Taylor Hawkins behind the drumkit with Foo Fighters at Madison Square Garden, NY on January 19th, 2008 (Photo: Paul Bachmann)
Our recap of the main stories we featured during the past seven days includes an update from Foo Fighters and a new album from Mac DeMarco.
Foo Fighters have confirmed their intention to continue as a band after acknowledging with a social media statement the end of a year which brought the sudden passing of their influential drummer Taylor Hawkins.
“As we say goodbye to the most difficult and tragic year that our band has ever known, we are reminded of how thankful we are for the people that we love and cherish most, and for the loved ones who are no longer with us,” it reads.
“Foo Fighters were formed 27 years ago to represent the healing power of music and a continuation of life. And for the past 27 years our fans have built a worldwide community, a devoted support system that has helped us all get through the darkest of times together. A place to share our joy and our pain, our hopes and fears, and to join in a chorus of life together through music.”
Blanck Mass has given a digital release to his soundtrack for The Rig, with a vinyl edition due to follow in the spring.
“With The Rig being the first TV show I have scored, I feel lucky to have worked with the team behind the show on a score which to my mind is my most concise and unified palette-wise in recent memory,” Benjamin J Power says.
“The setting of the physical oil rig presented a very specific visual and sonic identity for me. The creaks and groans of the giant metal sculpture and how it is in a constant battle with the nature fed itself into the scoring process. This score is perhaps my most elemental to date and it was a joy to work on.”
Taylor Swift, Harry Styles and Liam Gallagher had some of the UK’s biggest selling albums on vinyl last year, reports the Official Charts Company.
Midnights and Harry’s House were first and second respectively, while C’MON YOU KNOW was the fourth top seller of 2022.
Arctic Monkeys also had another big year on vinyl, with their brand new record The Car at #3, 2012’s AM at #8 – just ahead of Fontaines D.C.’s Skinty Fia – and their debut Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not at #20.
Mac DeMarco by Kiera McNally
Mac DeMarco will document his travels around North America during the course of 2022 on the new instrumental album Five Easy Hot Dogs.
“Some places I stayed longer in than others, some of them I knew from the past, others not so much,” DeMarco said.
“I tried to keep things busy all the time. If I didn’t know what was up in a city, I’d just walk around ‘til someone recognized me and go from there. I met a lot of interesting people this way, and had a bunch of cool experiences.”
Peter Gabriel has shared the first song from his forthcoming new album ‘i/o’, recorded at Real World Studios in Wiltshire and The Beehive in London.
“The first song is based on an idea I have been working on to initiate the creation of an infinitely expandable accessible data globe: The Panopticom,” Gabriel said.
“We are beginning to connect a like-minded group of people who might be able to bring this to life, to allow the world to see itself better and understand more of what’s really going on.”
FLO have followed up their BRITs Rising Star Award win by being placed first on the BBC‘s Sound Of 2023 list.
“Wow, we did it,” the group have responded. “To win this accolade not even a year after we released our debut single Cardboard Box is wild.”
“We feel so connected to our British music roots winning the BBC Sound Of and admire the artists who have come before us, especially our gal Pinkpantheress winning last year! Thank you to everyone who voted for us and put girl groups back on the map.”