The Current

Great Music Lives Here ®
Listener-Supported Music
Donate Now
The Current Music News

Music News: David Bowie’s ‘Blackstar’ to become Instagram video series

by Staff

February 22, 2016

David Bowie's album Blackstar is the inspiration and soundtrack for an upcoming "InstaMiniSeries" of 16 episodes that will begin Thursday on Instagram. The series, which will star Tavi Gevinson and Patricia Clarkson, was approved by Bowie in concept, though it's unclear whether he saw the finished product before his Jan. 10 death. (Rolling Stone)

#FreeKesha

While the court battle between Kesha and Dr. Luke looks certain to continue for some months, what Dr. Luke's representative calls a "trial by Twitter" is escalating. Taylor SwiftLady GagaMiley CyrusLordeAriana GrandeKelly Clarkson, and other music stars have issued statements of support for Kesha; while Dr. Luke's legal team has issued a statement again denying Kesha's charges of sexual assault and saying that Kesha has permission to make music under her Sony contract (which she's trying to void) without Dr. Luke's involvement. (New York Times)

Today's collaboration news

As they prepare to head out on tour together, Titus Andronicus and Craig Finn have each covered the other's song called "No Future." (Titus Andronicus's "No Future" is from 2008, and Finn's was released in 2012.) The tour comes to Mill City Nights on March 12. (Pitchfork)

Kim Gordon has teamed up with Alex Knost (Tomorrow Tulips) to form a new group called Glitterbust. Their self-titled debut album will be released March 4, and they've shared a song called "The Highline." (Rolling Stone)

[soundcloud url="https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/247658338" params="auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true" width="100%" height="450" iframe="true" /]

Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan is collaborating with Diplo on new music. (Billboard)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=McLfeWSv1Ys

New videos

Rihanna has achieved her 14th number one pop hit with "Work," featuring Drake. That lifts Rihanna out of a tie with Michael Jackson for the performer having the third-most number ones of all time. Now in sole possession of third place, Rihanna trails only Mariah Carey (18 number ones) and the Beatles (20 chart-toppers). (Billboard) The news came as Rihanna released an NSFW double video for the song.

As they prepare to head out on tour, New Order have released a new video for their song "Singularity." (NME)

Kendrick to induct N.W.A.

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has announced that Kendrick Lamar will induct N.W.A. at the April 8 ceremony for the class of 2016. (Rolling Stone)

Jack signs Grimes

Jack Antonoff (Fun.Bleachers) has a new music publishing company, and its first client is Grimes. (Pitchfork)

Dave Grohl is out there

X-Files star Gillian Anderson reminisced about superfan Dave Grohl's 1996 cameo on the show. "He came to the set for one episode as an extra," she told Rolling Stone. "He did a cameo; a drive-by. If you blink, you miss him." Anderson said that other big X-Files fans in the music world include Billy Corgan and Chris Martin.

Clean Water Land & Legacy Amendment
This activity is made possible in part by the Minnesota Legacy Amendment’s Arts & Cultural Heritage Fund.