Lou Reed: Last News

The Sopranos star Michael Imperioli has defended Morrissey, saying he still “gives him the benefit of the doubt”.The former frontman of The Smiths has come under scrutiny in recent years for making a number of comments that have deemed be racist. However, in a new interview with The Guardian, Imperioli explained how other members of the band had led him to believe that racism is not a part of who Morrissey is.“I’m not sure how racist the things he said were,” said the actor. “To me they weren’t flagrantly racist.

Pavement get an unexpected mention in the new Barbie movie.The joke is made during a montage where Kens start mansplaining to Barbies, with one referencing The Godfather and another talking about Stephen Malkmus‘ importance and how he relates to Lou Reed.The joke supposedly references director Greta Gerwig and co-writer Noah Baumbach’s own love of indie rock.When Pavement heard about it, they jokingly posted on their Instagram story: “We are aware of the Barbie Movie rumors and are awaiting guidance from legal but as a rule we are pro Greta.”The indie rockers then shared a photo of Stephen Malkmus in the Mattel Barbie logo, writing, “Not a sponsored post but CAN BE @barbiethemovie just DM us for venmo.”In other Barbie news, Greta Gerwig has revealed she fought to keep a scene where Barbie (Margot Robbie) tells an elderly woman on a bench that she is beautiful in the final cut.“I love that scene so much,” Gerwig told Rolling Stone. “And the older woman on the bench is the costume designer Ann Roth.

ANOHNI is this week’s guest on The FADER Interview. On the podcast, the British-American multimedia artist and activist discussed the vast tonal shift between her last album and her new one. Where 2016’s HOPELESSNESS was an eviscerating, explicitly topical endeavor, My Back Was A Bridge For You To Cross, due out this Friday (July 7) via Secretly Canadian, is less didactic and more soulful (a sound facilitated in part by producer Jimmy Hogarth and the return of ANOHNI’s band, The Johnsons), though just as intentional in its messaging.

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music Fifty years ago today, on the stage of London’s Hammersmith Odeon, David Bowie killed Ziggy Stardust. Of course, it was not a conventional murder: Ziggy was Bowie’s creation, a character he’d created, a vessel for his rise to fame behind his blockbuster 1972 album “The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars,” which led to one of the fastest and most meteoric rises to superstardom in pop-culture history and created something of a self-fulfilling paradigm, involving the rise of the titular rock star whose fame went to his head and maybe died, maybe didn’t. After nearly a decade of trying and mostly failing to become famous as himself, Bowie apparently figured it might be easier to do it as someone else — as a “totally credible plastic rock star,” as he would later describe it.

Last month ANOHNI announced details of a new album titled My Back Was A Bridge For You To Cross. The album marks her return to working with The Johnsons and will be released on July 7.

Guy Lodge Film Critic Before you ask, yes, Lou Reed’s rock standard “Perfect Day” does indeed make an appearance in Wim Wenders’ “Perfect Days”: on the protagonist’s stereo as suitably ideal sunlight pours into his small, neat Tokyo apartment, before swarming the soundtrack as we head out into the city on a calm weekend afternoon. If that sounds a little obvious, basic even, said protagonist Hirayama — a mellow, soft-spoken toilet cleaner beautifully played by Kōji Yakusho — would probably agree with a shrug. He’s into simple pleasures, not deep cuts. His solitary life is built around the things that make him happy and the work that keeps him solvent. He’s not inclined to wonder what other people make of it. Wenders’ film, in turn, is sincere and unassuming, and owns its sentimentality with good humor.

Manori Ravindran Executive Editor of International Wim Wenders’ “Perfect Days” is a hot property in Cannes, and it’s yet to even premiere. Several buyers are currently circling the Japan-set, music-infused title from master filmmaker Wenders, which bows in competition on Thursday. Sources tell Variety that interested parties so far include Utopia, MUBI, Magnolia, Sideshow and Janus Films and Sony Pictures Classics. Wenders’ “Perfect Days” follows Tokyo toilet cleaner Hirayama, who seems content with his simple life. Outside of his everyday routine, he enjoys his passion for books and, in particular, for music. Over the course of the film, a series of unexpected encounters gradually reveal more of his past.

Iggy Pop put his own spin on Lou Reed‘s 1972 hit ‘Walk On The Wild Side’ at a show in Los Angeles – check it out below.The punk legend played the song as the opener of the encore and was accompanied by his all-star band the Losers, made up of Andrew Watt and Jamie Hince (the latter of The Kills fame), Guns N’ Roses bassist Duff McKagan and Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith. It marks the first occasion that Pop has ever cover that particular track.Check out the cover below:Watt produced Pop’s most recent album, ‘Every Loser’, which came out in January, while McKagan and Smith also played on it.Pop played five songs from that album including singles ‘Frenzy’ and ‘Strung Out Johnny’ during the show at The Regent Theater, while seven of the remaining songs were hits by The Stooges.Check out the full setlist for the Regent Theater show below (via Setlist.fm):1. ‘The News For Andy’2. ‘Neo Punk’3. ‘Frenzy’4. ‘Raw Power’5. ‘TV Eye’6. ‘Sixteen’7. ‘Strung Out Johnny’8. ‘The Passenger’ 9. ‘Lust For Life’10. ‘Gimme Danger’11. ‘Modern Day Rip-Off’12. ‘Loose’13. ‘Comments’14. ‘Nightclubbing’15. ‘Search And Destroy’16. ‘Walk On The Wild Side’17. ‘I Wanna Be Your Dog’ Iggy Pop will be bringing his live show to the UK for a special one-off performance dubbed ‘Dog Day Afternoon’ in Crystal Palace Park on July 1.

Chris Frantz Sire Records co-founder Seymour Stein was indisputably one of the greatest music executives of all time, with a career that spanned six decades and a rare ear for talent that led Madonna, Talking Heads, Lou Reed, Ice-T, Depeche Mode, the Pretenders, the Smiths, and many others to his label. Stein, who died on April 2 at the age of 80, is remembered here by Chris Frantz, drummer of Talking Heads and Tom Tom Club, who, with Tina Weymouth (now his wife), Jerry Harrison and of course David Byrne, signed with the label late in 1976.  Seymour told this story many times. His first visit to CBGB’s on the Bowery was to see the Ramones. His wife Linda insisted that he see them because they were something new and fabulous and she thought he should sign them, which he did. He was standing outside the club on the sidewalk speaking with [Patti Smith’s longtime guitarist] Lenny Kaye, waiting for Ramones to go on when he heard the support band begin to play. “When my love stands next to your love….”

Chris Morris Music ReporterSeymour Stein, whose Sire Records launched Madonna’s career and signed such early punk rock and new wave icons as the Ramones and Talking Heads, has died, a spokesperson for his family has confirmed to Variety. The cause of death was not immediately clear, although he had been in unsteady health for several years. He was 80. Though Stein’s imprint, which he co-founded in New York in 1966, enjoyed major-label distribution, he approached the record business with an independent’s zeal, and took a multitude of risks on unproven, often underground talent that paid off on the charts. Depeche Mode, Ice-T, Lou Reed, the Pretenders, the Smiths, the Cure, Seal, the Replacements, Aphex Twin and many more artists released some of their greatest music on Sire, whether via a direct signing or a licensing deal. A well-curated mixtape of Sire releases from the ‘80s and ‘90s is like the soundtrack to an era.

Here’s a story for you. A few months ago I was thinking about Metallica and Lou Reed’s collaborative album ‘Lulu’. More than ten years on from the shock we all experienced on first listen – you know, because of the strangeness of that project – not to mention the the backlash that followed, it occurred to me that it might be fun to give the record another play.Because maybe listening to that album again after all this time would reveal something quite interesting and worthwhile that we all missed first time round.

Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich has blamed “ignorance” for the reaction to ‘Lulu’, their 2011 collaborative album recorded with Lou Reed.The album earned mixed reviews upon its release and has continued to be one of the most divisive records of Metallica’s career, while Reed once claimed it was so unpopular that Metallica fans threatened to shoot him for making it.Ulrich previously reflected on the experience of working with the Velvet Underground legend as a positive one, maintaining that he “wouldn’t change a thing” about the record.Ulrich has now once again reflected on the response to the album, asking (via Loudwire) in Reed’s posthumously released new book, The Art Of The Straight Line: My Tai Chi: “What the fuck is it about ‘Lulu’ that it got that kind of reaction?”He continued: “I can’t quite figure it out, but years later, it’s aged extremely well. It sounds like a motherfucker still.

An impressive array of more than 50 Canadian recording artists have pooled their talents for a new single to promote an excellent cause.

Damon Albarn has revealed that after Gorillaz’ divisive Glastonbury headline set in 2010, Kate Bush phoned to tell him it was “one of the best shows she’d ever seen”.Last night (February 23), Albarn and visual artist Jamie Hewlett sat down for a Q+A session with comedian Alan Carr for Banquet Records, attended by NME.Taking to the stage at former-cinema-turned-nightclub Pryzm in Kingston, Albarn explained that “Glastonbury was very memorable because it was so different to any other performance that had been before us”.“We wanted to just be, and not do the normal schtick of ‘hello Glastonbury, how are you all feeling?’ We wanted to just do our thing,” he continued.Gorillaz were last-minute replacements for U2 who had to postpone their appearance after Bono injured his back. Albarn returned to the iconic festival with Gorillaz one year after topping the bill with Blur.“I realised halfway through the Gorillaz set that the audience had no idea who some of the guests that we were bring onstage were, because I wasn’t introducing them,” he said of the set that included the likes of Bobby Womack, Bootie Brown, De La Soul, Lou Reed, Happy Mondays‘ Shaun Ryder, The Fall‘s Mark E.

The Velvet Underground‘s ‘Loaded’ has been announced.‘Loaded (Fully Re-loaded Edition)’ is a new vinyl box set that includes nearly all of the music from its expansive 2015 CD reissue but comes with nine LPs boasting stereo, mono and “full-length” mixes of the original album.Demos, studio outtakes and live recordings also feature in the box set and several tracks will be available on vinyl for the first time.The £250 box set is available to pre-order here exclusively via Dig! ahead of its March 24 release. It’s limited to just 1,970 copies.‘Loaded (Fully Re-loaded Edition)’comes in a deluxe, foil-wrapped slipcase containing the vinyl, a poster of the album’s cover art, and an illustrated booklet with liner notes by Lenny Kaye that appeared in ‘Loaded: Re-Loaded 45th Anniversary Edition’.In addition to the nine LPs, the set also comes with four 7″s that reproduce the official singles and B-sides released from ‘Loaded’.The songs ‘Rock & Roll’ and ‘Who Loves The Sun’ both come in the generic record sleeves used at the time by Cotillion, the band’s label.

Jem Aswad Senior Music Editor Back in the day (“the day” being the 1990s), Pavement became so typecast as a cliché-lambasting, anti-rock band that they never really got credit for what a great rock band they were — and, as their ongoing 30th-ish anniversary tour shows, still are. The stereotypical scrawny, bookish, indie vibe and image of the group’s early records had become so cemented that few seemed to notice how tight and accomplished they became after drummer Steve West joined the group in 1993. Although they always downplayed their ability to “rock out” and still do, when the band locks in on hypnotic grooves while singer-guitarist Stephen Malkmus plays solos with a Lou Reed-ish combination of soaring melodies and brittle squall (usually finishing with some self-mocking gesture), they can hold their own with virtually any rock band. On their later albums, that seasoning carried over to their songwriting, as Malkmus’ almost run-on melodies were delivered in a cleaner, sharper manner, as if he were no longer quite so embarrassed by how pretty or catchy they can be.

Charli D'Amelio was joined by boyfriend Landon Barker, mom Heidi and sister Dixie after while out to dinner after competing on Monday on Dancing With The Stars.The 18-year-old TikTok star wore a collared white top unbuttoned over a black top with a denim skirt and white sneakers as she was seen at Catch Steak in West Hollywood with Barker, also 18. She had her black locks slicked back and pulled into a ponytail after her outing on the dance competition.It was a triumphant night for Charli on the dancefloor - she tied for the top score at 33 with Gabby from The Bachelorette and got the first 9 of the season. The latest: Charli D'Amelio, 18, was joined by boyfriend Landon Barker, 18, mom Heidi, 50, and sister Dixie, 21, while out to dinner after competing on Monday on Dancing With The Stars The son of Travis Barker wore a black sweater with an image of late musician Lou Reed with black slacks and dress shoes after the filming. Landon - who was accidentally called Logan on the show by Tyra Banks - wore multiple earrings and sported a short black hairdo.  Charli and Landon have been romantically linked since June, with TikTok users calling the tandem 'Chardon;' they have been spotted attending a number of events in recent months. 'He's just very sweet," D'Amelio told ET of Landon in June, adding of the high-profile romance, 'I think for a long time it was really difficult but now I kind of live life first and think about what people are going to say after.' The son of Travis Barker wore a black sweater with an image of late musician Lou Reed with black slacks and dress shoes after the filming.

Jem Aswad Senior Music Editor Considering their short lifespan and relatively slim discography, the Velvet Underground may be the most thoroughly excavated and documented rock band of their era: Nearly every studio and concert recording, acetate and demo has been scrutinized, digitized and optimized for the many awesome boxed sets that have been released since the world caught up with the group’s brilliance in the 1980s, a dozen-odd years after they split up. The foundation of that brilliance, of course, is Lou Reed’s songwriting, which combines a novelist’s gritty realism with equally confrontational rock music, but also includes soft, vulnerable songs like “Pale Blue Eyes” and “I’ll Be Your Mirror” — songs that are all the more poignant because you can sense, somehow, that the sensitive soul who wrote them isalso kind of an asshole.

Lou Reed performing ‘Men Of Good Fortune’ has been shared today (August 16) – check it out below.It’s the third preview of the upcoming collection, ‘Words & Music, May 1965’ – a new Lou Reed archive. It’s set for release on August 26 via Light In The Attic on what would have been the late singer-songwriter’s 80th birthday.This version of ‘Men Of Good Fortune’ features different lyrics and music compared to the song of the same title that eventually appeared on Reed’s 1973 album ‘Berlin’.Check it out here:Back in July, Reed‘s earliest known demo of The Velvet Underground’s ‘Heroin’ was released.The 1965 take of the track was put to tape by the legendary singer-songwriter nearly two years before its release on his former band’s landmark debut album ‘The Velvet Underground & Nico’.The rare demo finds Reed accompanying himself on guitar and while structurally it is the same as the album version, it is more than three minutes shorter.That followed on from an early demo of ‘I’m Waiting For The Man’, which was shared in June.Elsewhere on the tracklist are previously unreleased demos including ‘Buttercup Song’, ‘Buzz Buzz Buzz’ and ‘Stockpile’.

EXCLUSIVE: Hari Nef (Transparent) is set to portray transgender icon and Andy Warhol superstar Candy Darling in the as-yet-untitled biopic penned by Transparent writer Stephanie Kornick. Deadline exclusively announced the project in 2019.

Lou Reed’s 1965 demo of Velvet Underground song ‘Heroin’ has been released, ahead of a new compilation of archival material to mark what would have been his 80th birthday.The track was recorded with John Cale two years before the release of the band’s debut album, ‘The Velvet Underground & Nico’, and is around half the length of the final version.In an effort to gain copyright protection for the recording, Reed posted the tape to himself in an envelope that then remained sealed for over 50 years. It’s a myth that mailing work to yourself somehow instigates copyright protection, by the way, but that fact doesn’t seem to have harmed Reed at all.The release follows the demo version of ‘I’m Waiting For The Man’, which came out last month.