Post Malone is currently on tour in Australia, and he’s been picking up a few local traditions along the way— most notably, of course, the classic shoey.
The Rockstar artist was filmed drinking shoeys onstage in Brisbane. Now, the event has been immortalised on a huge wall in Melbourne:
Do you think @postmalone would be a sick cunt and come down to this wall in Melbourne to do a shoey? pic.twitter.com/0XjZwUXAWp
— LUSHSUX (@lushsux) January 9, 2018
The mural—which is based on a photo taken at FOMO Brisbane by photographer Tobias Baxter—was posted along with the caption, “Do you think @postmalone would be a sick cunt and come down to this wall in Melbourne to do a shoey?” We have a feeling the answer will be yes, so stay tuned for more.
The piece was created by talented, notorious graffiti artist Lushsux, who Aussies will know from murals of celebrities including Kim Kardashian, Kanye West and Taylor Swift, as well as controversial portrayals of politicians like Donald Trump, Benjamin Netanyahu and Hillary Clinton. This one’s far less controversial, so there’s a pretty high chance it won’t be removed (unlike many of his other portraits).
Post Malone continues his Australian tour this week, performing at FOMO Festival in Melbourne and Sydney. Consistently smashing streaming records across the globe, he’s expected to drop his sophomore record, Beerbongs & Bentleys, some time this year.
Image: Lushsux
Kendrick Lamar was the inaugural musical guest for the halftime show of the College Football Playoff National Championships, which took place in Atlanta, Georgia this week.
Lamar performed a medley of hits from DAMN., arguable 2017’s best album: after walking on to the music of FEEL., he ripped his way through DNA., ELEMENT., and HUMBLE., as well as his new track from the Black Panther soundtrack, All the Stars, albeit without collaborator SZA on vocals.
Taking the family-friendly audience into consideration, Lamar was careful to censor his entire show. Preventing viewers from having to deal with annoying bleeps and mutes, he either replaced profanities with alternate words, or left some lines totally blank, leaving the audience to fill in the gaps.
There had been speculation that Lamar would use his performance to address President Donald Trump, who made an appearance at the game. Instead, he rightfully ignored his presence completely, leaving his powerful, often-political lyrics to do the talking. In any case, Trump left the game before the halftime performance even began. Figures.
While the game took place at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Lamar’s performance actually happened at the nearby Centennial Olympic Park. It was projected onto screens in the stadium. Watch the brilliant ten-minute performance right here:
Watch Kendrick’s full Halftime Show performance for the CFP National Championship. pic.twitter.com/zGgzU3pKRA
— DUCKWORTH TDE (@DuckworthTDE) January 9, 2018
Jack White has announced a new single, Connected By Love, dropping tomorrow—Jan 10, 2018. The long, long-awaited release comes three-and-a-half years after the release of his second solo album, Lazaretto.
The former White Stripes lead and Third Man Records head honcho dropped a brief, cryptic video on social media, announcing the new release. Check it out here:
CONNECTED BY LOVE. TOMORROW. pic.twitter.com/XZYUzwOkKG
— Third Man Records (@thirdmanrecords) January 9, 2018
New music has been rumoured and hinted at for at least two years, with snippets from interviews hinting at a long-winded process of writing and recording. With the recent spout of US festival announcements that include White as a headliner—Governors Ball, Shaky Knees and Boston Calling among others—new music was inevitable.
Connected by Love will be premiered by Zane Lowe at 12 p.m. ET (that’s 4 a.m. on January 11 for us in Australia). Presumably, it’s the first single from a release first teased in December, when a four-minute video of musical snippets, photographs and cryptic imagery, titled Servings and Portions from my Boarding House Reach, showed up online.
Image: Third Man
The wittiest, most enigmatic personality and biggest Sprite fan in hip-hop right now, Vince Staples is making a dent. The Long Beach native has been turning heads since the release of his debut LP Summertime ’06, helping quip articles everywhere describing his powerful lyrics and grounded “like it is” demeanour. His early days sleeping and recording in the studio of Odd Future foreshadowed his work with producers like No ID, James Blake, Clams Casino and Flume. His follow up records Prima Donna and Big Fish Theory expanded upon his distinctive skills, while his talent as a communicator and ability to bend genres became a talking point amongst those both inside and outside of the industry.
Still, for all of his success thus far, Staples will tell you that the only thing that matters is his product. He’s just a regular guy; completely unconcerned with the distractions of fame and always blatantly aware of the world around him and his prosaic place in it. Such little ego is not exactly rife in hip-hop, which is a large part of Staples’ charm. He is bluntly sobering in a way no one else is.
This understated conviction translates in much the same way to his live show. No frills, just straightforward hefty club-ready hip-hop with athletic flows the entire arena knows by heart. Staples moves around the stage in a blasé fashion, before regaining focus, raising the mic and staring back down the barrel at his adoring crowd as he fires off prose.
Photos: Dani Hansen/Howl & Echoes
Daniel Caesar released one of 2017’s best R&B albums in Freudian. Considering it’s his maiden full-length, to say we’re hyped about this upcoming artist is putting it mildly. Now, Caesar will be bringing his sweet melodies and velvet voice down under for the first time, with a string of tour dates taking place in March 2018.
With two EPs under his belt, the 22-year-old Toronto artist’s full-length debut earned him two Grammy nominations, for Best R&B Performance (Get You ft. Kali Uchis) and Best R&B Album. With a sound that draws on several genres, from R&B and soul to gospel and hip-hop, it’s no surprise to see the world take to his rich, emotive sound so quickly. We’re assuming his next visit to Australia will see him perform at festivals and larger venues, so make the most of this tour while you can.
Dates can be found below. Tickets go on sale through Live Nation at 10 a.m. on Monday, January 10.
Daniel Caesar Freudian Australian Tour Dates
Saturday March 17: 256 Wickham, Brisbane
Sunday March 18: Metro Theatre, Sydney
Tuesday March 20: 170 Russell, Melbourne
Image: Supplied
Eminem has dropped an official remix for Chloraseptic, from his recent album Revival. While the track featured a guest hook from Phresher (the only rapper featured on the album), it was originally supposed to feature 2 Chainz. The remix reveals his explosive, original verse, along with a full verse from Phresher, and new bars from Slim Shady himself, addressing the less-than-positive response to his album.
Wasting no time at all, it immediately launches into 2 Chainz’s killer verse atop the spooky, sparse instrumental. It begs the first of many questions: why the hell was this left off the original?
Phresher’s full verse is surprisingly impressive, certainly exposing his talent and unique vocals far more than the simple hook he originally delivered.
Eminem’s reactionary verse is fresh, fast, clever and angry: all things he’s best at. But the content, like the album as a whole, is the problem. It’s angry, but it’s pointless. He slams those who hated on the pop-heavy tracklist before listening to the album, he criticises those who didn’t like Walk on Water, he even criticises reaction videos. He talks about how, despite alienating half his fans, he still outsold everyone else.
While that’s true, isn’t Eminem at a point where he’d rather, you know, not lose half his fanbase?
Sadly, a reaction verse to a reaction video isn’t going to garner any new support from disappointed fans. There’s a reason (well, several) that the album wasn’t well-received. Slapping back at the criticism isn’t going to change anything.
That said, the fact that he’s released 2 Chainz’s verse, and is clearly riled up enough to record a new one himself, is of note. While he’s outwardly slamming the Revival critics, could he be doing so with his tail between his legs? Has he realised his mistakes? Has the fire been relit? Will there be more remixes coming out? Let’s not get too hopeful here, but it definitely seems like there’s more to come. Perhaps Eminem remembered his own words: “But I’ll never be served, my spot is forever reserved / If I ever leave Earth, that would be the death of me first / ‘cause in my heart of hearts I know nothin’ could ever be worse, that’s why I’m clever when I put together every verse.”
Kendrick Lamar and SZA have joined forced to release a new track, All The Stars. The collaboration between TDE’s king and queen has been released as part of the forthcoming soundtrack to Marvel’s Black Panther. One of 2018’s most anticipated films, it just grew even bigger with the news that Lamar and TDE head Anthony “Top Dawg” Tiffith, will be both producing and curating the soundtrack.
In a press release, Lamar spoke about the importance of the film and its titular character—Black Panther was the first black superhero, and the film will be the first superhero movie to feature a predominantly African American cast. “Marvel Studios’ Black Panther is amazing, from its cast to its director [Ryan Coogler]. The magnitude of this film showcases a great marriage of art and culture. I’m truly honoured to contribute my knowledge of producing sound and writing music alongside Ryan and Marvel’s vision.”
“Working on such a powerful movie is a great opportunity,” added Tiffith. “We’re always working on new goals at TDE, so teaming up with Disney, Marvel Studios and the Black Panther film makes perfect sense.”
The press release also confirms that this will be the first time in the history of the Marvel Cinematic Universe history that several original songs have been written specifically for a Marvel Studios movie.
While the full soundtrack won’t be released until February 9, trailers released in 2017 featured music from Vince Staples and Run the Jewels. Watch below.
Black Panther will be released worldwide on February 15-16, including Australia. We can’t bloody wait.
Image: Marvel
Frank Ocean has kicked off 2018 with a Tumblr post that hints at new music – potentially even a new album – coming in 2018.
The Blonde artist shared a photo of a guy wearing a hat that says, “If you liked 2017, you’ll love… 2018″, and a caption that reads “new 18/99″. The quote on the hat refers to a mini-essay he penned for Vice’s i-D magazine in 2017, which ended with the comment, “If you liked two thousand and seventeen then you’ll love two thousand and eighteen.”
Fans are still in awe of the unusually prolific artist, who, after waiting four years between Channel Orange and Endless, went on to release several original songs, guest on tracks by Jay-Z, Calvin Harris and Tyler, The Creator, perform at numerous festivals, curate his own radio program and release merchandise among other things throughout 2017.
In another Tumblr post last year, he also alluded to having an unreleased album under his belt, meaning the possibility of another new album is not entirely ridiculous:
The comment refers to a much earlier tweet from Ocean, who once stated that he’d have five albums before turning 30. He turned 30 on October 28, 2017.
Of course, let’s not get ahead of ourselves. This is Frank Ocean, after all, one of the most reclusive, historically unreliable artists in the game. But he’s also one of the greatest, so we’ll take what we can get.
I first came across Noname, then Noname Gypsy, on Chance the Rapper’s Acid Rap mixtape in 2013. She popped up a few months later on Mick Jenkins’ The Water[s], and by the time she went head to head with Chance once more on 2015’s standalone single Israel (Sparring), the Chicago-born artist well and truly had my attention. A year or so later she finally released her debut project Telefone, proving that she’s even more talented on her own than off the back of other artists. And she proved it again and again, across the textured ten-track mixtape, making it one of 2016’s best, and most acclaimed, albums.
Still, it would be almost eighteen months before the artist born Fatimah Nyeema Warner would make her way down to Australia. Her debut tour featured a coveted slot at Meredith Music Festival and Fairgrounds as well as a headline tour. Her Sydney performance took place at a heavily sold-out Metro Theatre on December 6.
On opening duties were Melbourne instrumental hip-hop purveyors Billy Davis and the Good Lords. From from releasing their own album A Family Portrait, they more than warmed the crowd with a raucous, energising live set that’s made them one of the most exciting bands-to-watch in 2017.
Backed by a simple three-piece band, Noname arrived on stage to rapturous applause from a crowd who were attentive, receptive and warmly welcoming from start to end – and that’s not something you always get from a hip-hop crowd at the Metro on a Wednesday night.
Opening with Sunny Duet, Noname’s set dotted back and forth between Telefone tracks that took on a new energy in the live setting. Perhaps the greatest aspect to the performance was that she emanated the same radiant warmth and excitement felt within the crowd – she was so excited to be there, and it showed. There was a real joy to her movements as she bounced around the stage, performing for, and relating to, the crowd with a unique, genuine magnetism.
What’s special about Noname’s music is that it’s equal parts warm, thoughtful, genuine and genuinely fun. On stage, she upped the ante from every angle – it’s easy to see why her fanbase has grown so quickly. We can only hope she returns again soon.
Mona Foma, the summery sister festival to Hobart’s beloved Dark Mofo, is back to kick off 2018 with another incredibly eclectic lineup. Dark Mofo and Mona Foma have proved themselves as alternative powerhouses in the Australian festival scene, and have helped putting Hobart on the map as a hub for the interesting, the cool, and the downright weird (in a good way).
The 2018 festival will be bigger than ever, with evens not only taking place at Hobart’s MONA, but a mini-MOFO will also take place up in Launceston. The festival has announced this will be the final festival at MONA for a long time, as construction will soon begin for a major new hotel in the area. As such, they’re going out in serious style.
Headlining the festival is Canadian post-rock legends Godspeed You! Black Emperor, an act who need almost no introduction. The experimental group inhabit an artistic fervour like no other, and will be performing in support of new album Luciferian Towers. They are also set to team up with Canadian contemporary dance pioneers The Holy Body Tattoo, who will perform an Australian exclusive show soundtracked, live, by GY!BE.
Norwegian black metal icons Mayhem will also play at Mona. No strangers to controversy, their aggressive, often terrifying music can be a challenge, sure, but that’s what they’re all about. They will be playing their groundbreaking debut album De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas from start to finish, with help from Sunn o))) vocalist Attila Csihar.
On the musical flip side, we’ll be treated to Moor Mother, an American powerhouse of Afro-beat punk-poetry. He will perform alongside Rasheedah Phillips, aiming to reconstruct the protest song from the ground up, and Argentinean folk-hip-hop trio Fémina. Another not-to-be-missed performance will be from Chicago native Jamila Woods, a close collaborator of Chance the Rapper, whose 2016 album Heavn was, in a word, stunning.
Our very own Gotye will perform a stunning tribute to Jean-Jacques Perrey in Launceston. The French synth expert was famous for pioneering electronic music in the early days of the genre, and Gotye will use an Ondioline—one of the earliest electronic instruments—to pay tribute to the legend.
Other highlights of the festival include: a performance by Alessandra Garosi, Adam Simmons & David Jones inspired by the music of Frank Zappa, as well as solo shows by each of the trio; Iraqi classical authorities Rahim Alhaj & Karim Wasfi; Avant-garde industrial trailblazers Genesis Breyer P-Orridge & Edley Odowd; and the voice of the Arab Spring, Emel Mathlouthi. Peep the full lineup below, and head to the official website for tickets and a tonne more details, including information about art, radio programs and other non-musical events.
Mona Foma takes place from January 12-22, 2018. Tickets are on sea from the 12th to the 22nd of January 2018. Tickets are on sale now.
Mona Foma 2018 Lineup
Brian Jackson with the Southern Gospel Choir (AUS/USA)
Emel Mathlouthi (TUN)
Genesis Breyer P-Orridge (UK/USA)
Godspeed You! Black Emperor (CAN)
Gotye Presents a Tribute to Jean-Jacques Perrey (AUS/USA)
Launceston Block Party
Mayhem (NOR)
Monumental – The Holy Body Tattoo (CAN) with live music by Godspeed You! Black Emperor (CAN)
Moor Mother featuring Rasheedah Phillips (USA)
Violent Femmes + the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra (USA/AUS)
Adam Simmons
Ajak Kwai
Alessandra Garosi (ITA)
Andrew Bainbridge
Austin Buckett and Martin Ng
Black Quantum Futurism Collective (USA)
Black Rock Band
Blaise Garza and John Sparrow (USA)
Breadwoman Variations (USA)
Chakam Ensemble (IRN/AUS)
Cinemofo
David Jones
Edley ODowd
Eve Klein
Evil Goat
Faux Mo
Fémina (ARG)
Filastine and Nova (USA/IDN)
Gordon Gano (USA)
Hobart Liberation Orchestra featuring Petra Haden (AUS/USA)
Hobart + Music = Yeah: Re/cognition
Jamila Woods (USA)
Jim Denley and Rosalind Hall
Joseph Nolan and Brent Grapes
Kardajala Kirridarra
Martin Blackwell
Maxine Beneba Clarke
Michael Candy and Rosalind Hall
Michael Kieran Harvey, Arjun von Caemmerer and Brigita Ozolins
Military Position
MoMa
Rahim AlHaj and Karim Wasfi (IRQ)
Rod Thomson
SAAKA
Silver Space
Sisters Akousmatica
Sonya Lifschitz
Tannery: Tasmanian Taiko and Leather Orchestra
The Daemons of Dissent
The Ghosts of Nothing featuring Laura Purcell
The Museum of Everything
Thembi Soddell
TSO Chorus extreme
Unconscious Collective