Meet Me @ the Altar Talk With Alt. Press

Meet Me at the Altar
Jason Tate

Meet Me @ the Altar did a recent interview with Alt. Press:

We know how important it is for young people especially, to see people like them doing something that they might want to do. We like being there for all the little girls that don’t really have anyone to look up to in the rock scene. We had Paramore [and] Halsey. That’s about it. We wish we had someone of color to look up to in the scene and we’re that for a lot of other people, which is so important to us. That’s one of the main reasons why we have tried hard to be successful. With Fueled, we are getting a platform to spread these messages that we feel like a lot of people would like to hear.

Spotify Letting Artists/Labels Promote Tracks in Recommendations

Jason Tate

Sarah Perez, writing at TechCrunch:

Spotify announced today it will begin to test a new service that gives artists more of a say in how their music is discovered on the Spotify platform. At launch, the service will allow artists and labels to identify music that’s a priority to them, and Spotify will then add a signal to help the music get surfaced by its personalization algorithms.

While the new service is not a paid promotion and requires no upfront budget on artists’ or labels’ part, Spotify says that the artists, labels and rights holders will agree to be paid a “promotional recording royalty rate” for streams where the company provides the service. 

Review: SUUNS – Fiction EP

SUUNS - FICTION EP
Mary Varvaris

There are no ifs or buts about it – SUUNS are a band caught in a unique juncture of past and present on their new EP, FICTION. On the eerie opener, “LOOK,” the Montreal-based band conjures an ominous atmosphere straight off the bat. Vocalist Ben Shemie recalls sermons, his vocals high in the mix; processed to the point where words are unintelligible but that doesn’t even matter. All you can focus on is the feeling “LOOK” demands. “FICTION” takes a leaf out of trip-hop legends Portishead’s books with beats contrasting against a mournful elegy: “Where are you from, you don’t seem to know,” Shemie sings. “Life is long as a day/And one by one, you see them fall/I can’t talk, can’t take anymore.”

Read More “SUUNS – Fiction EP”

Luke Combs Tops the Charts

Jason Tate

Luke Combs has the number one album in the country this week:

The set, which debuted atop the list dated Nov. 23, 2019, zooms from No. 21 to No. 1 with 109,000 equivalent album units earned in the U.S. in the week ending Oct. 29 (up 399 percent), according to Nielsen Music/MRC Data. The album was reissued on Oct. 23 with a handful of additional songs, bringing its total song count to 23.

Bruce Springsteen comes in at number two, making him the first act to have top five-charting albums in each fo the last six decades:

As Bruce Springsteen’s new album Letter to You debuts at No. 2 on the new Billboard 200 chart, he becomes the first act with new top five-charting albums in each of the last six decades (1970s, ‘80s, ‘90s, ‘00s, ‘10s and the ‘20s). Letter to You is Springsteen’s 20th studio effort.