As 2024 inches to a close, it’s time to start thinking about 2025. In particular, next year’s music festivals. One to put on your radar is Axe Ceremonia Festival. The two-day festival will take place on April 5 and 6 at Parque Bicentenario in Mexico City, Mexico, with headliners Tyler The Creator, Natanael Cano, Charli XCX, Massive Attack, Parcels, Tomorrow X Together, Gesaffelstein, and FKA Twigs.
Other artists include A.G. Cook, Lil Yachty, The Marias, The Dare, Brutalismus 3000, Nathy Peluso, and Kelly Lee Owens.
Pre-sale tickets for Axe Ceremonia Festival will be available on Ticketmaster for Citibanamex cardholders on Wednesday, October 23, with the general sale beginning a day later on Thursday, October 24. You can find more info here.
Check out the full lineup (listed in order on the poster) below.
Axe Ceremonia Festival 2025 Lineup
Tyler The Creator
Natanael Cano
Charli XCX
Massive Attack
Parcels
Cano
Tomorrow X Together
Gesaffelstein
FKA Twigs
Gesaffelstein
AG Cook
Barry Can’t Swim
Brutalismus 3000
Hanumankind
Lil Yachty
The Marias
Meme Del Rel
Nathy Peluso
NSQK
Richie Hawtin DEX EFX XOX
Aron
Artemas
Ca7riel & Paco Amoroso
The Dare
Fcukers
DJ Gigola
Horsegirl
Juan Cirerol
Kelly Lee Owens
Legallyrxx
Magdalena Bay
Ralphie Choo
Simpson Ahuevo
Yeyo
AgusFortnite2008 & Stiffy
Bobby Beethoven
Day2k
Derretida
Foreplay
Hetera Friné
Iza TKM
Jose Eduardo Barajas
Luisa Almaguer
Magnolia Coronado
Nash
Orly Anan
Pablopablo
Pepx Romero
Piolinda Marcela
Telescreens
Valgur
We haven’t had official new music from The xx in a few years, but the group’s members have stayed busy. That includes Romy pressing forward with a solo career, and she has a new song out today, October 23: She teamed up with Sampha, who previously opened for The xx on early tours back in the day, on the stirring new song “I’m On Your Team.”
Romy says of the single, “It’s a love song but lyrically, it’s honest and truthful. Like ‘we’ve had the magic and dreaminess but now we’ve been through things together, so here we are and I’m putting in the work.’” Sampha adds “I love the idea of being part of a team, that you have to show up for each other, and from there you can create an even deeper connection.’ The evolving nature of a relationship crystalizes somewhere between the chorus of ‘And I hope the way I feel tonight, is the way I feel for life’ and the closing ‘I’m on your team, but I can’t always coach you.’”
The xx, meanwhile, recently had a sort of pseudo-reunion, when Romy and Oliver Sim both featured on one of Jamie xx’s new solo songs, “Waited All Night.”
A class action lawsuit has been filed against Live Nation, accusing it of not securing user information after an April 2024 hack of Ticketmaster that harvested the personal info of more than 560 million customers. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the lawsuit was filed in California federal court on Friday (October 11) and demands at least $5 million in damages. Ticketmaster allegedly took nearly two months to uncover the hack, then another two months to inform customers their information had been compromised.
THR credited the attack to the hacker group ShinyHunters, which exploited vulnerabilities with Ticketmaster’s third-party server host, Snowflake, and threatened to leak the info on the dark web if not paid a $500,000 ransom. According to the lawsuit, Ticketmaster did not ensure that Snowflake had taken adequate security measures to protect user data, and retained personal information that it should have deleted. That information was also being sold to business partners and data brokers.
ShinyHunters has also been credited with hacks of AT&T, GitHub, and Pizza Hut, stealing over 900 million customer records. The stolen information can be used in further identity theft, such as opening fraudulent credit cards and other loans.
As unprecedented flooding sweeps through the Southeastern United States, a slew of music’s biggest artists have come together to contribute their talents to aid those folks affected by Hurricane Helene in North Carolina. Three NC natives have organized 135-track album, Cardinals At The Window, featuring Angel Olsen, Fleet Foxes, Jason Isbell, Little Brother, MJ Lenderman, R.E.M., The War On Drugs, and more, with proceeds from the download-only project going directly to three organizations benefitting the impacted communities. They are BeLoved Asheville, Community Foundation of Western North Carolina, and Rural Organizing and Resilience.
The project’s organizers are musician and community organizer Libby Rodenbough, New Commute founder David Walker, and music journalist Grayson Haver Currin, while Shirlette Ammons, Martin Anderson, Anna Morris, Cory Rayborn, and Rusty Sutton provided “critical support,” according to a press release. Sylvan Esso’s Nick Sanborn and Clay Blair engineered the project for free, while Hunter Savoy and Ryan Gustafson launched the Cardinals at the Window direct funding campaign. Rodenbough who was on tour in Massachusetts with The Dead Tongues when the hurricane hit, said, “There were just so many folks who, like us, had witnessed the destruction of these holy places from the outside and felt their hearts trying to break out of their chests. It was instant, the way people signed on. They also feel what I feel, that these mountains are the cradle of some deep and ineffable magic.”
You can find more info about Cardinals At The Window on the campaign website, and download the album on BandCamp.
Anybody who thought the vinyl resurgence was just a fad was mistaken: The industry has experienced a legitimate revival. As a result, music fans are interested in physical media in ways they may not have if the decades-old medium hasn’t made a comeback. That doesn’t mean everybody is listening to just their parents’ old music, though. That’s part of it, sure, thanks to rereleases that present classic albums in new ways. A vital part of the renewed vinyl wave, though, is new projects being released as records, of which there are plenty.
Whatever you might be into, each month brings a new slew of vinyl releases that has something for everybody. Some stand out above the rest, naturally, so check out some of our favorite vinyl releases of September below.
Black Star — No Fear Of Time (Reissue)
Rhymesayers
For the first time ever, Black Star’s 2022 sophomore album No Fear Of Time is available on vinyl. The Yasiin Bey and Talib Kweli project has come a long way from its initial podcast-only release.
Perfume Genius just wrapped up a brief tour, and the occasion was the anniversary of his beloved album Too Bright. He just dropped a vinyl reissue, pressed on a special edition crystal-clear LP, while the project’s streaming edition got three new bonus tracks.
Built To Spill — There’s Nothing Wrong With Love (Reissue)
Sub Pop
There’s Nothing Wrong With Love is now 30 years old. Built To Spill is celebrating their classic second album with a new vinyl pressing, on “Up Records Blue” vinyl. Like Perfume Genius, Built To Spill also just wrapped up an anniversary tour in celebration of the album.
Schoolboy made his major-label debut with 2014’s Oxymoron, so it’s a major release in his discography. He’s marking the occasion with a new 10th anniversary edition, which comes in exclusive clear and silver vinyl versions that are only at Target. But we particularly love the picture disc double-vinyl offerings, which feature Q’s face both masked up and clean shaven. This is a landmark album and essential to any collection.
Uproxx’s Steven Hyden wrote of the expansive new Bob Dylan box set, “A sprawling data dump of music, The 1974 Live Recordings collects every known professionally recorded show from the tour, amounting to 431 tracks (all but 14 never before released) spread across 27 discs. This mountain of material attempts to make a small but nevertheless crucial point: The ’74 Tour represented a fascinating crossroads for the musicians in the spotlight. For Dylan, it marked a return to live performance after an extended hiatus, and the beginning of perhaps the most rigorous year-in and year-out tour schedule for any rock star in the past 50 years.”
Like A Prayer is iconic, even still as the crucial release celebrates its 35th anniversary. As part of Madonna’s “Silver Collection” of reissues, Like A Prayer is now available in a limited-edition edition opaque-silver vinyl release. If you order through Rhino.com or Madonna.com, it even comes with an exclusive poster of the black-and-white photo from the album’s back cover.
MTV Unplugged was an institution in its time, and 10,000 Maniacs had one of the more memorable appearances back in the ’90s. Now, that performance, including three tracks that didn’t make the original release, have been pressed on vinyl for the first time ever. For many, it was their introduction the the Bruce Springsteen/Patti Smith classic “Because The Night,” while also help solidify Natalie Merchant as a star before she launched her solo career.
Cass McCombs — Not The Way EP (Reissue), A (Reissue), and Prefection (Reissue)
Orindal
For McCombs, it all started with three releases: Not The Way EP, A, and Prefection. Now that the projects are all hovering around 20 years old, they’ve gotten a fresh reissue. This marks the first time these projects are back in print since their original release in the early 2000s.
Motown has been crushing it with the monthly series of reissues that has been underway over the past few months. Among September’s offerings is Marvin Gaye’s In The Groove, featuring the iconic single “I Heard It Through The Grapevine.” Other highlights for the month include a Mono edition of Meet the Temptations and The Supremes’ Love Child.
The Get Up Kids — Something To Write Home About (25th Anniversary Deluxe Edition)
Polyvinyl Record Co.
Something To Write Home About is among the more iconic emo albums, and now it has gotten the reissue it deserves on its 25th anniversary. This edition is remastered and expanded, as it comes with a bunch of demos, including original four-track acoustic recordings by Matt Pryor.
Gus Cannon — Walk Right In (Vinyl Me, Please Reissue)
Vinyl Me, Please
Cannon is an icon of American roots music, and Vinyl Me, Please is honoring that with a reissue of 1963’s Walk Right In. The album’s original release was just a run of 500 copies, but now it’s been lovingly remastered for a new generation to enjoy.
Found in the vault were a pair of unreleased songs from late INXS singer Michael Hutchence, which have now been pressed on a 10-inch vinyl. The picture disc is particularly striking with its stark black imagery.
Leon Bridges is now a week out from the release of his latest album, titled simply “Leon.” He’s got at least one more pre-album single in him, though, as he just dropped “That’s What I Love” today (September 27). It’s the kind of soulful, slow-burning tune Bridges does well, letting smooth intrumentals and his equally soothing voice do the heavy lifting.
“Leon has been a long-time coming. I started writing pieces of it as far back as Gold-Diggers Sound. They didn’t fit what I was trying to do with that album and I tried moving on. But I couldn’t shake them because they’re part of me. And, if I’m honest, also because I think this is some of my most excellent work yet.
In many ways, Leon has been in the works since my childhood. This record is about simpler days. It’s about time spent in my beloved Fort Worth and the experiences that made me the man I am today. It’s soulful music in the truest sense — it’s imbued with my soul.
I’m excited to share these stories about my home, about nostalgia, about my upbringing, about where I’m from, with all of you. I hope this music brings you back to your roots and your journey.”
Listen to “That’s What I Love” above.
Leon is out 10/4 via Columbia Records. Find more information here.
The American Music Awards 50th Anniversary Special is set to air on October 6, at 8 p.m. ET (5 p.m. PT) on CBS and streaming on Paramount+. As for what the two-hour show will entail, performers were just announced.
As Billboard notes, participating are Brad Paisley, Chaka Khan, Gladys Knight, Green Day, Jennifer Hudson, Kane Brown, Mariah Carey, Raye, and Stray Kids. Also expected to appear are Carrie Underwood, Gloria Estefan, Jennifer Lopez, and Jimmy Kimmel.
Carey is performing a medley of songs from her 2005 album The Emancipation Of Mimi to start the 20th-anniversary celebration of the beloved project. Stray Kids, meanwhile, will give a performance honoring the history of boy bands. Jennifer Hudson will honor Whitney Houston with a tribute performance while Brad Paisley will honor the late Charley Pride. Raye will cover James Brown’s 1966 song “It’s A Man’s Man’s Man’s World,” and Green Day will play the recent single “Dilemma.”
All in all, the broadcast is set to feature “new performances, artist interviews, special guests, and never-before-seen footage from [Dick Clark Productions]’s extensive archives,” and “themed highlights from AMAs’ show archives, each culminating with an original performance or artist interview.”
As for the regular AMAs, this year’s edition will take place on May 2025, and it’ll be the first yearly show since the edition that aired on November 20, 2022.
The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame class of 2024 has been announced, and now, so have the performers and presenters for the ceremony. Dua Lipa, Dr. Dre, Slash, Kenny Chesney, The Roots, and Julia Roberts are among those who will honor the 2024 inductees next month in Cleveland, Ohio.
This year’s Hall Of Fame class includes Mary J. Blige, Cher, Dave Matthews Band, Foreigner, Peter Frampton, Kool & The Gang, Ozzy Osbourne, and A Tribe Called Quest, as well as Musical Excellence Award winners MC5, and Dionne Warwick, and the late Jimmy Buffett.
Below, you will find the full list of performers and presenters:
Busta Rhymes
Dr. Dre
Demi Lovato
Dua Lipa
Ella Mai
James Taylor
Jelly Roll
Julia Roberts
Keith Urban
Kenny Chesney
Lucky Daye
Mac McAnally
Method Man
Roger Daltrey
Sammy Hagar
Slash
The Roots
It’s probably safe to assume that Dua Lipa will be the one inducting Cher, or maybe she’ll do a disco-pop version of “Crash” by DMB. That alone would make the show worth watching. Speaking of: The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame ceremony will stream on Disney+ on October 19 at 7 p.m. ET. There will also be an edited three-hour primetime special premiering on New Year’s Day on ABC, and available the following day on Disney+ and Hulu.
People not from a select few parts of the world might not know this, but TikTok has a streaming music app: TikTok Music launched in July 2023 and is currently available in Australia, Brazil, Indonesia, Mexico, and Singapore. If you’re a user of the platform, enjoy it while it lasts: TikTok announced today (September 24) that TikTok Music will shut down on on November 28, just over a year after its launch.
TikTok Music shared an announcement online, reading in part, “Dear users, We are sorry to inform you that TikTok Music will be closing on November 28, 2024. After this date, access to TikTok Music, including login, subscriptions, and all other functionalities, will no longer be available.”
It goes on to encourage users to transfer their playlists to other platforms by October 28, and to request refunds by November 28. The TikTok Music website has more instructions.
Ole Obermann, TikTok’s global head of music business development, said in a statement (as Billboard reports), “Our Add to Music App feature has already enabled hundreds of millions of track saves to playlists on partner music streaming services. We will be closing TikTok Music at the end of November in order to focus on our goal of furthering TikTok’s role in driving even greater music listening and value on music streaming services, for the benefit of artists, songwriters and the industry.”
At the time of TikTok Music’s launch in 2023, Obermann hailed the platform as “a new kind of service that combines the power of music discovery on TikTok with a best-in-class streaming service.”
