Hello! Welcome back to the music fix. So many amazing things have happened this week and it’s only Wednesday, who knows what’s gonna happen tomorrow.
No Doubt Are Back!
No typo. After a decade-long absence, No Doubt have returned to warm our hearts and rock our socks with their flamboyant musical goodness. Their first single, “Settle Down”, dropped this week – it’s a punchy rock track with a dash of reggae and an accompanying music video that delivers a life-makes-sense-again moment for those of us who still dance around in our bedrooms to “Just A Girl” like it’s 1995.
What do you think?
The thing I love most about this video (and there are many things) is how chilled out it is. Sure, Gwen Stefani might roll onto the scene in an 18-wheeler while not-so-subtly endorsing a brand of lip gloss that probably paid for said truck, but for the following five minutes the band are hugging and dancing and just generally jamming the f*ck out warehouse-style like a group of friends who’ve been gone forever and who know that we needed them to bring the party back. Remarkably, Gwen looks and sounds exactly like she did in the 90s, adding weight to my suspicion that she’s actually an immortal angel of music who’s been sent back to earth to save us from Katy Perry.
No Doubt’s new album, Push and Shove, will be out on September 25. That’s only 69 sleeps!
New Music From the xx!
London trio the xx have released the first single from their sophomore album, Coexist (out Sept 10). It’s called “Angels” and it sounds exactly like you hoped it might, which is probably something along the lines of ‘amazing!’ or ‘brilliant!’, at a guess.
While not the hookiest of xx singles, it’s still a sure-fire crowd-pleaser; it’s familiar enough to appeal to even the most passive fans, and lovely enough to win back the affection of those who might’ve suffered xx fatigue in 2010.
Missy Higgins Releases Album Worldwide, Dates A Koala
Missy Higgins’ new album, The Ol’ Razzle Dazzle, was released in the USA and other countries yesterday! Lots of queer girls in my twitter feed are jazzed about this news, how about you?
The Ol’ Razzle Dazzle was released in Australia last month and I’ve been listening to it on repeat ever since because it’s really lovely, you guys. It’ll make you feel all the feelings. In my house it’s been nick-named The OI’ Reliable because even a few quirky new sounds thrown in, it’s still very much Classic Missy™ – which is to say that her vocals are as comforting as a warm blanket on a cold winter night, a lazy but relevant comparison because it’s winter in Australia and I’m really cold. Anyway, it’s a solid record. You should consider buying it.
In other Missy news, her new video for “Hello Hello” is the most strange and wonderful thing. She attempts to have a relationship with a koala, basically. I can’t embed the video here but you should definitely check it out over at Entertainment Weekly.
Also!
* NPR are streaming Passion Pit’s new album, Gossamer, in full. I’ve haven’t heard it yet but if NPR thinks it’s good then it’s probably worth a listen.
* I have a strong dislike for people who mix, mash or otherwise mess with Gotye‘s “Somebody That I Used To Know” due to the fact that the song has become annoyingly everywhere and does not need additional assistance. However! I’ve fallen a little in love with this Pomplamoose mash-up of “Somebody That I Used To Know” with Carly Rae Jepson‘s “Call Me Maybe”.
* Holly Miranda and Raimy Rosenduft have released a new podcast and it features lots of rad music, as always.
* Jack White has released a new music video for “Freedom At 21”.
* Death Cab’s Ben Gibbard is releasing a solo record.
* Coachella organisers are planning a cruise ship festival called S.S. Coachella where music fans can be entertained by Pulp, Hot Chip, Sleigh Bells, Girl Talk, Warpaint and more while cruising around the Bahamas or Jamaica. It sorta sounds like a hoax but it isn’t.
Oh my god that mashup.
Also, I have been trying for like, the last 10 years or more to see No Doubt on tour and THIS TIME IT’S GONNA HAPPEN. I don’t care what I have to do. I seriously cannot wait. The single is growing on me, and Tony is holding an orange in the beginning of the video and it’s all amazing.
This reminds me of how I had the chance to see the White Stripes for free when I was 15 but I acted like a brat that day and so my parents wouldn’t let me go. When they broke up I was so pissed that I had missed my chance. :(
I am so exited for the no doubt album to come out! The video is great, I didn’t like the swatch publicity at the very beginning but well… I hope they will come to south america for the tour!
Oh I hope so too!! Venezuela has to be on the tour list! Pleaseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!! :-c
i couldn’t tell that those watches were by Swatch and so i started to google to find out who made them, before realising that’s what they wanted me to do and becoming slightly disappointed in myself. well played, swatch.
hahah! When I saw it I was like “why do you guys even do this, you don’t need it, you’re NO DOUBT!!!”
Love the new xx song and can’t wait for that album.
Personally, I’m quite disappointed with the new No Doubt. It just sounds so generic.
I agree with you re:No Doubt. But they kinda lost me with Rock Steady, so I wasn’t expecting to love this. *Sigh*. At least the recent Garbage album is good!
My favorite music cruise = 70,000 Tons of Metal. 4 days, 40 bands? FUCKYES. The past two years have been solid & the 2013 lineup is shaping up quite well.
This year is the 1st annual Barge to Hell cruise, which has an extreme metal lineup \m/
i don’t really like water but a cruise called 70.000 Tons of Metal sounds amazing
So excited for new No Doubt! The song isn’t my favorite but the video is super cute and well, it’s No Doubt. I also def need to see them live whenever they tour again; they put on one of the most fun live shows I’ve ever seen.
P.S. – Here is another fun mash-up that graced my computer today – N’SYNC vs the Biebs: http://youtu.be/D8Qpng-r12w
I can’t take my eyes off of Gwen. She’s so amazingly beautiful and energetic. They have such strength as a band too. I can’t believe they’ve hung together through some of the shit they’ve dealt with.
I totally bought the song yesterday, when it came out. I so missed No Doubt, and The xx’s are pretty good. I love listening to new music.
all kinds of good news! so much that I just hallucinated an Autostraddle music fix news mashup in which there is a cruise ship festival called X.X. Coachellagood and it’s just the xx and No Doubt on a boat with all of us. who’s with me.
i’d go on that cruise
I love No Doubt! My older sister was a huge fan of them when she was a teen in the late ’90s, and when she’d babysit my little sister and I she’d play Tragic Kingdom for us. Whenever I hear that album I still think of my younger sister (then 4-5 years older) singing “I’m just gwow, in the wode…” (she had trouble saying l’s and r’s).
Aaaaack! “my little sister and I” should be “my little sister and me.” I hate that mistake!
also “4-5 years older” should be just “4-5 years old”
I didn’t realise how much I missed No Doubt in my life til this moment. Ex-Girlfriend and Don’t Speak are forever on my breakup playlist. Also, I’m not a cryer, but The xx always makes me teary so fuckin ecstatic for their new release
really is no one going to comment on that missy higgins video
’tis awesome. as is her hair.
I’ve been listening to Gossamer for the past couple days. It’s quite good!
1. When I saw No Doubt in concert, I cried during some of the songs while singing them. They helped me to survive my adolescence, people.
2. For better or for worse, I am currently living just about every single track on the Return of Saturn album. “New” basically describes that moment when I fell for a girl the first time.
LIKE A FRESH BATTERY I’M ENERGIZED BY YOUUUUUUUU
The new xx song is lovely. I’m super stoked for its new album.
Missy Higgins’ album is indeed awesome!
Karima Francis you guys..check her out!!
Love the XX song. Thanks for the link.
This makes me so happy. I have always had a major do-her/be-her complex regarding Gwen.