Lil Nas X has proven all those remixes were worth it now that his single “Old Town Road” is the longest-running No. 1 song in the history of the Billboard Hot 100.
For 17 weeks, Lil Nas X’s fusion of country and trap has sat at the top of the Billboard Hot 100. That’s one week longer than previous record holders “Despacito” by Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee featuring Justin Bieber and “One Sweet Day” by Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men.
Meg & Dia have released a video for “American Spirit.”
Ed Sheeran has the number one album in the country this week:
No. 6 earned 78,000 equivalent album units in the week ending July 25 in the U.S., according to Nielsen Music. That’s down 55% compared to its debut of 173,000 units.
Today’s video interview is with Caamp.
Caamp is an Americana act on the rise with their recent release of By and By coming out last Friday. In this chat from the Firefly Festival, the band talks about the good, the bad, and the ugly of the music business.
Now three albums into their career, Of Monsters and Men have all but abandoned their happy-go-lucky and charming takes on indie rock in favor of stadium-ready pop anthems on Fever Dream. The first lyrics on the LP are telling as lead singer Nanna Bryndis Hilmarsdottir opens with, “I see color/Raining down/Feral feeling/Swaying sound/But I don’t know what you want.” The entire record is filled with much brighter moments than we have come to expect from the Icelandic band, and this album turns out to be their best to date.
Coming off of two successful records in My Head is an Animal and Beneath the Skin, Of Monsters and Men could have very well made a similar sounding record for their third effort. However, never ones to be complacent with what they have accomplished before, the band took it upon themselves to push themselves to their creative limits on Fever Dream. Co-produced by the group and under the trusted tutelage of Rich Costey (Frank Turner, Foster the People), Of Monsters and Men have fully embraced the pop underlining that were embedded in their earlier work and made a record worthy of the size of the venues they are playing this fall.
Josh Chambers of Sloppy Meat Eaters has put together a “makeshift documentary” about the band and their travels. The first three episodes are up on YouTube.
Chain Gang of 1974 has released the new single “From Here Who Knows” to streaming services.
Cassadee Pope joined Third Eye Blind on stage in Nashville to perform “Losing a Whole Year.”
The Coverups, a Green Day side project, performed a surprise block party over the weekend. Some fan shot footage has been uploaded to YouTube.
Sum 41 has announced some new fall tour dates.
Chance the Rapper has announced some new tour dates.
Lizzo performed a new NPR Tiny Desk concert.
Ten Foot Pole have shared a video for “Everything Dies.”
This week’s newsletter has thoughts on new songs from Blink-182 and The 1975, early impressions of The Faim’s new album, and some random thoughts about other music I’ve been enjoying this week. Then there’s my weekly media diet rundown which including a spoiler-filled rant about the new Veronica Mars. I was frustrated. There’s also a playlist of ten songs I loved this week and a little recap about the current health of this very website. This week’s supporter Q&A post can be found here.
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