Monday Music News

06/05/2017

Jasmine Albertson

Sufjan Stevens, Nico Muhly, Bryce Dessner, and James McAlister have teamed up for a collaborative album called Planetarium and Stevens has directed a new music video for the song "Venus" off the album. Stevens shared the stop-motion cut-out video to his Tumblr with the note, "Peace to you! Stay body positive! Keep it moving. Keep it real." Planetarium will be released June 9 on 4AD. The press release described the album as such: "Planetarium unites Stevens' vocals, McAlister's beats, Dessner's guitar performance, and Muhly's instrumental compositions-part rock odyssey, part electronic experiment, part classical opus.... Conceptually, Planetarium revolves around the cosmic ideas Stevens' lyrics explore: mythology, astrology, science, astronomy and the intricacies of human consciousness." The group's playing a small handful of dates, none of those including Seattle. [ Under the Radar ]

Bob Dylan controversially won the Nobel Prize for Literature months ago but finally he has delivered his Nobel lecture, which he is required to do within 6 months of the Nobel prize ceremony in order to acquire the $900,000 that comes with the award. In the half-hour speech Dylan starts with, “When I first received this Nobel prize for literature, I got to wondering exactly how my songs related to literature." He then cited musicians who inspired him, such as Buddy Holly, whose music “changed my life” and made him want to write songs when he was a teenager as well as the classic novels that made a big impression on him, including Moby Dick, All Quiet on the Western Front and The Odyssey. [ Spin ]

Phoenix are releasing their new album Ti Amo this Friday, June 9th via Glassnote but until then we've got the new video for "Goodbye Soleil." The aesthetic is similar to the visuals for "J-Boy" (also off of Ti Amo) with the intentionally retro and grainy look of home-video footage. It's sun-soaked and nostalgic, which fits Phoenix's sound rather perfectly. No word on any Seattle dates. [ Consequence of Sound ]

Former leader of Dum Dum Girls, Kristin Welchez, has been making music under Kristin Kontrol for a couple years now and recently played an amazing set at Upstream Music Fest + Summit. She's now teaming up L.A.-based producer Andrew Miller, who worked on the Kristin Kontrol album X-Communicate, to form a songwriting and production team called Hunny Music. Their first project will be scoring the upcoming film Looking Glass, which stars Nicolas Cage and Robin Tunney. Directed by Tim Hunter, Looking Glass follows a couple who experience strange events at the desert motel they recently purchased. The movie does not yet have a release date. [ Stereogum ]

Mac DeMarco released This Old Dog last month and now shared a new music video for the track "One Another." It's a bizarre video directed by Pierce McGarry in which DeMarco makes friends with the Grim Reaper, who watches E.T. with him, and then later appears as an old man. In addition to the new video, DeMarco has also announced a new headlining show for New York City, performing at the famed Radio City Music Hall on September 22. He'll be in Seattle for a two-night stint at the Moore Theatre Sunday, September 10th and Monday, September 11th. [ Pitchfork ]

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