Welcome to our first This Week In Music! feature! We’re hoping to use our This Week In… series as a way to give you all the information you need on that topic for the week. Reviews, releases, upcoming events, etc. We’re also going to try and cover all genres and areas of music, from Kendrick Lamar to The Arctic Monkeys to Taylor Swift and everything in between.
We want to cover all music and make everyone as happy as we can. Seeing as this is our first go, we’d love some CONSTRUCTIVE feedback if you have any ideas. And with that preface out of the way, let’s get into this past week’s releases!
RELEASES, WEEK OF 11/18
ONE DIRECTION, FOUR
Let’s get this out of the way now, but it was arguably the biggest release of the week. Tracks like Steal My Girl or Ready To Run have been around for awhile now, but you can hear (and purchase) the rest of the tracks now. What’s amazing to me is this is their fourth (no shit) album in three years. That’s a quick fucking turnaround, even with a bunch of people helping them write. Four albums, three years.
So far, the music has been getting pretty good reviews. Rolling Stone gave it three stars, praising their “California guitar gold and their own billowing background vocals,” saying their music shows growth. If you hadn’t heard the album, it’s worth checking out. It’s not like it’s going away anytime soon!
THE HUNGER GAMES: MOCKINGJAY PT. 1 – ORIGINAL MOTION PICTURE SOUNDTRACK
It’s so fucked up thinking Lorde is only 18 years old, but she’s already had a hit album and was asked to curate a giant soundtrack. And she nailed it. Her big single from this album was the very awesome Yellow Flicker Beat. Along with that hit, artists like CHVRCHES and Tove Lo have contributed songs. My personal favorite? The album’s closing track, Lorde covering my favorite band Bright Eyes’ Ladder Song. Eerily haunting.
People have been praising Lorde’s curating of the album and the contributions themselves as well, with Metacritic currently giving it an overall score of 79.
NOEL GALLAGHER’S HIGH FLYING BIRDS, IN THE HEAT OF THE MOMENT
Goddamn I love this man. The genius behind Oasis, the BEST BRITISH BAND of the past 20 years, is back with the first single from his second solo album, Chasing Yesterday. The song features a sneering singalong, stadium sized guitars, and mechanical moving drums. It. Is. Great. I’m very biased, but the fact that Noel’s rumored to headline Glastonbury 2015 makes him worth writing about. Check out the kickass song. Make sure to listen to the B-Side, Do The Damage, as well. B-Sides. Remember when those were a thing?
DAVID BOWIE, NOTHING HAS CHANGED
How could we forget the legend? Bowie has released a new compilation album that includes new mixes, unreleased music from previous albums, and one new track entitled Sue (Or In a Season of Crime). Despite being a rerelease for a lot of songs, the compilation is getting fantastic reviews thanks to the curation of the discs along with the great unearthed material on it.
BEYONCE, 7/11 & RING OFF
Bits and pieces of these songs have leaked over the past couple days, but now the full tracks have surfaced, and they’re both very different from each other. While Ring Off has a great little guitar riff running throughout, 7/11 sounds almost like a rap song. Listen to 7/11 above and Ring Off here. These tracks are on the platinum rerelease of her self-titled 2013 album, which is expected to hit shelves next week.
Thanks to the leak of 7/11, the Queen B herself appears to have made an impromptu music video for the track! Check it out!
Mark Ronson – Uptown Funk ft. Bruno Mars
The single got a badass new music video that was released a few days ago and it wins for track of the week!
UPCOMING RELEASES
With the holidays coming up next week, there aren’t too many new albums coming out, but here are some of the big ones. David Guetta’s new album Listen hits shelves on November 24th, along with Pitbull’s Globalization and the new Simple Minds album, Big Music. Also, the brilliant Mary J. Blige releases her thirteenth studio album, The London Sessions. On the following day, Kevin Hearn, best known as part of Barenaked Ladies, is releasing a solo album entitled Days In Frames.
RUMORS/NEWS/EVENTS
RADIOHEAD BACK IN THE STUDIO?
According to this article from Clash Music, Radiohead guitarist Jonny Greenwood is claiming the band are currently back in the studio. “I always feel as when we start up like we still don’t know really how to do it, and we don’t know quite what to do,” he said in a BBC Radio interview. Are you excited for new material from the boys? Who doesn’t love Thom Yorke’s crazy dancing?
RECORD STORE DAY BLACK FRIDAY
On the infamous Black Friday, November 28th, the National Record Store Day organization is again fighting the good fight and trying to promote local record stores and physical copies. Many bands will releases exclusive/new music on the 28th specifically on vinyl or CD. The best new band of the year Bleachers is releasing a collection of demos from their debut album Strange Desires on 12 inch colored vinyl, the Swedish sister duo First Aid Kit is releasing their song America from their third album Stay Gold on 10 inch vinyl, Conor Oberst is releasing two new tracks leftover from his solo Upside Down Mountain sessions, plus loads more. Make sure to check out the full list here.
BILLBOARD TOP 10 ALBUMS
1. Taylor Swift, 1989
2. Foo Fighters, Sonic Highways
3. Pink Floyd, The Endless River
4. Garth Brooks, Man Against Machine
5. Big K.R.I.T., Cadillactica
6. Nick Jonas, Nick Jonas
7. Various Artists, Now 52
8. Pentatonix, That’s Christmas To Me
9. Sam Smith, In The Lonely Hour
10. George Strait, The Cowboy Rides Away: Live From AT&T Stadium
TOUR/SHOW NEWS
Foo Fighters have announced a GIANT tour for 2015. Snoop Dogg (Lion?) just recently announced a UK tour, and the “rock band” Nickleback will be touring next year as well. Faith No More and Jose Gonzalez just announced a BUNCH of international dates as well. The Wombats just announced some UK/EU dates, but have said there will be a big North American tour coming in the future as well. Also, don’t forget the legendary Fleetwood Mac are currently touring, try to catch them when they come close to you! (x)
SPOTIFY PLAYLIST OF THE WEEK!!!
We here at SourceFed.com wanted to share with you what we’re listening to. The social media team has put together a playlist of 15 songs we currently love and little explanations as to why. Hopefully you’ll love the songs as much as we all do!
Amanda M.
Centuries (Fall Out Boy), Give FOB a chance with their new stuff, it’s worth it.
Escape-The Pina Colada Song (Rupert Holmes), Get a few drinks in and put this on. Dance/sing like no one or EVERYONE is watching. #YoureWelcome
Try A Little Tenderness (Otis Redding), I still get butterflies during the Pretty in Pink scene with Duckie in the record store. Talk about perfection.
JD W.
Graffiti Hearts (Caleb Richard), Is he my little brother? Yes. Is this a solid as fuck pop rock song? Yes.
Middle Brother (Middle Brother), A great collaboration between Dawes, Deer Tick, and Delta Spirit. Covered this with my high school band so often.
In The Heat Of The Moment (Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds), Seriously. This track is as good as it gets.
Nicole K.
1998 (Chet Faker), I saw Chet Faker at FYF and he was amazing! This is by far my favortie song of his.
Celebrate Tonight (Allen Stone), This song is really positive and it always puts me in a good mood!
Hallelujah (Jeff Buckley), Yes this song reminds me of Shrek, but it’s also such a beautiful and timeless song.
Jonathan H.
Hesitate (Crash Kings), I love, love, LOVE this band. LA clav-driven rock band with a fantastic lead singer in Antonio Beliveau. Check out both of their albums, you will NOT be disappointed.
Outside (Foo Fighters), Fourth track off new Foo album, great opus to LA and the drive to make something great. See you next year at the Forum!
Stay (Rihanna ft. Mikky Ekko), Being in a long distance relationship, this is a tough listen, but damn is Rihanna working with powerful vibes here. Just rediscovered this great, somber track.
Kristin
Xo (John Mayer, Beyonce Cover), Beyonce PLUS John Mayer what’s more to love?
Geronimo (Sheppard), This song came up in a viral video proposal a few weeks ago and I’ve been listening to it ever since.
Cardboard Castles (Watsky), Everybody needs a little more Watsky in their life, so if you haven’t heard him before this is the perfect place for you to start.