| If you don't like this, we don't care, and I think that that's kind of the essence of what popular music should be. |
| |
|
|
 |
U.S. Maels: Ron and Russell Mael of Sparks in England, Oct. 16, 1975.
(Evening Standard/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
|
|
|
|
|
“If you don't like this, we don't care, and I think that that's kind of the essence of what popular music should be.”
|
|
|
|
Ron Mael, Sparks, in "The Sparks Brothers"
|
|
|
|
|
Number One Documentary in Heaven
If you were to make a list of all the bands in the history of rock who don't need a documentary made about them, never mind one that runs nearly two and a half hours, SPARKS might be high up there. Most people haven't heard of them, which loses you about 90 percent of your potential audience right from the start, and a good percentage of those who've heard of them and love them aren’t sure they *want* to know too much about them. It could be dangerous. Sparks exist in a kind of unexplainable parallel universe of glam-rock, art-rock and synth-pop hits that some of us may have been collectively dreaming for the past several decades. It isn't unreasonable to assume that knowing anything more than that could wake us up and ruin it. Why chance it?
Director—and superfan—EDGAR WRIGHT solves all these issues with his strange, whimsical documentary THE SPARKS BROTHERS, which premiered at SUNDANCE last month, by making what could easily be mistaken for a made-up movie about a made-up band. Like a way less obvious, and funnier, THIS IS SPINAL TAP. Are we really supposed to believe brothers RUSSELL and RON MAEL when they tell us their father took them to Saturday afternoon matinees without paying attention to whether the movie had started or not? Are we supposed to take it on faith that a half-century later they made a rock opera about INGMAR BERGMAN? Were JOY DIVISION, ERASURE, HEAVEN 17 and basically every other post-punk and synth-pop band little more than Sparks rip-offs? Is JACK ANTONOFF doing an improv bit when he says, "It's the ultimate experience of what you want from your artist—there's just no connection to what is actually going on in the world"?
Yes, yes, sort of and, apparently, no. I think.
Part of the wonder of Sparks is that it turns out you can make that kind of movie simply by asking them to tell their story, which Wright gets them to do with absolute earnestness and near-miraculous patience. This is who they are: either so weird that all of this seems perfectly normal by the time they're done taking you through their entire discography of two-dozen albums, one by one, in order, with a handful of failures and a few radical changes of direction along the way, or so normal that they end up seeming incredibly weird. You decide.
The basic question this 100 percent true mockumentary sets out to answer, which it asks as soon as the Maels are done performing the film's theme song (entire lyric: "Fanfare / The opening film fanfare / Documentary film fanfare / Edgar Wright film fanfare"), is: "How can Ron and Russell Mael be successful, underrated, hugely influential and overlooked all at the same time?" You'll be hard-pressed to disagree with any part of that premise by the end.
I found myself asking one or two more questions: In this world of GALLAGHERs, GIBBs and other notoriously volatile brother acts, are the Maels really as inseparable as they appear, and how have they kept their project going for 50 years? My favorite scene is near the end, when we see the two of them, Russell the singer and Ron the keyboardist and primary songwriter, sitting at side-by-side workstations in a Hollywood house, silently communicating as they go about the day, looking like they're solving math problems but more likely composing a song about a hippopotamus. It was at that moment that I understood everything I had been watching for the past two-plus hours was entirely true. And beautiful. Who could possibly have made that part up?
May THE SPARKS BROTHERS be in wide release soon—or at least underground, parallel-universe release. Whichever everyone involved thinks is most appropriate.
Framing Everybody Else
Two reminders that the treatment of BRITNEY SPEARS by the media and the world, as documented in FRAMING BRITNEY SPEARS, wasn't an aberration, a product of a different time, or a lesson. It was a mistake we're bound to repeat, in one form or another, until the end of time. New Zealand's STUFF on the 10 (!!!) years it took REBECCA BLACK to recover from the brutal backlash to her pop hit "FRIDAY," which included both cyberbullying and in-person bullying. And Variety's DANIEL D'ADDARIO on the trainwreck that was CLAUDIA CONWAY's audition on AMERICAN IDOL Sunday night, which I had promised not to write about, but this is about the show, not her. She was a teenager trying her best under the intrusive and unnecessary watch of a production crew and three judges who'll tell you they just wanted to be helpful. One of them, LUKE BRYAN, even voted no—I'd put my money on that being scripted—before the other two sent her on to Hollywood and, no doubt, more intrusive episodes to come.
Etc Etc Etc
The rising price of a DABABY feature: $5,000 in 2019. $300,000 today, he says. Top that, Bitcoin... Life after birth: NETFLIX tells the origin story of the NOTORIOUS B.I.G. in BIGGIE: I GOT A STORY TO TELL, which drops March 1... Texas flood? MIDLAND, MIRANDA LAMBERT, DWIGHT YOAKAM and HANK WILLIAMS JR. are booked for multi-night stands in April at the Texas-sized indoor honky-tonk BILLY BOB'S, in Fort Worth. Lambert told fans her show will be "reduced capacity and distanced with strict COVID protocols"... Reconsider me: TAYLOR SWIFT's rerecorded FEARLESS will be eligible for RE-GRAMMYS next year. The original won the Grammy for Album of the Year in 2010.
Rest in Peace
JOHNNY PACHECO wasn't just the co-founder and creative head of FANIA RECORDS, the dominant label in salsa music. He also helped create salsa itself and, especially in collaboration with CELIA CRUZ, made some of the label's—and the genre's—most enduring records... Pioneering studio console designer RUPERT NEVE is probably responsible, directly or indirectly, for the EQ on whatever record you're listening to right now. Among many other things. "The sound of every record you liked," British singer-songwriter FRANK TURNER said, "was shaped by his work"... RUSS THYRET signed a teenager named PRINCE ROGERS NELSON to WARNER BROS. RECORDS in the late 1970s and eventually became chairman and CEO of the only label he ever worked for. Loyalty and ears. We need more of that, please.
RIP also: Avant-garde jazz percussionist MILFORD GRAVES (note to all streaming services: You're missing most of his catalog)... Dance music artist/DJ ARI GOLD... LA rapper KETCHY THE GREAT, who worked with DRAKEO THE RULER and 03 GREEDO... Classical guitarist/composer JORGE MOREL... LARRY ROBINS, who managed NATALIE COLE and PETER, PAUL & MARY.
|
|
|
| Matty Karas (@troubledoll), curator |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
The Atlantic |
|
| Can Caroline Shaw Make Classical Cool? |
| by Jonathan Gharraie |
| Her innovative work won her a Pulitzer Prize at age 30. She’s collaborated with Kanye and Nas. What does her success mean for the long-suffering genre? |
|
 |
|
Vulture |
|
| Nothing Is Flattening Music Like TikTok |
| by Craig Jenkins |
| “Drivers License,” the latest song to top the charts after a viral challenge, is telling of the kind of music this app rewards. |
|
 |
|
Billboard |
|
| How Grown-Up Tumblr Teens Are Bringing Early-‘10s Alternative Back to the Charts |
| by Danielle Chelosky |
| If music isn't the most important thing in the world, it at least is on the Internet. The number one tag on Tumblr is #Spotify; the biggest decision in making a TikTok is choosing what song goes in the background. |
|
 |
|
Los Angeles Times |
|
| I was an MTV VJ during peak Britney. 'Framing Britney Spears' made me ashamed ... and hopeful |
| by Dave Holmes |
| Dave Holmes, former host of MTV's "Total Request Live," reflects on the media's mistreatment of Britney Spears and the hope he finds in a new generation's voices. |
|
 |
|
Consequence of Sound |
|
| Jazz Great Milford Graves Drummed and Lived to the Rhythm of His Heart |
| by Robert Ham |
| The pioneering drummer dedicated a lifetime to exploring a universe of rhythms and beats. |
|
 |
|
Level |
|
| How Open Mike Eagle Survived His Demons Through Anime |
| by Tirhakah Love |
| Life changes hit the rapper hard - and shows like ‘Tokyo Ghoul’ helped him process it all. |
|
| rantnrave:// An insightful read about a moment that was painful to watch |
|
|
 |
|
Variety |
|
| How ‘American Idol’ Used Claudia Conway |
| by Daniel D'Addario |
| A series whose long-term mission has been making ordinary people into celebrities now seeks to convert a celebrity into an ordinary person, and to borrow some of her ability to spark conversation along the way. |
|
 |
|
No Depression |
|
| Does Morgan Wallen Represent Country Music? |
| by Karen Pittelman |
| This essay, which first appeared as a thread on singer-songwriter Karen Pittelman's Twitter account, addresses the "not who we are" reactions after country radio star Morgan Wallen was seen on video using a racial slur. |
|
 |
|
The Guardian |
|
| 'He was the Steve Jobs of audio': how Rupert Neve changed the sound of music |
| by William Stokes |
| The late audio engineer revolutionised recording with an innovative EQ design, his innovations used by everyone from the Queen to Dave Grohl. |
|
 |
|
The New York Times |
|
| Johnny Pacheco, Who Helped Bring Salsa to the World, Dies at 85 |
| by Elias E. Lopez |
| A Dominican-born bandleader and songwriter, he co-founded Fania Records, known as the Motown of Salsa. |
|
|
 |
|
Music Business Worldwide |
|
| Universal’s Amsterdam adventure will leave even slender shareholders of Vivendi loaded |
| by Tim Ingham |
| Vivendi is planning to distribute 60% equity in UMG to its shareholders. Here's how the math works out. |
|
| rantnrave:// Word of the day/week/year: "unknown" |
|
|
 |
|
Pollstar |
|
| The New Normal: Agents, Promoters Hurry And Wait As 2021 Concert Season Takes Shape |
| by Ryan Borba |
| When speaking with anyone in the live entertainment business, the question still remains “when”? |
|
|
|
The Atlantic |
|
| Taylor Swift Misses the Old Taylor Swift, Too |
| by Shirley Li |
| The artist’s first release from her re-recording project is much more than a nostalgia play. It’s a love letter. |
|
|
|
Los Angeles Times |
|
| Compton Cowboy Randy Savvy has lost friends to violence. This time, he put his grief to song |
| by Dorany Pineda |
| Compton Cowboys founder Randy Savvy talks about the tragedies that inspired his debut rap song, "Colorblind," and working with hometown hero Dr. Dre. |
|
|
|
The New York Times |
|
| Obscure Musicology Journal Sparks Battles Over Race and Free Speech |
| by Michael Powell |
| A scholar's address about racism and music theory was met with a vituperative, personal response by a small journal. It faced calls to cease publishing. |
|
 |
|
NPR |
|
| Music Therapy Brings Solace To COVID-19 Patients And Healers |
| by Elizabeth Blair |
| Even when forced online by the pandemic, music therapy sessions continue to help patients in some ways talk therapy can't. "Music is this portal," says one therapist and COVID-19 long-hauler. |
|
|
|
Variety |
|
| Billie Holiday’s ‘God Bless the Child’ Gave Blacks Their Own Mournful But Hopeful ‘Over the Rainbow’ |
| by Jeremy Helligar |
| A columnist writes that "God Bless the Child" is at least as historically important as "Strange Fruit" to the Black community, with its bracing mixture of hard-scrabble practicality and hope. |
|
 |
|
Audiofemme |
|
| Tana Douglas Relives Her Life as Australia’s First Female Roadie in LOUD Memoir |
| by Cat Woods |
| Tana Douglas, Australia’s first female roadie, tells all in her memoir LOUD - from living with AC/DC to supporting other women backstage. |
|
 |
|
The Independent |
|
| Alice Cooper interview: ‘You could cut off your arm and eat it on stage now. The audience is shock proof’ |
| by Jim Farber |
| It’s 50 years since ‘I’m Eighteen’ made a star of the rocker who prefigured the gender-fluid glam rock era. He talks to Jim Farber about his new album, what Bowie borrowed, and how, before Trump, no one thought there’d be a worse president than Nixon. |
|
|
|
The Guardian |
|
| Joseph Middleton: Brexit is destroying music. Why has the government let this happen? |
| by Joseph Middleton |
| Despite repeated assurances that the government understood the need for frictionless travel after Brexit, hugely increased bureaucracy and costs look set to devastate the present -- and the future -- of musicians and music-making in the UK. |
|
 |
|
JazzTimes |
|
| Loss and Grief in the Jazz Community |
| by Shaun Brady |
| From the coronavirus pandemic to the storming of the Capitol, the events of the past 12 months have left the jazz community—like the rest of the world—mired in deep pain. How can we cope with it all? |
|
|
|
| Music | Media | Sports | Fashion | Tech |
|
“REDEF is dedicated to my mother, who nurtured and encouraged my interest in
everything and slightly regrets the day she taught me to always ask ‘why?’” |
|
|
 |
|
| Jason Hirschhorn |
| CEO & Chief Curator |
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
