Smashing Pumpkins in 1991. From left, D'Arcy Wretzky, Billy Corgan, James Iha, and Jimmy Chamberlin.
Paul Natkin/Getty ImagesThe Smashing Pumpkins will celebrate the 30th anniversary of their debut album Gish with a series of events and special merchandise dedicated to the 1991 album, including a livestream.
Billy Corgan and Jimmy Chamberlin will host the two-hour livestream on Saturday, May 29th, with the duo taking part in a live vinyl listening party, Q&A, and “a very special world exclusive preview of unreleased music.” Tickets for the livestream ($19.91) are available at the Smashing Pumpkins site on Frida beginning at 12 p.m. EST. A portion of the proceeds will benefit the PAWS no-kill animal shelter in Chicago.
Corgan and Chloe Mendel’s plant-based tea shop, Madame ZuZu’s in Highland Park, Illinois, will also host Gish-related events throughout the weekend, including limited-edition Gish merchandise, art prints and posters for sale, and a private collection of Gish era memorabilia on display. The official Smashing Pumpkins webstore will also offer the limited edition merchandise beginning May 28th.
The band is also encouraging fans to share their own Gish memories on a newly launched 30th-anniversary site, as well as take part in a digital scavenger hunt across the band’s social media sites where they will be posting Gish trivia questions and clues online; one winner will receive the “ultimate” Gish merch collection.
Smashing Pumpkins, who released their 11th album Cyr in 2020, will headline Riot Fest in their native Chicago in September.
VULTURES 2 will go down as the worst Kanye West album. It was an absolute mess in terms of its rollout. The album went over its scheduled release date by months. When it did finally arrive, the mixes were an absolute mess. Kanye West corrected them in real time. He also tweaked the tracklist, and added songs once the extremely negative feedback came rolling in. "530" is a rare bright spot on the album, though. Kanye West gets personal and delivers one of his best lyrical performances in ages over a smooth vocal chop. And now we have a music video for it.
One might assume a track as heartfelt as "530" would get a heartfelt video. Kanye West has given fans some of the most iconic and memorable hip hop visuals of the 21st century. It would stand to reason that he could whip something up for the new single that was tonally appropriate. Well, West did what he does best, and defied expectations. The music video for "530" doesn't feature Kanye West or his VULTURES collaborator, Ty Dolla $ign. It doesn't feature any human beings, actually. Instead, the video is centered around puppets and people wearing cartoon masks.
The video doesn't follow a straightforward narrative. It strings together a bunch of low quality videos of these puppets and masked people seemingly doing random activities. One scenario sees a man walking the street with a bag in hand. Another sees a female puppet get an injection into her nose. There's a very unnerving quality to the visuals here, like a Twilight Zone episode conceived by, well, Kanye West. It's a bold visual direction to take things. Lyrically, "530" is about the rapper's ex-wife, Kim Kardashian. It also touches on the way Kardashian is raising their children, and the fears West has about their futures.
The most interesting aspect of "530," barring the striking visuals, is that it received a music video this long after VULTURES 2 was released. Kanye West has not done promo for the album, and everything we have heard from him has seemingly been in preparation for his next solo release, BULLY. The rapper had seemed as though he closed the chapter on VULTURES. Now, we don't really know what to think.
