Tom Breihan

In 2020, Congress passed a bill called the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant, and Donald Trump signed it into law. The massive grant was intended to subsidize musicians and venues who were suffering from COVID-related shutdowns, but it also made funds available to a few extremely successful musicians. Today, Business Insider has published an exposé about the ways that already-successful musicians like Lil Wayne, Chris Brown, and Alice In Chains abused those grants, using them to rake in millions and then spending that money in lavish ways.

New York indie-pop duo TOLEDO released their earlier this year, and then they followed it with their “ Zelda ” single and a cover of Jordana's “ I Wanna .” Today, they've got a new single called “When He Comes Around,” which has nothing to do with Green Day. It's a sad-jaunty power-pop gem with just a hint of weepy pedal steel in the mix. Check it out below.

Bob “Slim” Dunlap, former guitarist for Minneapolis rock heroes the Replacements, has died. Dunlap suffered a stroke in 2012, and he never fully recovered, dealing with limited speech and mobility for the rest of his life. The Minneapolis Star Tribune reports that Dunlap died at home in Minneapolis on Wednesday. He was 73.

In April, the Australian punk band Trophy Eyes played at the Buffalo venue Mohawk Place. In the opening moments of the show, singer John Floreani jumped into the crowd, breaking the venue’s no-stagediving rule, and badly injured Bird Piché, a woman in the crowd. The band immediately stopped the show, and Floreani accompanied Piché to a local hospital. Piché suffered a spinal cord injury that left her partially paralyzed, and the band shared a statement of support for her. Now, Piché has filed a lawsuit against Trophy Eyes, Floreani, Mohawk Place, and promoter After Dark Entertainment, LLC.

Southern blues-rockers Alabama Shakes never officially broke up, but before last night, they hadn't played a live show since Montreal's Osheaga Festival in 2017. Frontwoman Brittany Howard released her hugely acclaimed solo debut in 2019, and she followed it up with earlier this year. She's reportedly starting up a new project, a hardcore punk band called Kumite, and they'll make their live debut in Nashville next month. But she hasn't forgotten the band that made her famous in the first place. On Wednesday night, Alabama Shakes reunited in their home state for a surprise benefit set, their first performance in more than seven years.

Since early September, the ultra-chill indie-pop phenom Clairo has been touring behind her recent album . Clairo was supposed to do a three-night

Two months ago, the Cure returned with Songs Of A Lost World, their first new album in 16 years. It’s fucking awesome. Part of the record’s magic is the idea that a record like this, a vintage Cure record that absolutely envelops you, can exist as part of the current pop landscape. It seems like it’s been beamed in from another time, and it doesn’t work in conversation with anything that’s being made today. So it’s a trip to hear Robert Smith talking about his present-day pop contemporaries.

In 2022, the dreamy Philadelphia indie rockers Knifeplay, a former Band To Watch, released For The Holidays, a Christmas music EP that was only available for a limited time. The EP went up for sale during the Christmas season, and sales went to benefit Broad Street Ministry, a charity that helps Philadelphians in need. The record collected Christmas songs that Knifeplay released over the years. Now, they bring it back once a year and add new music to it.

In The Number Ones, I'm reviewing every single #1 single in the history of the Billboard Hot 100, starting with the chart's beginning, in 1958, and working my way up into the present. Book Bonus Beat: The Number Ones: Twenty Chart-Topping Hits That Reveal the History of Pop Music

Seven years ago, the frantic and ferocious New York screamo power trio Closer jumped onto our radar with their colossal full-length debut . Since then, they've released the equally great follow-up , but members of the band have moved to different cities, which makes it hard to keep a DIY concern going. Singer and drummer Ryann Slauson, for instance, now lives in Philadelphia and leads Sonagi; their is one of our favorite EPs of the year . Now, Closer are calling it a day, and they've just shared two huge new songs ahead of their final show.