New Releases: Foo Fighters, Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds, The Weeknd ft Madonna and more!

Foo Fighters secure their sixth Official Number 1 album with But Here We Are, following a closely-fought race against Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds.

Noel Gallagher has spoken out to decry the “mass hypnosis” that led to Brexit, as well as arguing that England is “shit now” and “fuck all works”.The former Oasis icon was speaking to NME for the latest in our In Conversation series, when he explained the “reflective” nature of his new solo album with The High Flying Birds,  ‘Council Skies‘.“All the dreams I had growing up underneath the council skies sparked off a lot of things for me, but it was written in that god-awful period in lockdown,” he said. “In isolation in those nine months where there was nothing to do, nowhere to go and no one to see.“Everybody dealt with it personally differently.

Noel Gallagher has shared his thoughts about the recent reunions of his former Britpop peers Blur and Pulp – as well as the lack of offers made for Oasis to do the same.Former rivals Blur recently kicked off their comeback tour, as well as announcing their surprise new album ‘The Ballad Of Darren‘, with Pulp also returning to the road their first shows together in a decade.Asked about how he feels about being on the road at the same time as his ’90s peers in support of his acclaimed new solo album ‘Council Skies‘, Gallagher wished them well when speaking to NME as part of the latest in our In Conversation series.“I didn’t know that, but good luck to them!” he said. “Blur never split up, did they? Pulp never split up, they just went and did other things, which is the adult way of doing it.

Foo Fighters have surpassed Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds in their race for the Number One spot on the Official Album Charts.Both released their latest full-length albums last Friday (June 2), and as it stands, they are competing to top the charts in a race that is too close to call.The competition is one of the closest chart battles in recent years, and sees Foo Fighters’ ‘But Here We Are’ — their first album since the sudden death of Taylor Hawkins last March — take on ‘Council Skies’, the fourth studio effort from Noel Gallagher’s solo project.First reported by NME on Tuesday (June 6), the midweek mark showed that Gallagher had only just claimed the Number One position and that Dave Grohl and co. were sitting in second place — although just 200 units separated the two.Now, just one day before this week’s Official Number One album is revealed on BBC Radio 1’s The Official Chart (June 9, from 4pm BST), the American rock veterans have surpassed the former Oasis member, and are currently in peak position.Although the five-piece are close to being certified the chart toppers with ‘But Here We Are’, the race is still too close to call as, at time of writing, they are only in the lead by a mere 500 units.A lot is at stake for both artists.

Matty Healy of The 1975 has responded to Noel Gallagher, who recently called him a “slack-jawed fuckwit”.Healy responded to the comments from the songwriter and former Oasis member while onstage in Dublin last night (June 7). Here, he acted as the support act for his own band after Caroline Polachek pulled out at the last minute due to losing her voice.Taking to the stage to perform a solo set, he performed stripped-down renditions of The 1975’s songs, including the live debut of ‘Then Because She Goes’ and ‘Playing On My Mind’, as well as a cover of Colin Hay’s ‘I Just Don’t Think I’ll Ever Get Over You’.He was also joined onstage by one of the band’s touring musicians, Jamie Squire, who played a cover of Leon Russell’s ‘A Song For You’, before Healy went on to address the recent comments made by Gallagher.The comments came from a recent interview with Spin, where the High Flying Birds musician shared his annoyance at discovering that Healy had claimed that he and Liam Gallagher needed to “grow up” and reform Oasis.Speaking to the crowd, Healy first discussed the support he has had from members of Coldplay and U2, who he said reached out to him recently.

We may be almost half way through the year (how, please?), but 2023 still has a lot in store on the new music front.

Matty Healy is sorry. Or at the very least "sorry?" Earlier today, Caroline Polachek shared that she'd lost her voice, and would have to pull out of her slot opening for the 1975 tonight in Dublin. Her replacement: Matty himself.

Liam Gallagher has taken to Twitter to respond after his brother Noel said he “fucking dares” him to call him up and discuss an Oasis reunion.The comments arose during a recent interview with Seattle radio station 98.9 KPNW, when Noel was asked about the possibility of an Oasis reunion.Here, Noel — who is currently touring in the US in support of his latest High Flying Birds album ‘Council Skies’ — insisted that neither he nor his brother want the reunion to take place. He also stated that although Liam continues to say he wants Oasis to reform online, if he did want to make the prospect into a reality he would have already called him up to organise it.“Look, he’s gonna have to call me.

It's all change at the top in the race for this week's Official Number 1 album, as Foo Fighters edge just ahead of Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds, the Official Charts Company can reveal.

Foo Fighters and Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds are currently in a neck-and-neck race to reach the Number One spot on the UK album charts this week.Both acts released their latest LPs — ‘But Here We Are’ and ‘Council Skies’ — last Friday (June 2) and as it stands, it is too close to call which one will reach the peak position on the Official Album Chart by the end of this week.Currently at the midweek mark, Noel Gallagher has surpassed the American rockers and stands as the UK’s best-selling album with his fourth solo album with High Flying Birds. That being said, the two remain almost neck and neck, as just 200 units separate them from first and second position.The victory would no doubt mark an important milestone for Foo Fighters, as ‘But Here We Are’ marks their first full-length LP since the death of drummer Taylor Hawkins in March last year.

The stage is set for one of the closest races for Number 1 in recent memory, as Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds and Foo Fighters gear up for a tough battle on the Official Albums Chart.  

Noel Gallagher has spoken to NME about his love of The Cure, and how Robert Smith came to remix his recent single ‘Pretty Boy’.Back in March, Gallagher shared Smith’s “spacey remix” of the Johnny Marr-featuring single, taken from his acclaimed new album with The High Flying Birds, ‘Council Skies‘. Now in a new interview with NME’s In Conversation series, the former Oasis guitarist and songwriter has discussed how they came to collaborate.Gallagher explained: “Because the song [‘Pretty Boy’] sounds like The Cure I was like, ‘Does Robert Smith do remixes?’ I got hold of his email, the first line was, ‘Hi Robert, it’s Noel Gallagher’.

Noel Gallagher has commented on the AI-generated Oasis album that his brother Liam previously described as “mega”. And if you think you’ve already guessed what Noel had to say about it and don’t need to read any further, well, fine, you’re almost certainly right about that.“These fucking idiots have clearly got too much time on their hands and too much money that they can afford the technology to fucking piss around doing that for a laugh”, he tells NME. “I’m saving up for the technology myself, then I’m just gonna dial it in to some computer and fucking churn it out when I’m 73.

Noel Gallagher has responded to the AI-generated “lost” Oasis album that was released earlier this year.The eight-track ‘AISIS’ album was developed by indie band Breezer, who created their own tracks over lockdown before adding an AI take of Liam Gallagher’s vocals over the top.Described as an “alternate reality concept album”, it came about after the band got “bored of waiting for Oasis to reform.”Responding to the record, Liam took to Twitter to confirm he’d listened to a couple of the tracks and they were “better than all the other snizzle out there.” He went on to call the project “mad as fuck” before adding that his AI vocals sounded “mega”.Speaking to NME as part of the ongoing In Conversation series, Noel Gallagher has now had his say on the AI-generated album. “These fucking idiots have clearly got too much time on their hands and too much money that they can afford the technology to fucking piss around doing that for a laugh,” said Noel before revealing that he was “saving up for the technology myself.”“Then I’m just gonna dial it in to some computer and fucking churn it out when I’m 73. I’ll have 140 albums to go after I’m fucking dead to keep my kids in choc ices and fucking weed.” Noel added: “People kept sending me stuff like Ringo Starr singing ‘She’s Electric’.

NME, Noel Gallagher has revealed what he considers to be the “flaws” in each of the albums he has made – both with Oasis and solo with The High Flying Birds.Gallagher sat down with NME for the latest in our In Conversation series, when he started by admitting that he is already troubled with an issue with his acclaimed new album ‘Council Skies‘, released just last week.Speaking of the track ‘Think Of A Number’ which he admitted “has got a Bowie feel to it”, Gallagher admitted: “If I had my time again I’d have that as the opening track. Every album that I make tends to be flawed in some way.“This is almost perfect, but the biggest flaw here is that the opening track ‘I’m Not Giving Up Tonight’ should be the closing track and ‘Think Of A Number’ should be the opener – but I didn’t think it was strong enough until it was too late.

Noel Gallagher has shared his thoughts on the state of modern rock – and that he’s not a fan of The 1975.In the latest instalment of NME‘s In Conversation series, Gallagher was asked if he feels his music with Oasis has had much of an influence on today’s crop of musicians, to which he said that he felt that guitar music had become “marginalised”. He also disputed the notion of The 1975 being a rock band.“Oasis’ influence, I think, was for people to fucking start a band in the first place,” he said.

The BBC has announced full details of its Glastonbury 2023 coverage, including 40 hours of TV broadcasts and 85 hours of live radio.

Liam Gallagher has shared his opinion on brother and former Oasis bandmate Noel Gallagher‘s recent cover of Joy Division‘s ‘Love Will Tear Us Apart’.On Thursday (June 1), Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds performed a live cover of the Joy Division song as part of the BBC Radio 2 Piano Room series, accompanied by the BBC Concert Orchestra. “I would play this song, this version of it, at home down the years,” he said.Gallagher expressed initial trepidation about performing his rendition: “I was like, ‘How can I get away with that?’ Because it’s such an iconic [song] and, being from Manchester… well,  this is going to be tricky.”He added: “But now I’ve got my own studio, I went and did a little demo of it and I was like ‘You know what? I think I might be able to pull this off.’ So we’re going to do’‘Love Will Tear Us Apart’ by the Divs.”Gallagher’s brother Liam was among those who took issue with the rendition.

Noel Gallagher has performed a live cover of Joy Division’s ‘Love Will Tear Us Apart’ with the BBC Concert Orchestra – check it out below.The singer-songwriter and former Oasis guitarist appeared on the BBC Radio 2 Piano Room series earlier today (June 1) in support of his upcoming album with High Flying Birds, ‘Council Skies’.Set to arrive tomorrow (June 2) via Sour Mash, the album marks Gallagher’s fourth studio album under the guise, following on from the 2017 LP ‘Who Built The Moon?’.

Noel Gallagher says writing his latest album has helped him “come to terms” with life events including his recent divorce.

In what's set to be one of the biggest chart battles of the year, two iconic rock acts - Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds and Foo Fighters - will be going head-to-head to secure the UK's Number 1 album next week.