• Welcome to the weekend, welcome to your Saturday edition of The Purge and welcome to ‘Sun Comes Up’, the new single from Rudimental. As you’ll no doubt recognised by the image above, the band on this occasion has been joined on vocal duties by none other than James Arthur. “‘Sun Comes Up’ (is) a song we wrote about overcoming adversity,” the band says. “We spent a long time looking for the right singer for it, and were close to giving up until we met James Arthur, he sang it and we were blown away.” The track is lifted from the band’s upcoming third studio album and is their first new release in 18 months.
• Sydney’s L D R U is also back with new music this week, yesterday dropping his new single ‘Me’. Featuring fellow Sydney-sider Boi, the single premiered on Triple J on Wednesday night ahead of its release yesterday. Not only that, but L D R U is set to release a new mixtape this month. Called ‘Sizzlar’, it’ll be an all-you-can-eat release full of hits, including ‘Keeping Score’ and ‘Next To You’. Look for it at your favourite provider from Friday July 14.
• St Vincent has dropped ‘New York’, her first new single in two years. The songstress released her fifth studio album at the start of 2014 (it subsequently picked up the Grammy for Best Alternative Music Album). So given it’s been three and a half years since it dropped, we’re presumably due another soon. Check ‘New York’ out HERE.
• The Lunar Electric EDM Festival is headed to Port Macquarie early in the new year. Will Sparks, Tigerlily and Tyron Hapi have already confirmed their attendance on the bill for the January 06 event, which will take place at the city’s Cassegrains Winery. A headline act will be announced at a later date. Tickets are on sale now.
• Western Australian outfit Pond have confirmed a national tour this September. Hot on the heels of their international touring commitments, the four piece will head home for shows in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide, kicking in off in the latter (at the Governor Hindmarsh) on September 15. Tickets for all five shows are on sale at 10am local time this Thursday, July 06.
• And The Creases are also hitting the road in September. The Brisbane-based four piece will play dates across the country in support of their upcoming album ‘Tremolow’, which is due out on August 04. As with the Pond national tour, The Creases’ kicks off in Adelaide – at Rocket Bar on Friday September 08 – before moving on to Perth (Jack Rabbit Slim’s on Sep 09), Melbourne (Howler on Sep 15), Sydney (The Lair on Sep 16) and Brisbane (The Zoo on Sep 22). Tickets for all are on sale now.
• The cover version of ‘Bridge Over Troubled Water’ by the Artists For Grenfell shot to the UK No.1 singles position last week within 48 hours of going on sale; an outpouring of emotion and support from across the UK sending the song straight to the top. One week on and though the song is still popular, it’s fallen from the No.1 position, finding itself at No.3. This has allowed Luis Fonsi, Daddy Yankee and Justin Bieber to ascend back to No.1 and DJ Khaled’s ‘Wild Thoughts’ (with Rihanna and Bryson Tiller) to move to a new peak of No.2 after last week’s No.3 debut. The new Rita Ora single ‘Your Song’ makes its move into the top ten this week too, edging from No.11 to No.10.
• No more Royal Blood at No.1 on the UK albums chart either. It’s been replaced by none other than Ed Sheeran, whose ‘÷’ is back on top. He outpaces the 20th anniversary edition of the classic Radiohead album ‘OK Computer’, which premieres at No.2 and the new Imagine Dragons album ‘Evolve’, which debuts in the No.3 spot. Royal Blood’s down to No.4, the Foo Fighters’ greatest hits soars from No.45 to No.6 and the deluxe repackage of Prince’s ‘Purple Rain’ soundtrack is into the countdown at No.7. Bee Gees and DJ Khaled wrap the top ten, with debuts for ‘Timeless : All Time Greatest Hits’ and ‘Grateful’ premiering at Nos.9 and 10 respectively.
• Tell you what… when the US gets settled on something, they get settled on something. Once again there’s no change to the No.1 position on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, with Fonsi, Yankee and Bieber still flying high with their international megahit ‘Despacito’. Dj Khaled’s ‘I’m The One’ (also with Bieber) is still at two, with Bruno Mars’ ‘That’s What I Like’ steady at No.3. But it’s the new DJ Khaled single making all the moves this week; ‘Wild Thoughts’ (with Rihanna and Bryson Tiller) premiering in the No.4 position, leaving latest singles from Ed Sheeran, Kendrick Lamar and Future all one place worse off. Imagine Dragons’ ‘Believer’ rises from No.15 to No.11, but David Guetta and Justin Bieber’s new single (‘2U’ slips 12 from last week’s No.16 debut.
• Katy Perry’s ‘Witness’ may have debuted at No.1 on last week’s Billboard 200 album chart, but it’s already vacated the top spot, replaced by Lorde and her highly anticipated sophomore album ‘Melodrama’. And there’s a No.2 debut to boot. That’s courtesy of 2Chainz and his new LP ‘Pretty Girls Like Trap Music’. Another pair of debuts tails the top five too; Jason Isbell And The 400 Unit’s ‘The Nashville Sound’ at No.4 and Nickelback’s ‘Feed The Machine’ at No.5. But wait… there’s more; Young Thug’s new album ‘Beautiful Thugger Girls’ is on debut at No.8 and Fleet Foxes’ ‘Crack-Up’ is on debut at No.9. But what of ‘Witness’? Well Katy Perry’s new LP is down 12 places to No.13.
• That’s the UK and US charts out of the way. We’ve got the Aussie top 100s coming up for you in our weekly ARIA Chart Watch, which lands on the site at 6pm on the East Coast tonight and each Saturday night.
TICKETS PLEASE
TUESDAY JULY 04 : Paul McCartney (Nationally)
THURSDAY JULY 06 : Pond (Nationally)