Grammy-winning producer Ian Brennan made a selection of 14 global music artists, who weren't nominated for Grammy. Some of them are Mulatu Astatke - “the father of Ethio-jazz”, OOIOO - Japanese noise/post-rock quartet, Russian throat-singers Huun-Huur-Tu, Palestinian rap collective Da Arabian MCs featuring distinctive sound, The Good Ones - Rwandan folk...
“A whole lot of minds have to see something invisible. The act of making music - that could be spiritual. You’re taking something that’s not physically seen and you’re bringing it from nowhere, pulling it from thin air, so people can experience it” - folk-blues-soul singer Valerie June says beautifully in the New York Times interview about new album 'The Moon and Stars: Prescriptions for Dreamers', out now. The Times likes how it’s "rich, strange and mercifully free of the self-importance that infuses so much modern music", whereas RIFF declares it a "smart, adventurous and downright joyful listen".
The Ringer points out to the fact that makes it seem like the last 20 years hadn't ever happened, according to the Grammys at least. So, Beyonce hasn't won Album of the Year Grammy, Kendrick Lamar hasn't won album of the year, and Kanye West hasn't. The Ringer wants us to ignore the Grammys. Why not repair it?!?
The UK is one of the countries in the world with the fastest-growing number of people vaccinated against Covid-19, with 10 million extra vaccinations currently available in the UK which will start to be given out this week. It's predicted that all over 50s could receive their second jab by the end of March, with all over 40s receiving a vaccination in April and the 30-39 age group beginning to receive their jabs by the end of that month. The 18-29 bracket will receive doses from May. MixMag says rightfully this is all good news for clubs that can currently reopen from June 21, as well as for the festival season in the UK and abroad.
Six Degrees Records is releasing today 'I’ve Forgotten Now Who I Used to Be', an album of field recordings from Ghana "witch" camps - in reality, refugee camps for women accused of witchcraft. It was produced by Grammy-winning producer Ian Brennan (Tinariwen, Zomba Prison Project).
"Ostensibly the story of Nick Cave’s formative years, it is so beautifully constructed that one is not just delivered besides the young Cave, but also next to the modern version" - The New Cue says recommending Mark Mordue's new book 'Boy on Fire'. The writer also describes the difficult path he took while writing it - "basically the project just got bigger and bigger as the range and the depth of Nick Cave’s output kept rolling on. I ended up in a situation where I had long ago spent my advance. If I was working on the book, I was not earning money to live and support a family. If I was doing freelance journalism and teaching writing at uni, I was not working on the book. So nothing was right with anyone anywhere. Eventually my former publisher got tired of me. My relationship collapsed. I had nowhere stable to live. Depression, chaos, drinking … it was the full disaster as I tried to hang on to myself and put it all back together again. That is the other side to the book when people say it took me ten years. Well, really, five years to write it, yeah, and another five years to learn how to live again". Nick Cave also likes it.
Routenote brings the numbers in - lists the ten largest music streaming services by number of tracks in their catalogue. The undisputable No. 1 is SoundCloud with 200 million songs, Deezer follows with 72 million songs, while the next five - Apple Music, Tidal, Spotify, Amazon, Qobuz - host around 70 million songs each. Napster follows with 60 million, while YouTube Music and KKBOX round up the Top 10 with 50 million songs each.
"Atmospheric techno, ‘00s R&B, sampled orchestras and cut-up beats all at once" - The New Cue describes Smerz, their new favourite artist of the week. The Norvegian duo takes their name from the German phrase for heartbreak - “herzschmerz”, and have released their debut album 'Believer' on XL Recordings last month. Pitchfork has described it quite accurately: "There’s a creeping insistence to this music, thriving off a dual sense of unease and temptation, and the best songs blur the line between hedonism and anxiety". The band says it's "a record about love and friendship".
American president Joe Biden has signed a $1.9 trillion stimulus package legislation known as the American Rescue Plan, which adds $1.25 billion to Shuttered Venue Operators Grant program, NBC reports. This will allow struggling music venues across the US to receive an added lifeline. It also allows venue owners to apply for Paycheck Protection Loans. Music venues owners will be allowed to apply for both a loan and a grant.
Pussy Riot have shared a new video 'Panic Attack' filmed on 106 cameras for an immersive AR experience rendered through a video game engine (watch it below). The video was directed by Asad J. Malik, and the song comes from a three-song Pussy Riot EP called 'Panic Attack', featuring singles 'TOXIC' with Dorian Electra and produced by 100 gecs’ Dylan Brady and 'Sexist' featuring Hofmannita.
"Twitter shaman Jack Dorsey’s recent acquisition of Jay-Z’s streaming service, Tidal, by his company, Square points to something that is bubbling up in the business right now that is still early, but ultimately will build into a huge, new movement of massively monetizing direct artist-fan connection and engagement" - Peter Csathy writes in his CoS editorial, adding - "Just think of the virtual/tangible 'combo package' possibilities – where passionate superfans happily pay premium prices to support and get ever-closer to the artists they love in all modes of engagement".
Fast Company chooses 10 companies that are changing the face of the music industry. They are: Neon16 - a talent incubator and music label for Latin music, BeatStars - an online marketplace for producers to sell their beats to artists, Royalty Exchange - a marketplace allowing artists who are earning royalties to sell them to investors during online auctions, Audiomack - a music streaming and discovering platform aiming at Africa, Stem - a music distribution platform making it easier to artists, as well as Verzuz, Parkwood Entertainment, Harmonix, Bandcamp, and Dolby.
"A gentle, reflective album that includes songs about education, poverty and righteous conduct, providing indirect commentary on Mali’s parlous political situation" - Guardian writes in praise of Anansy Cissé's new album 'Anoura'. Written after a run-in with an armed thug, Mali guitarist's album offers a positive message in these songs of love, respect and hope for better times ahead. Roots World appreciates how "in keeping with much Malian music the percussion is minimal and understated, allowing the melodic rhythmic patterns to work across each other uncluttered and for all its tonal variety there is a fine sense of space pervading this album".
In Frankfurt, people can order a classical concert to their door with the musicians from the Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra cycling to the audience's doors. The concerts last up to 10 minutes and are free, but donations are welcome.
NASA released "the first acoustic recording of laser impacts on a rock target on Mars". The short audio sequence features the sound of 30 impacts, recorded by a microphone on the rover, CNet reports. The Quietus explains how Mars, like the few other outer space events audible within our limited hearing range, is mostly silent, and how actually do the sounds we hear come to be heard by us.
Belgium inventor Lou Ottens, who led the project of developing a cassette tape, has died at the age of 94, NPR reports. He was the head of product development at Philips’s electronics factory in Hasselt, Belgium in early 1960s when he told his team to develop an audio device that was smaller, cheaper and easier to use than the reel-to-reel tape recorder because that one was to much of a hassle. As a result, they invented the cassette tape, which went on to be sold in billions. Ottens spearheaded another advance in electronics, working on a Philips team that jointly introduced the compact disc with Sony in 1982.
Radio has become an increasingly vital source of community and comfort for its listeners - DJ Mag argues in an interesting article about the old medium. The audience has grown substantially - much-loved independent station NTS' listener numbers have grown from 1.5 million monthly listeners in 2019 to 2.5 million a year later. A similar trend is seen in other stations, which also proves that the radio is being listened to not only in the car.
An interesting if somewhat controversial thought by music manager Lucas Keller in Out Magazine: “I think we’re seeing the death of the artist. Songs are fully alive. I think we’re hitting a point in time where it’s going to be more and more difficult to have follow-up hits for an artist. I see it happening. There’s so much music. There are so many songs. People listen to playlists and just because they fall in love with the song doesn’t mean [they fall in love with the artist]". Keller represents some of the most successful artists, songwriters, and DJs in the world.
A great read in the Music Journalism Insider about rock fanzines from the late period of the Soviet Union, from 1977 to 1991, written by Russian academic Kat Ganskaya. Roxy from Leningrad (St Petersburg today) was the first big fanzine, Zerkalo (The Mirror) from Moscow followed, founded by Artemiy Troitsky, the first DJ in the USSR and one of the founding fathers of music journalism in the Russian language. One of the bigger fanzines was Kontrkultura (Counterculture), which can also be read as "counter the cult of UR".
American media are looking into clues about future performances after watching Patti Smith perform at the Brooklyn Museum Beaux-Arts. Rolling Stone was there with other 50-ish people: "We’ve forgotten how to have a good time with each other. It’s going to take time to figure out what makes sense for each individual, how to enjoy being alive together again. But this was a start". Smith's show was a part of NY PopsUp, a series of over 300 performances spread across the state and five boroughs over 100 days. Pitchfork saw it as a move forward: "If NY PopsUp is meant to initiate the baby steps needed to inch our way back to a normal and robust music scene, it seemed like a productive rehearsal for both audience and performer".
Maxwell Farrington & Le SuperHomard share a baroque pop 'We, Us the Pharaohs'; Skullcrusher goes totally mellow on 'Storm in Summer'; Lucy Dacus is minimal yet tense on 'Thumbs'; (almost) anonymous band Fuckin Whatever share psych-pop song 'Trash'; Sophie completed the collaborative track 'JSLOiPNHIE' with Jlin just before they died; Nadja share ambient industrial sludge song 'Luminous Rot'; Oddisee is laid back on 'No Trouble'; actor and singer Matt Berry shares a psychedelic instrumental 'Aboard'; Sarah Neufeld shares 'With Love and Blindness' from her new album, which documents an “intense, heart-wrenching, insane two years” in her life; Home Is Where share post-rock screamo 'Sewn Together From The Membrane Of The Great Sea Cucumber'.
An Instagram user ipaddrummer posted various short clips of drum covers on an iPad, of songs by Metallica, Slipknot, Iron Maiden, System of a Down, Slayer, Cannibal Corpse, Aerosmith, and many others, and it's just as amazing as it is funny.
Crime drama 'City of Lies' about the murder of Notorious B.I.G. is finally coming out next week (it was postponed three years ago due to Johnny Depp’s public image at the time). 'City of Lies' is based on the true story of Biggie's death in 1997. The movie follows a retired LAPD detective named Russell Poole (Depp) and a journalist (Forest Whitaker) as they try to uncover the identities of those responsible for the murders of Tupac Shakur and Biggie.
The Weeknd has six nominations for Juno Awards 2021, including nods for Album of the Year, Single of the Year and Artist of the Year. Jessie Reyez, JP Saxe and Justin Bieber each follow closely behind with five nominations each. Also nominated are Savannah Ré, Arkells, TOBi, Half Moon Run, the Glorious Sons, Alanis Morissette, Shay Lia, Kaytranada, WondaGurl, Murda Beatz, Alessia Cara, Crown Lands, Céline Dion, Leonard Cohen, NAV and Shawn Mendes.
While Americans mostly listen to a new generation of hip-hop, country, and pop acts, the Brits prefer both classic and modern rock bands, the US and the UK official charts show, Loudwire reports. Zero rock albums have topped the US chart in the U.S. in 2021 so far, and the last year it was only AC/DC and Machine Gun Kelly who occupied the No. 1 spot. Furthermore, rock has claimed the No. 1 spot just four times - by AC/DC, MGK, Tool, Slipknot - in the last two-and-half years. On the other side of the Atlantic, five rock albums - by You Me at Six, Bring Me the Horizon, Foo Fighters, Mogwai, and Architects - have topped the U.K. Albums Chart in 2021 alone. In 2020, a total of 15 rock artists held the top spot on the U.K. Albums Chart, including Green Day, Bruce Springsteen, Biffy Clyro, Yungblud, the 1975, and Paul McCartney.
Cardi B's major-label debut single 'Bodak Yellow' has been certified diamond by the Recording Industry Association of America, meaning it has moved 10 million units, Complex reports. The New York native is the first female rapper to achieve a diamond single award. One equivalent song unit is equal to a single digital song sale, or 150 on-demand audio and/or video streams.
Janelle Monae performed her anthemic song 'Turntables' on Stephen Colbert's The Late Show. She wrote the song for the documentary 'All In: The Fight for Democracy', starring Stacey Abrams, and in this rendition, it came out as soul Rage Against The Machine.
Producers Swizz Beatz and Timbaland have sold their Verzuz project to Triller, joining also the Triller Verzuz management team to help oversee music and other company strategies, LA Times reports. Timbaland and Swizz Beatz have become large shareholders in Triller Network and in turn have allocated part of their equity stake to the 43 performers who’ve appeared on Verzuz to date, including John Legend, DMX, Alicia Keys, Ashanti, Rick Ross, Patti LaBelle, Gucci Mane, Jeezy, RZA, The Dream, Brandy, Monica, DJ Premier, Erykah Badu, Jill Scott. Pairing popular artists from the worlds of R&B, hip-hop, dancehall and gospel, Verzuz was launched in March 2020 in the wake of COVID-19. Since then, the platform has boosted sales and streams for its featured artists in addition to accumulating more than 5 billion impressions.
"This isn't a typical music documentary. It’s as personal as it gets" - director Leigh Brooks says about 'The Sound of Scars', his new docu about Brooklyn alt-metal vets Life of Agony. The 90-minute film features new interviews with band members and their families, as well as archival footage, rare photographs, and "lost" interviews, and it looks at lead vocalist Mina Caputo's gender transition.
Monty Python member Eric Idle shared an insight into the production of the troupes 1975 film 'Monty Python and the Holy Grail', Rolling Stone reports. According to his tweet, British rock stars were essential in financing it - Led Zeppelin contributed £31,500, Pink Floyd Music ponied up £21,000, and Jethro Tull frontman Ian Anderson put in £6,300 of his own money. Monty Python's other movie 'Life of Brian' came out thanks to a musician as well - The Beatles legend George Harrison mortgaged his house and put that money in the movie.
Experimental music newsletter Tone Glow selects 31 albums and songs from the first quarter of 2022. An interesting selection of albums by ASP Doze, Voivod, Toshimaru Nakamura, Bengt Berger, Matches and others. Check the full list here!
An interesting angle on music-making by Paddy Considine from Riding The Low in The New Cue interview - "It’s purely my own self-expression. It’s completely unfiltered. It doesn't go through any other process. I'm not giving a performance and second guessing what I'm doing. I'm not having to run it past script supervisors, or financiers or anything like that. I'm not doing a performance and leaving it to the mercy of editors. It's the thing that I find is the truest form of expression that I have, really... I think only a few times when I've acted, and possibly directed, has it been purely from my soul, if you like".
"The album is the sound of a band stretching into new shapes" - NME writes in a review of Fontaines D.C.'s 'Skinty Fia'. It's also Alexis Petridis' Album of the Week, because - "In a polarised era, there’s something cheering about Fontaines DC’s bold refusal to join in, to deal instead in shades of grey and equivocation. There’s also something bold about their disinclination to rely on the most immediate aspect of their sound". Pitchfork tries to go to the bottom of it: "The Irish post-punk band’s most demanding and musically adventurous album is also its most open-hearted, striking a perfect balance between tough and tender".
"Recent rulings may herald a turning of the tide. It is hoped that the US appeal in Dark Horse and the UK court’s findings in Smith v Dryden and Sheeran v Chokri signal the end of a damaging, regressive culture of speculative claims over commonplace and, critically, much-loved musical elements" - lawyers Simon Goodbody and Mark Krais that represented Ed Sheeran in his recent copyright infringement bat
"When you enter into that space, try to be mindful of what's happening and pay attention and don't talk" - Big Thief's Adriane Lenker says in her recent Instagram video about the need for silence at concerts - "There is a real magic that happens when there is... actual silence."
Plenty of tamed sexuality and running in the latest Interpol and ††† (Crosses) videos. New York post punk band shared 'Something Changed' from their upcoming seventh studio album with a video showing a naked pair on the run from Interpol's own Paul Banks. “Reality and reverie converge and our two lead characters find themselves in a kind of dream state – being pursued inexorably by an ominous figure (played by myself.) The lives of the three are intertwined in a nebula of fear, retribution, desire, and defiance. I’m sure you could look at a psychoanalysis, in the context of a pandemic, why an artist who typically writes morose shit might go in a different direction” - Banks explained the narrative behind the video. ††† (Crosses) also go to explore sexuality in their latest video 'Protection'.
Drake has generated more U.S. on-demand streams in 2021 than the total number of pre-1980 records combine, according to Billboard. The Luminate numbers show that tracks from the ’50s to 1979 made up only 0.6% of streams last year, whereas Drake, whose first album came out 15 years ago, was responsible for 0.8% of all streams in 2021. Across the 988.154 billion U.S. streams from 2021, the catalog business made up 69.8% of the album consumption units in 2021, a 4.1% increase from 2020. Of that number, 90% of these units were from records relea
Trapital's Dan Runcie looks into the recent poor performance of Coi Leray's latest album, compared to his social media presence: "On most social media networks, it’s impossible to segment your followers into different categories. Are your fans there because they love your music? Or because they like you as a person? Or do they find your posts entertaining? Do they follow because they find you attractive? Or do they love the Shade Room-worthy posts you share and don’t want to miss the tea? For some artists, it’s all of those combined, but most of the time it’s not".
"Turning the volume down on a brutal metal riff feels almost sacrilegious, like it's disrespectful to the music to hear it at anything but full volume. But why? Many genres can be enjoyed perfectly fine at a nice, comfortably quiet level, but metal resists that, and metalheads reject those efforts. So what's going on? Why does metal only work when it's loud as hell?" - music theorist 12tone asks in his latest video. Watch it below!
"'Aethiopes' is a dense text full of bursts of language that demand serious thought and analysis. You could transcribe all of woods’ lyrics on the album and sell them as a poetry book, and on paper, they’d cut deeper than most of the (admittedly very little) poetry that I’ve forced myself to read over the years. But this isn’t homework. This is a rap record, and it’s a great one" - Stereogum writes reviewing billy woods' new album. "With Preservation behind the boards on every track, 'Aethiopes' skids across eras, countries, and cultures... A clear mid-career apex that shoves woods’ always outlandish style into territories further afield than ever before" - Pitchfork wrote.
