I have gotten a plethora of cool press releases have been flooding my inbox recently that you may find interesting. This post includes blurbs on Taylor Swift, Ben Fold, Garbage, Marcus King, Glass Animals, Dinosaur, and High Hopes.
- SiriusXM announced today that global superstar and 14-time GRAMMY winner Taylor Swift will have her own limited engagement exclusive SiriusXM channel - Channel 13 (Taylor’s Version) - starting Sunday, April 7, 13 days ahead of her highly anticipated new album The Tortured Poets Department. Channel 13 (Taylor’s Version) will air 24/7 across North America and will be a destination for fans to hear Swift’s music from her chart-topping 17-year career, including Eras Tour favorites, all (Taylor’s Versions), From the Vault tracks, live tracks, bonus tracks and much more. The 13th day of the channel, Friday, April 19, coincides with the release of Taylor Swift’s new album The Tortured Poets Department. Channel 13 (Taylor’s Version) will be playing the full album beginning to end continuously throughout the weekend.
- The NEXT AT THE KENNEDY CENTER, a multi-year partnership and collaboration with the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts to spotlight critical contributions to the arts, returns to PBS with two new performance specials this April featuring indie music icon Ben Folds and renowned jazz saxophonist Joshua Redman. This primetime series explores the enduring influence of artistic changemakers across art forms, genres, and backgrounds on Friday, April 12 with “Ben Folds Presents: DECLASSIFIED” and “Joshua Redman, where are we” on Friday, April 19. Both episodes premiere at 10 p.m. ET (check local listings) on PBS, PBS.org and the PBS App. In “Ben Folds Presents: DECLASSIFIED," Folds invites six-time GRAMMY®-winner Jacob Collier, renowned for his audience engagement, along with GRAMMY®-winning jazz sensation Laufey and chart-topping English singer-songwriter dodie, to join him and the National Symphony Orchestra in reimagining their music through an orchestral lens. With a driving mission that every note played on the stage matters, they create exquisite new versions of their hit songs, without a traditional rhythm section and only the orchestra as their band.
- Due to demand, influential alternative rock band Garbage is making their 4th studio album, Bleed Like Me, available on vinyl for the first time since it was originally released in 2005. Bleed Like Me is out on now via UMe. Fully remastered for 2024, this expanded reissue of 2005’s Bleed Like Me includes 2CD, 1LP white vinyl, deluxe 2LP red vinyl, and HD digital formats and features b-sides, rare tracks, remixes and alternate versions of tracks. Speaking about the new Bleed Like Me expanded reissue, Shirley Manson says: “This album was tricky to make and resulted in the band taking a 5-year hiatus shortly after it was released. However, over the years, it has become a mainstay of our discography, so we decided to finally make it available on vinyl due to the many pained pleas from our fans’. ORDER HERE
- GRAMMY®-nominated singer-songwriter Marcus King released Mood Swings, his Rick Rubin produced album, via American/Republic Records. Listen to Mood Swings HERE Mood Swings is King’s magnum opus, an eclectic symphony of soul that is uniquely timeless and current. Drawing on King’s darkest moments, it became a beacon of hope for King as he created it, and will be a refuge for anyone going through similar challenges in their lives. Legendary producer Rick Rubin who has worked with everyone from Adele to Johnny Cash, was instantly drawn to King’s guitar playing, singular voice and songwriting, and after witnessing a King live performance, one day randomly cold-called him to float the idea of working together.
- Global, GRAMMY®-nominated and Diamond-selling British band Glass Animals announces details of their fourth studio album, I Love You So F***ing Much, to be released on July 19th via Republic Records. The album is introduced by the band’s new single, “Creatures in Heaven,” out now—listen HERE and watch the visualizer HERE. I Love You So F***ing Much is the follow-up to 2020’s critically revered Dreamland, which sold over 12 million copies globally and gave life to “Heat Waves,” the record-breaking song that became the biggest international hit from a British band in almost 30 years. It was the first song to reach #1 with a single writer and producer since Pharrell’s “Happy,” and led to the pop world’s biggest acts, including Florence Welch, all wanting to work with Glass Animals’ frontman, songwriter, and producer, Dave Bayley. But the birth of I Love You So F***ing Much was an existential crisis. Dave found himself struggling to make sense of this newfound global stardom, having watched it all happen while the world was in lockdown. “Life can change dramatically, but sometimes you aren’t able to change as quickly on a personal level. You end up feeling like a spectator. And then you are asked and expected to be a certain type of person, a different person. But…I wasn’t sure how. It confused me to the point of not knowing who I was or if anything was real.” It took being stranded on a cliff in a wooden house on stilts during one of California’s biggest storms in history to push that feeling into a full existential crisis. In forced isolation, watching trees tumble down mountains and assuming “death was coming,” Dave began asking questions of himself, of the universe, and of the human experience: namely, love. As he came to accept himself as an introvert, Dave realized that “human connection and the love between us is much bigger, more important, and more complex than anything else”. “Creatures in Heaven” is the sublime first glimpse into ten intimate love stories set against the backdrop of the universe.
- Created by Matilda Curtis and Ashley Storrie, Dinosaur follows Nina, an autistic woman in her 30s, who adores her life living with her sister and best friend Evie. However, when Evie rushes into an engagement after only six weeks and makes Nina her maid of honor, Nina is floored. Dinosaur now streaming exclusively on Hulu!
- From Executive Producer Jimmy Kimmel Hulu has released the official trailer and key art for the upcoming unscripted series "High Hopes," produced by Jimmy Kimmel's Kimmelot and ITV America. The six-episode first season will premiere Saturday, 4.20, only on Hulu. “High Hopes” is a workplace reality series following Belarus-born brothers Slava and Mishka, and their stoned crew through the trials and tribulations of taking their cannabis business to new heights. As one of the oldest cannabis dispensaries in Hollywood, MMD attracts a wild mix of weed-loving customers and is a home away from home for their OG employees who work hard and smoke harder! This season builds to their biggest day of the year—4.20—as the gang attempts to expand nationwide and release their own top-shelf cannabis brand. Will they find what they’re looking for or will their hopes go up in smoke? TRAILER: HERE
