• We’re kicking off your Saturday edition of The Purge with news of the new Charlie Puth single ‘Done For Me’. The track joins his previous platinum smash ‘How Long’ and its triple platinum predecessor ‘Attention’ in being plucked from Charlie’s upcoming sophomore album ‘Voicenotes’, due to land at retailers on Friday May 11. The track was serviced to Australian media yesterday to coincide with its digital release.
• Halsey is another artist back with new music this week; yesterday dropping a new version of her latest single ‘Alone’. This time around, she’s roped in both Big Sean and Stefflon Don to help give the track a little extra spice in the hope of picking up those elusive airplay points. The new version comes ahead of Halsey’s visit to Australia next month for shows in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth.
• Expat Sydney DJ Anna Lunoe yesterday dropped her latest track ‘Blaze Of Glory’. “(It’s) an exciting day for me as I genuinely wasn’t sure if i would ever make music again at some points last year,” she reveals. But I’m back and veering off road into a bit of a different lane with this one. This is a song about the days you wake up with a bone to pick. When you are over it in all the ways and you want to kick the ants nest and stir things up. I hope this song blows the cobwebs out of your ears and makes you feel a little rowdy.” The track’s out now.
• There’s a new Jonas Blue single doing the rounds this week and it’s out of this world… seemingly quite literally. It’s called ‘Alien’ and it’s a collaboration between the British dancefloor dynamo and 18 year old US pop starlet Sabrina Carpenter. The pairing came about after Sabrina became a fan of Jonas’ work. “Over a year ago I tweeted Jonas about how much I loved a song of his and he dm’ed me .. and now here we are,” she explains. “We wrote it about how alienating it can feel to be trapped in your own emotions. Lyrically, it’s really inspired by the words we keep in our heads when a relationship is unclear.” ‘Alien’ has already landed at your DSP.
• US soul star Leon Bridges will drop his new album ‘Good Thing’ on Friday May 04. The sophomore project comes almost three years after the release of his critically acclaimed debut ‘Coming Home’. In preparedness for its release, Leon has dropped two tracks from it… ‘Bet Ain’t Worth The Hand’ and ‘Bad Bad News’, both of which are available as grat tracks with the album pre-order. Leon is due in the country later this month for shows in both Sydney and Melbourne, as well as his appearance at Bluesfest in Byron Bay.
• Brisbane’s Mallrat has confirmed the upcoming release of her new EP ‘In The Sky’. The five tracker features current grat tracks ‘Better’ and ‘UFO’, the latter featuring an appearance from Allday. It’s out on June 01. To celebrate its release, she’s hitting the road for a series of live shows. Perth’s first up; an 18+ show at Jack Rabbit Slim’s on June 16. Then it’s on to Sydney for an all ages gig at the Factory Theatre (June 22) before under and over 18s gigs in Melbourne (Northcote Social Club on June 23) and in Brisbane (The Zoo on June 30). Tickets are on sale now.
• They mightn’t have been in the country for five years, but it would appear that time hasn’t dulled our love of Stereophonics, with confirmation of a second and final show at the Sydney Opera House after their first gig sold out. They’ll now hit the Concert Hall on Wednesday April 25 (the night prior to their sold out performance); tickets are on sale at 11am AEDT this Monday. The band’s Brisbane show (at The Tivoli on April 28) has also sold out.
• Irish act Eden is headed to Australia in the middle of the year for live shows in our four most populous cities. He’ll be playing tracks from his recently released album ‘Vertigo’, along with songs from his back catalogue. He plays 256 Wickham in Brisbane on June 22, the Metro Theatre in Sydney on June 23, 170 Russell in Melbourne on June 24 and Capitol in Perth on June 26. Tickets are on sale this Monday at midday.
• And Record Store Day 2018 will be launched at an event at Sydney’s Red Eye Records this Wednesday. Last year’s Ambassador (Labor politician Anthony Albanese) will hand over to this year’s champion of the annual event, which will see fans flocking to their favourite music retailers on Saturday April 21. Stay up to date with all the latest information at www.recordstoreday.com.au.
• Staggeringly, Drake continues his run in the No.1 position on the UK singles chart with ‘God’s Plan’ this week. He’s been ensconced in top spot for eight weeks now, still holding off Rudimental, Jess Glynne, Macklemore and Dan Caplen’s ‘These Days’, which has been steady in the runner’s up position for six weeks. Portugal The Man edge one place higher with ‘Feel It Still’ (No.4 to No.3), as does Marshmello and Anne Marie’s ‘Friends’ (No.5 to No.4). The big mover into the top ten this week, however, is Zedd’s ‘The Middle’, which leaps eight places to No.10. The new Years & Years single (‘Sanctify’) spends its first week of UK chart action in the No.25 spot.
• The Brits really don’t like change at the moment, do they? Once again it’s the ‘The Greatest Showman’ soundtrack doing the business on the UK albums chart. It’s at number one for a tenth consecutive week, ahead of Ed Sheeran’s ‘÷’, UB40’s ‘A Real Labour Of Love’ and debuts for Calum Scott’s ‘Only Human’ (No.4), Judas Priest’s ‘Firepower’ (No.5) and Editors’ ‘Violence’ (No.6). Jimi Hendrix’s ‘Both Sides Of The Sky’ is also new in the UK top ten this week… at No.8. New albums from Myles Kennedy and Logic just miss the top ten on debut; in at Nos.12 and 13 respectively.
• Though there’s still no change at No.1 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart this week (Drake steady again with ‘God’s Plan’), there is movement in the No.2 spot. Post Malone blasted his way into the Stateside charts at No.2 on debut last week with ‘Psycho’, but the track has already vacated that position and tumbled to No.4, allowing Ed Sheeran’s ‘Perfect’ and Bruno Mars’ ‘Finesse’ to ascend to positions two and three respectively. Bebe Rexha and Florida Georgia Line edge a little higher (No.7 to No.5) with ‘Meant To Be’, but Zedd and Migos stitch up top ten berths with their singles ‘The Middle’ and ‘Stir Fry’ respectively improving to Nos.8 and 10.
• Bon Jovi’s album ‘This House Is Not For Sale’ was shining brightly at No.1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart at this time last week. But the band’s 2016 LP stayed up top for just one week and has subsequently tanked… losing a staggering 168 positions to find itself down at No.169. Vance Joy’s album ‘Nation Of Two’, which entered the US chart at No.10 last week, is also a lot lower in week two, dropping to No.73. So the soundtracks to ‘Black Panther’ and ‘The Greatest Showman’ are both up (to Nos.1 and 2 respectively), with a No.3 debut for Tory Lanez’ ‘Memories Don’t Die’; Tory’s album the only top ten debut of the week.
• And that’s it for another scintillating Saturday serve of The Purge, but we shall return at 5pm AEDT tonight for a little look at the charts here in Australia. It’s ARIA Chart Watch and it’s live on the East Coast at five.
TICKETS PLEASE
MONDAY MARCH 19 : Eden (Nationally)
MONDAY MARCH 19 : Jet (Nationally)
MONDAY MARCH 19 : Night Lovell (Nationally)
MONDAY MARCH 19 : Stereophonics (Sydney)
MONDAY MARCH 19 : Wild Nights (Nationally)
Australia's first stop for pop!