Philadelphia City Council has renamed the East Passyunk Avenue (between South Street and Bainbridge Street), to Avenue of The Roots. Band's drummer Questlove shared the news on Instagram and claimed the city made the decision to make the change recently but he thought the announcement would come later in May - “Cats was like “NOAP!!! WE FINNA PUT THIS JAWN UP NOW!!!!!”.
Pop Smoke was such a sensation to witness because, while hip-hop continues to expand, he fed off that cultural diffusion while remaining quintessentially New York. His Caribbean flair, Brooklyn bravado, and trademark tone swiftly became the new voice of the city. He was a familiar, yet fresh archetype of what New York feels, looks, and sounds like. When we listen to Pop Smoke, we hear DMX, we hear 50 Cent, we hear Shyne - the Fader says in an obituary to Pop Smoke, NY-to-LA rapper killed last week in his Hollywood Hills home.
The full arc of Miles Davis’s sound, and life, forms the basis of 'Birth of the Cool', a two-hour film created for the PBS series American Masters, but at the center of it stands 'Bitches Brew', Davis' pivotal album that altered the trajectory of jazz, messed with the boundaries of funk, and pushed psychedelic rock to new heights of exploration. Docu covers everything from Davis’s ravenous creative development to his ever-evolving fashion sense, to his complex relationship with women.
William Close is the inventor of the Earth Harp, the world's longest string instrument, which has strings dozens of meters long, and it uses architecture or landscapes to stretch the strings, creating a unique sound. This also means that the audience in a concert venue is actually inside the instrument.
Justin Bieber's 'Changes' earned 231,000 equivalent album units in the U.S last week (126,000 in album sales, 101,000 are in SEA units, and 4,000 are in TEA units), which landed him on top of Billboard's album chart. At 25, Bieber is the youngest solo artist to achieve seven No. 1 albums (previously, the record was held by Elvis Presley, who was 26 at the time of his 7th No. 1 album). Three more albums reached the top 10 at Billboard 200 - A Boogie Wit da Hoodie’s 'Artist 2.0' debuts at No. 2 with 111,000 equivalent album units (nearly all from streaming activity), Tame Impala achieves its highest charting album ever on the Billboard 200, as 'The Slow Rush' bows at No. 3 with 110,000 equivalent album units (with 80,000 of that in album sales), and Monsta X rounds out the new arrivals in the top 10, as the six-member South Korean vocal group makes its Billboard 200 chart debut at No. 5 with its 'All About Luv', sold in 52,000 equivalent album units (50,000 of that sum comprising album sales).
"Something is happening to boys in bands up and down the country and across the Irish Sea. They are singing about things that matter, such as mental health and gentrification. They are disillusioned, but dressed smartly, in faded shirts and starched slacks. They are white, usually, and serious, very serious... They’re also cutting across the generations, resonating with people who want heavy music that means something" - Guardian writes presenting The Murder Capital, a new band that shares the same energy as Fontaines D.C. or Idles.
Acapella teen-nonet Acapop! KIDS made another can't-stop-listening cover - they remade Mark Ronson's 'Nothing Breaks Like a Heart', usually sang by Miley Cyrus, using not much more than their voices, hands and feet.
Washington D.C. mayor has signed into law a bill that makes go-go music the official music of the district. "This is a musical genre that originated here, and we want to make sure it lives on for generations to come" - Muriel Bowser said. Go-go is a popular music subgenre associated with funk originating in the Washington, D.C., area during the mid-60s to late-70s. Go-go is a blend of funk, rhythm and blues, and soul music. Go-go's place at the heart of D.C.'s culture has come under increased threat over the years as a younger, whiter population has moved in and changed the city's landscape.
California rapper Kamaiyah, a former US security guard, has released a new mixtape 'Got It Made' which shows "a renewed confidence here", the Guardian writes, adding "things seem to be coming together at last". Stereogum says the mixtape is "everything great about her distilled into one mean, fun, breezy half-hour listen. It’s nothing but slaps".
Universal Music Group generated €921m, or $1.02bn, in recorded music streaming revenues in the last quarter od 2019, and it's overall revenues in 2019 – across recorded music, publishing and other activities – hit €7.16bn ($8.04bn), according to Music Business Worldwide. That revenue number was up 14.0% year-on-year at constant currency and perimeter, recorded music streaming revenues leapt up by 21.5% in calendar 2019 to €3.33bn ($3.73bn). This means that streaming contributed some 59.1% of UMG’s total recorded music revenues in 2019, and physical recorded music revenues also grew in 2019 - up 3.1% year-on-year to €1.01bn ($1.14bn). Biggest money-makers: Billie Eilish, Post Malone, Taylor Swift, Ariana Grande, and 'A Star Is Born' OST.
Billie Eilish’s official James Bond theme ‘No Time To Die’ has gone straight in at Number One on this week’s Official Singles Chart in the UK with 90,000 chart sales across the past seven days including 10.6 million streams. This made for the biggest opening week for a Bond theme of all time, the biggest opening week for a single so far this year, Eilish's first UK Number One single. The result means Billie Eilish is now the youngest artist and the first female to take a Bond theme to the top of the Official Singles Chart.
A lovely story in the Rolling Stone about Jerry Lee Lewis who, after having a stroke and being paralyzed, started playing again. He had not played music since February 2019, when he suffered a serious stroke that robbed him of use of his right hand. When he entered Nashville recording studio late last month he told his team and producer T-Bone Burnett that he didn’t want a piano in the room at all: his right hand wasn’t working, and he just wanted to sing. But they kept one in the room just in case. When Lewis sat on its stool, he couldn’t help but lift his right hand onto the keys. To his own surprise, his fingers started moving...
David Bowie, Gorillaz, Black Sabbath, New Order, kd Lang, Notorious BIG, My Chemical Romance, John Lennon, Grateful Dead, Neil Young, Prince and Pink Floyd, among others, are releasing exclusive records on Record Store Day. The big day is on April 18.
ol #1 Dark Blue' by London band Caroline is nice, psychedelic folk floating on a violin; 'A Thousand Words' is some arty-pop by Jay Som; Pearl Jam released an animated video for their new song 'Superblood Wolfmoon'; Neck of the Woods play progy death metal on 'Vision Loser'; instrumental trio Vasudeva play psycho/post-rock on 'Breaks'; jazz-pop singer-songwriter and violinist Joe Kye advocates for immigrant families on 'Stick on Me', a great video to go with.
UK high-street bakery chain Greggs has handed Strormzy a "black card", an invite-only membership that grants the owner “special pastry privileges”, meaning - free pastries for life. Stormzy said he had “peaked” when he unwrapped the VIP card. The Independent reports the "black card" allows Stormzy to get meals for up to five people at any of their restaurants for free.
Musicians from EU countries will require work visas to play in the UK starting from next year, following the end of the Brexit transition period this December. The rule means that bands, DJs, solo musicians and their crews will all require Tier 5 visas in order to play gigs, festivals and club nights in the UK. It costs around £1,000 per band member from the UK/EU to obtain a visa, which takes a lot of preparation and can take months to get approved.
500 parents and music listeners took part in TickPick survey, which looked into how parents influenced the music taste of their children. 64% of parents said they attempted to influence the music their child enjoys, and just slightly smaller portion of parents (58%) were concerned with the appropriateness of the music their children listen to. Children were exposed to explicit Researches music at 12,5 years old, and first heard their future favourite band at 13. Ten following factors are the most important in determining a young music fan’s taste: radio, movies, father, mother, friends, siblings, TV, concerts and festivals, social media, and finally hobbies and interests.
There are encouraging signs of change in the gender gap on the country radio:
Maren Morris’s 'The Bones' is the first song by a solo female to stay at the summit of Country Airplay for two weeks since 2012
For five consecutive weeks, there have been five female-inclusive acts in the Top 20 of the Country Airplay chart
For the last six weeks, women have co-written the No. 1 song
Should Andress’ 'More Hearts Than Mine' and Gabby Barrett’s 'I Hope' go to No. 1 on Country Airplay, it will mark the first time two women have taken their debut singles to No. 1 in a calendar year since 2001
India dance troupe V Unbeatable has won season 15 of America's Got Talent: The Champions with their amazing performance that includes dancing and athleticism. BBC wrote that watching them perform is "is almost like watching an Olympics 100m final. It's exhilarating, nerve-wracking and an athletic marvel".
American rapper Pop Smoke has been shot dead during an armed robbery at his Hollywood Hills house yesterday morning. He was 20 years old. Two men wearing masks and hoodies reportedly entered Pop Smoke's home around 4:30 a.m. local time and fired multiple shots. Pop Smoke has been declared dead later in the hospital. Pop Smoke had his breakout single just last year with 'Welcome to the Party' from his debut mixtape 'Meet the Woo', that went on to be remixed by Nicki Minaj and Skepta. Later in 2019, Pop Smoke also collaborated with Travis Scott, and earlier this month he released his second mixtape, 'Meet the Woo 2'.
"When faced with certain doom, our natural instinct is not one of self-preservation but of dogged pleasure-seeking" - FACT says in an announcement of Blanck Mass' mix. "Oscillating from jubilation to dread from one moment to the next and veering from post-punk and harsh noise to synth-pop and kosmische, Power pulls together a selection of tracks that’ll have you confused as to whether you should be celebrating or running for cover" - FACT adds. Intense, strong, a hard listen. Listen to it - here.
In the week he turned 30, The Weeknd dropped 'After Hours', title song from his album of the same name, a slow-burning nightly record; Nnamdi released an unusual folk song 'Flowers to my Demons'; American soul/r'n'b veteran Swamp Dogg got some help from Bon Iver's Justin Vernon on 'Good, Better, Best'; Canadian dream-pop band Purity Ring shared a song 'Stardew' from their first new album in five years; Greg Dulli made a great sunny song 'A Ghost'; Pearl Jam go retro rock on 'Superblood Wolfmoon' experimentalists Horse Lords go reggaeton and make a cool video to go with 'People's Park'; Yves Tumor stays in the weird-pop lane with 'Gospel For A New Century'; underground rap legend Kool Keith released a collaboration 'Hallucinations' with duo Thetan; Sightless Pit, the new collaborative project of Lee Buford (The Body), Kristin Hayter (Lingua Ignota), and Dylan Walker (Full of Hell), have shared two new songs.
PJ Harvey documentary 'A Dog Called Money', about her trips to Washington D.C., Kosovo, and Afghanistan, will have its US theatrical premiere at Film Forum in New York City on March 18. Those trips inspired the Seamus Murphy documentary, as well as PJ Harvey’s 2016 album 'The Hope Six Demolition Project'. It's not hard to connect the dots on the map - destinies of both Kosovo and Afghanistan were heavily influenced by Washington politics...
Lewis Capaldi was the big winner at last night's Brit Awards picking up statues in Best new artist and Best song categories ('Someone You Love'). Dave won the No. 1 award, the Best album category, for 'Psychodrama', Mabel was awarded Best female award (30 years to the day her mother Neneh Cherry won her very own trophies), Stormzy got the Best male, and the Foals Best British group awards. Billie Eilish won in the International female category, with Tyler, the Creator wining in the International male category. Rising star award went to Celeste. Independent points out to Dave's political statement at the Brits - called out UK prime minister "racist", and lack of women, nominated or awarded.
Stella Wedell from Berlin was 12 when she went on a Spanish holiday and had her walkman with a cassette with Pet Shop Boys, Shaggy and Bob Marley on it. She lost the tape, either on the Costa Brava or in Mallorca, only to be reunited with the cassette tape quarter of a century later at an exhibition by the British artist and photographer Mandy Barker, who specialises in creating pieces out of plastic marine debris. According to Guardian, Barker had picked up the tape from the Playa de Barlovento beach in Lanzarote, hundreds of miles away from where it was lost, had it restored – and made playable. Apart from the almost-romantic side of the story, there is the ecological side, as prof Richard Thompson, the head of the international marine litter research unit at Plymouth University, said - "the fact it has survived intact shows the durability of plastic and the threat it can pose to the marine environment”.
There hasn’t been a live music show in China since late January due to, coronavirus, enter - live-streaming. China’s musicians and promoters are organizing “bedroom music festivals” and live-streamed club nights. Initially, an idea hatched by VOX Livehouse, the legendary punk rock dive located in Wuhan, the city at the heart of the COVID-19 outbreak, the “live-streamed music festival” is now a nationwide craze, and genre, too, is no barrier. Options range from pop and hardcore punk to techno and experimental improvisation. What it means on a deeper level remains to be seen, but for now, these events allow China’s so-called “anti-social generation” to redefine sociality their way.
According to new data from equality advocate Jada E. Watson, female artists occupied exactly 10 percent of the space available on country radio in 2019. That, Watson says, is "barely enough to be heard", and much lower than two decades ago. In 2000, on the 19 February 2000 chart, women made up 40% of the week’s top songs. Calculating the drop, the percentage of songs by women in the Top 20 declined 75% in the past 20 years.
British music producer, DJ and record-label founder Andrew Weatherall, who co-produced Primal Scream’s landmark 1991 album 'Screamadelica' and helped bring the acid house genre into the mainstream, died Monday in London aged 56. His production work on 'Screamadelica' created a revolutionary mix of indie, hard rock, house and rave, changing British music, for the better, of course. Uncompromising, pioneering, and a true alternative visionary, his influence on modern-day music cannot be underestimated - DJ Mag says in the obituary.
For musicians, an instrument is like a baby, the Guardian writes about the special bond and problems musician face tending the instrument, especially when traveling by plane. This battle came to the fore last week when the Malian musician Ballaké Sissoko accused US border officials of breaking his “impossible to replace” kora, a harp-like west African instrument, during a security check before flying from New York to Paris. He is on tour, playing in London next month, and he could not simply walk into a store to replace a hand-crafted, custom instrument.
Rage Against the Machine have stopped approximately 85% of ticket scalping with the release of the not-quite-as-overpriced official charity tickets. A part of their plan to combat ticket scalpers is setting aside a tenth of the tickets at each venue of their upcoming tour to “resell” themselves at a higher price, but still less than what scalpers are charging. The band then gives that extra money to charity rather than lining the pockets of ticket resellers. According to Tom Morello's tweets, RATM raised over $3 million raised for charity in the first couple of days
