Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour Spotted Working on “New Album”

Polly Sampson, the wife of David Gilmour, has been posting pictures on social media showing her husband working on a “new album” in his studio.

The guitarist from Pink Floyd has been dedicating time to work in his recording studio located in Brighton. His wife, who is also a writer and lyricist, has been documenting his recent studio visits and sharing them on her personal Instagram account.

The shared photos show Gilmour collaborating with various artists such as Brian Eno’s brother, pianist Roger Eno, and Guy Pratt, who has collaborated with both Pink Floyd and Gilmour multiple times. Other artists featured in the photos include drummer Adam Betts, who has worked with Pulp and dance acts like Pete Tong, Goldie, and Squarepusher, bassist Tom Herbert, who has performed with Mercury Prize-nominated bands The Invisible and Polar Bear, and producer Charlie Andrew, known for his work with Alt-J, James, Wolf Alice, and London Grammar.

While the exact purpose of Gilmour’s studio sessions remains unclear, the Pink Floyd fansite Neptune Pink Floyd reported that Sampson informed Romanian entertainment website Zile si Nopti that Gilmour is creating an album of original songs. This “new album” would be Gilmour’s first LP since the release of ‘Rattle That Lock’ in 2015. Since then, he has released the standalone single ‘Yes, I Have Ghosts’ in 2020 and revived Pink Floyd with Nick Mason for the charity song ‘Hey, Hey, Rise Up!’ featuring Andriy Khlyvnyuk from the Ukrainian band BoomBox.

Gilmour’s most recent live performance took place in 2016 during his six-night stint at London’s Royal Albert Hall.

Andre 3000 Is Releasing A New Album Friday and Its Not What You Think

This Friday, November 17, André 3000 will drop his first solo album. New Blue Sun is not what you might expect: Instead of beats, bars, and singing, the 87-minute record showcases André the flautist. He plays contrabass flute, Mayan flutes, bamboo flutes, and digital wind instruments, NPR reports. One track is called “I Swear, I Really Wanted to Make a ‘Rap’ Album but This Is Literally the Way the Wind Blew Me This Time.” Another is named “Ninety Three ’Til Infinity and Beyoncé.” The full tracklist, below, is worth a look.

André 3000 has been mostly silent since Outkast’s last album in 2006, which won a Grammy. He has released some songs of his own and collaborated with artists like Beyonce, Drake and Frank Ocean. But he has not made any longform releases of his own, making New Blue Sun his first full-length since the 2006 Outkast LP Idlewild. He has been seen as an eccentric, wandering figure in Atlanta, in airports, and around the world, with his flute—images that fans love to share online. “I laugh at it because my homies in Atlanta, we’ll talk and they’ll be like, ‘Man, you know n***** think you crazy to f*** around with this flute,” he told NPR.

The album came from jams André 3000 did with the renowned percussionist Carlos Niño. They brought in keyboardist Surya Botofasina and guitarist Nate Mercereau, and recorded the improvisations that make up the LP. André 3000 said to NPR, “It’s not like I don’t try or it’s not like I have a lot of these songs just sitting—I have songs but it’s not like rap things that I really feel happy about sharing. And really, that’s the most important part. I have to feel happy about sharing it. That’s why New Blue Sun was something that I realized, whoa, I really want people to hear it. I really want to share it.”

He asked artist friends to listen to early versions. Frank Ocean liked it. Tyler, the Creator said one song helped him figure out a complex Louis Vuitton travel suitcase, saying, “It sounds like you’re chasing a butterfly through a garden and I figured it out.” André 3000 said he still works on rap tracks, but “it’s kind of like, I don’t know how to rock on that, really, in a way that I feel great about it. So if I can’t find a way to rock on it, I kind of leave it there.” The new album is inspired by Laraaji, Brian Eno, Alice Coltrane, Steve Reich, Pharoah Sanders, and an ayahuasca trip where André 3000 became a panther (see the third track).

In the NPR interview, André 3000 also talked about Virgil Abloh’s family’s request that he play flute at the late designer’s funeral. “I denied it, but only because I felt like I would be a distraction,” André 3000 said. “I don’t know, I just felt like it would have taken away from the moment and I only knew Virgil through texts and a few conversations. So I couldn’t pretend like I knew him that well. I was honored that the family asked me to play at the funeral, but I couldn’t.”

Other instrumentalists on New Blue Sun are Deantoni Parks, Diego Gaeta, Matthewdavid, V.C.R, Diego Gaeta, Jesse Peterson, and Mia Doi Todd. Learn more about the album in André 3000’s interview with NPR’s Rodney Carmichael for All Songs Considered.

New Blue Sun (Track List):

01 I Swear, I Really Wanted to Make a “Rap” Album but This Is Literally the Way the Wind Blew Me This Time
02 The Slang Word P(*)ssy Rolls Off the Tongue With Far Better Ease Than the Proper Word Vagina . Do You Agree?
03 That Night in Hawaii When I Turned Into a Panther and Started Making These Low Register Purring Tones That I Couldn’t Control ... Sh¥t Was Wild
04 BuyPoloDisorder’s Daughter Wears a 3000® Button Down Embroidered
05 Ninety Three ’Til Infinity And Beyoncé
06 Ghandi, Dalai Lama, Your Lord & Savior J.C. / Bundy, Jeffrey Dahmer, and John Wayne Gacy
07 Ants to You, Gods to Who ?
08 Dreams Once Buried Beneath the Dungeon Floor Slowly Sprout Into Undying Gardens

The Last Beatles Song Has Been Released And It’s Pretty F*cking Good

The Beatles have surprised and delighted their fans with the release of Now and Then, a song that features the voice of John Lennon, who died in 1980. The song was created from a demo tape that Lennon recorded in the late 1970s, and was given to the remaining Beatles by Yoko Ono in 1994. The song was unfinished and had technical difficulties, so it was shelved until recently, when artificial intelligence was used to isolate Lennon’s voice from the piano sound. Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr then added new vocals, bass, drums, and strings, while keeping George Harrison’s guitar parts from 1995. The result is a bittersweet and poignant finale for the Fab Four’s recording career.

Now and Then is a slow and melancholic ballad, with Lennon singing about his nostalgia for the past and his longing for the future. The lyrics are simple and heartfelt, such as “Now and then I miss you / Now and then I wonder what I’m gonna do / Now and then I think about you / Now and then I know it’s true”. The song has a haunting quality, as Lennon’s voice sounds distant and fragile, while McCartney and Starr harmonize with him in a tender and respectful way. The song also features a slide guitar solo that pays tribute to Harrison, who died in 2001.

The song is not a Beatles classic, nor does it have the same energy and innovation as their earlier works. But it is still a beautiful and touching song that celebrates the bond between the four bandmates, who changed the history of music and culture. It is also a gift to their loyal fans, who have waited for decades to hear their final song. Now and Then is a fitting farewell to the Beatles, who have left us with an amazing legacy of songs that will live on forever.

Check out the new tune: