Smith continued, dedicating his golden gramaphone to his hip-hop heroes: "I'm really excited about winning this for one reason, because, about two-and-a half years ago, the state of rap music was such that I didn't really even want to rap anymore. I like to refer to it as "the rap dark ages." And then with people like Tupac and Biggie, who I consider prophets, with the loss of Tupac and Biggie [Smalls], that kind of shook the industry and people realized that even though we are artists, we do have a responsibility for the ears—and for what goes into the impressionable ears that are listening to the music that we make. So Jeff and I, we want to dedicate this GRAMMY to the memory of Tupac Shakur and the Notorious B.I.G."
Watch Smith's entire '98 speech above, and look out for more GRAMMY Rewind throwback videos in the weeks to come.
GRAMMY Rewind Returns With History-Making Performances, Acceptance Speeches & More
Kristen Castro
Anna Haas
GRAMMY Camp alum and former country group Maybe April member, Kristen Castro has released the video for her "Surrender" single, the follow-up to "Bloom."
The dreamy video full of pink hues features Castro singing and playing the guitar as a storyline of a post-breakup unfolds. Castro wanted to convey the feeling of coming to terms with the end of a relationship.
“I wanted the video to be about someone carrying memories to a waterfall trying to make sense of a heartbreak, but at the end they surrender to letting go and letting the water take it where it will," she said in a statement. "The pink hue throughout the video gives a visual feel of love and the abstract performance shots are meant for the listener to focus on the story and song.”
The single is a part of new music the singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist has released since leaving Maybe April. The GRAMMY Camp alum added that she could not have gotten to where is today without her GRAMMY experience.
“[The camp has] given me the confidence to never stop believing in myself or what my music has to say," she said. "From playing guitar with Keith Urban, to a backstage /songwriting experience with Brandi Carlile, to being around young emerging artists who were so talented at camp and who are now playing in bands with huge artists across the country—it’s that kind of stuff that has grounded me as an artist, kept me being a dreamer and made me grateful to the people that have helped shaped me along the way.”
