Dublin rockers' second album in a year "is subtler and softer and prettier... darker, more atmospheric and downcast", Stereogum writes in their review o Fontaines D.C.'s 'A Hero's Death'. Production-wise there's "more shades of gray on this one, effectively building and sustaining a cohesive mood while allowing for greater complexity and nuance".
A great combo - Doves made a song 'Carousels', forwarded it to The Comet Is Coming to remix it, turned out atmospheric, groovy, jazzy; Kudela made a great video for the stunning Katie Gately song 'Flow'; JPEGMAFIA shared new song 'Living Single', a kinda experimental trap; the "garage-rock Serge Gainsbourg" Liminanas dropped 'Calentita'; Tricky has a new singer, Marta, and a new clubby trip 'Thinking of'; Alex Kapranos and Clara Luciani covered 'Summer Wine', a perfect summer song, of course; dark rock collective Crippled Black Phoenix features a handful of guests on catchy 'Cry of Love'; Mike Huguenor released a tender blues 'Evening Light Seen Through a Window'.
Berghain has found a way to throw its doors back open, luring visitors with an unusual sound exhibition called 'Eleven songs'. Just 50 people are let in at a time to allow for physical distancing. Inside, visitors are enveloped by an eery, almost surreal soundscape of rhythmic throbbing, soft city noises, murmurings and even the whirling of helicopter blades. Visitors, wearing face masks, have already been queueing to get in, France Presse reports. DJ Tech Tools reports on how five Eastern European countries – Belarus, Georgia, Ukraine, Serbia, and Croatia – are handling the process of re-opening amidst COVID-19. Belarus is more or less closed, clubs in Georgia are opened, but the country is closed for foreigners, Serbia closed its clubs, in Ukraine the clubs are closed as well, whereas Croatia is open for (most) foreigners, and clubs there are also mostly open.
Playing a musical instrument positively impacts mental health for 89% of adults, particularly by increasing feelings of relaxation and happiness, a new scientific study commissioned by Spotify revealed. Out of 400 adults included in the survey, 56% felt relaxed, 48% felt satisfaction and 43% felt peaceful, and over said that playing music gave them “a sense of purpose in life”.
Trent Reznor, Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo, Kamasi Washington, Beastie Boys are nominated for 2020 Emmy awards, in music categories, uDiscover Music reports. Trent Reznor got his nomination for 'Watchmen', Kamasi Washington is in with 'Becoming', while Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo are recognized for their work in 'The Black Godfather'. Beastie Boys Mike Diamond and Adam Horovitz and their creative partner and director Spike Jonze are nominated for Apple TV’s 'Beastie Boys Story' in five categories, including for Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Special. Check all the nominees here.
The Chainsmokers held a charity concert in Southampton, New York on Saturday alongside Goldman Sachs executive David M. Solomon (aka DJ D-Sol), called Safe & Sound. Well, it turns out it was really that safe and sound - video that surfaced from the concert appeared to show attendees flouting social distancing, which prompted an investigation. Tickets for the event ran between $1,250 to $25,000, with all profits going to local charities including Children’s Medical Fund of New York, No Kid Hungry and Southampton Fresh Air Home.
Ryo Muranaka is an aspiring Japanese rapper who sold everything he owned and flew over 6,000 miles to Cleveland in an attempt to track down his rap heroes, Bone Thugs-n-Harmony, but got robbed instead. However, he ended up working with Layzie Bone who told Hip-Hop DX - "It kind of reminded me of us going to L.A. to try to find Eazy-E but at the same time, this man came to another country. So, I had my family book him a hotel. After that, I’ve just been developing his talent". Layzie offered words of advice: “I will also say this to other fans and artist that are looking to do the same thing as us or this gentleman did — follow your dreams by all means, but you have to be very careful when you go to places you know nothing about. We’re not from the suburbs, we’re from the ghetto".
Manchester singer Denise Johnson, best known for her performances on Primal Scream's classic 1991 album 'Screamadelica', has passed away aged 56, BBC reports. Johnson was a prolific singer - she also sang with New Order, Johnny Marr, Bernard Sumner, A Certain Ratio, Pet Shop Boys, New Order and many more. Johnson sang with A Certain Ratio for 25 years.
Lollapalooza has announced a massive four-night livestream including archival footage from previous editions of the festival, as well as new, original performances from the likes of Kali Uchis, Vic Mensa, Jamila Woods, Tanks and the Bangas, Pink Sweat$, H.E.R., and more. There woll be three special performances throughout the weekend - the first Porno for Pyros reunion in 24 years, a tribute to David Bowie with pianist Mike Garson, and a special performance of Kind Heaven Orchestra featuring Foo Fighters’ Taylor Hawkins. The lineup also boasts “fan-favorite” archival sets from Paul McCartney, Metallica, The Cure, OutKast, LCD Soundsystem, Arcade Fire, Lorde, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Tyler the Creator, Run the Jewels, ASAP Rocky, Chance the Rapper, Tenacious D, Cypress Hill, Jane’s Addiction, Alabama Shakes, Tove Lo, Portugal. the Man, Kehlani, LL Cool J, Princess Nokia, Polo G, and more. Lolla2020 livestream goes down Thursday, July 30th – Sunday, August 2nd beginning at 5:00 p.m, on YouTube.
Japanese fashion designer Kansai Yamamoto, known for styling musician David Bowie, has died at the age of 76, the New York Times reports. Yamamoto designed some of Bowie's most famous outfits including those of the singer's alter ego Ziggy Stardust. His clothing was also worn by Elton John, Stevie Wonder and John Lennon. More recently, singer Lady Gaga had been pictured in Yamamoto designs. Yamamoto was known for his colourful creations and incorporating traditional Japanese designs into fashion.
"It was a new thing and there’s something in the idea of doing differently, so we’ve just got to try and embrace it" - Miles Kane told the NME after his Camden Market gig, the first UK post-lockdown concert. “We’re trucking on and we’re fighters. It’s definitely one of the weirdest gigs I’ve played, but an enjoyable weird” - he added. The crowd of roughly fifty fans stood in socially distanced sections, which were clearly marked out on the floor, while they donned compulsory face masks.
American musician Nobunny, the stage persona of musician Justin Champlin, has announced he's retiring from music, after seemingly admitting to sexual misconduct involving underage women. In a lengthy statement, he said - "I used my power and influence to take advantage of young women and teenage girls". Also, Culture Abuse singer David Kelling posted a lengthy Instagram statement admitting to sexual misconduct with a 17-year old (while he was 22). Culture Abuse announced in their own Instagram post that they are breaking up.
Fleetwood Mac co-founder and influential blues rock guitarist Peter Green has died at the age of 73, Ultimate Classic Rock reports. The English singer-songwriter and guitarist, from Bethnal Green in East London, formed Fleetwood Mac with drummer Mick Fleetwood in 1967. Green wrote some of the band's most notable hits, including 'Albatross', 'Black Woman Magic', and 'Man of the World'. He left the band in 1970, after it had released three albums.
Snoop Dogg and DMX received 1.75 billion impressions across the internet on the latest Verzuz battle, while breaking Apple Music's all-time livestream record with more than 600,000 concurrent viewers and a total of more than 1.4 million fans tuning in, Billboard reports. On Twitter, #Verzuz became the No. 1 trending topic with 29 other trends growing from that evening. It received 168% more tweets than the previous biggest battle.
Journalist turned musician Sylvie Simmons released a sweet little song 'Sweet California'; Jaga Jazzist released a sci-fi psycho electro-blues 'Tomita' with a great video; another seemingly strange song, 'Us (How Sweet It Was)', alter-baroque pop by Ricky Reed, Jim James & Duendita; some classic soul by Danielle Ponder and Karate Boogaloo in 'Look Around'; Deathcave's 'The Road' features three vocalists - singers of Botch, Holy Grove, and Black Breath; the last one is wild: the name - Godcaster, the song title - 'All The Feral Girls In The Universe', the video - literally wild, and the sonic side of the song - psycho garage rock.
andcamp is extending its Bandcamp Friday program, in which it is waiving its revenues the first Friday of every month, through the end of the year, Rolling Stone reports. The series started as a one-off at the end of March to help get extra money to artists after the COVID-19 pandemic brought touring to a halt and forced independent record stores to close. It continued through the summer. The next five will take place August 7th, September 4th, October 2nd, November 6th and December 4th.
"Imagine that, being black and disabled. That's a double drama. It's like your voice is not heard in a double way" - Rick Velasquez of the rap duo 4 Wheel City told BBC about being a black person and being disabled in the USA. "It's like you're doing a double life sentence" - his partner Namel Norris says. However, they have received global acclaim and raised the prominence of Krip-Hop - a sub-genre of Hip-Hop which puts disabled matters front and centre and lets them express the "double drama" of being in two minority groups. Both have been disabled in accidents - Velasquez was shot by a stray bullet while he was coming back from school, and Norris was shot by his cousin who was playing with a gun.
"In isolation my imagination has run wild. Picking up a pen was my way of escaping into fantasy, history, and memory" - Taylor Swift writes in the liner notes of 'Folklore', her new album released today, and announced just a few hours earlier. It was written during ther epidemic, and it's far from the big pop sound of her last album, the change being underwritten by her main collaborator - Aaron Dessner of The National, who is a co-writer or producer on 11 of the album's 16 songs. Also, Bon Iver's Justin Vernon crops up for a duet on 'Exile'. Swift has released 16 lyrics videos from the album.
Female artists and female-fronted bands - like Dua Lipa, Charli XCX, and Porridge Radio - have outnumbered men on the shortlist for this year's Mercury Prize, for the first time in its 29-year history, Sky reports. A total of seven female or female-fronted acts (of 12 nominees) made the 2020 shortlist; the previous highest total was five. In general, this year pop dominated the shortlist, with none left of the field albums.
The nominees:
Anna Meredith - ‘FIBS‘
Charli XCX - ‘how i’m feeling now‘
Dua Lipa - ‘Future Nostalgia‘
Georgia - ‘Seeking Thrills‘
Kano - ‘Hoodies All Summer‘
Lanterns on the Lake - ‘Spook the Herd‘
Laura Marling - ‘Song for Our Daughter‘
Michael Kiwanuka - ‘KIWANUKA‘
Moses Boyd - ‘Dark Matter‘
Porridge Radio - ‘Every Bad‘
Sports Team - ‘Deep Down Happy‘
Stormzy - ‘Heavy is the Head‘
Veteran jazz singer, actress and jazz innovator Annie Ross died on July 21, four days before her 90th birthday. In 1957, Ross, a chic redhead with a cool, tart sound, teamed with Dave Lambert and Jon Hendricks to form the historic vocal trio Lambert, Hendricks & Ross, which explored a genre known as vocalese — the setting of lyrics to modern jazz solos. Ross could lurch into the vocal stratosphere, imitating trumpets and saxophones and tearing through bebop lines with swinging rhythm, NPR says. "I only wanted to sing and be free" - she told years later...
When talking to someone over an Internet connection it takes time for audio data to travel from person to person, which is fine in conversation. That small delay, called latency, makes playing music online impossible. NPR has found a solution - an open-source software called JackTrip, that can transfer high-quality audio data across the Internet at low enough latencies, within a geographic radius. It takes a bit of hardware and a strong Internet connection.
Kim Kardashian West has publicly addressed her husband Kanye's mental health issues asking for "compassion and empathy" for her family, All Hip Hop reports. KKW came out publicly following a series of West's erratic statements in recent days. She wrote on Instagram: "As many of you know, Kanye has bipolar disorder", adding that west a "brilliant but complicated person" whose "words sometimes do not align with his intentions". "He is a brilliant but complicated person who on top of the pressures of being an artist and a black man, who experienced the painful loss of his mother, and has to deal with the pressure and isolation that is heightened by his bipolar disorder" Kardashian West said, asking for "compassion and empathy that is needed so that we can get through this."
Normal live gigs won't be back any time soon, but there's potential in live-streaming shows, as the New York Times points out. Management company 11E1even Group began organizing Live from Out There, a recurring virtual festival. Using multiple paid ticketing and subscription options, the festival, which ran across 10 weekends between mid-March and early June, grossed more than $700,000, with some musicians making more money than they might’ve on tour. One artist made close to $25,000 on Topeka, a company that charges fans for bespoke mini-concerts, putting in about 10 hours a week for six weeks in April and May. Digital ticketing company DICE (worked on Laura Marling's successful online show) is working on software that will enable friends to buy tickets to a live-stream together and have their own private chat room at the show...
Tim Smith, frontman with cult British band Cardiacs, has died aged 59, after 12 years of health issues following a heart attack, Louder reports. Smith formed an early version of Cardiacs in 1977 with his brother Jim, called the Filth, who soon changed their name to Cardiac Arrest. They released eight studio albums between 1980 and 1999. The band’s complex songcraft drew equally from punk and prog – often thought by many fans of each style to be mutually exclusive – and delivered surreal, theatrical performances, Guardian writes.
Movie-lovers from Paris were treated to a floating cinema last Saturday as part of Paris Plages, the yearly transformation of sections of the Seine into man-made beaches, CoS reports. Parisians boarded 38 electric boats for a free showing of the 2018 French comedy 'Le Grand Bain'. A similar idea is crossing the Atlantic - starting this September, Beyond Cinema will launch 12 to 24 mini boats in 19 US and Canada cities. Movies will be projected on a large screen outdoors near the water, and patrons can pay to watch the film in comfort from one of the floating vessels. Prior to the COVID era, similar events were held in Australia. Is it time for this concept to cross over to live-music territory?
California garage rock label Burger Records has at first announced "major structural changes" following accusations of sexual misconduct associated with artists and employees at the label, Brooklyn Vegan reported, but it seems the label is completely shutting down. Label co-founder and president Lee Rickard was stepping down, co-founder Sean Bohrman moving "into a transitional role", and the label itself has also announced it's changing its name to BRGR. Jessa Zapor-Gray was to assume the role of interim label president. Total Trash Productions, who produce Burger Boogaloo festival, have issued a statement saying they have severed ties with Burger Records and will be changing the name of the festival. However, as Pitchfork reports, Bohrman announced that the label will instead shut down completely.
Fans of Britney Spears say they will protest outside a Los Angeles court demanding she be awarded control over her business and personal affairs, the Blast reports. Her career has been in the hands of legal guardians known as a conservatorship since she faced mental health issues in 2008. Her father Jamie Spears stepped down as her conservator last September. A judge appointed Spears' "care manager", Jodi Montgomery, as his replacement, and she will remain Spears' conservator until 22 August, when the conservatorship is up for extension again. Some of Spears' fans believe she was forced into the arrangement and claim she has been pleading for help on social media. Britney Spears started her show business trip aged 11 in 1992 when she was cast in 'The Mickey Mouse Club'.
Norwegian pop singer Annie has shared drum'n'bass-y club banger 'The Bomb'; Open Mike Eagle says he made 'Neighborhood Protection Spell (Lana Del Biden Nem)' as a "spell to ward off subtle social attacks at Blackness”; LCD Soundsystem’s Tyler Pope built his new EP around a single drum pattern, restricting his hardware to one drum machine and one keyboard as a means of finding inspiration from limitations, 'Nur weil ich kann' is an example of that; Tobi is a Gogol Bordello and Dälek collaborator, with her 'Can't Control Me' going more to the clubby side; even Rolling Stones have a new song - bluesy-rock 'Scarlet' features Jimmy Page and late bass great Rick Grech, it was recorded in 1974 as Led Zeppelin were leaving the same studio; Avalanches have released two new songs - 'Wherever You Go' with contributions by Jamie xx, Neneh Cherry, Mick Jones of The Clash, and CLYPSO, while 'Reflecting Light' includes a cameo from Sananda Maitreya and a Vashti Bunyan sample.
"Women have long been overlooked for their artistry in the industry and their historical contributions to the scene have been ignored... There is regular vilification of hip-hop models and influencers, with biased assumptions that these women are destructive. Rather than esteeming these women as established moguls in their own right, they’re often only valued for their physical appearances and for mothering the children of rappers" - Gal-Dem says in an essay about women in hip-hop, concluding that "women have been the forerunners of hip-hop culture in terms of marketability, but the sexism in hip-hop has long overstayed its welcome. While the complexity of being a woman in hip-hop is evident, they deserve to be nurtured and valued in the industry. It’s the only way to dismantle the misogynistic standards that still pervade".
Joan Baez is this year’s recipient of the Woody Guthrie Prize, in recognition of her "groundbreaking career and impact on humanitarian causes", as she "has consistently been on the front lines in the fight for social justice, peace, and equality”, Chicago Sun-Times reports. The prize was established in 2014 and is given each year to an artist who best exemplifies the spirit and life work of Woody Guthrie by speaking for the less fortunate and serving as a positive force for social change - past recipients include John Mellencamp, Kris Kristofferson, Mavis Staples, Pete Seeger, and last year's winner, Public Enemy's Chuck D.
