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Hip-Hop Lives Here
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Alt-folk duo The Lumineers have announced that the release date for their upcoming fifth studio album, Automatic, which is due out on February 14 on Dualtone. The Denver group comprised of singer/guitarist Wesley Schultz and drummer Jeremiah Fraites previewed their follow-up to 2022’s Brightside on Tuesday (Jan. 7) with the LP’s rollicking first single, “Same Old Song.”
“Hey Mama would you pay my rent/ Would you let me crash in your basement/ ‘Cause anyone of us could make it big or could end up dead on the pavement/ And if i was to die/ If the plane went down and you survived,” Schultz sings over Fraites’ insistent, metronomic beat.
The track then soars to a yearning, aching peak on the chorus, on which Schultz keens, “Same old song/ We sing the same old song/ We sing the same old, same old song.” The song’s release was accompanied by a video directed by filmmaker Anaïs LaRocca (Hundred Waters), in which the pair perform it on a soundstage backed by evocative VHS-like videos echoing the lyrics.
In a statement announcing the album, Schultz said it marks 20 years of his songwriting partnership with Fraites. “The album explores some of the absurdities of the modern world, like the increasingly blurry line between what’s real and what’s not, and the variety of ways we numb ourselves while trying to combat both boredom and overstimulation,” he said, noting that the LP was recorded in “less than a month.”
The statement adds that the album will find the duo “traveling new sonic and thematic terrain with their most raw and personal collection thus far.” It notes that it was recorded with Woodstock, NY-based producer/songwriter/ keyboardist David Baron, who “outfitted Woodstock’s Utopia studio like the legendary Abbey Road facility, installing both vintage and cutting-edge gear,” where the pair performed the song “as a unit, leaving fewer opportunities to fix mistakes, or refine the sound.”
To capture that live magic, they outfitted the studio with two sets of drums, three pianos and an array of amps, guitars and vocal mics, “allowing the musicians to pivot and capture as much as possible with minimal delay.”
The Lumineers are slated to kick off the tour in support of the album on Saturday (Jan. 11) with a gig at the Kia Forum in Inglewood, CA at the iHeartRadio ALTer EGO show, followed by their own headlining gig at the Fallsview Casino Resort in Niagara Falls, ON on February 16.
Watch the “Same Old Song” video and check out the Automatic track list below.
Automatic track list:
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Tributes have been shared following the passing of West Coast house producer DJ Dan, who has died at the age of 57. He was remembered as a “beloved, genre defying” figure in the scene.
Confirmation of his passing came from one of his representatives on Sunday, March 29, through a statement provided to Billboard. At this time, no details about the cause of death have been made public.
“It is with profound sorrow, deep admiration, and an enduring sense of gratitude and love that we announce the passing of Daniel Wherrett, known professionally to the world simply as DJ Dan,” the statement said, also calling him “one of the most beloved, genre-defying, and genuinely influential pioneers in the history of American electronic music.”
“He leaves behind not just a discography, but a culture, a way of feeling music that touched millions of souls across four decades and five continents. He often said he felt his purpose in life was ‘to heal through music.’”
DJ Dan had been scheduled to perform at Dead Ringer in Nevada on Saturday, March 28, but fans were informed only hours before the show that it would no longer take place and refunds would be issued. In a short message posted on Instagram, organisers only said that “unfortunately DJ Dan is unable to make it tonight.”
Further comments from Wherrett’s representatives described him as “a man who saw music in colours”, adding that his DJ sets were a “vision translated into something audiences felt in their bodies long before they understood it with their minds.”
“Off the stage, he was a cook, a traveler, an obsessive record collector whose family bought him a new turntable every Christmas, not because it was tradition, but because it was the only gift he ever wanted,” they continued.
“He leaves behind his music, his label, his mixes, and the countless thousands of dancers who found themselves, truly found themselves, in the middle of one of his sets. The world is quieter today. But press play on anything he touched, and you will hear exactly why we mourn him, and exactly why we are forever grateful he was here to inspire us.”
Since the news broke, fans have been sharing messages online to honour the late DJ. One fan wrote on X, formerly Twitter: “DJ Dan made some of the first mixtapes that got me into raving when I was young. So sad to hear this news,” while another posted: “RIP to a very formative person in how I entered into all of it.”
Another tribute read: “House music helped define an entire era of my life. DJ Dan was someone who shaped so many of my friends into the DJs they become,” while someone else shared: “RIP DJ Dan. A superbly nice person, fortunate to have known him and call him a friend.” More tributes can be found below.
Born Daniel Wherrett in Washington, DJ Dan originally studied design before relocating to California in the early 1990s to fully focus on electronic music. He later helped establish the Funky Tekno Tribe and became a key figure within the West Coast underground electronic scene.
By 1998, he had recorded ‘Essential Mixes’ for the BBC, and in 2004 he reached Number One on the Billboard Dance Club Songs chart with ‘That Phone Track’. Earlier releases including ‘Needle Damage’ from 1999 and ‘That Zipper Track’ and ‘Put That Record Back On’ from 2001 also charted on the Official Charts.
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