Those Swedish musical party-girls, Caroline Hjelt and Aino Jawo, otherwise known as Icona Pop are back with a new club-banging anthem. "Girls Girls" delivers the duo's signature sing-shout sound with a throbbing tropical beat. With a co-songwriting assist from fellow Swede, Tove Lo, this shimmering jam will make a cool addition to the summer much like Icona Pop's last major pop hit, "I Love It". Check out this lyric video that features selfies from the singers and their fans:
This year marks the fortieth anniversary of the release of one of the biggest selling albums of all-time; Fleetwood Mac's "Rumours". Recorded during a difficult time of personal upheaval within the group with the divorce of bass guitarist John McVie from keyboard player/vocalist Christine McVie along with the romantic break-up between guitarist and vocalist, Lindsey Buckingham and singer/songwriter, Stevie Nicks. Even Fleetwood Mac's co-founder and drummer, Mick Fleetwood was dealing with martial problems as his wife at the time was having an affair.
Yet despite all of the emotional chaos for each member of the band, somehow all of this tension set off a profound creative spark. While all four singles, "Go Your Own Way", "Don't Stop", "You Make Loving Fun" and the number one hit, "Dreams", made it to the top-ten on the U.S. pop chart, every song from this near-perfect album received some radio play. "Rumours" would become a world-wide massive hit, go on to win a well-deserved Grammy Award for Album of The Year and to date, has sold more than forty million copies.
Now two members of the group, Lindsey Buckingham and Christine McVie have just released a self-titled album. After coming out of semi-retirement to rejoin Fleetwood Mac in 2014, McVie hit the recording studio with Buckingham to help get herself back in to the groove. This proved to be successful sessions with new material coming together for a potential new Fleetwood Mac album. The project was put on hold to start the Fleetwood MacOn With The Show tour. Stevie Nicks was going to contribute songs for the Fleetwood Mac album after their tour but decided to pursue her own career retrospective project, "24 Karat Gold: Songs from the Vault" and tour for that album. Deciding not to wait for Nicks, Buckingham and McVie continued on with the project as a duo.
"Lindsey Buckingham/Christine McVie" is a solid album bringing a familiar, comfortable vibe by merging Buckingham's experimental style and McVie's smooth pop sound. While it's just the two musicians' name of the project, two other members of Fleetwood Mac, Mick Fleetwood and John McVie participated on a number of the tracks. This duo will be hitting the road this summer starting on June 21st in Atlanta to promote the record. Listen to the first single, "In My World", a Buckingham lead song and "Feel About You" which features McVie on vocals:
Beth Ditto, the fiery, big voice behind the alt-punk band, Gossip, has officially become a solo artist after the group mutually decided to come to an end last year. The Arkansas native had dabbled with EDM on her 2011 self-titled EP but has returned to her musical roots with her just released debut, "Fake Sugar". This collection of country-lite rockers and electrifying dance tunes features lyrics that touches on her Southern upbringing, life as a queer feminist artist and her almost four-year marriage to Kristin Ogata. Enjoy the video for the first single, "Fire":
PERFUME GENIUS
One way to describe the visionary music of Perfume Genius is that he is the star-child of Kate Bush and David Bowie. Born Mike Hadreas in the suburbs of Seattle, WA, he was victimized as a young child due to being openly gay and even received death threats. Hadreas found solace in music and learned to play the piano. After dropping out of high school, he moved to New York in an attempt to experience a more open-minded, creative environment. Hadreas soon returned to Seattle where he decided to pursue a life in music on his terms. Reborn as "Perfume Genius", he created songs inspired by his sexuality and the dangers that confront gay men in contemporary society. For his fourth album, "No Shape", Perfume Genius has created another bold art-rock expression on his views of love and relationships. Here are the music videos for two singles from the album, "Slip Away" and "Die 4 You" which perfectly display this artist's inventive gift for performance art.
Finally we have some new music from the glam-disco outfit, Scissor Sisters. it's been almost five years since we last heard anything from the group, which still consists of Babydaddy, Jake Shears, Ana Matronic, and Del Marquis, and they have come together with producer, MNDR for a good cause. The song, "Swerlk" was created to pay tribute to the victims of the Orlando nightclub shooting one year ago with a sassy dance-floor remembrance. It is being released in conjunction with GLAAD with proceeds from the sales benefiting the Contigo Fund, a non-profit organization for LGBTQ individuals.
It's hard to believe that it's been a little over a year since we lost the phenomenally talented musician, Prince. He would have turned fifty-eight on June 7th and the world still hasn't seem to have recovered from the tragic passing of this truly iconic artist.
I just recently caught up with watching this year's Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction and my favorite part of the program had nothing to do with any of the inductees. It was a brief musical tribute to the Purple One by Lenny Kravitz that blew me away. I have to say it's the absolute best out of the many tributes paid to Prince to date, so please check out Mr Kravitz performing inspired live versions of "When Doves Cry" and "The Cross":
