David Gray brings unreleased mid-2000s music to light in March

David Gray's Nightjar is a companion album to his 2005 release Life in Slow Motion, out March 27 via Bella Figura Music. Featuring 19 previously unheard songs written and recorded during the same period, Nightjar draws from 2003–2005 sessions that ultimately produced Life in Slow Motion. The song “When I Fall In Love” is out now.

Reflecting on the period, Gray describes it as one of upheaval and creative reset following the unprecedented success of White Ladder. "We were almost three years on the road touring White Ladder,” he recalls. “My father had passed away in the midst of that campaign, and then, shortly after I got home from all of that, my wife gave birth to our first child in somewhat traumatic circumstances. I was also now a successful, famous and wealthy man with the world apparently at his feet. It was a lot to make sense of. Personally, privately, professionally, emotionally, creatively. Way too much to chew in one bite.”

Much of the music was recorded at The Church Studios in Crouch End. “The flavour of some of these songs is one of grief, and in others of confusion and disillusionment,” Gray reflects. “I think I was attempting to make sense of everything that had spun me round so completely in the previous four or five years. That would prove to be a long process, perhaps a never-ending one in some respects.”

That rawness is part of why Gray feels the record matters now. “I think there is a rawness to the emotional tone as well as to the high tempo recording process, and that’s one of the reasons I think it’s important to put this music out,” he says. “Life in Slow Motion was the ambitious and highly produced end result of this 18-month recording blitz, but these other songs reveal much more of the story and shine a light on many of the dark and conflicted feelings that were beginning to crystalize.”

The announcement follows last November's 20th-anniversary reissue of Life in Slow Motion, released as its first-ever vinyl edition.

Track listing:

When I Fall in Love

Money
The Easy Way Out
Nightjar
Green Light
Mr. Bennett
Long Gone Now (Alt Version)
Everybody’s Leaving Town (Drum Delay Mix)
Alive
Poor John
Wave
Sacred Ground (Alt Version)
The Golden Ray
Far From Here
A Model Life / My Angel Now
Madder Rain
Laughing Gas (2004 Version)
Side Effects (May Also Include)
The Final Order

In Theaters on Friday: Documentary 'Billy Idol Should Be Dead'

The feature-length documentary film 'Billy Idol Should Be Dead,' directed by three-time Grammy-winner Jonas Åkerlund and produced by Live Nation Studios, will see its U.S. theatrical release February 26. 

See HERE for screening times and tickets in Rancho Mirage, Cathedral City, Redlands and elsewhere in SoCal. Watch/share a clip from the film HERE.

The film made its festival debut at the Tribeca Film Festival last summer, followed by an award qualifying run. It features Idol’s original song with Academy Award-nominated songwriter J. Ralph, “Dying To Live,” which was recently shortlisted for Best Original Song at the 98th Academy Awards. The film’s coda sequence is built around “Dying To Live,” featuring imagery—both animated and archival—from throughout Idol’s life and career and was written by Idol and Ralph alongside longtime Idol collaborators Steve Stevens, Tommy English and Joe Janiak. 

Listen to the song and watch/share the video of the coda sequence HERE. 

The song was recently nominated for Best Song-Documentary Film at the Hollywood Music In Media (HMMA) Awards, which also nominated Billy Idol Should Be Dead for Best Music Documentary-Special Program.

Idol’s first full-length album of new music in over a decade, Dream Into It, is out now on Dark Horse Records. The album reached #7 on the U.S. Top Albums Chart and #4 on the U.S. Current Rock Album Chart, #9 on the U.K. Official Album Sales Chart.

The album includes performance and co-writing contributions throughout from Idol’s longtime guitarist/collaborator Steve Stevens plus appearances by Lavigne, Joan Jett and Alison Mosshart of The Kills, and is produced by Tommy English (Kacey Musgraves, blink 182, BØRNS, K. Flay). Stream/purchase the record HERE.

Additionally, Idol recently returned to the road for It’s a Nice Day To…Tour Again! The tour saw Idol sell out venues across the U.S., Europe and Latin America while touring with support from Joan Jett & the Blackhearts, New Model Army and more. The tour announcement video featuring Idol, Jett and comedian Matt Rife was awarded a Bronze CLIO Award in the medium of live music marketing and category of live music promotion. 

BILLYIDOL.NET

Coachella 2026 News: Holly Humberstone to Drop New Album 'Cruel World,' with Summer Tour

Holly Humberstone - who is known for such UK hits as "Work in Progress" and "The Walls Are Way Too Thin" - is set to tour this summer in North American starting in June. 

In addition, the English pop/rock vocalist is set to make festival appearances at Coachella, Bonnaroo, Governors Ball and All Things Go Toronto. On sale now. Full tour routing can be found below.

The forthcoming tour is in support of Humberstone’s sophomore album Cruel World, which is due on April 10 via Interscope Records. 

Lead single “To Love Somebody” has a Silken Weinberg-directed video, inspired by Victorian theatre, the Brothers Grimm and Nosferatu. For Humberstone, “The record explores love as beautiful and inherently painful,” she says.

“I wrote ‘To Love Somebody’ after watching someone close to me go through a brutal heartbreak. It’s better to have loved and lost, even when it sucks, because feeling everything is part of the human experience. Loving hard is a painful thing and there are two sides to love and they exist in the same space to me. They are all real, brutal and vulnerable experiences. This blue and green ball just keeps spinning and you learn to ride things out.”

LISTEN TO/SHARE “TO LOVE SOMEBODY” HERE

WATCH/SHARE “TO LOVE SOMEBODY” HERE
PRE-SAVE CRUEL WORLD HERE

Following her critically acclaimed debut album Paint My Bedroom Black, Cruel World finds Humberstone building a world with sister Eleri and creative director Silken inspired by childhood trinkets unearthed while leaving the haunted house she grew up in. From ballet shoes, Alice in Wonderland books and films like Edward Scissorhands and James and the Giant Peach, sifting through her girlhood belongings reframed the ghosts of Humberstone's past. 

Cruel World was written with a new discipline through daily studio sessions with collaborator Rob Milton and draws deeply on love (romantic, platonic and feminine). Raised among strong women, Humberstone speaks to the way girls are taught to see one another as competition, unlearning that instinct and reclaiming solidarity as survival. 

Gothic love songs on the record like “Die Happy” explore devotion, danger and desire, pulling from fairytales, Dracula and the ache of seasons changing. 

LISTEN TO/SHARE “DIE HAPPY” HERE
WATCH/SHARE THE OFFICIAL VIDEO HERE

Last month, Humberstone returned to “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” to perform “To Love Somebody.”

WATCH/SHARE THE LATE NIGHT PERFORMANCE HERE

Since emerging with the EP Falling Asleep At The Wheel five years ago, Humberstone has played the stages of Glastonbury, Lollapalooza and Wembley Stadium where she opened for Taylor Swift. The singer won the BRIT Rising Star in 2022, received an Ivor Novello nomination for "Haunted House” and released Paint My Bedroom Black in 2023.

Tour dates:

April 10 - Indio, CA - Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival
April 17 - Indio, CA - Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival
June 3 - Boston, MA - Paradise Rock Club
June 4 - Montreal, QC - Beanfield Theatre
June 6 - Toronto, ON - All Things Go Toronto
June 7 - Queens, NY - Governors Ball Music Festival
June 9 - Philadelphia, PA - Theatre of The Living Arts
June 10 - Washington, DC - 9:30 Club
June 12 - Atlanta, GA - Variety Playhouse
June 13 - Manchester, TN - Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival
June 15 - Detroit, MI - Saint Andrew’s Hall
June 16 - Chicago, IL - The Vic Theatre
June 19 - Minneapolis, MN - Varsity Theater
June 21 - Englewood, CO - Gothic Theatre
June 22 - Salt Lake City, UT - The Complex - The Grand
June 24 - Seattle, WA - The Showbox
June 25 - Vancouver, BC - The Commodore Ballroom
June 26 - Portland, OR - Roseland Theater
June 28 - San Francisco, CA - The Fillmore

Coachella 2026 news: Moby's latest album 'Future Quiet' out now

Influential electronic music artist Moby, who will appear at Coachella Festival on April 10+17, released his new album 'Future Quiet' today. Listen: Future Quiet

Of the album, Moby said in a press release, “‘Future Quiet’ is, not surprisingly, quiet. To be clear; I love bombast. I love excess and volume. But as the world gets louder and crazier I find myself needing the refuge of quiet. Writing and recording it was a refuge for me, and I hope that listening to it is a refuge for you.”

The album opens with a new orchestral reworking of "When It’s Cold I’d Like To Die", featuring Jacob Lusk, best known for his work with Gabriels. Originally released in 1995 on Everything Is Wrong, the track has found a new global audience through its use in the Netflix phenomenon Stranger Things, becoming Moby’s most streamed song, going viral on TikTok, and introducing his music to an entirely new generation of fans. 

Listen: "When It's Cold I'd Like To Die" (ft. Jacob Lusk)

Speaking of its success, Moby said, “It’s reaching hundreds of millions of people annually, which is both wonderful and surprising, especially as it was an obscure song with no drums or bass and was never released as a single.”

Watch: "When It's Cold I'd Like To Die" (Live Video)

Track Listing: 

When It’s Cold, I’d Like To Die (ft. Jacob Lusk)

This Was Never Meant For Us
Retreat
Estrella Del Mar (ft. Elise Serenelle)
Ruhe
Mott St 1992
Precious Mind (ft. India Carney)
Tallinn
On Air (ft. serpentwithfeet)
Selene
La Vide
Great Absence
Mono No Aware
The Opposite of Fear

Suzanne Vega special set to air on PBS later this month based on her 2010s Carson McCullers stage show

Lover, Beloved, the film adaptation of songwriter Suzanne Vega's one-woman stage show about the life of 20th-century female American writer Carson McCullers is set to make its broadcast debut. The film will be available via Public Television Stations and the PBS App starting February 28. Check local listings for dates and times in additional markets. The world debut was at SXSW 2022 in Austin.

In this experimental blend of film, theater and music, Vega fictionalizes a talk McCullers gave at the 92nd Street Y in New York City, making it two separate talks at two different points in the author’s life.

During the first, in 1941, she drinks her way through the lecture, revealing messy romances and illnesses. In the second, 25 years later, she confronts her mortality, reminiscing on her novel and play The Member of The Wedding, as well as on her twice-failed marriage and romances with members of both sexes—ending on the credo she forged with her husband.

The film features songs by Vega and Duncan Sheik (of "Barely Breathing" fame). In 2016, Vega released an album based on the 2011 play Carson McCullers Talks About Love, with musical contributions by Sheik, Gerry Leonard and others.

'Queen II' album from 1974 to get deluxe box set treatment

Queen’s second album, Queen II, has been remixed, remastered and expanded for a new box set. It was originally released in 1974. Brian May and Roger Taylor executive produced the new release, which was mixed by Justin Shirley-Smith, Joshua J Macrae and Kris Fredriksson.

The 5CD+2LP Queen II Collector’s Edition box set features the 2026 mix of the album, plus audio of Queen in the recording studio, previously unheard outtakes and demos, live tracks and radio sessions.

The Queen II Collector’s Edition box set also comes with a 112-page book featuring previously unseen photographs, handwritten lyrics, diary entries, and special memorabilia, as well as memories of writing and recording the album from the band members.

“Queen II was the single biggest leap we ever made,” says Brian May. “That’s when we really started making music the way we wanted to, rather than the way we were being pushed into recording it.”

“With Queen II, I couldn’t believe how much work we put into it,” adds Roger Taylor. “I think we felt we were evolving our own sound. We were pioneering this sort of multitracking thing. It gave you a tremendous pallet, massive choral effects with just three of us singing.”

“The idea was to reveal more of the clarity of the songs,” says Justin Shirley-Smith of their approach this time around. “Rather than add anything, we wanted to reveal more of what was there and get that desired sound.”

“The lengths the band went to achieve what they achieved with the technology they had at the time was incredible,” says Joshua J Macrae. “Some of it is so ahead of its time. Working on this was like entering a room of fabulousness.”

Queen’s self-titled 1973 debut album had a troubled recording process, which resulted in a sound the band were unhappy with (subsequently rectified on the 2024 reissue). 

For the follow-up, recorded once again at Soho’s Trident Studios with Queen I co-producer Roy Thomas Baker, Queen recorded “Father To Son” and “Ogre Battle” having featured them in the live shows as far back as September 1973. 

“I wanted to give it everything – to be self-indulgent,” said Freddie Mercury at the time. “But the whole band in particular, we don't go in for half-measures and I'm pretty hard with myself. There are no compromises.”

Rather than the traditional sides one and two, the album is divided into Side White and Side Black. The former is dominated by Brian May’s songs, including “Father To Son” and “White Queen (As It Began),” with Roger Taylor’s “The Loser In The End” ending off the white side.

Side Black is given over to Mercury’s complex musical excursions, from the “Ogre Battle” and “The Fairy Feller’s Masterstroke” (inspired by a 19th century painting by maverick artist Richard Dadd) to “Seven Seas Of Rhye,” which gave the band their first UK hit single. The centrepiece of Side Black was “The March Of The Black Queen,” a multi-part mini epic.

“’The March Of The Black Queen’ was definitely a forerunner of ‘Bohemian Rhapsody,’” says Brian May. “Freddie’s mind was just working on a different level, even at that point. “Father To Son,” “The Fairy Feller’s Masterstroke” – you can hear the seeds of what was to come in those songs.”

QUEEN II: Collector’s Edition 2026 Mix (5CD+2LP)

CD1: Queen II - 2026 Mix

1 Procession
2 Father To Son
3 White Queen (As It Began)
4 Some Day One Day
5 The Loser in the End
6 Ogre Battle
7 The Fairy Feller's Master-Stroke
8 Nevermore
9 The March of the Black Queen
10 Funny How Love Is
11 Seven Seas Of Rhye

CD2: Queen II - Sessions

1 Procession (Stage Intro Tape - April 1973)
2 Father To Son (Takes 4 & 9 - with Guide Vocal)
3 As It Began (Brian's Studio Demo - October 1969)
4 Some Day One Day (Take 1 - with Guide Vocals)
5 The Loser In The End (Roger's First Demo)
6 The Loser In The End (Roger's Second Demo)
7 Ogre Battle (Takes 2 & 6 - with Guide Vocal)
8 The Fairy Feller's Master-Stroke (Takes 4 & 9)
9 Nevermore (Take 6)
10 The March Of The Black Queen (First Section Takes 3 & 5)
11 The March Of The Black Queen (Second Section Take 1)
12 Funny How Love Is (Take 4)
13 Seven Seas Of Rhye (Takes 4, 5 & 6)
14 I Do Like To Be Beside The Seaside (Take 4)
15 See What A Fool I've Been (B-side Version 2026 Mix)
16 Not For Sale (Polar Bear)

CD3: Queen II - Backing Tracks

1 Procession
2 Father To Son
3 White Queen (As It Began)
4 Some Day One Day
5 The Loser in the End
6 Ogre Battle
7 The Fairy Feller's Master-Stroke
8 Nevermore
9 The March of the Black Queen
10 Funny How Love Is
11 Seven Seas Of Rhye

CD4: Queen II - At The BBC

1 See What a Fool I've Been (BBC Session 2, July 1973 - 2011 Mix)
2 Ogre Battle (BBC Session 3, December 1973)
3 Nevermore (BBC Session 4, April 1974)
4 White Queen (As It Began) (BBC Session 4, April 1974)
5 Procession - Intro Tape (Live at Golders Green Hippodrome, 13th September 1973)
6 Father To Son (Live at Golders Green Hippodrome, 13th September 1973)
7 Son And Daughter (Live at Golders Green Hippodrome, 13th September 1973)
8 Guitar Solo (Live at Golders Green Hippodrome, 13th September 1973)
9 Son And Daughter - Reprise (Live at Golders Green Hippodrome, 13th September 1973)
10 Ogre Battle (Live at Golders Green Hippodrome, 13th September 1973)
11 Liar (Live at Golders Green Hippodrome, 13th September 1973)
12 Jailhouse Rock (Live at Golders Green Hippodrome, 13th September 1973)

CD5: Queen II - Live

1 Procession - Intro Tape (Live at the Rainbow, March 1974)
2 Father To Son (Live at the Rainbow, March 1974)
3 Ogre Battle (Live at the Rainbow, March 1974)
4 White Queen (As It Began) (Live at the Hammersmith Odeon, December 1975)
5 The March Of The Black Queen (Live at the Rainbow, March 1974)
6 The Fairy Feller's Master-Stroke (Live at the Rainbow, March 1974)
7 Seven Seas Of Rhye (Live at the Rainbow, March 1974)
8 See What A Fool I've Been (Live at the Rainbow, March 1974)

Additional Formats:

2x CD: Queen II: Deluxe Edition
CD1: Queen II - 2026 Mix
CD2: Queen II - Sessions

Also available in Download / Streaming / Atmos

www.queenonline.com

Foo Fighters news

“Your Favorite Toy” is the first single off Foo Fighters' forthcoming 12th full-length studio album of the same name, due out April 24 via Roswell Records/RCA Records.

In a prepared statement, Dave Grohl commented, “'Your Favorite Toy' really was the key that unlocked the tone and energetic direction of the new album. We stumbled upon it after experimenting with different sounds and dynamics for over a year, and the day it took shape I knew that we had to follow its lead. It was the fuse to the powder keg of songs we wound up recording for this record. It feels new.”

Preceded by its title track and last year’s “Asking For A Friend," the album was recorded at home, co-produced by Foo Fighters and Oliver Roman, engineered by Roman and mixed by Mark “Spike” Stent.

Foo Fighters' Take Cover world tour kicks off in June in Oslo, following a pair of US festival headlines at Welcome to Rockville and Bottlerock. For more information on the tour, go to https://foofighters.lnk.to/ShowsPR

Foo Fighters are Dave Grohl, Nate Mendel, Chris Shiflett, Pat Smear, Rami Jaffee and Ilan Rubin.

Track listing: 

1. Caught In The Echo

2. Of All People

3. Window

4. Your Favorite Toy

5. If You Only Knew

6. Spit Shine

7. Unconditional

8. Child Actor

9. Amen, Caveman

10. Asking For A Friend