Toots Hibbert, frontman of the legendary reggae band Toots and the Maytals, has died at the age of 77, after recently been taken to hospital with Covid-like symptoms, Variety reports. One of Jamaica's most influential musicians, he helped popularise reggae in the 1960s with songs like 'Pressure Drop', Monkey Man' and 'Funky Kingston'. Hibbert even claimed to have coined the genre's name, on 1968's 'Do The Reggay'.
Their first incarnation, in the 1990s, was a dance band Sub Sub made of ravers, then the Manchester trio reincarnated as a indie-rock band Doves in the 00s, now their third coming, after a decade long hiatus, is a pop-rock band, obviously happy to be making music. And critics love it. Stereogum chose 'The Universal Want' as their latest Album of the week because "their roughshod-then-glimmering anthems always sounded like something magical striving to break its tethers and take off". It's also Alexis Petridis' album of the week because "it's all heartfelt, well done". NME gave the album four stars (of five) saying they "bring thumping fairground anthems, and words of hope". Clash calls it "a long-awaited treat, it deserves a warm welcome".
Chinese boyband Produce Pandas aren't a parody, they're just average young men that form a, khm, boyband. They are promoting positivity, acting as good role models, but aged between 22 and 31 years old, they are practically geriatric in boyband terms, as Guardian reports. Otter, DING, Mr 17, Cass and Husky were recruited because they don’t fit the standard physique - “This is a plus-sized, all-singing, all-dancing idol band, which has never been seen before in the whole world”, as Mr 17 puts it. The name describes them, they believe - “We just look like a group of pandas: huggable, chubby shape, relaxed and happy attitude”.
A Spike Lee documentary 'American Utopia' about Talking Heads frontman David Byrne's 2019 concert show has opened the 2020 Toronto Film Festival, and the critics love it, BBC reports. 'American Utopia' shares its name with Byrne's 2018 album and 2019 Broadway show. Variety said it was "playful and entrancing", the Hollywood Reporter called it "simply spectacular", while IndieWire says it isn't "just a concert doc, but also a life-affirming, euphoria-producing, soul-energising sing-along protest film".
Alicia Keys announced she is teaming with the American National Football League for a $1 billion fund that will financially support Black businesses and communities, ALL Hip Hop reports. She announced the project at the NFL Kick-off event, and performed her new song 'Love Looks Better'. Keys said "the fund will create long term solutions with a focus on Black entrepreneurs, businesses, communities, Black schools, banks, and other Black institutions, while addressing persistent social, economic and environmental disparities". NFL faced years of backlash for allegedly blackballing former San Francisco quarterback Colin Kaepernick for his peaceful protests during the playing of the national anthem.
MusicAlly invited several experts to discuss the business and cultural differences between China and the rest of the world, in order to give insight to foreign artists trying to make it China, or to prepare artists for changes that come afterward in the rest of the world. Plenty of advice: artist branding must hit different touch-points; building a long-term, diversified approach across multiple businesses is essential; music fans quickly – and in the tens of millions – adopt new technologies, new methods of supporting artists or ways of consuming music; the audience seeks a different experience from artists.
Pitchfork has a lovely story about musicians giving music lessons during the pandemic to make up at least a portion of the money they would be making were they on tour. Also, some of the musician are taking music lessons (learning a second instrument) to support their colleagues. Andy Cush writes - "we’ll be able to perform again someday. When it comes, we’re going to put on the best shows you’ve ever seen. We’ve been practicing".
Fender is experiencing a record sales year, with FMIC chief executive Andy Mooney stating that 2020 “will be the biggest year of sales volume in Fender history, record days of double-digit growth, e-commerce sales and beginner gear sales. more guitars in 2020 than any other year", the New York Times reports. Fender’s guitar-instruction app, Fender Play saw its user base increase to 930,000 from 150,000 between late March and late June. Gibson, Taylor, Martin and others also report pandemic sales booms, showing the powers "of six-string therapy”.
On October 1st, Facebook will update its terms of service agreement which will make it harder for DJs to stream their sets since it will limit the use of videos, and unauthorized content may be removed, DJ TechTools reports. Which leaves Mixcloud Live the only truly “safe” place to stream live DJ sets. For years, Mixcloud has done the hard work of negotiating with rights organizations to be able to host hundreds of thousands of mixes that contain copy-written musical works. It’s a decent system and actively being developed. The other two options out there are YouTube and Twitch, both which have become somewhat more aggressive over DJ set copyright.
Music rights management company BMI generated a record $1.311 billion in revenue, a $28 million increase over the previous fiscal year (ended June 30). BMI distributed and administered also a record $1.233 billion to its affiliated songwriters, composers and publishers, 3% or $37 million more than last year, Variety reports. BMI estimates it absorbed a $60 million negative impact to its revenues due to the COVID-9 effect.
Janelle Monáe shared her rich new song 'Turntables', taken from the upcoming documentary 'All In: The Fight For Democracy'; Knucks dropped his jazzy grime song 'Thames'; Painted Shield is a no-supergroup, made of Pearl Jam’s Stone Gossard and Matt Chamberlain (former PJ), folk singer Mason Jennings and singer Brittany Davis, their new song 'I Am Your Country' is psychedelic, big, and dark; Eartheater's 'Volcano' is ethereal and calm; 'Letting Me Down' is a lovely song with a lovely video of the singer Margo Price dancing through ruins; Jesse Kivel just put some simple bass and a few guitar sounds in 'William'; the title says it all in Rodrigo y Gabriela's 'Electric Soul'.
Another great video by Adam Neely about white supremacy and music theory. A great topic to talk about (whether you agree with the thesis or not), starting with a comparison of Lady Gaga and Tchaikovsky.
"Festivals can go ahead safely with adequate testing" - Reading and Leeds boss Melvin Benn has told UK parliamentary committee about reopening venues at full capacity, Music Week reports. "You can’t have festivals with social distancing. You mass test" - Benn said, adding - "trying to open without full capacity is just not an option".
The last Jeremy Ivey video was a chilling vision of reality, the new one - quite the opposite, a light-hearted and ironic take on the "new normal". He says "these are the good old days no matter how bad they seem. Just remember, life could be a lot harder than it already is". Watch the video below.
Ronald 'Khalis' Bell, one of the founding members of Kool & the Gang, has died at the age of 68, Rolling Stone reports. He started the band with his brother Robert "Kool" Bell in 1964, becoming one of the most influential soul, funk and R'n'B bands of the 1970s and 1980s, with hits including 'Celebration', 'Ladies' Night' and 'Get Down On It'. As the band's musical director, Bell co-wrote most of their biggest hits.
Berlin’s mythical temple of bassy industrial techno, the Berghain club is reopening today as an art gallery, Guardian reports. Studio Berlin exhibition contains works by 115 international Berlin-based artists that were produced in the city during lockdown. The idea of the exhibition was “to send a message that Berlin’s cultural life is still very much alive”.
"The Band’s story seems perfectly concise and contained, ideal celluloid fare, and 'Once Were Brothers' director Daniel Roher does a fabulous job of scooping it up in one piece and placing it neatly on film" - Mark Beaumont writes in the review of the new documentary about the Americana godfathers. "Everything about The Band feels so steeped in dust and mythology that the entire film feels like a window into something strangely arcane".
Legendary soul singers Gladys Knight and Patti LaBelle are the next guests on Instagram live series Verzuz Battle, which will livestream Sunday, September 13. "The Godmother of Soul" and "the Empress of Soul" will show out at an official venue, The Fillmore in Philadelphia. Billboard wonders that "maybe the two superwomen will take on their Grammy-nominated 'Superwoman' collaboration", or maybe they'll pull from their "highly successful solo stints".
Sturgis Motorcycle Rally brought nearly 500,000 motorcycle enthusiasts to Sturgis, South Dakota between Aug. 7 and 16, and now over 250,000 cases of COVID-19 have been connected to the rally and concert, where Smash Mouth, Trapt, Fozzy, Drowning Pool, Quiet Riot and others performed. A new research paper from the German IZA Institute of Labor Economics also concludes that the Rally generated public health costs of approximately $12.2 billion.
Simeon Coxe, co-founder of the pioneering 1960s experimental electronic band Silver Apples, has died aged 82, the Quietus reports. The duo was active in a short period of time, 1967–1970, releasing two highly influential albums in that period. Bands including Stereolab, Spiritualized and Portishead have cited the group as an influence. Silver Apples also found common ground with Jimi Hendrix, with whom they jammed on 'Star Spangled Banner' in the studio prior to the guitarist’s legendary Woodstock appearance in 1969. The group reunited twice - 1996–1999, and 2006–2016, releasing equally innovative albums. Alexis Petridis wrote a lovely obituary to the guy who "never actually learned to play a keyboard".
Visas for foreign artists looking to tour in the United States are going up around 50% and include P and O visas which are the ones most foreign artists get and allow them to return to the U.S. within one and three years, NME reports. The O visa, which is for “Individuals with Extraordinary Ability or Achievement”, will go from $460 to $705, while the P visa, which is often used for family members of those individuals, will go up to $695. Wait times for visa will increase to 15 days, though there is a fast-track service for $1000. The new fees and policy changes go into effect October 2.
Ed Sheeran's rare early demo CD recorded by the pop star when he was 13 has been sold for £50,000 at an auction, Sky News reports. Sheeran self-released the promo CD 'Spinning Man' in 2005, with only 21 CD copies of the recording are known to exist, and the majority, apart from the one sold, belongs to Sheeran. He said he didn't "want anyone else to get hold of a copy! Most of the songs were about a girl called Claire. She was my first love when I was 13".
There were no festivals this summer to report from, so the Guardian looked back to make a list of 20 most iconic festivals, going back six decades. The earliest is Jimi Hendrix performing at Monterey Pop in 1967 - "this is peak Hendrixosity, a live performance that has probably never been bettered", and the latest being Beyoncé's performance at Coachella 2018, a - "superhuman desert session".Thank you FestTube
NPR has started a series We Insist about protest songs released this summer in the shadow of police brutality in the US. There is H.E.R.'s 'I Can't Breathe', Adia Victoria's 'South Gotta Change', Usher's 'I Cry', Tunde Adebimpe's 'People', Anderson Paak's 'Lockdown' and other songs (some are notably missing, like 'Pig Feet' and 'Legendary'). The violence the authorities condone isn't over yet, so, unfortunately, more songs are expected to the list.
American John Shepherd devoted nearly 30 years of his life to beaming records into space from his grandparents' home crammed with a mountain of electronic equipment. The records Shepherd transmitted were from a collection of 4,000 LPs, including Can, Harmonia, Fela Kuti, Ornette Coleman, Keith Jarrett, K. Leimer... 16 minute 'John Was Trying To Contact Aliens' is now available on Netflix.
Although the caste system was banned by the Indian constitution, caste-based discrimination has persisted and evolved into many sub-castes, especially in villages. Casteless Collective, a brainchild of Indian film director Pa Ranjith, are using music to shake up this notorious system of stratified social class. The band sings about manual scavenging, LGBTQ issues, violence against women, corruption, land grabs and voting rights. The songs however have elements of intrigue, humour, melancholy, playfulness and incredulousness tinged with sarcasm. Guardian presents the brave collective.
Billie Eilish has partnered with Fender to design and launch her own signature ukulele called Billie Eilish Uke, adorned with her signature “blohsh” symbol, uDiscover Music reports. The ukulele was the first instrument Eilish picked up at six years old, and she’s since used the ukulele on her own songs. Asked for her ukulele-playing advice, Eilish said: “The rules of ukulele are: If you know three chords, you can play any song. Ever”. It goes fo $279.
"I don’t feel like this currently, but I had never gone through wanting to kill myself, give up on my life until the past few years and I didn’t realize how important it was to embrace the ups n downs of life and enjoy (in joy) taking active steps to better it. it’s the Journey!" - Big Sean wrote in a candid series of tweets about his mental health. "I thought doing what I loved would always make me happy and satisfied, so when I got tired of it, I was confused and it drove me insane. Later I realized I was just growing n had to gain a new mentality and foundation on many levels n re-discover my passion! And try new things".
Former The Animals frontman Eric Burdon bashed Donald Trump after the American president used 'House of the Rising Sun' during a recent campaign event. “Even though nobody asked my permission, I wasn’t surprised to learn that #Trump #864511320 used #HouseoftheRisingSun for his rally the other day” Burdon wrote on Instagram, and scored - “A tale of sin and misery set in a brothel suits him so perfectly!”. In similar politics news, Rage Against the Machine's guitarist Tom Morello told Interview Magazine, ironically, that the band were responsible for Trump becoming president: "I would say that we are karmically entirely responsible, and my apologies". Morello is referring in part to the band's 'Sleep Now in the Fire' music video from 1999, which briefly includes an extra holding up a sign that says "Trump for President". "It's funny how that became an offhand joke. Offhand joke would be a good hashtag for 2020" - Morello says.
Gary Peacock, a versatile bassist who collaborated with some of the 20th century's most notable jazz musicians, acclaimed for his virtuosity and innovative approach, has died aged 85, NPR reports. Over a career that spanned seven decades, he played on recordings alongside Albert Ayler, Paul Bley, Bill Evans, Keith Jarrett, and Miles David, among others. Pianist Marc Copland said five years ago that Peacock "was arguably one of the tiny handful of a vanguard of innovators on his instrument, OK? In 2015, you can make the same argument".
Californian musician Lanny Cordola six years ago started The Miraculous Love Kids, a music school for girls in Kabul, Afghanistan. Two months ago it just perished. Besides this precious and once unimaginable school being shuttered, these girls’ lives are in peril. For now, laying low in their homes, having to wear a Hijab to go out is something that they have not grown up with - Spin points out and looks behind the hijab.
"The ability of a machine to do or outdo something humans do is interesting once at most" - Jan Swafford writes in her review of Beethoven's X symphony, which was finished by AI in the last two years. "Artificial intelligence can mimic art, but it can’t be expressive at it because, other than the definition of the word, it doesn’t know what expressive is. It also doesn’t know what excitement is, because there’s a reason people call excitement 'pulse-pounding', and computers don’t have pulses".
Ted Gioia looks back at the case of Peter Buffett, son of legendary investor Warren Buffett who had given his son some shares in Berkshire Hathaway, and at age 19 Peter wanted to raise money so he could prepare at leisure for a music career. To cover expenses, he sold his entire stock holdings for $123,000 - shares that would now be worth $275 million. “It was understood that I should expect nothing more” he later wrote in his memoir 'Life is What You Make It'.
To commemorate Pitchfork’s 25th anniversary, the music site has gathered 25 microgenres, great and small, that help illuminate music’s evolution over the past two and a half decades - since the start of Pitchfork. There's freak-folk, chillwave, lo-fi study beats, crabcore, shitgaze, night bus, and plenty other marvelous small ideas. Check 'em all out.
Teodoro “Teodorin” Nguema Obiang Mangue was born with power: since the late 1970s, his father had run the small central African country of Equatorial Guinea as a despot overseeing a murderous regime buoyed and financed by unending flows of crude oil. As a result, Teodorin enjoyed flaunting his wealth however he could. Some of his wealth Mangue spent building the world’s largest Michael Jackson memorabilia collection. Rolling Stone brings an excerpt from Casey Michel’s book, 'American Kleptocracy: How the U.S. Created the World’s Greatest Money Laundering Scheme in History' which describes how, among other themes, federal agents used Mangue's MJ fetish to track down millions in ill-gotten gains. The book is out November.
Former Wild Beasts frontman Hayden Thorpe releases his second solo album 'Moondust For My Diamond' which he wrote while spending plenty of time in nature. He spoke to The New Cue about trekking in time of lockdown: "There were days where there wouldn't be anyone for many miles and you're at the top of a mountain and there's no planes in the sky. There was some pretty distilled moments and I felt very lucky at that time. It was a beautiful winter, too, there was a lot of snow and it felt very light, lots of light bouncing around. In many ways, walking is similar meditation to music, it's a physical process, but it's also a mental one, it creates a synergy and an inner-rhythm that I find really inspiring. There's something about being suspended between rock and sky that does something to your senses, a drug-like effect really". He transposed that feeling to his new album - "I didn't want it to be about the top of the mountain, I wanted it to feel like the top of the mountain".
"The giants of the financial world are now really waking up to the modern music business’s true value – and they’re throwing billions at it", Music Business Worldwide writes announcing a major shift in music rights. New York-based investment management titan Apollo Global Management is investing up to $1 billion in HarbourView. Investment company Blackstone is about to launch a new joint entity with Hipgnosis, that will have a billion dollars or significantly more to spend on music copyrights. KKR (& Co Inc) – which already has an existing billion-dollar investment vehicle in music running with BMG – has a portfolio of assets under its management worth $234 billion.
Big Thief touch into death and love on ‘Change’, although simply and directly; Robert Glasper does his jazz/hip-hop/r’n’b thing on ‘Shine’; Dean Wareham sends a strong and simple message about loss on ‘As Much As It Was Worth’ - “it hurts, just as much as it was worth”; Sonically, Stick in the Wheel are delicate and gentle combining electronics and folk, emotionally, on ‘The Cuckoo’ they’re quite heavy.
"One of the primary reasons most musicians—not just the top .01 percent—need to make money outside of recorded music is because the economics of streaming make it incredibly difficult to make a living, much less generate wealth, off listening alone. This is why the music business must fundamentally reconsider the potential for interactivity, community building, and immersion" - Dave Edwards, head of revenue at the music streaming platform Audiomack, notes in an analysis for tech blog Future.
Song Exploder podcast shared a "very different and special episode of the show" - about John Lennon song 'God'. Song Exploder have never tried making a posthumous episode before, because hearing directly from the artist is at the heart of the show. However, with all the John Lennon interview archives, plus all the isolated tracks from the recordings, and the original demo, it turned out a legitimate, different and special episode of the show.
