• Welcome to your Saturday edition of The Purge! UK-based performer Jacob Banks has announced the release of his debut full length album ‘The Village’. Due to drop on Friday November 02, the long player has been preceded by the released of lead single ‘Be Good To Me’, which features Seinabo Sey. We’ve been told to expect an aurally pleasing mix of R&B, rock and roll, hip hop and pop.
• Swedish folk act First Aid Kit have given us fresh, tender offerings. Via their ‘Tender Offerings’ EP, naturally. The new four tracker arrived at digital retailers yesterday, giving us a little extra glimpse into the creation of their recent album ‘Ruins’ (the four tracks were recorded during the album recording sessions). “Ten songs ended up on the album, but these four were left behind,” the girls reveal. “Thematically they didn’t fit on a break up record. However, these songs are very precious to us. It was important to make a home for them, physically and online, so here we are. We hope you enjoy these tender offerings.”
• Lana Del Rey has gifted us new music too. Currently at work on her next studio album with Jack Antonoff, she’s gifted us a track called ‘Mariners Apartment Complex’. But we’ve been warned by her label Universal that more new music is just around the corner in the form of another new track called ‘Venice Beach’, which is due to land at DSPs this Tuesday.
• The pre-game entertainment for this month’s AFL Grand Final in Melbourne has been locked in – and it’s set to feature international and local music royalty. As you may have gathered from the image, Black Eyed Peas will perform tracks from across their career, while Aussie legend Jimmy Barnes will also get the crowd rocking. Jimmy will also perform exclusively at the Premiership Party after the big match. “Australia! We are honoured to be heading to Melbourne to perform at the AFL Grand Final Day,” the Black Eyes Peas said in a statement. “This is the biggest day in Australian sport, so we will be pulling out all the stops for this special performance. See you soon.” Mahalia Barnes is set to perform the national anthem. The AFL Grand Final hits the MCG on Saturday September 29.
• New Zealand’s Fat Freddy’s Drop have sold out a second show at Melbourne’s Forum Theatre. And still the demand from eager Victorian punters is there. So what’s a touring company to do? Add another, of course! The band will now play three nights in succession at the same venue; the new show to take place on Sunday March 17. Tickets are on sale now.
• UK soul outfit Jungle will tour Australia in April. They’ve locked in shows for Fremantle (Metropolis on April 21), Sydney (Enmore Theatre on April 24), Brisbane (The Tivoli on April 26) and Melbourne (Forum Theatre on April 28) as part of their visit. A Secret Sounds pre-sale goes live from 10am on Tuesday. General sales kick off at 9am local time this Wednesday.
• US R&B performer Brent Faiyaz will make his way to Australia for the first time ever early in the new year for shows in our four most populous cities. The local leg of his global ‘Sonder Son’ tour kicks off at Jack Rabbit Slim’s in Perth on Thursday January 03 before making its way eastwards for shows in Melbourne (Howler on January 04), Sydney (Oxford Art Factory on January 05) and Brisbane (Woolly Mammoth on January 06). Tickets for all four shows are on sale now.
• So-hot-right-now US performer King Princess (who recently had a huge hit down under with her platinum selling ‘1950’) has been confirmed as the headline act for Spotify’s upcoming Front Left Live event, due to hit Sydney on Thursday October 11. She joins Cosmo’s Midnight, Baker Boy x Dallas Woods, Hatchie and Kota Banks x Cxloe on the line-up for the free event. To gain entry to the gig, however, you’ll need to be successful in the ticket ballot. And you can register for that very ticket ballot right HERE.
• Hot on the heels of their new album ‘Gotcha Covered’, The Screaming Jets have announced a national tour in support of it. The tour kicks off at O’Donoghues in Emu Plains on Friday December 07 and makes stops in Shellharbour, Marrickville, Newcastle, Adelaide, Melbourne, Kingscliff, the Sunshine Coast, Wyong, Laurieton, Chadstone, Mount Evelyn, Shoalbay and Rozelle, before it all comes to an end at the Pittwater RSL on Saturday January 19. Tickets are on sale now.
• It’s week two atop the UK singles chart for the superstar pairing of Calvin Harris and Sam Smith; their track ‘Promises’ holding off Benny Blanco’s ‘Eastside’, which it replaced in the No.1 position last week. There’s a big No.3 debut for the Kanye West/Lil Pump single ‘I Love It’, with Loud Luxury’s ‘Body’ and Tyga’s ‘Taste’ making up this week’s top five. The Marshmello/Bastille collaboration continues to soar; ‘Happier’ up another nine places this week to No.6. And Jess Glynne is close to cracking the UK top ten again with ‘All I Am’ (No.14 to No.11). But George Ezra’s former No.1 smash ‘Shotgun’ suffers quite the fall from favour, dropping from No.3 to No.17.
• No movement at No.1 on the UK albums chart either this week, with superstar Eminem holding with his new long player ‘Kamikaze’. This week it’s ahead of the soundtrack for ‘The Greatest Showman’ and a No.3 debut for the new Paul McCartney long player ‘Egypt Station’ (despite a mammoth amount of publicity for the latter, including an awesome ‘Carpool Karaoke’ with James Corden). It’s ‘Gold’ for T-Rex on debut at No.8 and Paul Simon’s newbie also soars ‘In The Blue Light’ of the top ten, debuting at No.10. Just missing top ten berths this week are the new albums from Spiritualized (‘And Nothing Hurt’ at No.11) and Clutch (‘Book Of Bad Decisions’ at No.13).
• No movement in the US No.1 spot again this week, with Drake’s ‘In My Feelings’ maintaining its advantage atop the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart for a ninth successive week. And without sounding like a broken record, the No.2/No.3 pairing of Maroon 5’s ‘Girls Like You’ and Cardi B’s ‘I Like It’ is also unmoved. But the Eminem show rolls into town Stateside this week, with the release of his new album ‘Kamikaze’ making a big impact. Singles-wise, it’s ‘Lucky You’ that performs best, debuting at No.6. It’s followed swiftly by ‘The Ringer’, which enters at No.8. Two more Eminem tracks make their home inside the top 20 on debut this week; ‘Fall’ at No.12 and ‘Kamikaze’ at No.16. In between both, however, is a No.15 to No.13 improvement for our own 5 Seconds Of Summer and their former Aussie chart topper ‘Youngblood’.
• Over on the albums slate, naturally it’s Eminem who premieres on top with ‘Kamikaze’, knocking South Korean boyband BTS for six. Travis Scott’s ‘Astroworld’ and Drake’s ‘Scorpion’ occupy positions two and three respectively, with a rather admirable No.4 debut for ‘Bloom’, the sophomore album from homegrown pop dynamo Troye Sivan. The fact they were in Australia during release week hasn’t done much to dampen the home crowd enthusiasm for the Why Don’t We EP ‘8 Letters’, which debuts at No.9. Incidentally, that’s one spot higher than the boys’ Australian debut last weekend.
• That’s all we’ve got for you this Saturday morning, but rest assured, we’ll be beavering away behind the scenes to ensure a delicious serve of ARIA Chart Watch is coming at you at 5pm AEST this afternoon. Best you pop back then!
TICKETS PLEASE
MONDAY SEPTEMBER 17 : Leon Bridges (Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane)
TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 18 : Let Them Eat Cake Festival (Melbourne)
WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 19 : Jungle (Nationally)
FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 21 : John Butler Trio / Missy Higgins (Nationally)
Australia's first stop for pop!