| I feel like some of us saw the exit, and the building was on fire, and now we are trying to talk everyone into following us to the exit so we don’t get burned. |
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Lorde on "The Late Show With Stephen Colbert," July 15, 2021.
(Scott Kowalchyk/CBS/Getty Images)
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“I feel like some of us saw the exit, and the building was on fire, and now we are trying to talk everyone into following us to the exit so we don’t get burned.”
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How to Disappear Completely
It's Friday, and that means new music from LORDE, who, teenage angst having paid off well over the past eight years, steps back to reconsider and reset her musical journey on her third album, SOLAR POWER. A "lovable" and "deeply uncool" album, Marianne Eloise writes in the Cut, that serves as "a eulogy for Lorde as we once knew her." "Few have attempted to bid farewell to mainstream pop stardom as prettily as Lorde does on her third album," suggests the Guardian's Alexis Petridis. You'll find some negative reactions, too, if you look around, as all such albums will elicit. Maybe they'll change their minds over time. "I would almost value people not understanding it at first," the Kiwi singer told the New York Times last week. "It's my pleasure to confound"... The Lordes of chaos, if you will, are DEAFHEAVEN, the San Francisco metal band whose fifth album, INFINITE GRANITE, also out today, presents a not dissimilar challenge to longtime fans. "The most polarizing metal album in recent memory," ventures the Ringer's Ian Cohen, "hardly sounds like a metal album at all." "We were joking the whole time about wanting this to be our 'Kid A,'" says singer George Clarke, who may or may not be joking about having been joking... Confounding expectations is pretty much STURGILL SIMPSON's brand; your reaction to hearing he'd be releasing a bluegrass and old-timey country concept album about star-crossed lovers during the Civil War was probably, "Oh"... TRIPPIE REDD's second 2021 album appears to return him to the rap side of his SoundCloud rap roots, with assists from Lil Uzi Vert, Lil Durk, Polo G and the late Juice WRLD and XXXTentacion, after an album of TRAVIS BARKER productions. Weirdly, the 18-track album announced a week ago showed up on streaming services this morning as a 17-track album, with the Drake collaboration "Betrayal" having gone missing.
That's the Joint
Today also brings two major reissue projects: The first ever streaming appearance of AALIYAH's 1996 classic ONE IN A MILLION—one of the streaming world's most infamous missing albums—which arrives with the controversy that has long followed it unresolved. Aaliyah's estate, which has long been at odds with her label, run by an uncle, hasn't endorsed the release... THE SMITHSONIAN ANTHOLOGY OF HIP-HOP AND RAP, at least seven years in the making, is a lovingly curated and packaged nine-CD collection whose 129 tracks span 1979 (represented by the Fatback Band, Sugarhill Gang and the Sequence) to 2013 (J. Cole, Kanye West and Drake) and whose liner notes are a 300-page vinyl-album-sized coffee table book. It isn't officially streaming, and the vast majority of tracks are from an era when streaming didn't exist, but there's already, not surprisingly, an unofficial Spotify playlist containing nearly all of it.
80s Ladies
And then there are the octogenarians: 83-year-old rockabilly queen and Rock and Roll Hall of Famer WANDA JACKSON says ENCORE, made with the help of somewhat younger Hall of Famer Joan Jett, will be her final album... Country Music Hall of Famer CONNIE SMITH, a sprightly 80, is making no such claims about THE CRY OF THE HEART, her debut for indie label Fat Possum, produced by her husband, Marty Stuart... Memphis gospel singer ELDER JACK WARD's ALREADY MADE is his first recording in more than 50 years. He made a series of singles in the 1960s with the Christian Harmonizers and the Gospel Four before devoting the next half-century to the church.
Plus Also Too
Also out today: new music from CLEO SOL, WESTSIDE GUNN, DAME D.O.L.L.A., WOLVES IN THE THRONE ROOM, PILE, BETWEEN THE BURIED AND ME, TRIFECTA, PALMISTRY, FEED ME, KOOL & THE GANG, ANGEL OLSEN (EP of '80s covers), MAGGIE ROSE, SAM WILLIAMS (grandson of Hank Williams and son of Hank Jr.), RUNAWAY JUNE, ANDERSON EAST, SIERRA FERRELL, JAKE BUGG, VIVIEN GOLDMAN (her debut album, 40 years after her debut single), TY DOLLA $IGN & DVSN, CHYNNA (a posthumous release, which she was working on when she died in 2020), LIL BEAN, KAM-BU, LIL LOTUS, BLU/MICKEY FACTZ/NOTTZ, TERMANOLOGY & AMADEUS, BNNY, ALIEN BOY, the JOY FORMIDABLE, VILLAGERS, DARE, GA-20, TROPICAL F*** STORM, SHANNON & THE CLAMS, QUICKLY QUICKLY, MARTHA WAINWRIGHT, JAMES MCMURTRY, ADRIAN + MEREDITH, JOE TROOP, GARRETT T. CAPPS, ORLA GARTLAND, NATHAN SALSBURG, ELLIOT COLE (released earlier this week), SUBWAY SECT, DEBBIE GIBSON, SHAUN RYDER (of Happy Mondays), SWITCHFOOT, DAVID DUCHOVNY... and THE BOB'S BURGERS MUSIC ALBUM VOL. 2.
Dot Dot Dot
The ACADEMY OF COUNTRY MUSIC AWARDS, which parted ways with CBS, its longtime network home, earlier this year, has made a surprising deal with AMAZON for next year's show. The 2022 awards will skip broadcast TV in favor of an Amazon Prime Video livestream. Amazon says it will be the first major awards show to be exclusively livestreamed. No date or location has been announced. CBS, for its part, will air the CMT MUSIC AWARDS in April... SESAC buys royalty collection agency AUDIAM... The Central Park spectacle "WE LOVE NYC: THE HOMECOMING CONCERT" is actually going to happen Saturday, strange lineup, horrible timing and all. The biggest names include LL COOL J, POLO G, PAUL SIMON and a BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN/PATTI SMITH collaboration, and it will be air live on CNN starting at 5 pm ET.
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| Matty Karas (@troubledoll), curator |
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Variety |
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| For Those About to Vax: Why Vaccination Proof Is Suddenly Becoming a New Standard for Concert Entry |
| by Chris Willman |
| The existential conundrum facing the concert industry - which was poised for an ambitious return this summer after 18 months of lockdown, only to see its plans upended by COVID variants and spikes - can be summarized in a tale of two Jasons. |
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Variety |
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| Jason Isbell on the Concert Biz’s Shift Toward Vaccination Mandates: ‘Some of Us Saw the Building Was on Fire’ |
| by Chris Willman |
| Rocker Jason Isbell is putting his touring livelihood where his mouth is, declaring that only patrons who could show proof of vaccination cab get in... even if that means he has to cancel gigs at venues or festivals that can't or won't allow the requirement.. |
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Slate |
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| The Man Who Broke the R. Kelly Story--Twice--on Whether This Time Will Be Different |
| by Nitish Pahwa |
| The R&B superstar is back on trial. Will we finally see justice? |
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The Ringer |
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| Deafheaven Is Embracing the Light. Are Their Fans Ready to Do the Same? |
| by Ian Cohen |
| The most popular new metal band of the past decade is set to release ‘Infinite Granite,’ an album that finds them with a new sound and new state of mind. Are fans ready to embrace the changes? |
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Complex |
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| Why Aren’t Women Getting More Guest Features on Rap Albums? |
| by Jessica McKinney |
| Women are dominating in rap right now, setting records and starting trends. But there’s still a noticeable lack of guest features from women on rap albums. |
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Here Goes Something |
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| A Long-Lost DOJ File on Bob Marley |
| by Richard S. Chang |
| The 95-page file covers his arrival to the U.S. in 1966 through his treatment for cancer in August 1977. |
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The New York Times |
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| Saving Pop Punk? That’s Just Their Warm-Up Act |
| by Hanif Abdurraqib |
| Meet Me @ the Altar want to be household names - and that’s not a crazy notion. |
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The Guardian |
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| Afghan orchestras in peril: ‘I cannot imagine a society without music’ |
| by Harriet Sherwood |
| Founder of institute that has transformed lives of impoverished children fears return to ‘silent nation’ under Taliban rule. |
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Billboard |
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| Sonos vs. Google: The Smart Speaker Patent War Is Heating Up |
| by Tatiana Cirisano |
| Google was found guilty of infringing on Sonos' patented smart speaker technology in a preliminary ruling on August 13, but the battle isn't over. |
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The Cut |
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| Lorde’s New Album Is Deeply Uncool |
| by Marianne Eloise |
| But, like, in a cool way. |
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Slate |
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| Is the Song of the Summer Still the Song of the Summer if You’ve Never Heard It? |
| by Chris Molanphy |
| BTS’s “Butter” is the biggest hit of the year. Why doesn’t it feel that way? |
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Washingtonian |
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| The Surprising Discovery of Hailu Mergia's Great Lost Ethiopian Album |
| by Rob Brunner |
| A star musician in '70s Addis Ababa, he drove a DC cab for years. Now his career has a big new chapter. |
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The Ivors Academy |
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| Data issues are at the heart of half a billion pounds a year of unallocated or misallocated streaming royalties for songwriters and rightsholders |
| The Academy conservatively estimates that £500m of streaming royalties due for payment to songwriters and rightsholders a year globally are affected by poor data. Practices vary, but commonly the unmatched streaming royalties are pooled and then paid on a market share basis, to songs that have already received payment through streaming. |
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The New York Times |
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| 54 Albums Later, Connie Smith’s Defiant Heart Has Plenty to Say |
| by Erin Osmon |
| The country artist, 80, is releasing her first secular recording in about a decade. Her husband, Marty Stuart, calls her “the ultimate outlaw” for doing things her way. |
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Bloomberg |
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| Amazon Obtains Rights to Country Music Awards in Streaming First |
| by Lucas Shaw |
| Amazon.com Inc. acquired the rights to the 57th Academy of Country Music Awards, saying it will mark the first time a major awards show has been live streamed exclusively. |
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Billboard |
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| Doja Cat Is Becoming the Quintessential Gen Z Pop Star |
| by Kyle Denis |
| The resounding success of 'Planet Her' and its singles have unequivocally solidified Doja Cat as one of the defining pop stars of this era. |
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The New Yorker |
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| 'Respect' Gives Us an Aretha Franklin Without an Inner Life |
| by Richard Brody |
| Despite a reductive script, Jennifer Hudson’s performance nearly saves the movie. |
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VICE |
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| Sparks Will Be Your Best, Weirdest Musical Discovery of 2021 |
| by Josh Terry |
| These outsider pop masters wrote the new musical 'Annette' and are the subject of an Edgar Wright documentary. Now is your chance to become a fan. |
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The Guardian |
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| ‘They deserve a place in history’: music teacher makes map of female composers |
| by Ashifa Kassam |
| Interactive tool features more than 500 women who are often forgotten in the classical music world. |
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Adam Neely |
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| Fixing Led Zeppelin with Autotune |
| by Adam Neely |
| Using Melodyne to pitch-correct famous recordings! |
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| Music of the day |
| "Oceanic Feeling" |
| Lorde |
| From her third album, "Solar Power," out today on Republic. |
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YouTube |
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From her third album, "Solar Power," out today on Republic.
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| Music | Media | Sports | Fashion | Tech |
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“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?’” |
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| Jason Hirschhorn |
| CEO & Chief Curator |
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