I’m assuming most of the music world is going to be talking about Drake’s new release, Views, today, but I also think that Pity Sex and Holy Ghost! releases are worth taking a look at. If you hit read more you can see all the releases we have in our calendar for the week. Hit the quote bubble to access our forums and talk about what came out today, what albums you picked up, and to make mention of anything we may have missed.
Young the Giant – “Something to Believe In”
Young the Giant’s new single “Something to Believe In” is now up for stream on Apple Music and Spotify.
Blink-182 on KROQ — All the Updates
It’s exciting to be posting about Blink-182 again. It’s even more fun when the music coming out is undeniably catchy and there seems to be this buzz hovering around the band again in a way I haven’t felt in years. Hell, I even had to give myself a Blink-182 avatar in the forums. So, today the band will be visiting KROQ once again to announce some news and probably talk a little more about their upcoming album, California.
We’re expecting pre-order information and probably the announcement of their massive tour as well. I’ll be listening live and then updating this post with news as it comes in, that way there will be one central location for everything you need to know about what happened today. If you’d like to join in on the conversation you can click the little quote bubble on this post to jump to the comments section or, as always, join our large official thread in the forums.
Blink-182 to Release ‘California’ on July 1st
It’s real, it’s happening: Blink-182 will be releasing California on July 1st — pre-orders will be up on their website tomorrow. The new single “Bored to Death” is back up for stream. Go hit play and then come join us in the official thread to talk about it. More news, maybe some tour dates?, will be coming tomorrow according to the official YouTube description.
Update: At one point the album was going to be called No Future, but it was changed to not be so negative. Also Mark tossed the name OBGYN Kenobi around as a possibility, because of course. The album is out July 1st, which is the 182nd day of the year.
Update #2: The tour dates have shown up online and can be found below. A Day to Remember, All Time Low, and The All-American Rejects are opening select dates.
Update #3: The track listing for the album (holy yes: 16 songs!) has been added below and pre-orders are showing up on different services.
Blink-182 – “Bored to Death”
Today we get our first taste of new Blink-182. Not just new music from the band but also our first glimpse at what Blink now sounds like with the addition of Matt Skiba. You can stream the song below. Holy shit.
Update: It looks like the video, which was definitely official, has been pulled from YouTube after going live “accidentally.” If you got in early (or are one of the bazillion that probably ripped it), lucky you! The song will premiere on KROQ tomorrow at 7:00am (PST). Feel free to come join us in the forums and in this post’s thread to talk about the new music. I’m going to leave this post up for the rest of today and tomorrow to point people to the forums and will edit in the official stream when it goes live again.
Update #2: The band has moved up the premiere of the song to 4:30pm PST on KROQ. I will update this post with the official stream when it goes live but any new news will be getting its own post.
Update #3: The song is back up.
Pinegrove Announce Headlining Tour
Pinegrove have announced a summer headlining tour. You can find all the dates and information below.
Thrice – “Black Honey”
Thrice have premiered the new song “Black Honey” over at NPR.
Lyrically the song spawned from an image that popped into my head; someone continually swatting at a swarm of bees to get their honey, but somehow not understanding why they would sting back in return. It seemed a fitting metaphor for much of U.S. foreign policy.
Saosin – “Control and the Urge to Pray”
Saosin’s new song “Control and the Urge to Pray” is streaming on Apple Music. The new album, Along the Shadow, will be out May 20th via Epitaph Records.
Blink-182 Single Artwork Leaks Out Early
It looks like the Sands Bethlehem Events Center mistakenly leaked the full version of Blink-182’s upcoming single artwork for “Bored to Death.” If you want to see your Christmas presents early, the Blink-182 thread in our forums is full of sleuths.
The new single will premiere on KROQ on Thursday. We will, of course, have a thread open and ready for the premiere in our forums for everyone to share their thoughts on the new song. I find it semi-weird that the day after I republish a blog post about what I consider the “worst part of my job” information leaks about one of my favorite bands.
Motion City Soundtrack Announce Final Dates
Other than two or three more US dates, and a international dates, Motion City Soundtrack have announced all the dates for their farewell tour.
Nate Ruess Covers Prince’s “Let’s Go Crazy”
Nate Ruess covered Prince’s “Let’s Go Crazy” at FestivALT on Saturday. A video can be found on YouTube or by hitting read more.
Bayside Announce New Album and Tour
Bayside’s new album Vacancy will be released on August 19th — pre-orders are now up. They have also announced a tour with The Menzingers and Sorority Noise. Dates can be found below.
Last Call for AbsolutePunk Pin Pre-Orders
This is the last week we’re going to have pre-orders up for the AbsolutePunk.net commemorative logo pin through Hard Rock’s Online Rock Shop. So, if you want one of these little guys, now is the time to make sure you get your order in. This entire thing has been a lot of fun and introduced me into the world of pin collecting. I didn’t even know this was a thing until we put this together. Now I’m seeing them everywhere, and if my favorite bands start putting these out my wallet may be in trouble. I mean, I already saw the limited edition Portland Timbers one and kinda want it. If Blink put out one of their logo? Or a little floating Brand New spaceman? Yeah, I’d have no idea where I’d even store them and I’d want all the pins. But I digress.
Last call for pre-orders on Hard Rock’s Online Rock Shop.
Bands on TV (Week of April 25th)
This week your television will be graced with Iggy Pop tonight on Jimmy Kimmel, Ariana Grande also tonight but on Jimmy Fallon, and rounding out a damn good Monday: Bob Mould on Colbert. Meg Myers will be on Conan on Tuesday the 26th, and Fitz & the Tantrums will be on Fallon on Wednesday the 27th.
Prince Tops Billboard Charts (Week Ending April 21st)
Prince’s albums The Very Best of Prince and Purple Rain are the top two albums on the Billboard 200 this week.
The Very Best of Prince earned 179,000 equivalent album units in the week ending April 21 (up 10,872 percent compared to the previous week). Of that sum, 100,000 were in traditional album sales (up 11,232 percent). As for Purple Rain, it shifted 69,000 units (63,000 in pure album sales; up 3,101 percent).
Prince died on April 21, the final day of the latest tracking week for the new chart, meaning that fans rushed to purchase his music in the roughly half-day left in the tracking week (after the news broke around 10 a.m. PT), enough to send him to Nos. 1 and 2. We will see continued impact from the icon’s passing on the following week’s chart, dated May 14 (reflecting activity in the week ending April 28).