| [Jazz is] the sonic representation of how Black people navigate through the world. The improvised element. It’s the never know[ing] what’s coming your way, but reacting and staying calm and knowing that no matter what it is there’s a way to spin it and make it work. |
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Ambrose Akinmusire at Jazz Middelheim, Antwerp, Belgium, Aug. 17th, 2019.
(Peter Van Breukelen/Redferns/Getty Images)
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“[Jazz is] the sonic representation of how Black people navigate through the world. The improvised element. It’s the never know[ing] what’s coming your way, but reacting and staying calm and knowing that no matter what it is there’s a way to spin it and make it work.”
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WKCR Blues
I'm writing this Tuesday night in the shadow of unconfirmed reports about PHIL SCHAAP, the great jazz historian, curator, DJ and guide to multiple generations of New Yorkers. May the city and the world be filled today with the sound and the spirit of jazz, especially by his beloved CHARLIE PARKER.
I Believe I Can Search
It's Wednesday and unless something has changed in the past several hours, the top search result on SPOTIFY for DRAKE's new album isn't in fact Drake's new album but an official Spotify playlist containing the entirety of Drake's new album, in order. This seems to be Spotify's awkward response to the fact that on release day, last Friday, the top album search result wasn't Drake's album but rather an album called DRAKE by an artist called CERTIFIED LOVER BOY (which has since, it appears, been removed or de-indexed from Spotify and other services). That album/artist titling is a common troll/tactic in online music services, where anyone with a few dollars to spare can upload music with any title they can think of (or that anyone else has already thought of), but rarely if ever has it worked so well. ALEXA and other voice assistants apparently were having a hard time responding to requests to play the actual Drake's actual album on Friday, which is a little amusing and more than a little alarming. You can't completely stop people from trying to game the system, but it shouldn’t be so easy. Is no one in the world's default virtual record store keeping an eye on the virtual end caps? An artist at Drake's level, of course, can stand the certified hiccup. But what if the same thing happened to a smaller, middle-class artist who depends on those release-week streams for chart impact and income? What happens when her potential listeners give up after searching and failing to find her music? Will Spotify make a playlist of her album, too, to game its own search engine? Can Spotify make up her losses? Can the service really not figure out how to make its own search algorithm produce the actual best answer? Do we even want to know the answer to that?
In other "Certified Lover Boy" news, Drake has taken some flack for giving a songwriting credit on the new album to R. KELLY. The optics of simply putting that name on a song is 2021 are cringeworthy enough; what's worse is it means Kelly is getting paid for streams and downloads of both the song, "TSU," and the album. Ugh. The official explanation from Drake's camp is that a Kelly song happened to be playing, barely audibly, in the background of a sample of Houston DJ OG RUN C talking that opens the song, which means the song itself is being sampled. Which makes perfect legal sense. But which otherwise makes no sense at all. Why didn't someone ask OG Run C—who co-produced the track—to re-record the same spiel with a clean background, or any other background? He could have done this even after the album was released—it's never too late to edit an album anymore. The most charitable answer is that Drake simply doesn't care if a tiny piece of your $9.99 music subscription winds up winds up in R. Kelly's pocket every time his song shows up on a playlist. There are less charitable answers, too.
Etc Etc Etc
BRITNEY SPEARS' father, perhaps sensing the end was near, has asked a judge to terminate the conservatorship that has given him control of her finances and her affairs for 13 years. "Vindication for Ms. Spears," her new lawyer said... ANITA BAKER, suggesting she's won her battle to reclaim her masters from ELEKTRA RECORDS, but without quite saying so, says she no longer objects to people streaming her music. People will find that somewhat easier to do after her music actually returns to streaming services, which, Baker also suggested via tweet, will happen soon, courtesy RHINO RECORDS... After a very long wait, PAULA COLE "I DON'T WANT TO WAIT" has returned to its rightful place as the theme song for the classic TV series DAWSON'S CREEK, which is on NETFLIX. The show's studio had never licensed the song—or much of the rest of the original "Dawson's Creek" soundtrack—for home video of streaming, and for nearly two decades JANN ARDEN's "RUN LIKE MAD" had taken Cole's place. A new deal with Cole's publisher has allowed the show to restore things almost as they were. One difference: It's a re-recorded version and this time Cole owns the master. "Artists," she tweeted, "should be compensated for their intellectual work"... 1938, a big year for jazz, as rendered by the great blog/podcast CENTURIES OF SOUND... The nostalgic power of record stores in movies... Covering the RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS with red hot chili peppers.
Rest in Peace
Pop singer SARAH HARDING of UK girl group Girls Aloud... BENNIE PETE, sousaphone player and co-founder of New Orleans institution the Hot 8 Brass Band... JOHN DRAKE, who led us on a journey to the center of the mind as lead singer of the Amboy Dukes... Rock merchandising pioneer DELL FURANO, who co-founded Winterland Productions with Bill Graham and will be remembered as the inventor of the black concert tee... Another Bill Graham associate, ARNIE PUSTILNIK, who managed Carlos Santana, Train and Joe Satriani... British classical harpist SHEILA BROMBERG, who played on the Beatles' "She's Leaving Home" and Heatwave's "Boogie Nights"... BLACK OAK ARKANSAS guitarist RICKIE LEE REYNOLDS... Ukrainian violinist IGOR OISTRAKH... Guitarist JOCHEN SCHRÖDER of German metal band Rage... Entertainment lawyer LINDA MENSCH, who was president of the Recording Academy's Chicago chapter in the 1990s.
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| Matty Karas (@troubledoll), curator |
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Los Angeles Times |
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| Saving Britney Spears: The inside story of the #FreeBritney movement |
| by Yvonne Villarreal |
| What started as a blogger's tagline has become a global rallying cry for justice and freedom. The story of #FreeBritney, as told by the movement's leaders. |
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The New Yorker |
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| The Education of a Part-Time Punk |
| by Kelefa Sanneh |
| Learning to love music--and to hate it, too. |
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Texas Monthly |
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| When Texas Punk Band Butthole Surfers Finally Scored a Hit, Their Fans Never Forgave Them |
| by Sean O'Neal |
| Twenty-five years ago, fans accused the band of selling out. The group’s reply still stands: “Yeah, but who cares?” |
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Music Business Worldwide |
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| Sony Music’s AWAL buyout raises competition concerns in the UK, says watchdog |
| by Murray Stassen |
| Deal could lead to worse terms for artists and less innovation in the music sector. |
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JazzTimes |
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| What Is Jazz? |
| by Melvin Gibbs |
| Notable musicians consider the old question, "What is jazz?" and whether it warrants re-asking in the year 2021. |
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The Guardian |
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| Sarah Harding’s heart-on-the-sleeve energy made pop look like fun |
| by Michael Cragg |
| The self-described ‘Big Mouth’ brought a rock’n’roll ethos to the manufactured Girls Aloud. |
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Billboard |
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| Yebba’s ‘Dawn’: The Long, Difficult Road to the Stunning Singer’s Debut |
| by Lyndsey Havens |
| Yebba's anticipated, Mark Ronson-produced debut album was delayed by loss and lockdown -- but now the soul singer is even more eager to begin in earnest. |
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Mixmag |
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| How classic cars and soundsystems connect Southall residents to their Indian roots |
| by Ciaran Thapar |
| Ciaran Thapar spends an evening in London's 'Little India', where modified cars and dub reggae soundsystems carry messages of protest and connection to home across generations. |
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Chicago Sun-Times |
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| ‘I want the music to survive’ |
| by Neil Steinberg |
| Veteran sound engineer Steve Albini shows off his studio and explains why analog tops digital. |
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The New York Times |
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| It’s Time to Give Enya Another Listen |
| by Seamas O'Reilly |
| Even at her peak, she was hugely famous but never especially cool. But maybe we’re finally ready to heed her whispered call to awaken. |
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5 Magazine |
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| Right Wing Dance Squads |
| by Harold Heath |
| UK dance music has always been about freedom. But are we really going to march with the far right? |
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The Washington Post |
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| Two saxophone masters delivered resonance in pandemic times — but one of them sounded a bad note on vaccines |
| by Chris Richards |
| Recent works from Pharoah Sanders and Evan Parker offer relief and rumination. Parker undermines the moment with misinformation. |
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Vulture |
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| Getting to Know H.E.R. |
| by Meaghan Garvey |
| The artist is halfway to an EGOT, but she’s still a mystery to the masses. You have to see her live to understand her. |
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British GQ |
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| Ed Sheeran: ‘There was a stage when I thought I’d never make music again. I quit’ |
| by Jonathan Heaf |
| This year, the bestselling artist behind history’s highest-grossing tour releases "=," the surprise fourth record in his famous five-part plan. Now, as we celebrate the achievements of a young British legend, Ed Sheeran is ready to reveal the answer to the most famous sum in music. |
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Musician's Union |
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| #ThisIsNotWorking: Call From Musicians and Music Industry Workforce For Abuse to End |
| New reports reveal sexual harassment and abuse remain rife in the music industry despite the #MeToo movement. We’re calling on the Government and music industry organisations to protect musicians and other workers from victimisation and harassment. |
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Streaming Machinery |
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| When Songs Meet Podcasts |
| by G.C. Stein |
| Music streaming and podcasts used to be two distinct things. One had songs, the other had people talking. |
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NME |
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| Little Simz: “It’s nice to see my peers win. When they win, I win” |
| by Dhruva Balram |
| Little Simz’s fourth album, ‘Sometimes I Might Be Introvert’, is a stunning, ambitious ode to family - both the one you’re born into, and the one you choose. |
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Tone Glow |
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| Tone Glow 077: Low |
| by Joshua Minsoo Kim |
| On their new album, "Hey What," Low's Mimi Parker and Alan Sparhawk build on the raucous sonics of their previous outing, and dive deeper into feelings of everyday hopelessness. Joshua Minsoo Kim talked with Parker and Sparhawk via Zoom on August 5th, 2021 to discuss their childhood, their faith, their new album, and more. |
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Android Authority |
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| Lossless music streaming: Do you really need it? |
| by Robert Triggs |
| Lossless music streaming promises superior quality CD and Hi-Res music but are the services worth the cost? Here's what you need to know. |
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Money 4 Nothing |
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| Dub Economics: The Life and Times of Lee 'Scratch' Perry |
| by Saxon Baird and Sam Backer |
| While there has been a wave of articles celebrating the legacy of "The Upsetter," there has been far too little examination of the economic, political, social, religious and cultural background that structured his career, shaped his genius and cultivated his eccentric persona. |
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The Daily Beast |
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| The R. Kelly Trial Is the NXIVM ‘Sex Cult’ Case on Steroids |
| by Pilar Melendez |
| “R.Kelly is just like Keith… except at least R. Kelly has some talent,” one former NXIVM member said. |
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| Music of the day |
| "Koko" |
| Charlie Parker |
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YouTube |
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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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