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Listen The Doors’ Previously Unreleased ‘Riders on the Storm’ Demo

The Doors have announced a 50th anniversary deluxe edition of their sixth and final studio album, L.A. Woman. Set for release on December 3 via Rhino, the 3-CD/1-LP collection will feature the original album newly remastered by the Doors’ longtime engineer and mixer Bruce Botnick, two bonus discs of unreleased studio outtakes, and the stereo mix of the original album on vinyl. Also included is the previously unheard original demo of ‘Riders on the Storm’, which has now been unveiled. Give it a listen below.

The demo of ‘Riders on the Storm’ was recorded at Sunset Sound studios with producer Paul A. Rothchild, who infamously called it “cocktail music” before departing the project. This led to the band working with Botnick, who explained in a press release:  “The previously unreleased reels here – serial takes of ‘The Changeling,’ ‘Love Her Madly,’ ‘Riders On The Storm,’ and ‘L.A. Woman’ – depict a band obsessed with groove while executing turns and flourishes with the precision of a well-drilled soul combo… The idea was to go from song to song, to let it flow.”

In addition to these outtakes, the collection also includes covers of Junior Parker’s ‘Mystery Train’, John Lee Hooker’s ‘Crawling King Snake’, Big Joe Williams’ ‘Baby Please Don’t Go’, and Lee Dorsey’s ‘Get Out of My Life Woman’.

The Doors’ L.A. Woman (50th Anniversary Deluxe Edition) Tracklist:

Disc One: Original Stereo Mix Remastered
1. The Changeling
2. Love Her Madly
3. Been Down So Long
4. Cars Hiss By My Window
5. L.A. Woman
6. L’America
7. Hyacinth House
8. Crawling King Snake
9. The WASP (Texas Radio And The Big Beat)
10. Riders On The Storm
Bonus Tracks
11. Hyacinth House – Demo
12. Riders On The Storm – Sunset Sound Version – Original Demo*

Disc Two: L.A. Woman Sessions, Part 1
1. The Changeling *
2. Love Her Madly *
3. Riders On The Storm *
4. L.A. Woman (Part 1) *

Disc Three: L.A. Woman Sessions, Part 2
1. L.A. Woman (Part 2) *
2. She Smells So Nice *
3. Rock Me Baby *
4. Mr. Mojo Risin’ *
5. Baby Please Don’t Go *
6. L.A. Woman (Part 3) *
7. Been Down So Long *
8. Get Out Of My Life Woman *
9. Crawling King Snake *
10. The Bastard Son Of Jimmy & Mama Reed (Cars Hiss By My Window) *
11. Been Down So Long *
12. Mystery Train *
13. The WASP (Texas Radio And The Big Beat) *

* = Previously unreleased

Drake Reveals ‘Certified Lover Boy’ Features Young Thug, Future, 21 Savage, and More

Days ahead of its release, Drake has revealed some of the guests on his next record Certified Lover Boy. One billboard in Atlanta announced that “Slime, Pluto, Savage and Baby are on CLB,” referring to Young Thug, Future, 21 Savage, and Lil Baby. Another one in California promised Giveon and Ty Dolla $ign, while Project Pat and Yebba were confirmed in Memphis. Another billboard in Chicago teased Lil Durk, who appears on the single ‘Laugh Now Cry Later’, while New York’s Times Square version appears to suggest that JAY-Z will be on the project: “Hey New York, the GOAT is on CLB.” Check out the series of billboards below.

Earlier this week, Drake confirmed Certified Lover Boy will come out this Friday, September 3. The album, which will follow 2018’s Scorpion as well as last year’s Dark Lane Demo Tapes, was first announced last August and was originally set for release in January before being indefinitely delayed.

Kanye West Shares New ‘Come to Life’ Video

Kanye West has shared a new video for ‘Come to Life’, from his new album Donda. The visual features footage from the album’s third listening event at Chicago’s Soldier Field, which saw West having a replica of his childhood home rebuilt in the stadium. Also included are clips of Kim Kardashian’s surprise appearance and West seemingly setting himself on fire. Watch it below.

After multiple delays, the follow-up to 2019’s Jesus Is King finally arrived on streaming services on August 29. West later claimed that his label released the record without his approval. The 27-track Donda features contributions from Jay Z, Lil Durk, Lil Yachty, Travis Scott, Baby Keem, Kid Cudi, Don Toliver, Jay Electronica, DaBaby, Marilyn Manson, and more. Read our review of the album.

Lil Nas X Reveals ‘Montero’ Tracklist Featuring Megan Thee Stallion, Elton John, Miley Cyrus, and More

A day after revealing its cover artwork, Lil Nas X has unveiled the tracklist for his debut full-length album, Montero, which is out September 17 via Columbia. The 15-song record includes the previously shared singles ‘Montero (Call Me By Your Name)’, ‘Sun Goes Down’, and the Jack Harlow-assisted ‘Industry Baby’ and features contributions from Megan Thee Stallion, Elton John, Miley Cyrus, and Doja Cat. (The Elton John collaboration, ‘One of Me’, will also appear on John’s just-announced album The Lockdown Sessions.)  Check out the full list below.

Montero Tracklist:

1. Montero (Call Me by Your Name)
2. Dead Right Now
3. Industry Baby [feat. Jack Harlow]
4. That’s What I Want
5. The Art of Realization
6. Scoop [feat. Doja Cat]
7. One of Me [feat. Elton John]
8. Lost in the Citadel
9. Dolla Sign Slime [feat. Megan Thee Stallion]
10. Tales of Dominica
11. Sun Goes Down
12. Void
13. Don’t Want It
14. Life After Salem
15. Am I Dreaming [feat. Miley Cyrus]

Album Review: Kanye West, ‘Donda’

Before it was an actual album that arrived on streaming services on Sunday, August 29, Donda was a million different things. And maybe, as an endlessly malleable product with no set release date and an excuse for us to mythologize its creator, it had reached its ideal form. Ahead of the album’s third listening party at Soldier Field in Chicago, Kanye West launched a Stem Player that would accompany the release of the album, allowing fans to customize any one of its songs by controlling instruments, isolating parts, or adding effects. And when the LP once again failed to materialize last Friday, undercutting the promise of molding something that would likely never exist in any real capacity seemed like the most poignant statement this whole rollout had to offer. If this was going to be it, the message was loud and clear, more reflective of our own desires and biases as an audience than West’s ego.

After all, could there be a better way of presenting an art project centered around obsession – with God, with family, with one’s own self – than having it be nothing but an idea to be consumed by? When everything you do in the public eye scans as performative, how much does the music actually matter, and how could it possibly deliver? Forget about living up to the hype – how much time and editing would it take for an album in which Kanye invokes his dead mother’s name to truly align with his grand artistic vision? As an endless series of questions, Donda was as perfect and fascinating as it could be.

And then, apparently without the artist’s approval and with no guarantee that it would be the final version (one change has already been made), Donda, the album, saw the light of day. It’s an unfinished and self-indulgent work by design, and the fact that it fails to transcend Kanye’s own mythos should surprise nobody. But the rapper’s 10th studio album is also shallow, incoherent, and frustrating, a 27-track effort with a 1 hour and 48-minute runtime that faithful devotees, alienated fans, and sceptics alike will surely have a hard time sitting through, much less connect with. West is self-aware enough: “I ain’t deliverin’ heavenly messages just for the hell of it/ Don’t try to test me, I keep it clean, but it can get messy,” he raps on ‘Off the Grid’. Things do indeed get messy on Donda, but rarely in the chaotically ambitious ways that set apart West’s most iconic projects.

Instead, he crams moments of forced profundity, occasional brilliance, and insufferable lyricism into an album that tries harder than it should to be both poised and manic, epic in scale yet somber in tone. It’s the sort of contrast that has characterized some of West’s best work, but Donda’s tonal inconsistencies feel mostly purposeless. The opening track, an extended chant of his mother’s name, hints at an album that would require patience but could achieve a haunting resonance, yet the collection of songs that follows feels simultaneously overwrought and undercooked. When West reunites with Jay-Z on ‘Jail’, over anthemic power chords that aim for a familiar sense of grandeur, the result falls short of highlighting anything beyond the obvious spectacle of it all.

The extended/alternate version of the song, one of four remixes unnecessarily placed at the end of the album, is even worse. Recruiting DaBaby, who has been kicked off festival gigs for making homophobic remarks onstage, and Marilyn Manson, who faces multiple allegations of abuse and sexual assault – on a track whose chorus goes “Guess who’s goin’ to jail tonight?/ God gon’ post my bail tonight”– is no doubt a callous attempt at taking on cancel culture; but even as an act of provocation, like so much of the album, it feels empty. Critics have already pointed out the absence of female voices on an album that’s at least partially supposed to be a tribute to Dr. Donda C. West, but the truth is that it lacks any sort of overarching perspective, gendered or not.

Guests generally help elevate the project from being totally underwhelming, from Houston singer Vory’s mournful hook on ‘Jonah’ to Jay Electronica’s excellent verse on ‘Jesus Lord pt 2’ to Baby Keem and Travis Scott’s animated presence on ‘Praise God’. Playboi Carti and Fivio Foreign also stand out on ‘Off the Grid’, one of the album’s euphoric highlights. But most memorable of all is a spoken-word segment from the son of imprisoned gang leader Larry Hoover, who thanks West for bringing his father’s cause to the White House; it’s an example of how the artist’s framing can be both ethically dubious and affecting. West’s own writing and delivery is at its best when he shifts his focus away from his public persona to expose his vulnerability, whether directly addressing his mother (“Mama, you was the life of the party/ I swear, you brought life to the party/ When you lost your life, it took the life out the party”) or his ongoing divorce (“I don’t wanna die alone/ I don’t wanna die alone/ I get mad when she gone/ Mad when she home.”)

But for the majority of the album, either West’s songwriting falls flat or his scattered ideas fail to coalesce into a compelling, complicated whole, even if they’re clearly in service of something bigger. A similar problem concerns the album’s production; there are echoes of West’s prior work – the stark minimalism of 808s & Heartbreak, and, less often, the abrasive heights of Yeezus – and although his attempts at integrating the gospel influences that culminated on 2019’s Jesus Is King on tracks like ‘Hurricane’ are largely effective, so many of the musical choices here come off as arbitrary and inconsequential. Some may call this West’s best album since 2016’s Life of Pablo, but at least the flawed, depressing nature of 2018’s ye, if less than revelatory, was part of its emotional appeal. And that record was 23 minutes long. Donda just leaves you feeling bemused and exhausted, wondering not which potential version would have the greatest impact, but which would best emulate the thrill of its non-existence with the least collateral damage.

Elton John Announces New Album ‘The Lockdown Sessions’ Featuring Nicki Minaj, Eddie Vedder, Stevie Nicks, and More

Elton John has announced a new album titled The Lockdown Sessions. Out October 22 via Interscope, the record features collaborations with Young Thug and Nicki Minaj, Eddie Vedder, Stevie Nicks, Stevie Wonder, Brandi Carlile, Lil Nas X, Charlie Puth, and more. It also includes previously released collaborations with Dua Lipa (‘Cold Heart (Pnau Remix)’), Rina Sawayama (‘Chosen Family’), and Gorillaz (‘The Pink Phantom’). Find the full tracklist below.

John said in a statement about the new album:

The last thing I expected to do during lockdown was make an album. But, as the pandemic went on, one‐off projects kept cropping up. Some of the recording sessions had to be done remotely, via Zoom, which I’d obviously never done before. Some of the sessions were recorded under very stringent safety regulations: working with another artist, but separated by glass screens. But all the tracks I worked on were really interesting and diverse, stuff that was completely different to anything I’m known for, stuff that took me out of my comfort zone into completely new territory. And I realised there was something weirdly familiar about working like this. At the start of my career, in the late 60s, I worked as a session musician. Working with different artists during lockdown reminded me of that. I’d come full circle: I was a session musician again. And it was still a blast.

The Lockdown Sessions Cover Artwork:

The Lockdown Sessions Tracklist:

1. Elton John & Dua Lipa – ‘Cold Heart’ (PNAU Remix)
2. Elton John, Young Thug & Nicki Minaj – ‘Always Love You’
3. Surfaces feat. Elton John – ‘Learn To Fly’
4. Elton John & Charlie Puth – ‘After All’
5. Rina Sawayama & Elton John – ‘Chosen Family’
6. Gorillaz feat. Elton John & 6LACK – ‘The Pink Phantom’
7. Elton John & Years & Years – ‘It’s a sin’ (global reach mix)
8. Miley Cyrus feat. WATT, Elton John, Yo-Yo Ma, Robert Trujillo & Chad Smith – ‘Nothing Else Matters’
9. Elton John & SG Lewis – ‘Orbit’
10. Elton John & Brandi Carlile – ‘Simple Things’
11. Jimmie Allen & Elton John – ‘Beauty In The Bones’
12. Lil Nas X feat. Elton John – ‘One Of Me’
13. Elton John & Eddie Vedder – ‘E-Ticket’
14. Elton John & Stevie Wonder – ‘Finish Line’
15. Elton John & Stevie Nicks – ‘Stolen Car’
16. Glen Campbell & Elton John – ‘I’m Not Gonna Miss You’

Rosalía and Tokischa Join Forces on New Song ‘Linda’

Rosalía has teamed up with Dominican rapper and singer-songwriter Tokischa for a new song called ‘Linda’. The single was produced by Leo RD and comes with an accompanying music video that you can check out below.

Earlier this year, Rosalía shared the Billie Eilish collaboration ‘Lo Vas a Olvidar’ and featured on a new version of Oneohtrix Point Never’s ‘Nothing Special’. Last month, Tokischa joined J Balvin on the single ‘Perra’.

Meek Mill and Lil Uzi Vert Team Up for New Song ‘Blue Notes 2’

Meek Mill has enlisted Lil Uzi Vert for the new song ‘Blue Notes 2’. The collaborative track comes with an accompanying music video co-directed by Meek Mill and Kid Art. Watch and listen below.

Just last week, Meek Mill teamed up with Lil Durk and Lil Baby for the new track ‘Sharing Locations’. His last album was 2018’s Championships. Since releasing Pluto x Baby Pluto last year, Lil Uzi Vert has linked up with the likes of Pi’erre BourneInternet Money, and more.

Julien Baker Releases ‘Little Oblivions Remixes’ EP Featuring Gordi, Half Waif, and More: Listen

Julie Baker has released her new EP Little Oblivions Remixes, which features reworked versions of tracks from her latest album Little Oblivions by Half Waif, Gordi, and Thao, as well as previously unveiled remixes from electronic composer Helios and industrial metal artist Jesu (Matthew Broadrick). Stream the full project below.

Gordi said of her ‘Ringside’ remix:

I first met Julien in Barcelona in 2017. I’d been a big fan for ages so it was a real pleasure to play a show with her. We spent a bunch of time together at Eaux Claires festival in 2018 making music – we even played an hour long improvised set together to a crowd of a thousand people from this treehouse that was like a huge musical instrument with lots of tiny loop pedal stations… it was as weird as it sounds. But because of the way we think about chords and melodies and songwriting, we could really connect on the fly and make something beautiful. I loved having the opportunity to dig through the stems on this new Julien track and reimagine it.

Talking about her remix of ‘Ziptie’, Thao commented:

I was immediately drawn to ‘Ziptie’ for Julien’s beautiful melodies and haunting, arresting imagery. I knew I wanted to create a lot of different additional sounds and melodies inspired by the lyrics. I pictured a sort of post-apocalyptic, incredulous, acerbic, off-kilter and morose dance party (one of my top 3 dance party themes). I programmed rough sketches of the drum parts and built out the track with synths, bass, guitar, and drum machines. I asked my friend and incredible drummer Jason Slota to record live parts. I edited and patched segments of his drums, and then glued everything together with more synths and vocals. It was an immense pleasure to immerse myself in such beautiful vocal tracks, and I wanted to bring them to the fore as much as possible. I’m so happy I got to remix this song. Thank you Julien!

Bachelor Release New Single ‘I See It Now’

Bachelor, the collaborative project of Palehound’s Ellen Kempner and Jay Som’s Melina Duterte, have shared a new song called ‘I See It Now’. The non-album single is their first new music since the release of their debut LP, Doomin’ Sun, earlier this year. Give it a listen below.

“Back in January when Bachelor was filming our music videos for Doomin’ Sun, we found ourselves with a day to kill at Ellen’s house in Poughkeepsie,” Bachelor explained in a press release. “Ellen had assembled a small recording setup in her basement that she was mystified by and still figuring out how to work so we decided to record a song to mess around with the gear. Melina wrote the creepy intro keyboard part and we built the song from there. What came was ‘I See It Now’, a kind of lethargic muse on sexual regret and insecurity.”