The Offspring hope to have a new album out this year:
We’re hoping to get it out this year, yeah! We’ve been working on it. It’s going real slow. [laughs] We’ve been in and out of the studio for a few years now. We want to get some songs out before we did the whole record. Like, “Coming for You,” whenever that was released.
This week I joined Deanna Chapman on the Missaligned podcast to talk about the first year of running this website, the challenges of making the move, my goals and where we achieved and came up short, and what I hope the next phase and future of Chorus will be. It was, as always, a lot of fun.
You can hear the episode on Soundcloud, Overcast, or iTunes.
Read More “In Lieu of Encore This Week I Spoke With Missaligned”
Punchline’s Kickstarter has reached its goal of $20,000.
Caroline O’Donovan, writing for BuzzFeed, on why star ratings are awful:
The other problem is that not everyone can agree on what the star ratings mean — not even the companies themselves. Lyft says that five stars means “awesome,” four means “OK, could be better,” and three means “below average.” But for Uber, five stars is “excellent,” four is “good,” and three is “OK.”
Individuals have different interpretations, too. “For some people, three could mean this is good, while four is great and five is perfect. Some people might say, nowhere is going to be perfect, so I’m going to say five stars is really good, and four is good,” Celis said. “The way you can interpret those stars is infinite, and most people don’t have the exact same system.”
Agreed completely. Moving to a more descriptive system was one of the first things I did when redesigning this website.
Deepa Lakshmin, writing for MTV:
Interestingly, Blink-182 have their science wrong. Though extremely rare, it is possible to get a girl “more pregnant” if she continues ovulating after already getting pregnant. This phenomenon is called superfetation, and doctors have no clear medical explanation for it yet.
BBC reports that there have only been 10 recorded cases, but the babies are typically born healthy as if they were twins — even though they were technically conceived days or weeks apart. Man, human bodies are weird.
Oh.
Sigur Rós have teamed up with Lord Jones to offer branded cannabis edibles.
Sigur Rós and Lord Jones come together to bring you medicated gumdrops inspired by the flavors of foraged Icelandic berries~wild blackberries, strawberries and blueberries, infused with full-spectrum CBD derived from specially sourced organic hemp.
Jude Law will be playing Dumbledore in the upcoming Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them sequel.
Rowling, who made her screenwriting debut on “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them,” has also written the script for the second installment, which is set in an increasingly dark time for the wizarding world, where Newt Scamander and company have to decide on their allegiances.
Morrissey’s show in Arizona was cut short after the singer lost his voice mid-set:
Sumberg said a Morrissey band member told the audience from the stage that the singer could not finish the show. Morrissey’s spokesman Gustavo Manzur posted on Facebook that the singer’s voice was “reduced to a whisper.”
“My heart is broken but if this is the worst, thank the Lord. We’ll take care of him,” Manzur wrote. “He tried … he would have NEVER come out if didn’t think he could have. He tried. His voice is gone. But he’s not. Just a bit of rest for his voice. Please understand. He is human.”
Lorde sat down with Jonah Weiner of The New York Times for a wide ranging interview:
No one’s feedback mattered to Lorde as much as Antonoff’s. When Max Martin heard “Green Light” shortly before its release, she told me, “he had a very specific opinion, which had to do with the melodic math — shortening a part.” Martin is probably the greatest pop craftsman alive. Since his late-’90s breakthrough he has written or co-written career-defining singles for Britney Spears, Backstreet Boys, Kelly Clarkson, Katy Perry, Taylor Swift and the Weeknd. Lorde sought an audience with him a few years ago at his Los Angeles studio, and they stayed in touch. Martin described “Green Light” as a case of “incorrect songwriting,” Lorde said, clarifying that this “wasn’t an insult, just a statement of fact,” and one, furthermore, that she agreed with: “It’s a strange piece of music.” (The press-averse Martin declined to comment.)
Authority Zero have signed to Bird Attack Records and will release their new album, Broadcasting to the Nations, on June 2nd.
Safer Scenes have launched a GoFundMe to head out on Warped Tour:
Sexual violence at music festivals is all too common. While this issue is getting increased media attention, there are still far too few resources for people who want to do something about it. In my work with music festivals looking to address this issue, I’ve seen a keen interest from the public, but a lack of concrete help available to them. I’m proud to have been part of a cultural shift and an educational revolution on the issue of safety at shows. Now it’s time to take the campaign across America.
I’m so excited that the amazing band War On Women has invited me to come along with them on Vans Warped Tour this summer! Together with Hollaback! Baltimore we are creating a Safer Scenes booth to be at every single one of the 41 dates of the summer 2017 season.
Drake is once again on top of the Billboard charts.
More Life is the first album to spend its first three chart weeks at No. 1 since Drake’s own Views, back on June 4, 2016. (Views spent its first nine weeks at No. 1, following its debut atop the tally dated May 21. Views then later returned three more weeks in the penthouse from July 30-Aug. 13, and then one further frame at No. 1 on Oct. 8.)
Rabab Al-Sharif looks at the story behind the book, Everybody Hurts: An Essential Guide To Emo Culture, as it turns ten:
“A lot of people, mostly critics and Pitchfork disciples, were quick to write off emo as a passing trend. They thought it was a gateway music that would provide an adequately angsty soundtrack to your teen years. Then, after puberty passed, you’d throw away the eyeliner, hide the flat irons, and try to forget whether mics were for singing or for swinging,” Simon says.
I’ve known Leslie Simon for a long time now and I can’t believe it’s been ten years since this book came out. What a trip down memory lane. I can see my copy sitting on the bookshelf from where I write this.
Sidebar: Why is loading one page on AltPress.com over 16 MB? That website is a mess.
Beth Elderkin, writing for Gizmodo:
LiveJournal, a blog community that’s hosted a lot of science fiction authors and fans (including George RR Martin), has officially banned “political solicitation”— which can mean anything that criticizes the Russian government, as well as pro-LGBTQ discussions. There are also concerns users can be subject to Russian spying.
