Listen to Leslie Stevens

PRELUDE

Hey everyone,

Well, the good news is that after changing up the format of this here newsletter, I didn’t lose any readers. I even gained a few (welcome, new subscribers!) and had some existing readers remark that they like Zappagram’s new direction. Full steam ahead.

Fortunately, at this moment, strictly as it relates to the world of music, there is no bad news to speak of. The rest of the world is burning round us, but the world of music is turning as normal. All in all, it was a quiet week.

This week, I’m especially psyched to have discovered an artist by the name of Leslie Stevens. You’ll find her on this week’s playlist which I hope you will listen to. You will find it just below and it’s availabel on both Spotify and Apple Music.

Ground control to reader: Take your protein pills. Put your helmet on. This newsletter ain’t gonna read itself.

PLAYLIST

Zappagram #105 featuring: Sierra Ferrell, Leslie Stevens, Stephen Sanchez, Bess Atwell, Loren Kramar, Vaughn, Proper Pet, Stay Outside, Georgia Parker, and Bartees Strange.

Listen to Zappagram #105 on Spotify or Apple Music.

Zappagram master playlist (all music from past) on Spotify or Apple Music.

MUSIC NEWS

» A new documentary telling the story of Lollapalooza will premiere on Paramount+ in May. Lolla: The Story of Lollapalooza is a three-part docuseries tracing the festival’s 30-year run from its early days as a touring punk event to its current iteration as a massive annual bash at Chicago’s Grant Park. The docuseries will premiere on Paramount+ in the US and Canada beginning on May 21st, and in the UK, Australia, Latin America, Brazil, France, Germany, Switzerland and Austria on May 22nd.

» Rolling Stone is running a piece titled, “The Amy Winehouse Business Is Booming - Thirteen years after the retro-soul singer’s death, tribute bands, album reissues, and a new biopic are keeping her rebel spirit alive.” I loved Amy’s music and so, on the one hand, I’m happy to see her being remembered and her music still being appreciated. On the other hand, who is profiting from all this cashgrabbing in her name?

» In January, the Smashing Pumpkins put out a public call for a new touring guitarist. The search is now over, as the Smashing Pumpkins have announced that Los Angeles musician, and member of the four-piece band Vigil Of War, Kiki Wong is hitting the road with the rock band.

» Nearly a decade since the release of his last solo album, David Gilmour will return with a new full-length, Luck and Strange, this fall. The former Pink Floyd singer and guitarist released the record’s first single, “The Piper’s Call,” on the BBC Radio 2 Breakfast Show last Thursday with an accompanying music video on Friday. The album itself will arrive on Sept. 6.

» Mike Pinder, the Moody Blues keyboardist and the last surviving founding member of the Rock Hall-inducted band, has died at the age of 82. Pinder’s family announced his death in a statement shared with Pinder’s former Moody Blues bandmate John Lodge, noting that Pinder “passed peacefully” Wednesday “surrounded by his devoted family” at his Northern California home. No cause of death was provided.

» Eminem will release his 12th full-length album, The Death of Slim Shady (Coup de Grace), this summer. The rapper announced the LP in a short trailer on social media, which he dropped after appearing at the first round of the NFL Draft in Detroit last night.

» My dream concert happened in LA and I wasn’t there for it and I am pissed. Not really pissed, but I’m starting to get tired of missing really good shows like this. Maynard James Keenan has been celebrating his 60th birthday all month with two of his bands — A Perfect Circle and Puscifer — along with Primus on the “Sessanta” tour. On Saturday night (April 20th) at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, fans were treated to all three of Keenan’s bands when Tool gave a surprise performance toward the end of the concert.

» Kings Of Leon have announced a bonus version of their upcoming album Can We Please Have Fun that will include live tracks from their huge 2023 shows in Wrexham, Wales. The album will be available in limited edition 2CD form, as well as dual colour cassette. The band’s ninth album is due out on May 10.

» Rolling Stone asked Peter Frampton about his thoughts on Ozzy Osbourne being inducted into the Rock Hall to which Frampton responded, “The Man Is the Betty White of Rock ‘n’ Roll.” I assume he was referring to Ozzy’s longevity in his career and his lovable persona, but the thought of this is really fucking me up somehow. I’d have loved to see Ozzy on The Golden Girls though. That shit would have been hilarious.

» As it turns out, it’s actually quite difficult to sell a house with no windows, electricity, or plumbing for $50 million, as Kanye West has learned first-hand. As reported by Forbes, West has dropped the asking price of his 4,000-square-foot house in Malibu from $53 million to $39 million after struggling to sell the gutted property. Maybe that explains, in part, why he just announced that he’s starting a new career…in porn.

B-SIDES

Is Taylor Swift teasing ‘Tortured Poets Department” additions to her Eras tour? Speaking of tours, Brittany Howard and Michael Kiwanuka have anonounced a joint North American tour for this fall. Also, Everclear and Marcy Playground will do the same thing. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame will welcome another eclectic class of inductees later this year, with Mary J. Blige, Cher, Dave Matthews Band, Foreigner, Peter Frampton, Kool & the Gang, Ozzy Osbourne and A Tribe Called Quest all set for induction. Lastly, the Talking Heads tribute album tracklist has been revealed for the 40th anniversary of Stop Making Sense.

Z-REX

» Dylan LeBlanc’s album Coyote was released in October of last year, but I’m calling it my album of the year for 2024. A.) Because time is a meaningless construct and I can do whatever I want, and B.) Because I didn’t know about it last year and even if I did, Butch Bastard had my 2023 album of the year pick with his life-changing release Las Vegas Salvation. Have I already shared this video? Who cares. I’m sharing it again. Zero regrets. #

» Rolling Stone is running a piece titled, “Billie Eilish Would Like to Reintroduce Herself” in advance of Billie’s forthcoing album release on May 17th. There was some interesting squabble over the interview because upon publishing it, Rolling Stone leaked the album’s tracklist—something Eilish was not going to release prior to the album drop. She got pissed and posted on social media “Fuck you guys” and while they did promptly remove it, they have not issued any sort of statement or public apology. Whether they apologized directly to Billie we do not know. What we do know is that despite their status as the biggest music publication, artists going forward will be less trusting to be forthcoming in interviews with them, or likely any other outlet and I can’t say that I blame them. It’s called “journalistic integrity” and apparently Rolling Stone is lacking in that area. #

NEW RELEASES

• Iron & Wine: Light Verse
• Justice: Hyperdrama
• Laufey: Bewitched: The Goddess Edition
• Loren Kramer: Glovemaker
• Neil Young & Crazy Horse: Fu##in’ Up
• Pet Shop Boys: Nonetheless
• St. Vincent: All Born Screaming
• The Zutons: The Big Decider

RELEASE RADAR

MAY 3

• Better Than Ezra: Super Magick
• Frank Turner: Undefeated
• The Lemon Twigs: A Dream Is All We Know
• Mdou Moctar: Funeral for Justice

MAY 10

• Angus & Julia Stone: Cape Forestier
• Dehd: Poetry
• Incubus: Morning View XXIII
• Keane: Hopes and Fears (20th Anniversary Edition)
• Kings of Leon: Can We Please Have Fun
• Orville Peck: Stampede Vol. 1
• Rainbow Kitten Surprise: Love Hate Music Box
• Shannon and the Clams: The Moon is in the Wrong Place
• Victoria Bigelow: Songs For No One Vol. 2 EP

MAY 17

• Ani DiFranco: Unprecedented Sh!t
• The Avett Brothers: The Avett Brothers
• Beth Gibbons: Lives Outgrown
• Billie Eilish: Hit Me Hard and Soft
• Blitzen Trapper: 100’s of 1000’s, Millions of Billions
• The Mavericks: Moon & Stars
• Of Montreal: Lady on the Cusp
• Pink Floyd: Animals 2018 Dolby Atmos Remix

MAY 24

• Andrew Bird Trio: Sunday Morning Put-On
• Bess Atwell: Light Sleeper
• David Bowie: Diamond Dogs (Vinyl Reissue)
• Kim Richey: Every New Beginning
• Lenny Kravitz: Blue Electric Light

MAY 31

• Bat for Lashes: The Dream of Delphi
• Crowded House: Gravity Stairs
• The Marías: Submarine
• Maya Hawke: Chaos Angel
• Odesza: The Last Goodbye Tour Live
• Richard Hawley: In This City They Call You Love
• Willie Nelson: The Border

ON THIS DATE

• April 29, 1976, after a gig in Memphis, Bruce Springsteen took a cab to Elvis Presley's Graceland home and proceeded to climb over the wall. A guard took him to be another random fan and apprehended him.
• Blues legend Muddy Waters (McKinley Morganfield) died in his sleep at his home in Westmont, Illinois, aged 68, on April 30, 1983.
• May 1, 1980, the South African government banned Pink Floyd's single “Another Brick In The Wall (Part 2)” after children adopted the song as their anthem in protest against inferior education.
• Lucy Dacus was born on May 2, 1995, in Mechanicsville, Virginia.
• Christopher Cross was born on May 3, 1951, in San Antonio, Texas.
• On May 4, 1970, four students at Kent State University were killed and eleven wounded by National Guard troops at a campus demonstration protesting the escalation of the Vietnam War. The incident inspired Neil Young to write the song “Ohio” which became a hit for Crosby Stills Nash & Young. And on May 4, 2012, rapper, musician, film director, and human rights activist Adam Yauch (MCA) of the Beastie Boys died of cancer, aged 47.
• The Beatles single “Get Back” was released in the U.S. on May 5, 1969.

CODA

Zappagram is growing, but it needs your help. Yes, you! Please consider supporting my efforts by sharing the newsletter with your friends, enemies, dental hygienists, mother-in-laws, auto mechanics, and next door neighbors, or simply lend your support with an affordable paid subscription. For less than the price of a dozen eggs, you can be a monthly Zappagram patron. In exchange, you’ll have my undying gratitude, and you’ll feel good about yourself because you’re supporting independent music journalism. Think of it like buying vinyl. That supports the artist. This supports me.

May all your albums play without any skips,

-CZ 🤘🏻🖤