Alternative New Music Friday #Happens
Good Friday! Alternative New Music Friday #Happens with Love Fame Tragedy, the new solo project from Murph of The Wombats released today.
Before we dive into New Music Friday, I wanted to share Alternative ratings highlights from the latest batch of Nielsen February ‘24 12+ Ratings: WEDG (103.3 The Edge)/Buffalo rises 3.6-3.7 and WZNE (94.1 The Zone)/Rochester jumps 0.7-1.1.
Twenty One Pilots just announced a massive world tour that kicks off in August. The band also dropped another song from Clancy album set to drop on May 17th. Find all the tour dates in Music Info.
New Music that needs to be on your radar. AWOLNATION has a new single “Panoramic View” that hit your inbox earlier this morning. Wait till you hear the story about this song from Aaron Bruno. The Last Dinner Party arrives with “Sinner,” the follow up to their Top 5 single “Nothing Matters.” The Gaslight Anthem released a rockin’ cover of Billie Eilish “Ocean Eyes” that will blow your mind. Let’s take a deep dive into the latest new music available for airplay on Happens.vip Alternative Downloads.
THIS WEEK’S ALTERNATIVE NEW MUSIC DISCOVERY
AWOLNATION “Panoramic View”(Two Twenty Five Music/The Orchard)
L.A.’s AWOLNATION is back with “Panoramic View” released today. AWOLNATION’s Aaron Bruno said, “I remember writing this one on a piano almost four years ago. It’s the most sincere and my favorite song on the album; it’s the most profound to me because I wrote it to my scared little kid that I didn’t even have yet. I have twin boys now but we weren’t pregnant yet when I wrote it. Basically I’m saying I’ll protect you, everything’s gonna be okay. Back then, we all felt scared in some way, no matter who you were—whether you were fearful of being sick or of how governments were handling it, or how your friends were handling it, personal decisions… During that time, I was lyrically and emotionally conceptualizing the idea of writing songs to a child. And in some ways I was writing songs to comfort a younger version of myself. I guess the point is to remind us that we can always find an escape through music, even at the worst times.” AWOLNATION released a Candy Pop EP in November 2023 and has released five full-length albums beginning in 2011 with Megalithic Symphony featuring the mega breakthrough single “Sail.” AWOLNATION has tour dates this summer with Neon Trees and 311 beginning July 20th. Find the tour dates HERE.
The Last Dinner Party “Sinner” (Island/Republic)
UK all-female quintet The Last Dinner Party release the follow up their top 5 debut Alternative single “Nothing Matters.” It’s from their debut album, Prelude To Ecstasy, released on February 2nd. The Last Dinner Party begin U.S. tour dates on March 31st in Detroit with stops at Coachella on April 13 & 20 with Lollapalooza and Hinterland Music Festivals in August. Find the tour dates HERE.
The Gaslight Anthem “Ocean Eyes” (Rich Mahogany Recordings/Thirty Tigers)
New Jersey’s The Gaslight Anthem release a cover of “Ocean Eyes,” a heavier version of Billie Eilish’s song, from the band’s just released History Books – Short Stories EP released on March 22nd. “I was driving my daughter to school and she played it for me on the way and I really took to the song,” says The Gaslight Anthem’s Brian Fallon. “Then one day we were talking ideas for a cover with our friends and I said, wouldn’t it be cool to do a heavier version of ‘Ocean Eyes’? I tried it out and everybody loved the idea.” The four track EP has a brand new rendition of the longtime fan favorite, “Blue Jeans & White T-Shirts,” and stripped-down acoustic performances of “Positive Charge” and “History Books,” the original versions of which can be found on The Gaslight Anthem’s History Books album from last year. The Gaslight Anthem will celebrate History Books – Short Stories and much more with a North American summer headline tour. The History Books Tour gets underway July 26 at Denver with support from Joyce Manor on all dates and The Dirty Nil joining from July 26-August 11 and Pinkshift on August 13-September 1. Find the tour dates HERE.
Looking for Alternative Downloads? Listen/Download/Song Info HERE.
New Music Friday #Happens With Love Fame Tragedy
Love Fame Tragedy — the solo project from Liverpool, England’s Matthew “Murph” Murphy (lead singer/guitarist of The Wombats) — releases his second album, Life Is A Killer, today via Bright Antenna Records.
Life Is A Killer is Murph’s truest and most lyrically raw album to date, documenting one of the most difficult years of his life. As the now sober songwriter navigates his way through balancing life as a new father of two and touring the world with The Wombats, he explores the mental struggles of managing family life amid self-destructive excess. Written in between London and LA, Murph enlisted the help of producers Jacknife Lee (U2, The Killers) and Mark Crew (Bastille, Rag N Bone Man, The Wombats) to push his sonic boundaries further than ever, with new sounds and even voice notes from his wife Akemi throughout this album.
Speaking on the album, Murph says: ‘My touring and work schedule and my drinking got completely out of control, and it fucked me up basically. The album was written in the time where I was on this crazy descent.”
The 12-song collection features the Alternative chart bound single “Don’t Want To Sleep With Someone Normal”– a glistening sonic Dear John wherein John himself is suggesting a split might be the most sensible option – fictionalises “just how ridiculous things got.”
Love Fame Tragedy – Life Is A Killer Tracklist
- Don’t You Want To Sleep With Someone Normal?
- Slipping Away
- It’s Ok To Be Shallow
- If You Don’t
- My Head’s In A Hurricane
- Instrumental w/ voice note
- Life is a Killer
- Tangerine Milkshake
- Ain’t No Need To Try
- Eat Fuck Sleep Forever
- Maybe I Should?
- Instrumental w/o voice note
New Music Friday Albums To Check Out Today
Blu DeTiger – All I Want Is Everything (Capitol)
Chicano Batman – Notebook Fantasy (ATO)
Cinders – Going Nowhere The EP (Birchbrook)
Devon Thompson – Skin EP (Exquisite Feline)
Love Fame Tragedy – Life Is A Killer (Bright Antenna)
Ride – Interplay (Wichita Recordings)
Sum 41 – Heaven :x: Hell (Rise/BMG)
MORE ALT ALBUMS HERE
GOING FOR ADDS
Impacting Songs Next Week (4/2):
AWOLNATION “Panoramic View”(Two Twenty Five Music/The Orchard)
Catfish And The Bottlemen “Showtime” (Capitol)
