Courtney Barnett and Kurt Vile performing onstage

Courtney Barnett and Kurt Vile

Courtney Barnett Photo: Gus Stewart/Getty Images, Kurt Vile Photo: Rick Kern/Getty Images

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Kurt Vile, Courtney Barnett announce new album and tour

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All-star indie collaboration grows organically from a single collaboration into something much bigger
Nate Hertweck
GRAMMYs
Jun 7, 2017 - 4:59 pm

Something special is brewing in the indie rock cauldron. Courtney Barnett, Australian songwriting prophet and former Best New Artist nominee, and Kurt Vile, American leader of lo-fi, have joined forces for a new album and tour. 

The as-yet untitled album has not received an official release date. The LP was recorded in a mere eight days of studio sessions spread out over a 15-month period. According to Consequence of Sound, the project started small and grew over time into a full-length album.

"It started out as, maybe we'll do a split 7" together but then I figured let's make it a 12" so it doesn't get lost in the world, shoot for five songs," Vile explained, "It wasn't until I had another KV tour booked for the following summer in Oz that we thought we should record as much as we can, just see what happens, no major goal to make it a full length, but it came together that way 'cause the vibe was so strong with everyone."

Perhaps even more exciting, Barnett and Vile have recruited an all-star band, the Sea Lice, to tour the United States in support of their new album. The stunning live lineup is far from "Pedestrian At Best," including Sleater-Kinney's Janet Weiss, Warpaint's Stella Mozgawa, Sky Larkin's Katie Larkin, and Vile's longtime partner and member of his backing band, the Violators, Rob Laakso.

Fans looking to see this collaboration come to life onstage will have much to look forward starting with the tour's kickoff in San Diego in October.

More Courtney Barnett: Watch the Aussie's first interview on the GRAMMY red carpet

Sam Smith

Sam Smith

Photo: David M. Benett/Getty Images

Poll

Nicki Minaj, Taylor Swift, Sam Smith: Most Anticipated Fall Album?

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New albums from Miley Cyrus, Demi Lovato and St. Vincent also on the way this fall — which release are you most excited to hear?
Nate Hertweck
GRAMMYs
Sep 12, 2017 - 1:16 pm

2017 has been a big year already in music, especially for streaming, festivals and Latin pop. With summer sneaking into the rearview and stores filling up with Halloween paraphernalia, we want to know which upcoming fall album release you're looking forward to the most.

Sam Smith Wins Record Of The Year

So here's your chance to be heard: From Miley Cyrus, Demi Lovato and Taylor Swift to in-the-works new offerings by Sam Smith and Nicki Minaj, what's album are you looking forward to the most in fall 2017?:

Polls

What's your most anticipated album for fall 2017?

 

GRAMMYs

Pharrell Williams and Green Day's Billie Joe Armstrong

Photos: WireImage.com

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Pharrell Williams, Green Day Join Global Citizen Festival's All-Star Lineup

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The festival's sixth installment to feature lineup packed with top-tier talent and past GRAMMY Award winners
Nate Hertweck
GRAMMYs
Aug 2, 2017 - 8:58 am

At a time when more artists are exercising their power of social activism and more music festivals are broadening the scope of genres in their lineup, Global Citizen Festival announced a truly dynamic and impressive lineup for their Sept. 23 event in Central Park in New York.

From Stevie Wonder to Green Day, the Lumineers to the Chainsmokers, and Pharrell Williams to the Killers, Global Citizen's lineup covers a lot of musical ground, all brought together in the name of progress.

“We try to bring in artists from multiple genres," Hugh Evans, CEO and founder of Global Citizen, told Variety. "Whatever music you're into, you can come to the Global Citizen Festival and be part of it, because ultimately our hope is that the message transcends the music, that we're the generation that sees the end of poverty in our lifetime.”

The eclectic lineup for the sixth iteration of Global Citizen Festival was once again curated by Coldplay frontman Chris Martin, and also will feature performances by Big Sean, Andra Day and Alessia Cara.

Global Citizen Festival promises to entertain, but the organization behind it has a much deeper purpose behind assembling this stellar lineup. More than 60,000 tickets to the event are expected to be given away to those who have worked with Global Citizen in support of their cause. "I think everyone’s who’s involved knows that our true north is the end of extreme poverty by 2030, and we're only going to get there if we use the immense uniting power of music to bring people together," said Evans.

If you can't make it to Central Park, the festival will be streamed via YouTube and Twitter. In the meantime, learn more about how you can help support Global Citizen.

Want More Festivals? Read Our Picks For The 17 Must-Attend Music Festivals In 2017

Carson Daly and 50 Cent on "TRL" set in 2008

Carson Daly and 50 Cent on the set of "TRL" in 2008

Photo: Theo Wargo/WireImage.com

News

"Total Request Live": MTV Reboots A Classic

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MTV turnaround slates classic "TRL" to return in October with multiple co-hosts
Philip Merrill
GRAMMYs
Jul 31, 2017 - 1:53 pm

"TRL," aka "Total Request Live," was cancelled in 2008 but MTV recently told The New York Times that the fan-favorite show will return this October.

The original show featured a countdown of popular music videos while a live studio audience looked on in hopes of a celebrity guest dropping by, all hosted by personality Carson Daly. The show was pivotal in launching the careers of teen pop sensations in the late '90s and early '00s, including Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera and Jessica Simpson, while N'Sync and Backstreet Boys reached their commercial height after appearing on the hit series.

The new version of "TRL" will initially air for a one-hour timeslot, with the option to expand to two or three hours in the future. It will be helmed by five co-hosts, including comedian/rapper DC Young Fly and radio personality Erik Zachary.

"TRL" caters to MTV's core audience of 18- to 34-year-olds, the voices of whom MTV President Chris McCarthy wants to highlight as MTV works to reinvent itself and get back to its roots.

"MTV at its best — whether it's news, whether it's a show, whether it's a docu-series — is about amplifying young people's voices," McCarthy said. "We put young people on the screen, and we let the world hear their voices."

Bringing back "TRL" is just one way McCarthy plans to do this. "When you talk to artists and they say to you, unaware of what we're doing, can you bring back 'TRL'? We'd be crazy not to reinvent that."

So what's next, by request?

A new iconic studio to house "TRL" is under construction, and McCarthy's plans to feature "young people's voices" in his new slate of programming show promise across the network's schedule.

Get ready for New York with the 60th GRAMMY Awards on Jan. 28

GRAMMYs

Photos: Kevin Mazur/Getty Images, Taylor Hill/Getty Images

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Listen to Mick Jagger's new song remixes with Skepta, Tame Impala

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Rolling Stones frontman gets creative and political with fresh new collaborations
Tim McPhate
GRAMMYs
Jul 28, 2017 - 2:02 pm

It's been a busy week for Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger.

The iconic singer turned 74 on July 26 and he's capped the celebration by releasing new music with some fresh collaborators. In conjunction with dropping two new singles, "England Lost" and "Gotta Get A Grip," Jagger also issued remixes of each song, featuring British rapper Skepta and Tame Impala's Kevin Parker, respectively. 

Though he's known for presiding over straight-ahead rock classics like "Start Me Up" and "It's Only Rock 'N Roll," Jagger addresses themes of excess, paranoia and politics in this pair of new songs. They were written in response to the "anxiety [and] unknowability of the changing political situation," he said. "We obviously have a lot of problems. So am I politically optimistic? … No."

As for those fans who might be miffed by the thought of Jagger mixing rhymes over a hip-hop bed? It's all part of the septuagenarian's thirst for musical diversity and keeping his ear to the street.

"I listen to R&B and pop and strange mixes of old and new and then like everyone I make my own random playlists," said Jagger. "The last things I added to a list were Kendrick Lamar, Skepta, Mozart, Howlin' Wolf, Tame Impala, obscure Prince tracks and classic soul stuff from the Valentine Brothers."

More new music: Esperanza Spalding to record new album live on Facebook