You could occupy a whole afternoon arguing about whether the Netflix series “Stranger Things” marks the jump-the-shark moment for the ’80s fetishization that’s been building for the past half-decade, or whether it represents the trend’s creative peak. Does the show cleverly re-invent the ’80s film touchstones that directors Matt and Ross Duffer wear on their sleeve? Or is their riffing on Steven Spielberg, Stephen King, George Lucas, and John Carpenter just artistic cannibalism? Is it time to adjust the tracking-control in our minds and stop looking at the world through VCR-tinted glasses?

Surprisingly, these question are pretty much moot when it comes to the first installment of the “Stranger Things” soundtrack. (The forthcoming Volume Two contains entirely different material and more or less accompanies a different set of episodes.) Much to their credit, composers Kyle Dixon and Michael Stein opted for a far less overt nostalgia than the Duffers. This is all the more surprising—not to mention admirable—when you consider that in Dixon and Stein’s main gig as members of the Austin-based experimental synth quartet S U R V I V E, they’re not necessarily shy about their taste for referencing ’80s keyboard sounds, even if they do so with good taste.

Read the rest of this article at Pitchfork

The best thing about being a music fan these days is that with each day, you never know when your next favorite song or act is going to come about. Promises Ltd., a duo consisting of Chrome Sparks(producer) and Charlie Brand (vocals), is one such surprising act, and, though both artists on their own are relatively established, this collaboration of sorts was a surprise to most. Their second single, “American Eyes“, too, has to be one of the best songs released this year. Promises’ self-titled debut EP dropped today, and simply put, it’s pretty great. The pair uses a vast array of enchanting, electronic-led sounds to construct something that goes well beyond anything that was created just to make some cash, and, really, this is just music (and creativity) at its very best.

Read the rest of this article at Hillydilly

Courtship. – Stop For Nothing

Arise, Courtship. (the full stop is intentional), whose debut single ‘Stop For Nothing’ might just be the sunshine-tinged track that your life is crying out for right now. Comprised of duo Eli Hirsch and Micah Gordon the pair met while performing in another group, Bloodboy, but have decided to go it alone with a slate of new material. Gordon had previously had worked with acclaimed songwriter Tobias Jesso Jr. and Misch with West Coast rock group DREAMERS, but Courtship. is an effort that’s purely between the two of them and ‘Stop For Nothing’ is a brilliant launching-off point. It falls somewhere between the joyous and shameless pop of Foster The People and the weirdness of electro-pop princes MGMT, but with a stamp of individuality that marks their intentions to become indie-pop’s next big thing. On first showing? They might have a decent shot.

Read the rest of this article at NME

The Radio Dept., the enigmatic Swedish conceptual pop group, haven’t released a studio album since 2010’s Clinging To A Scheme, and we haven’t heard from them since they released their “This Repeated Sodomy” single almost a year ago. But this fall, the group will finally return with a new studio LP called Running Out Of Love. The new album will feature “Occupied,” a single that the group released last year, and it’ll also feature “Swedish Guns,” which they’ve just shared. It’s a wistful, reggae-influenced track with the hazy production style that the Radio Dept. share with so many other Gothenburg groups. But while the music may sound calm and peaceful, the lyrics are all about violent revolution.

Read the rest of this article at Stereogum

Love Ssega may be a fresh pop signee, but his voice has already been heard by millions on the early Clean Bandit single “Mozart’s House.” The British-Ugandan singer was one of the founders of the classical/electronic group, who had a worldwide hit last year with “Rather Be,” during their premature days at Cambridge University. But just as “Mozart’s House” caught momentum, he walked away from the band to finish his PhD in laser sensing. Now he’s trading in his chemicals for beats as he returns to music with his upcoming solo EPMinds, sharing its vibrant funky title track. While his prior inspirations derived from the South London grime scene, “Minds” takes on a modern mix of ’80s New Wave and disco infused beats influenced by acts like LCD Soundsystem and Kindness. “Minds” layers heavy grooving bass and piano with a topping of airy trickling synths for one hip-shaking track. Ssega’s signature rap-like verses lead into spirited harmonies that take a soulful route all the way to end.

Read the rest of this article at Stereogum

Dueling Potato Brothers: The Collected Oasis Fights and Insults

With just three syllables expressed in all-caps, Liam Gallagher made a compelling argument back in May that Oasis might be more entertaining apart than they were together. “POTATO”: What an amazing insult. It’s petty, but ultimately harmless. When screamed in the schoolyard, it’s not likely to get anyone in too much hot water, but on the receiving end, it inexplicably stings.

When it comes to slinging insults, Liam and Noel Gallagher areartisans. And sure, new Oasis music or reunion shows could be amazing, but more amazing than watching one Gallagher tweet that his brother looks like a root vegetable?

Not to make complete light of a fraught situation. Sometimes, it’s gotten ugly and physical. Legal battles have ensued. And really, it’s never fun when two siblings trade poisonous barbs. But in the age of Twitter, the war has become a seemingly harmless, often hilarious spectator sport. And so, we’ve compiled an (obviously incomplete) history of the forever feuding Gallagher brothers’ fights and traded insults.

1994: During an L.A. concert, Liam changes the words of “Live Forever” to annoy his brother. (“Maybe I don’t really wanna know/Why you pick your nose”—scathing stuff.) He also hits Noel over the head with a tambourine and insults the American crowd. Noel briefly leaves the band, but rejoins them later that tour. This becomes a recurring theme for the next 15 years—breakups, begrudging returns, boyfights.

Read the rest of the story at Pitchfork

‘Eight Days a Week’ unearths new Beatles’ footage, including their final show

Their paths don’t cross frequently these days,  but put Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr into a room together and within a heartbeat they’re displaying the easy but deep camaraderie forged more than half a century ago on their way to becoming the biggest rock band on the planet.

“No, he is good —  I take back what I just said about him,” McCartney says, smiling wryly as Starr strolls back into the swank Las Vegas hotel suite and takes a seat next to his erstwhile other half in the Beatles rhythm section. The drummer had stepped out for a bottle of water during a short break between interviews surrounding the Ron Howard-directed documentary about the Beatles as a performing unit, “Eight Days a Week: The Touring Years.”

McCartney had started relating an infamous remark by jazz drummer Buddy Rich to a reporter, but was interrupted. Finishing the thought, with Starr back at his side, McCartney related that “Buddy kind of made fun of Ringo for not being real technical.”

Flashing the signature sharp Liverpool wit in response, Starr shot back, “Yeah, but I always thought he sounded like rats running around a [drum] kit.”

Read the rest of the story at LA Times

What makes for a No. 1 album in the on-demand age of streaming?

The Grammy-winning R&B singer Frank Ocean recently released two albums and a full-color, high-gloss magazine over the course of two days. In doing so, he injected enthusiasm, confusion and yet more chaos into an ever-evolving music business.

The unveiling, the latest in a line of innovative, high-profile maneuvers, disrupted the U.S. album charts. Where did Ocean end up on the chart? At No. 1, but how he got there is not as simple as it used to be.

On Monday’s Billboard Top 200 album count, the Apple Music-released “Blonde” debuted at No. 1, with a first-week tally of over 275,000 “equivalent album units” sold — note the wording in quotes.

So, what, exactly, is an equivalent album? It’s a complicated mash-up of streaming and sales data, where 10 digital-track downloads sold and 1,500 songs streamed are equal to one album.

In Ocean’s case, he sold 232,000 digital-album downloads of “Blonde,” according to Nielsen Music. The album then accrued 65 million streams of its individual tracks. That number in turn is divided by 1,500 to arrive at what, for charting purposes, essentially amounts to an additional 43,000 albums sold (individual tracks from the release were not made for sale).

Got all that? You’re forgiven if not.

Read the rest of the story at LA Times