Innholdsfortegnelse for Jan-24-15 i Billboard Magazine

MADDIE ZIEGLER, tween star of Lifetime’s Dance Moms, first helped Sia scale the Billboard Hot 100 with her mesmerizing moves in the video for “Chandelier.” Now, she’s giving the Australian singer another boost, as the operatic “Elastic Heart” opens as the Hot Shot Debut at No. 17 and rockets onto Streaming Songs at No. 2 with 9.6 million U.S. streams in the week ending Jan. 11, according to Nielsen Music. The bow is largely due to the song’s controversial video, which premiered Jan. 7 and features Ziegler and actor Shia LaBeouf dancing together dramatically in a cage. The clip has been criticized for its stars’ age difference (Ziegler is 12, LaBeouf, 28) and their attire (or lack thereof). Sia subsequently apologized. Streams account for 75 percent of its Hot 100…

PLANS TO OPEN TWO NEW LIVE-MUSIC FACILITIES in Los Angeles could make the city’s competitive venue market even more intense. Stan Kroenke, owner of the NFL’s St. Louis Rams, plans to include a 6,000-capacity venue as part of his proposed 80,000-seat stadium project for Inglewood, Calif. On the other end of the spectrum, Michael Swier, who opened The Bowery Ballroom and Mercury Lounge in New York in the 1990s (but is no longer affiliated with the concert-promotion arm of New York-based promoter The Bowery Presents), is nearing completion on the 600-capacity Teragram Ballroom in downtown L.A., set to open in March following a $2 million renovation of the former Westlake Playhouse. The Rams project remains a big “if,” considering the large number of stadium pipe dreams that have been floated…

When Adam Lambert first worked with Swedish songwriter-producers Max Martin and Shellback in 2009, months after his American Idol near-win, the collaboration yielded two hits, “Whataya Want From Me,” which reached No. 10 on the Billboard Hot 100, and “If I Had You,” which spent 20 weeks on the chart, peaking at No. 30. Four years later, Lambert found himself in Stockholm, label-less but inspired. The trio picked up where they left off, with Martin and Shellback offering to executive-produce the 32-year-old singer’s next release, his first under a new multiple-album deal with Warner Bros. Lambert “Leaving RCA was really due to creative differences — it didn’t feel like we wanted the same things with this next chapter. So I scheduled a meeting with Max Martin and Shellback. We started…

1 Meghan Trainor (in sunglasses) arrived in a gold Cadillac for her Title album-release party at Warwick in Hollywood on Jan. 13. 2 Future Islands’ Samuel T. Herring at Terminal 5 in New York on Jan. 9. 3 Moby (left) and Usher at the Art of Elysium’s eighth annual Heaven Gala at Hangar 8 in Santa Monica, Calif., on Jan. 10. Guests were given noise-canceling headphones to wear so they could enjoy a “silent party.” 4 Nicole Kidman and husband Keith Urban at the Paddington premiere at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood on Jan. 10. 5 From left: Director Angela Bassett, Smokey Robinson, Deborah Cox and Berry Gordy at Lifetime’s Whitney premiere afterparty at Spago in Beverly Hills on Jan. 6.…

WE WERE A MOVING TRAIN — we just pressed ‘pause,’ ” says Sleater-Kinney singer-guitarist Carrie Brownstein, explaining why the beloved alt-rock trio broke up at the peak of its success and why it has reunited for its first album in 10 years, the excellent No Cities to Love (due Jan. 20 on Sub Pop). “But looking back, it’s a relief to stop while you’re ahead. It’s easier to start that back up again than to exhume a corpse.” In the late 1990s and early ’00s, Sleater-Kinney was one of indie rock’s most thrilling, volatile acts — feminist, loud and proud, with sparks flying between singer-guitarists Brownstein and Corin Tucker and Janet Weiss’ power drumming. Legendary critic Robert Christgau, Time and others called them America’s best rock band, even as they…

Grohl-ing Older With Slash Slash says Dave Grohl’s 46th birthday celebration at the Los Angeles Forum was “one of the coolest ... I’ve witnessed in my time” — and the former Guns ’N Roses guitarist almost missed it. Slash tells Overheard he was unaware of the Jan. 10 bash and had other plans when actor and Tenacious D frontman Jack Black convinced him to join the festivities, which drew Alice Cooper, Kiss’ Paul Stanley, Van Halen’s David Lee Roth and Motorhead’s Lemmy Kilmister. Slash feted the birthday boy with Led Zeppelin’s “Immigrant Song” and Queen’s “Tie Your Mother Down.” He also recalled his history with Grohl, which wasn’t always so friendly, thanks to what he described as “a negative thing that happened between” the leaders of their previous bands, Axl…

FROM London AGE 24 SOUNDALIKES Kwabs’ windowpane-rattling baritone has drawn comparisons to Seal and Aloe Blacc, but it’s his ability to traipse across genres (wine-soaked R&B, stomping retro-pop) that distinguishes him. KICK-START Kwabs, born Kwabena Adjepong, trained formally as a member of the jazz chorus at the Royal Academy of Music. After his first YouTube uploads — a Corinne Bailey Rae cover and an original titled “So” — went viral in 2011, he linked with Austrian producer SOHN to produce brooding electro-soul and signed with Atlantic Records in 2012. “Music is my outlet,” he says. “I want to give a sense of what’s going on inside my head.” BIG LEAGUES The title track to October’s Walk spent 16 weeks on the Billboard Twitter Emerging Artists chart, reaching No. 5, and…

TWO MIDDLE-AGED GUYS in hoodies named Coach and Pee run what may be the most important hip-hop label in America. This spring, they’ll release 2015’s most anticipated rap debut, a Lil Wayne-featuring full-length from trap-rap trio Migos, who have already collaborated with Justin Bieber and reached the Billboard Hot 100 on three occasions. They have an innovative deal with 300 Entertainment — the New York music company founded by former Warner Bros. executives Lyor Cohen, Todd Moscowitz and Kevin Liles — for distribution and marketing of nearly all the acts on their label, Quality Control Music. By behaving like managers and studio owners as well as execs, Coach and Pee are drawing a road map for other upstart indies in the 21st century. Formed in March 2013, Quality Control is…

SAM SMITH COULD NOT STOP SMILING. Jan. 9 marked the opening night of the young British singer’s first U.S. theater and arena tour, and it was sold out. His winning debut, In the Lonely Hour, was 2014’s third-biggest-selling album, with 1.3 million copies sold, according to Nielsen Music, and helped him earn six Grammy Award nominations. When he appeared onstage at the Fox Theatre for the first of 16 dates, illuminated by a single spotlight, there was an immediate standing ovation. For the nearly 4,700 people there — nearly twice the number that greeted him just three months prior at his Atlanta debut, at The Tabernacle — it was as if he had already won. On record, Smith, 22, sings about heartache with great care, wrenching exacting emotion — heartbreak,…

ON “NOBODY’S EMPIRE,” WHICH OPENS Belle & Sebastian’s ninth album, an energized Stuart Murdoch chronicles his recent bout with chronic fatigue syndrome and poses a question his fans will relate to: “If we live by books, and we live by hope, does that make us targets of gunfire?” He knows the answer — hence the rat-tat-tat sound effect — but after 19 years fronting a delicate indie-pop band beloved by smart, sensitive “twee” types like him, he’s comfortable in society’s cross hairs. Not so comfortable that he’s coasting, though. On this adventurous LP, the critically lauded Scottish sextet waits until track nine, “Ever Had a Little Faith?,” to offer one of its patented gently strummed character studies. Like much of the album, it’s notably optimistic and lacking in Murdoch’s usual…

The 9th annual luncheon, presented by American Express and A.JAFFE, brought together music’s most prominent female artists and music executives to honor the leading women who made a significant impact on the music industry in 2014. HONOREES Taylor Swift – Woman of the Year, Aretha Franklin – Icon, Iggy Azalea – Chart-Topper, Charli XCX – Hitmaker, Ariana Grande – Rising Star, Jessie J – Powerhouse, Hayley Williams – Trailblazer, Idina Menzel – Breakthrough Artist 1. Seven of the eight 2014 Women in Music artist honorees pictured. Hayley Williams is seen wearing an A.JAFFE rose gold map necklace – a personalized memento that was presented to each of the honorees. Each pendant is engraved with a significant location in their career and pinpointed with a diamond. 2. A.JAFFE’s all new MAPS…

THROUGHOUT ITS CAREER, Intocable has redefined the breadth of norteño, the accordion-based music from Northern Mexico. But the roots of the sextet — its name translates as “Untouchable” — don’t lie in Mexico but in Zapata, Texas, a tiny border town along the Rio Grande whose mix of location and heritage helps explain the group’s sound and lasting appeal as it celebrates its 20th anniversary this year. “You could make an argument that we’re from Texas and we play Tejano, but our music is more traditional Mexicano,” says Ricky Muñoz, 39, the group’s charismatic frontman, accordion player and co-founder with drummer Rene Martinez, 42. “Tejano music was a bunch of keyboards. We were a band from Texas playing accordion music.” It was the early 1990s and Tejano music, or Tex-Mex…

Latin superstar Prince Royce (above) soars onto the Billboard Artist 100 at No. 78, boosted by the budding success of his first English-language hit, “Stuck On a Feeling” (featuring Snoop Dogg). The single jumps 78-63 in its third week on the Billboard Hot 100. Social metrics account for the majority of Royce’s Artist 100 standing (41 percent) as he blasts 38-13 on the Social 50. Airplay follows at 29 percent, as the track gains by 19 percent to 29 million in all-format radio audience, according to Nielsen Music. Digital song sales account for 19 percent of his Artist 100 total, with the song up by 33 percent to 21,000 sold in the week ending Jan. 11. Taylor Swift continues atop the Artist 100, upping her total weeks at No. 1…

IN A MATCH MADE IN HIPPIE heaven, Phish guitarist Trey Anastasio will join the four living original members of The Grateful Dead for three 50th-anniversary shows July 3-5 at Soldier Field in Chicago. The Dead’s last performance with Jerry Garcia, who died in August 1995, was at the same 55,000-capacity venue in July 1995. The sense of closure is no accident: These shows are likely to be the finale for the “core four,” as the surviving members are now known: Bob Weir, 67; Phil Lesh, 74; Mickey Hart, 71; and Bill Kreutzmann, 68. “These will be the last shows with the four of us together,” Weir tells Billboard. “That’s why we’re doing it in Chicago,” says Peter Shapiro, 42, who’s producing the shows in association with Madison House Presents. “They’re…

As North America began to launch more EDM festivals than it could support, organizers cast their eyes toward Latin America as an affordable destination for top DJs and brightly clad fans. First came Mexico: The BPM Festival, which launched in 2008 as a modest gathering, has grown into a 10-day behemoth that attracted more than 50,000 attendees in 2014. Insomniac Events’ Electric Daisy Carnival drew a whopping 80,000 people in its inaugural Mexico City installment in 2014, and Cancun’s Inception Music Festival lasts 30 days. Soon, enterprising EDM entrepreneurs began looking even farther south — and settled on Panama. A barometer for the country’s progress is the third annual The Day After Festival, taking place Jan. 17-19 in Panama City, with headliners including Martin Garrix, Tiesto, Afrojack and Hardwell. The…

The Business of Music in TV & Film WHAT’S IN STORE for season four of HBO’s Girls? “Big changes for the characters,” says music supervisor Manish Raval (the show premiered Jan. 11). In addition to Lena Dunham’s Hannah Horvath leaving New York for grad school, “New relationships are starting and everyone is living beyond their boundaries — physically and emotionally.” Soundtracking the transition: well-known classics — “You’ll hear Patsy Cline, Chet Baker, Charles Mingus,” he says — along with several new exclusive tracks that the series will premiere. Raval, 49, reveals three music cues. ST. VINCENT A new song by Annie Clark will close out an episode, by dropping the friend card. “I said to St. Vincent’s people, ‘We love Annie and she and Lena are friends. Is there anything…

THE GOLDEN GLOBES ARE A NIGHT THAT MOSTLY honors the biggest names in TV and film, but from Prince and Jennifer Lopez to 50 Cent, there was no shortage of musical star power at The Beverly Hilton, where all of the awards-related festivities took place. Common and John Legend not only won best original song in a motion picture for their collaboration on “Glory” from the movie Selma, but their heartfelt acceptance speech became one of the most talked-about moments of the evening. “When I first stepped on the set, I began to think that Selma was bigger than a movie,” Common told the audience. “It has awakened my humanity.” Losing to Legend and Common didn’t stop Lorde (nominated for her work on the Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 soundtrack)…

Lupe Fiasco thinks his fifth studio album, Tetsuo & Youth (Jan. 20), represents the end of an era. In addition to being his last album for Atlantic Records, concluding one of the most contentious artist-label relationships in recent history, the album augurs other changes. In a candid interview conducted before his Australian tour, the 32-yearold Chicago rapper (real name: Wasalu Muhammad Jaco) discussed his new album, his “irrelevancy” and recent Twitter wars with Kid Cudi. Is this album a good entry point to your music for new fans? Not really. It’s an interesting album because it’s a transition. I’m much more mature in my representation in public, in the sense of I’m not as relevant as I was before. It’s kind of that natural irrelevancy that occurs with all artists.…

Plenty has been said about The Ramones through the years, both from within and outside the band. Now Marky Ramone, 58, the group’s second drummer and only non-founder inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, is taking his turn in Punk Rock Blitzkrieg: My Life As a Ramone, published Jan. 13 by Touchstone. In the book, Ramone (real name Marc Bell) — who logged 15 years in two separate stints with the group — offers a frank account of the musical magic and personal dysfunction that was The Ramones and details his life before and after the group, including his 30-year marriage. Ramone continues to lead the tribute band Marky Ramone’s Blitzkrieg and host a SiriusXM show, Punk Rock Blitzkrieg, and he’ll be doing a tour of book…

WHERE TO STAY If you’ve got the budget, forgo the hotel (most are sold out by now anyway) and bunk up with pals in a private luxury lodge in Park City, Utah. “That’s what most celebs opt for,” says Oceanside Entertainment’s Christopher Ryan, who publishes The List, an annual dossier for celebrities that lists every major Sundance party. Though villa owners are extremely tight-lipped about their clientele, stars like Adrian Grenier have been known to rent lodges in Deer Valley’s gated Deer Crest community, which includes the Ski Dream Home (from $16,500 per night; right) and King’s Estate (from $6,000 per night). To book, go to resortswest.com or call 877-214-0102. WHERE TO EAT The Classic: Fireside Dining Before digging into a prix fixe menu that includes fire-roasted leg of lamb…

SUGAR HILL With Milton Malden, husband and wife Joe and Sylvia Robinson co-founded one of hip-hop’s first indies in 1979, releasing Sugar Hill Gang and Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five, thereby introducing rap music to the mainstream. TOMMY BOY Founded in 1981, Tom Silverman’s imprint boasted the likes of Queen Latifah and De La Soul. In 1985, he sold a 50 percent interest to Warner for nearly $10 million. DEF JAM Rick Rubin and Russell Simmons started Def Jam in a dorm room in 1984, putting out records from LL Cool J, Beastie Boys and Public Enemy. Universal Music Group bought Simmons’ share for a reported $120 million in 1999. DEATH ROW After frustration with Ruthless Records, Dr. Dre established Death Row in 1991 with The D.O.C., Suge Knight…

ANGELA BASSETT’S FIERY, OSCAR-nominated turn as Tina Turner made What’s Love Got to Do With It one of the most affecting music biopics of the last 25 years. Whitney, Bassett’s directorial debut and tribute to her friend Whitney Houston, doesn’t belong in that same company, although it’s not without its virtues. Bassett and screenwriter Shem Bitterman (Betty and Coretta) focus on the late legend’s life from 1989 to her 1993 Bodyguard heyday, when Houston ascended to her peak as the world’s biggest pop star. This gives a tragic life story a satisfying triumphant arc, and showcases the dual talents of star Yaya DaCosta (The Butler, The Kids Are All Right) and R&B veteran Deborah Cox, whose voice subs for Houston’s in all of the film’s re-creations of her biggest hits,…

If Lana Del Rey once introduced herself as the "gangsta Nancy Sinatra," Kat Dahlia might be the gangsta, Cuban-American Nelly Furtado. She sings, writes and raps; she has a bit of Rihanna's swagger and the gravelly vocals of 1990s grunge. If that sounds like a lotto balance, well, sometimes it is. But if nothing else, on Dahlia's debut, My Garden, she transcends the sum of her seemingly disparate influences, proving herself to be a relatively distinct artist, even if her risks don't always pay off. The first thing you notice is that voice: Dahlia,24, sings in a deep, throaty vibrato and raps the same way. Sometimes it's smooth and rich; more often, it's sharp and angst-ridden, each word intentionally rough-edged. (This approach takes its toll: In 2014, Dahlia was treated…

THE INVITATIONS KEN EHRLICH SENT out for the Jan. 28 unveiling of his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame make it clear he’s delighted by his neighbors. “John, Paul, George and Ringo are getting company,” reads the invite, designed in the shape of the Capitol Records Tower. Ehrlich clearly is thrilled with the location of his star on the Vine Street sidewalk. “All those early Capitol recordings would have a drawing of the tower on them and, from the time I was 10, that was the symbol of the record business and Hollywood,” says Ehrlich, who grew up in Cleveland and got his start in TV in Chicago. “When they told me I would be receiving a star, all I wanted was to be in front of the Capitol…

The singer’s “Heartbeat Song” arrived at radio and retail on Jan. 12, and should make a splash on the Billboard Hot 100 dated Jan. 31. It’s the first single from her forthcoming album, Piece by Piece, due in March on RCA Records. 5 K Following two prerelease teaser tweets from Clarkson on Jan. 8 and 9 (that snared 5,000 retweets) about “Heartbeat Song,” the track scaled to No. 4 on the real-time Billboard + Twitter Trending 140 chart, and later jumped to No. 1 on Jan. 12 after its official bow. 377 K “Heartbeat Song” received hourly plays on Jan. 12 on participating iHeartMedia-owned adult top 40 stations, translating to 377,000 in first-day format audience. The support could help spur the song to a top 20 debut on the Jan.…

IN 1995, THE FUTURE LOOKED BRIGHT for TLC. After a string of five Billboard Hot 100 hits that began with its debut 1992 single, “Ain’t 2 Proud 2 Beg,” the Atlanta-based trio — rapper Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes, 23, and singers Rozonda “Chilli” Thomas, 24, and Tionne “T-Boz” Watkins, 24 — topped the chart for the first time on Jan. 28 with the slinky cheating anthem “Creep.” The track, one of four top five hits from TLC’s second album, CrazySexyCool, helped make it the biggest-selling album by a female pop group in history, moving 7.6 million copies sold, according to Nielsen Music. The record’s success did not translate to a financial windfall for the group, however. In July 1995, while TLC was at No. 1 with the third single from…

Billy Corgan has weathered many breakups, from parting ways with former bandmembers and managers to firing PR firm MSO, which he did in November after nearly 10 years of service. But his current incarnation of The Smashing Pumpkins is allegedly at the center of another big split: the dissolution of the 25-year business relationship between Peter Katsis and Jeff Kwatinetz, who have managed such acts as Limp Bizkit, 30 Seconds to Mars and Puddle of Mudd at Prospect Park and The Firm. Katsis, a Prospect Park partner, signed The Smashing Pumpkins to the company’s music management roster in 2012. The band joined longtime Katsis clients Jane’s Addiction and Korn, but, according to a Prospect Park colleague, garnered most of Katsis’ attention. “Peter was spending 90 percent of his time on…

JORDAN FELDSTEIN’S INDUSTRY bona fides date back to childhood. Long before Maroon 5’s Adam Levine could even conceive of having moves like Mick Jagger or kissing Keira Knightley in Begin Again, the singer and his manager, both natives of west Los Angeles, shared a common bond in their best-friend dads — Feldstein’s father Richard a respected business manager who handles the finances of such stars as Dr. Dre and Lenny Kravitz, and Levine’s dad Fred the owner of Southern California clothing chain M. Fredric. The younger Feldstein began networking in elementary school, when veteran music attorney Don Passman, author of the book All You Need to Know About the Music Business, was his carpool driver for a time (Passman’s kids were classmates), and then through college internships (Rap-a-Lot Records and…

Atticus Ross, 47, Trent Reznor’s collaborator on such films as Gone Girl and The Social Network (for which they won an Oscar in 2011), has signed with Downtown Music Publishing, joining a roster that includes Hans Zimmer, Randy Newman, Adam Peters (Echo & The Bunnymen) and Trevor Horn. Representing composers is a growing market for publishers. Says Amy Driscoll-Dunning, Downtown’s senior vp creative: “We recently licensed a cue from Zimmer’s [HBO miniseries] The Pacific for a Jeep campaign; Junkie XL created a composers series that had great success in the trailer and advertising worlds; and Atticus is being asked to do music for commercials and brands like Nike.” While repurposing scores “can be limiting,” helping finance their creation may be a path for the future. “We’re interested in investing in…

1 From left: Swift, Este Haim, King, Harvey Weinstein and Lorde at the Weinstein Company/Netflix afterparty. 2 Common. 3 Keira Knightley with The Imitation Game composer Alexandre Desplat at a pre-Golden Globes event, the BAFTA Los Angeles Tea Party at the Four Seasons Hotel Los Angeles on Jan. 10. 4 Adam Levine (left) and NBC Entertainment chairman Robert Greenblatt. 5 From left: Lena Dunham with boyfriend Jack Antonoff, Jemima Kirke and her husband Mike Mosberg at the Universal/NBC/Focus Features/E! Entertainment afterparty. 6 From left: Chrissy Teigen with husband Legend, Gabrielle Union and Jeremy Renner at the InStyle/Warner Bros. afterparty. 7 Gomez (left) and Jennifer Aniston at the InStyle/Warner Bros. afterparty. 8 Rita Ora at the Weinstein Company/Netflix afterparty. 9 From left: The Theory of Everything’s Felicity Jones, James Marsh, Eddie…

Move over, Apple Watch: Meet Muzik, billed as the first smart, connected headphones (muzikofficial.com, $299), and featuring an array of futuristic goodies. A single touch to one of the headset’s customizable buttons, each linked to the Muzik smartphone app, lets friends know what you’re listening to via Facebook, Twitter, text or email. There are motion sensors that allow you to fast forward, rewind and change the volume with a swipe of your hand. Muzik also takes wireless to new heights (or distances, rather) with a range of 45 feet, allowing you to supersize your personal dancefloor. Beats, are you listening?…

“We fought, and we got it over with, and we homies. We do it all the time.” —YG The rapper talking to WQHT (Hot 97) New York about his recent fistfight over money with producer and longtime collaborator DJ Mustard. “Bill O’Reilly u up next!” —2 CHAINZ The rapper on Twitter following his on-air debate with HLN host Nancy Grace about the merits of marijuana legalization. “HOW DARE YOUopen ur face to awhite publication andtell them that we don’respect ourselves.” —AZEALIA BANKS The rapper tweeting about Kendrick Lamar’s recent remarks to Billboard about police brutality: “When we don’t have respect for ourselves, how do we expect them to respect us?” “I can’t live in a worldwhere Ed Sheeranis headliningWembley.” —NOEL GALLAGHER The former Oasis member speaking to NME on Sheeran’s…

FOUR HOURS FROM NOW, MARK RONSON will learn, via text, that his song “Uptown Funk” has dislodged Taylor Swift from her perch atop the U.S. singles chart, giving him his first No. 1 hit as an artist. For now, he’s in his recording studio in an industrial area of North London, not far from where he was born and lives. He’s about 6-foot-4, if you include the crown of his hair, and thin, with long legs and bony shoulders. He opens his computer and clicks on “Brand New Car,” a song from rapper Action Bronson’s next album, due in March. Ronson built the track around an interpolation of “Zanzibar” by Billy Joel, an artist both he and Bronson love. Before he learned and played the song’s jazzy keyboard hook, Ronson…

Fall Out Boy is seated in an NBC golf cart, being ferried from its dressing room on the network’s Los Angeles lot to the set of The Voice, where it will soon perform. It’s a triumphant moment, though not without its unease. “It’s strange for us to be here,” says bassist Pete Wentz, 35, before the taping starts. “Not at The Voice, exactly, but in pop culture at all. We’re not put-together. We’re a little bit off, and we’ve felt that everywhere we’ve ever gone, from TRL to now.” There was a time when teens wanted their idols to play guitars, and Fall Out Boy’s members were the “it” boys of that scene — four emo-punks from the Chicago suburbs who stuck a tap into their damaged hearts and juiced…

ON “THE SINGER ADDRESSES HIS Audience,” the opening track to The Decemberists’ seventh LP What a Terrible World, What a Beautiful World, when singer-guitarist Colin Meloy sings, “We had to change some,” it makes sense. The Portland, Ore., quintet has previously made a point of adhering to particular styles for entire albums — prog-rock on 2009’s The Hazards of Love, Americana on 2011’s The King Is Dead — but the band’s latest feels unencumbered by showy pantomime, finally loosening up and skewing more organic rock. The act, which became indie-rock royalty with melodramatic study-songs and live shows full of nerdy historical references, undoes those three-button vests the members and their theater-kid fans have been cheekily stereotyped to wear. They still draw from folk traditions, but they do it in freehand…

Billboard picks the best and worst live TV performances from Jan. 5 through Jan. 9 HITS FOXYGEN, “HOW CAN YOU REALLY,”LATE SHOW WITH DAVID LETTERMAN (JAN. 8) “We have a winner,” declared a clearly entertained Letterman after the alt-rockers, spurred on by spastic frontman Sam France and a trio of shimmying female backup singers, evoked vintage Todd Rundgren and a dash of Vegas in its network TV debut. ALOE BLACC, “CAN YOU DO THIS,” CONAN (JAN. 8) Blacc’s stylish song-and-dance routine with his shadow — a female dancer in disguise that mirrored his moves before emerging from behind a screen — was an inspired melding of music and visuals that recalled 1970s variety-show razzmatazz. THE WAR ON DRUGS, “AN OCEAN BETWEEN THE WAVES,” THE TONIGHT SHOW STARRING JIMMY FALLON(JAN. 6)…

GRAMMY AWARD MOMENTS have largely been defined by the pairings of artists who ordinarily wouldn’t find themselves onstage together: Metallica and the classical pianist Lang Lang, Prince and Beyoncé, Paul McCartney with Bruce Springsteen, Dave Grohl and Joe Walsh. Forty years ago in Chicago, Ken Ehrlich employed a similar theory for a blues summit that became the premiere episode of his first nationally aired music TV show, Soundstage. Muddy Waters was the honoree; the performers included Waters and peers Willie Dixon, Junior Wells and Koko Taylor and a new generation of performers: Johnny Winter, Mike Bloomfield, Buddy Miles, Nick Gravenites and Dr. John. “I basically ripped off the Chess album Fathers & Sons best I could and I did it in the round,” says Ehrlich, who started the PBS show…

NEW HIP-HOP DUO RAE SREMMURD MAKES the most of a sleepy early-January album release schedule as its debut set, SremmLife, starts at No. 5 on the Billboard 200, moving 49,000 equivalent album units in the week ending Jan. 11, according to Nielsen Music. The set also arrives at No. 1 on Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums and Rap Albums, selling 34,000 in traditional album sales (see page 78). SremmLife was released Jan. 6 through Eardruma/Interscope, and is one of only two debuts in the top 40 on the chart. It used to be the norm for few significant albums to be released in the first part of the month, as the industry got back to business following the year-end holidays. However, in recent years, it has become a popular time to release…