The Smashing Pumpkins have released their highly anticipated twelfth studio album; a three-act rock opera album titled ATUM. It features 33 tracks, and is the sequel to 1995’s Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness and 2000’s Machina/The Machines of God.
ATUM (pronounced Autumn) was written and produced by Billy Corgan over the past four years and with several tracks being pre-released digitally, it is now coming on 3xCD and 4xLP formats.
Alongside the album is Billy Corgan’s brand new podcast series Thirty-Three with William Patrick Corgan, available wherever you listen to your podcasts. The podcast features a deeper break down of each track on ATUM, from Corgan himself, on the concept album. The podcast also dives into Pumpkins history and features a classic song in each episode. The first episode’s guest is David Bowie’s esteemed long-time pianist Mike Garson. Other guests include Tegan and Sara, Butch Vig, and Willow Smith. Check it out here.
When the Smashing Pumpkins first emerged out of Chicago in 1988, the world had never heard a band quite like them. They spun together rock, pop, shoe-gaze, metal, goth, psychedelia, and electronic into a kaleidoscope of saccharine melodies, fuzzy distortion, bombastic orchestration, incendiary fretwork, eloquent songcraft, and unshakable hooks. Upon their formation, their sound was different, iconoclastic, and wholly new - and it still is today. As a result, they’ve sold over 30 million albums worldwide and collected two Grammy Awards, two MTV VMAs, and an American Music Award.
Their catalog is highlighted by the platinum Gish (1991), the quadruple-platinum Siamese Dream (1993), diamond-certified Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness (1995), platinum Adore (1998), and gold Machina/The Machines of God (2000). In 2018, they embarked on one of their most successful tours ever, the Shiny and Oh So Bright Tour, followed by Shiny And Oh So Bright, Vol 1 / LP: No Past. No Future. No Sun. Meanwhile, 2020 saw the release of the band’s eleventh full-length and latest double album, CYR.