R.E.M. Get All Boxed Up

Modern Rock

By Kristi Kates | Oct. 13, 2018

The ’80s/’90s musical icons from Athens, Georgia, will release a big box set this week called R.E.M. at the BBC. Eight CDs and one DVD, the set will include a variety of live sessions that the band recorded for the BBC, plus a short stack of live concerts that the band performed in the UK, and the band’s documentary Accelerating Backwards. Abbreviated two-CD and two vinyl record versions of the set will be available as well, with everything out on Oct. 19 …

Mariah Carey, fresh off of the eighth annual iHeartRadio Music Festival in Las Vegas, is back with her new song “GTFO,” a preview of what’s coming up on her brand new album. Carey’s latest studio set, which will be her 15th full-length album, is her first since 2014. The record is as-yet-untitled but will also include a second official kickoff single, “With You,” as produced by Nineteen85, frequent collaborator of Jordan Manswell and Drake. The new album, its singles, and accompanying music videos are being released and overseen by Carey’s own Butterfly MC Records, in partnership with Epic Records …

L.A. DJ Dillon Francis is back with more of his hybrid dubstep/Latin sound on his just-released second full-length album, Wut Wut, which also serves as his first primarily Spanish-language album. Francis collaborates on the set with a range of Latin pop performers, including Lao Ra, iLe (Calle 13), Sarinana, and De La Ghetto. The set, which was recorded in Miami, Mexico City, New York City, and the Dominican Republic, includes singles “BaBaBa” (featuring Young Ash) and “Ven” …

Father John Misty has just dropped a new album of his own, one that was recorded back in September 2016 at former Detroiter Jack White’s Third Man Records in Nashville. Misty recorded the album as an all-acoustic live set (hence the album’s name: Father John Misty: Live at Third Man Records), and also debuted his then not-yet-released single “Mr. Tillman” at that performance. The album is available now …

LINK OF THE WEEK
Fidlar, currently in the middle of its tour, has also returned to the indie-rock charts with a new track and an apocalyptic music video to go with the single, which is called “Too Real.” The video includes cameo performances by fire, zombies, Rambo, and … Care Bears. Check out the video at https://tinyurl.com/fidlar-tune …

THE BUZZ
Detroit songwriter/producer Fred Thomas has released his third record, Aftering, a widely eclectic set exploring the musician’s own emotional diversity …

Singer, American Idol winner, and The Voice coach Kelly Clarkson is hitting the road for her first headlining tour in three years (supporting her eighth studio album, Meaning of Life), and she’ll make a stop at Detroit’s Little Caesars Arena on Feb. 21 …

Detroiter Jack White is releasing a special concert movie, Jack White: Kneeling at the Anthem D.C., on Amazon video …

And speaking yet again of Detroit, the city’s UFO Factory music venue, which was condemned by the city last year, has been revamped and is now set to reopen on Oct. 26 … and that’s the buzz for this week’s Modern Rock.

Comments, questions, rants, raves, suggestions on this column? Send ’em to Kristi at modernrocker@gmail.com.