Three members of San Diego metalcore band As I Lay Dying have abruptly exited the band, citing clashes with personal morals amid the band’s turbulent history.

Guitarist Ken Susi, bassist Ryan Neff, and drummer Nick Pierce shared statements this week detailing their reasons for his departure, leaving just controversial frontman Tim Lambesis and guitarist Phil Sgrosso in the lineup.

In a statement posted on social media on Oct. 24, Susi explained that his morals had been “tested to a breaking point.”

“My time playing with As I Lay Dying has come to an end today. I leave with so much gratitude for everyone who followed and supported me from my days in Unearth to this era of my career,” Susi wrote. “I jumped into the AILD camp with full knowledge of the heightened dramatic history but had a drive to just play great music with great friends.”

He added, “Unfortunately, my personal morals have recently been tested to a breaking point, and it’s not the saddest ending to what could have been the greatest second chance for this band.”

This follows a post by bassist Ryan Neff, who left on Oct. 18, calling it “the right step for my personal and professional journey.”

Susi had noted in his announcement that Neff had received “a lot of backlash for stepping down first.” He added, “I regret not sharing this decision sooner and standing confidently with my friend — he’s a flawless musician and an even better person. I’ll miss you all on this stage, and I look forward to seeing you on the next one. Anyone looking for a guitar player? My resume is ready.”

Neff reflected in his own statement, “As of today, I have made the decision to leave As I Lay Dying,” Neff wrote via Instagram. “This choice comes after much reflection, and I believe it is the right step for my personal and professional journey. I am grateful for the experiences and connections I’ve made during my time with the band. Thank you to all the fans for your support.”

Drummer Nick Pierce joined them in departing, also citing personal reasons in his own statement. “As of now, I am no longer playing drums for As I Lay Dying,” Pierce wrote. “This is far from being the ending I anticipated, and I feel I need to distance myself from the band in an effort to retain my personal health and integrity.”

It follows the band’s touring manager, Alex Kendrick, also announcing his departure from working with the group.

In a now-deleted tweet, Kendrick wrote: “I no longer work for AS I LAY DYING – I do not wish to be asked questions nor will I answer any. I’ve made life long memories that will never be forgotten but my chapter of the book has completed. I wish everyone the best of luck and clearly I’m still rocking with Phil out here.”

Founded in 2000, As I Lay Dying rose to prominence as a Grammy-nominated act but became embroiled in controversy in 2013 when Lambesis was arrested and later sentenced to prison for attempting to hire a hitman to kill his then-wife, Meggan Lambesis. Lambesis pleaded guilty in the case and served two years of a six-year sentence.

After his release in 2016, the band reunited in 2018 with a mix of original and new members. However, tensions lingered. Former guitarist Nick Hippa, along with drummer Jordan Mancino and bassist Josh Gilbert, previously left in 2020. Since then, Susi, Pierce, and Neff joined the lineup, only to now announce their exits.

At the time of writing, Lambesis has not addressed the departures, and the future of As I Lay Dying remains uncertain. Their eighth album, Through Storms Ahead, is still set for release on Nov. 15.

Summer Walker released her new single “Heart of a Woman” on Friday (Oct. 25) via LVRN and Interscope Records.

“Heart of a Woman” is the lead single from her upcoming third studio album Finally Over It. The new LP follows the theme of Walker’s 2021 sophomore album, Still Over It, and 2019 debut album, Over It. Both releases topped Billboard‘s Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart, and Still Over It also topped the Billboard 200.

In an album teaser video she posted on Instagram earlier this month, the Atlanta-born R&B hitmaker is seen at home hopping out of the shower and into a hot pink robe. With a drink in tow, she listens to voicemail messages left on her answering machine. “Damn, you gotta do me like that? I was just helping my cousin with groceries. Hit me back when you can talk. I know you’re finally over it, but damn, let’s talk about it, I love you,” the messages go. Walker shatters the glass in her hand. The caption reads, “Finally Over It. Call me before I change my number 404-476-6404.” She then released the audio from the teaser video, titled “+1(404) 476-6404,” on DSPs.

Walker dropped an EP last year, Clear 2: Soft Life, which featured two collaborations with J. Cole (“To Summer, From Cole – Audio Hug”) and Childish Gambino (“New Type”). The nine-song set reached No. 26 on the Billboard 200 and No. 7 on Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums.

Listen to Summer Walker’s new “Heart of a Woman” single below.

Jack Jones — the velvet-voiced crooner who had such hits as “Wives and Lovers” and “The Impossible Dream (The Quest),” but may be best-known today for singing TV’s The Love Boat theme — died on Wednesday at Eisenhower Medical in Rancho Mirage, Calif. He was 86. His wife, Eleonara Jones, said the cause of his death was leukemia, which he had battled for two years.

Jones’ death comes just seven months after Steve Lawrence, another singer of similar quality and style, died at 88. They were two of the finest singers of what was then known as easy listening music – music that fell out of favor as rock boomed in the late 1960s and 1970s. That music has seen a rebirth in recent decades under a new branding — traditional pop — with such new stars as Michael Bublé.

Jones had three No. 1 hits on Billboard’s Easy Listening chart (now known as Adult Contemporary): “The Race Is On” (1965), “The Impossible Dream (The Quest)” (1966) and “Lady” (1967). Jones received a Grammy nod for best vocal performance, male for “The Impossible Dream,” the standout ballad from the Broadway musical Man of La Mancha. The song also received a Grammy nod for song of the year.

Earlier in the 1960s, Jones won two Grammys for best vocal performance, male for Tony Velona’s “Lollipops and Roses” and Burt Bacharach and Hal David’s “Wives and Lovers.”

The latter song, which reached No. 14 on the Billboard Hot 100 in January 1964, was also nominated for Grammys for record and song of the year. The lyrics — which warn women “Don’t think because there’s a ring on your finger/ You needn’t try anymore” — are now seen as hopelessly sexist. But if you can get past that, it’s one of Bacharach and David’s best-sounding hits, with a jazzy arrangement and Jones’ suave vocal.

Jones addressed the criticism the song received by altering the lyrics to poke fun at men. But he never dropped the song from his set.

“Since it’s a politically incorrect song, I start it out with a disclaimer,” he once said. “I hear that women still call up radio stations, angry that such a sexist song is being played. It’s now part of history, it won a Grammy, and I meant no harm when I did it. It made my career, and I’m grateful for that.”

Jones had three top 20 albums on the Billboard 200: Wives and Lovers, Dear Heart and The Impossible Dream. The latter album remained on the chart for more than a year.

Jones, Lawrence and such other singers as Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Tony Bennett and Andy Williams were among the last singers of old-guard easy listening music in the 1960s, as rock increasingly came to dominate the charts.

As Chris Koseluk noted in The Hollywood Reporter’s obituary of Jones, “When filmmakers wanted to create that easy-listening ’60s vibe, Jones was one of their go-to guys. He can be heard on the soundtracks for Good Morning, Vietnam (1987), Goodfellas (1990), Reckless (1995), Duplex (2003), Bobby (2006) and American Hustle (2013), in which he had a cameo. ‘Lollipops and Roses’ accompanied the end credits on a 2008 episode of Mad Men.”

Jones sang the title songs of several films, including A Ticklish Affair (1963), Love With the Proper Stranger (1963) and Where Love Has Gone (1964). On the 1965 Oscar telecast he sang the last-named song, which was nominated for best original song. He opened the 1970 The Best on Record program, the final pre-recorded Grammy-branded show before the live telecast commenced the following year, by singing Joe South’s “Games People Play,” that year’s song of the year winner.

Jones sang The Love Boat theme, written by Paul Williams and Charles Fox, during that show’s first eight seasons (1977-85). (Dionne Warwick recorded it for season 9.) The song has elements of kitsch, and certainly the show was TV at its most mindless, but Jones’ dynamic vocal and Williams’ fine lyric (“Love/life’s sweetest reward)” were both work they could be proud of.

Jones’ recording of “Theme From Love Boat” cracked Billboard’s adult contemporary chart in 1980. His later AC-charting hits also included “Let Me Be the One,” a cover of a first-rate Williams-Roger Nichols ballad that was featured on the Carpenters’ 1971 album Carpenters; “What I Did for Love,” the instant-standard from 1975’s Broadway smash A Chorus Line; and “With One More Look at You” from the Barbra Streisand-starring 1976 remake of A Star Is Born.

Jones landed his fifth and final Grammy nomination in 1998, best traditional pop vocal performance, for his album Jack Jones Paints a Tribute to Tony Bennett. Bennett, of course, was one of the few old-school traditional pop performers who thrived in recent decades. (Fun Fact: Bennett’s “I Wanna Be Around” and Jones’ “Wives and Lovers” were both nominated for record of the year at the 1964 Grammys. Both lost to Henry Mancini’s “The Days of Wine and Roses.”)

Jones continued to perform in casinos, performing arts centers and cabarets until shortly before his death.

Jones was married to actress Jill St. John from 1967-69. They were one of the top celebrity couples of their era, each with a highly successful career. (They weren’t bad looking, either.)

John Allan Jones was born in Los Angeles on Jan. 14, 1938. His father, Allen Jones, acted in The Marx Brothers’ A Night at the Opera (1935) and A Day at the Races (1937). He also acted in Show Boat (1936) and had a hit record in 1938 with “The Donkey Serenade” from the movie The Firefly. The elder Jones had performed the latter song on horseback for Jeanette MacDonald in the 1937 MGM musical. Jack Jones’ mother, Irene Hervey, was a film and TV actress who received a Primetime Emmy nomination in 1969 for an appearance on the long-running sitcom My Three Sons.

Jones, who lived in Indian Wells, Calif., was married six times. He was married to Katie Lee Nuckols (also known as the model Lee Larance) from 1960 to 1966; Jill St. John from 1967 to 1969; Gretchen Roberts from 1970 to 1971; Kathryn Simmons, from 1977 to 1982; and Kim Ely from 1982 to 2005. He married Eleonora Donata Peters in 2009.

In addition to his wife, he is survived by a daughter, Crystal Thomas, from his marriage to Nuckols; another daughter, Nicole Ramasco, from his marriage to Ely; two stepdaughters, Nicole Whitty and Colette Peters, from his marriage to Peters; and three grandchildren.

Halsey is back with yet another trick up her sleeve. The singer dropped her latest album, The Great Impersonator, on Friday (Oct. 25).

In addition to previously released singles “The End,” “Lucky,” “Lonely Is the Muse” and “Ego,” the LP also features songs such as “Only Girl Living in LA,” “Dog Years,” “Panic Attack,” “I Believe in Magic,” “Hometown,” “I Never Loved You,” “Darwinism,” “Arsonist,” “Life of the Spider (DRAFT)” and “Hurt Feelings.” The Great Impersonator marks Halsey’s fifth studio album. It follows 2021’s If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power, which reached No. 2 on the Billboard 200.

 Halsey previously confirmed that the album will traverse different decades and musical styles, with the “Closer” singer revealing multiple variants of The Great Impersonator‘s cover inspired by different time periods through a fan scavenger hunt earlier this month. “What if I debuted in the early 2000s? The ’90s? The ’80s? The ’70s?” the three-time Grammy nominee asked in an album-announcement video Aug. 27. “Am I still Halsey every time? In every timeline, do I still get sick? Do I become a mom?”

Leading up to the drop, they also took to Instagram to impersonate “a different icon every day and teasing a snippet of the song they inspired,” including Bruce Springsteen, Britney Spears, Stevie Nicks, Dolores O’Riordan, Amy Lee, David Bowie, Cher, Kate Bush, PJ Harvey and Dolly Parton.

Listen to Halsey’s The Great Impersonator in full below.

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It’s easy to get lost in the music when you’re wearing comfortable headphones and jamming away to your favorite songs, but your brain could be suffering from burnout.  

Luxury audio brand Master & Dynamic partnered with Neurable, a neurotechnology company specializing in developing AI-powered tools, to introduce an innovation in smart headphones.

The MW75 Neuro headphones measure your brain activity to help boost productivity and avoid burning out by integrating Neurable’s brain-computer interface (BCI) and AI technology. Electroencephalography (EEG) sensors in the ear pads of the headphones track and analyze brain signals and translates them into “detailed brainwave data that offers valuable insights into focus levels and more,” according to a news release.

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Available in onyx and grey, MW75 Neuro headphones are up for pre-order and will be released on Oct. 31. They feature memory foam pads, an anodized aluminum headset, tempered glass and lambskin leather.

On the technical front, the hi-fidelity headphones are powered with 40mm beryllium metal drivers, Bluetooth 5.2, adaptive technology that connects to hi-res Bluetooth audio up to 100 feet and a 22-hour battery.

With the Neurable app, you can access your brainwave data and focus score, track your progress, find tips to enhance productivity and enact the Brain Break feature, which prompts you to pause and refocus.

“The brain serves as the core of our health and well-being, yet we have only scratched the surface of what is possible by understanding and harnessing its power,” said Dr. Ramses Alcaide, co-founder and CEO of Neurable. “In partnership with Master & Dynamic, we are eager to bring the future of neurotechnology to the world with the debut of our groundbreaking MW75 Neuro smart headphones. These headphones mark the beginning of BCI-enabled technology for all, with the development of future use cases already underway.”

Master & Dynamic’s product lineup includes the MW75 ANC Noise–Canceling Headphones ($599), MH40 Wireless Over-Ear Headphones ($399) and the MW09 Wireless Earbuds ($349).

For more tech upgrades, check out the best speakers for music fans and the best vertical record players.