A Cuppa Music: The Weekly Music Brew 14/09/14

I’m glad to be starting this new Kettle Mag feature with such an interesting week. We kicked off to a controversial start with the release of U2’s new album Songs of Innocence.

I’m glad to be starting this new Kettle Mag feature with such an interesting week. We kicked off to a controversial start with the release of U2’s new album Songs of Innocence. While a 13th studio album is undoubtedly an impressive feat, it was the distribution tactics that got the music world a buzz.

 

This album miraculously appeared in the iTunes libraries of over half a billion people across 119 countries on September 9th, making it one of the biggest album releases. It’s definitely one way to get people to listen to your music, but most of the reaction I saw was more pissed off than pleased.

 

If you missed out on the initial album attack, you can still get a free copy on iTunes for the next five weeks, before the release of a deluxe version next month.  

 

Here’s my top picks from the rest of the new music releases this week; 

 

 

After the success of their MONUMENTOUR journey with Paramore this summer Fall Out Boy treated us to a new single, which premiered on Zane Lowe’s Radio 1 show on September 9th. The new track “Centuries” is the latest release since their album Save Rock and Roll last year.

 

With such a vast worldwide fan base the release was undoubtedly a success and has anticipation building for the official video and new album coming soon. “Centuries” has the same power-drive and anthemic feel Fall Out Boy have grown to establish, but it’s not necessarily one of their most stand out tracks. 

 

 

That’s right. Slipknot are back in action, building on the success of their last release “The Negative One.” Taking a cleaner vocal approach, this new track has caused a stir mainly due to the display of the new Slipknot masks and members.

 

As of the video release on September 12th the new drummer and bassist were yet unnamed, but if you’re a part of the right metal circles you might have seen theories and suspicions arising over shots of some distinctive tattoos in the video. Stay tuned for the official announcement, they can’t keep the guys behind the masks forever.

 

You can read my full review of “The Devil In I” here on Kettle later this week. 

 

 

 

Moving away from metal, we had a new video for hit single “Cool Kids” from young indie-pop band Echosmith out on the same day. Echosmith caught my attention after their US tour with Tonight Alive last year, stamping their place on the podium of female fronted bands.

 

Mark Pellington directed the new video in Los Angeles. It has more of a staged ‘poptastic’ style compared to the previous video (now known as the Official Web Video), but it’s still a great song when you need something upbeat and catchy.

 

Echosmith’s debut album Talking Dreams is out now on Warner Bros. Records.