Earlier this month, it was reported that Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo, his partner in the acclaimed production duo the Neptunes, were in a legal dispute over the rights to that name. Hugo had accused Williiams of violating their agreement to split all profits evenly by "fraudulently" attempting to gain sole control over trademarks to the Neptunes.  It might seem crazy, what I'm 'bout to say, but Williams has found himself embroiled in yet another legal battle. This time, it's high-flying pop star P!nk who has taken issue with Williams's attempt to register a trademark. He's trying to ..read more

One of my favourite bits of our very long-running Exclaim! Questionnaire interview series is seeing how artists answer the question, "What do you think of when you think of Canada?" For Americans in particular, it oftens seems to evoke a sense of something utopian — or just like, maple syrup or whatever. While they've yet to fill out the Questionnaire, MUNA seemingly fall into the former camp of US citizens yearning for our not-much-better situation on this side of the border.  On the latest episode of the indie pop trio's Gayotic podcast, they have Canadian astrologer Chani Nicholas on ..read more

The life of Caroline Slezak-Kawa — a.k.a. Care Failure of Die Mannequin — will be celebrated with Failurefest, a one-night event at Toronto's Bovine Sex Club on May 2. ACIIDZ, Fine Motor Control and Blackout Orchestra lead the bill, with a Die Mannequin supergroup featuring Ian D'Sa of Billy Talent on guitar also on deck. Kali-Ann Butala from Bad Waitress and Emily Bones and Valerie Knox of the Anti-Queens will also add guest vocals throughout the sets. The festival will be hosted by Leora CW of Bloody Mannequins and Mike Austin of Deepsix.  All ticket proceeds will be donated to Toront ..read more

For many kinds of people and the culture at large, today is The Tortured Poets Department day — which, at 2 a.m., Taylor Swift announced all rigour mortis-like was actually a double album. While her right-hand man Jack Antonoff produced the majority of the album proper (which is notably already 16 songs long), some of those and much of the additional The Anthology part saw the pop star reunite with the National's Aaron Dessner, who Swift first started working with on 2020's folklore. In a statement on the album release, Dessner revealed that Wilco drummer Glenn Kotche played on the record. T ..read more

Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats have a fourth album under their belt. South of Here will arrive June 28 via Stax Records. Recorded at Sonic Ranch outside El Paso, TX, South of Here is the follow-up to 2021's The Future. "These recordings were done together in a room with my closest friends," Rateliff shared via press release. "I hope these songs and stories give you an opportunity to better understand your own struggles whatever they may be." Alongside the announcement, the band has shared South of Here's lead single, "Heartless." Listen to it and check out the album's tracklist be ..read more

NOFX's final tour is underway, and now the band have unveiled the lineup for Edmonton and Toronto's Punk in Drublic weekends, happening August 10–11 and 18–19, respectively. The band will serve as the de facto festival's headliners, performing 40 songs, including full albums and rarities, each day. They have already promised never to repeat a setlist to ensure that each show is unique. "We've played over 2,000 shows in 33 countries, in more than 300 cities and darn it… we're a bit tired," Fat Mike said in a release. "One thing I know in my heart… this is going to be the most emotional, heart ..read more

Toronto's Little Junior has their sophomore album on the way. Ahead of the self-titled record coming later this year, the band have shared its lead single "Profane." The new song marks the Class of 2019 graduates' first release since their 2018 debut, Hi. "It's such a relief to be putting music out again," songwriter and drummer Chai Elliott-Armstrong tells Exclaim! "It was a journey learning how to record and mix the album ourselves, but that process makes it that much more meaningful to us. We can't wait to share what we've been working on with our hometown and get back in the saddle." Lis ..read more

Monomial Quebec singer-songwriter Geoffroy has announced his third studio album, led by new single "C.A.Y.A." Good Boy comes when called on June 14. It follows the artist's sophomore effort, 2022's Live Slow Die Wise, and was made with Geoffroy's longtime production partners, Clément Leduc and Gabriel Gagnon. The record was inspired by Papi, the dog Geoffroy befriended — and ultimately adopted — during a trip to Mexico. "Live Slow Die Wise had a slower pace and I was eager to step away from the nostalgia and melancholy I had visited and analyzed plenty in the past," the singer-songwriter exp ..read more

The Witcher lives on in spite of Henry Cavill's departure from the series over reportedly "demanding" stunts, and its been announced that the series will conclude with a final fifth season at Netflix. Today, the streaming giant announced that Season 4 of The Witcher has started production in the UK, and will be shot back-to-back with the aforementioned Season 5. "It is with huge pride that we begin shooting our penultimate season of The Witcher with a stellar cast, including some exciting new additions, led by Liam Hemsworth as Geralt of Rivia," creator and showrunner Lauren Schmidt Hissrich ..read more

As previously reported, Indo-Canadian Punjabi singer/rapper AP Dhillon has dropped out of the second weekend of Coachella following the backlash to him smashing a guitar on stage at the festival's first weekend. (Well, his team called it "scheduling conflicts," and a source told BrooklynVegan that Dhillon dropped out of Weekend 2 prior to his set last Sunday.) People in India were particularly offended, given their cultural reverence for musical instruments. In an attempt to justify his actions, the artist posted some photos from the performance, captioned, "The media is controlled and I am ..read more