| Playboi Carti has a line where he says, 'Bought my mom a house off this mumbling s***.' And I always get teared up when he says that, 'cause this thing that's a hobby or a pastime or a passion for us, a lot of people in here, that s*** kept us out of trouble. And it allowed us to change our families’ lives, our friends’ lives, our lives. |
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Muna's Josette Maskin in Charlotte, N.C., Sept. 19, 2021.
(Jeff Hahne/Getty Images)
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“Playboi Carti has a line where he says, 'Bought my mom a house off this mumbling s***.' And I always get teared up when he says that, 'cause this thing that's a hobby or a pastime or a passion for us, a lot of people in here, that s*** kept us out of trouble. And it allowed us to change our families’ lives, our friends’ lives, our lives.”
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Ignition (De-mix)
One of the things we've learned over the past few years of #MeToo and other criminal and moral scandals in the music biz is that it's difficult—if not quite impossible—to deplatform a guilty (or suspected) artist's music from the streaming universe. Labels could probably go a long way toward doing it if they really wanted to (ask fans of any artist whose music is digitally out-of-print), but as a rule they don't, and individual streaming services find themselves caught in all sorts of quandaries, both ethical and logistical, when they try it on their own. YOUTUBE appears to be trying to thread a needle with convicted sex offender R. KELLY that SPOTIFY unsuccessfully tried with Kelly and XXXTENTACION three years ago—letting his music be but ceasing all efforts to actively promote it. On Tuesday, YouTube took down two official Kelly channels—R. Kelly VEVO and R. Kelly TV—while leaving up, for now anyway, the individual videos those channels have posted. Other users' Kelly videos are still playable and Bloomberg reported his catalog will continue to be available on YOUTUBE MUSIC. "Ultimately we are taking this action to protect our users," YouTube's top lawyer, NICOLE ALSTON, wrote in a memo quoted by Bloomberg that raises some questions about what that protection entails. YouTube also reportedly refused to promote YOUNGBOY NEVER BROKE AGAIN's new album, SINCERELY, KENTRELL, even though YoungBoy is a major YouTube star. The album topped the BILLBOARD 200 albums chart this week—beating out DRAKE—while YoungBoy sits in a Louisiana jail facing gun charges. ATLANTIC RECORDS promoted it heavily, as you'd expect any label to do. YoungBoy's Atlantic product manager, VERONICA LAINEY, told the New York Times his outlaw image has been a hindrance to promoting him, but "his streak of getting No. 1s, that’s really helped change the narrative." With Kelly, who's facing the potential of life in prison as well as additional trials, one likes to think the number of people in the business who *want* to change the narrative has seriously dwindled. But if someone still wants to play "IGNITION (REMIX)," it's hard to imagine anyone's going to try too hard to get in the way.
Point, Counterpoint
I get no small amusement picturing PITCHFORK editors spending hours and hours engaged in passionate conversations about how much they regret awarding CHAIRLIFT's 2016 album, MOTH, a 7.6 out of 10 when it really deserved an 8.5. And imagining Chairlift's relief, five years later, at being told the pop music judges, after much reflection and consideration, had awarded the album those additional nine-tenths of a point. Thank you, Pitchfork! Maybe the band will rethink breaking up now.
There's nothing wrong with admitting you're wrong—more people should do that!—but Pitchfork's revisionist editorial board might consider spending less time adjusting decimal points and more time asking why it still awards decimal points. Maybe the historical problem isn't having slightly misjudged Chairlift's electronic balance-beam routine, or getting GRIMES' 2020 album, MISS ANTHROPOCENE, wrong by 1.3 points in the other direction. Maybe it's having a scoring system in the first place. And/or rushing to judgment on albums before they've had time to truly sink in. And/or asking writers and editors to rush to that judgment and then, five or 10 or 15 years later, calling them out for the judgment they made under those circumstances (possibly for no pay). Maybe the better revision would be to rethink how you do reviews tomorrow, instead of dragging yourself for the ones you did yesterday. Just a thought. My 7.2 cents if you will.
(Also, if I were LIZ PHAIR I might request you keep the 0.0 points you assigned to my slightly controversial self-titled 2003 pop turn instead of apologizing by upgrading it to a thoroughly mediocre 6.0 two decades later. You've reconsidered it and still think it sucks, but just a little bit less? Thanks but no thanks. At least the zero point zero gave people something to talk about.)
(Also also: Pitchfork isn't the first music outlet to revisit its scores of exactly 19 albums.)
Good Art Friends
Tyler, the Creator (see quote of the day above for more) thanking his forebears at the BET Hip Hop Awards: "I appreciate you guys so much for just opening the doors and throwing the key—not just opening the doors but talking to young guys like me and giving me gems." The key is key.
Etc Etc Etc
TINA TURNER has sold her share of her publishing and her solo recording rights to BMG for an undisclosed sum. On Oct. 30, the 81-year-old legend will be inducted into the ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAME—for a second time... Besides Tyler, the Creator, the big winners at the BET Hip Hop Awards were CARDI B and MEGAN THEE STALLION, whose "WAP" took home three awards including Song of the Year, and LIL BABY, named Artist of the Year... There's a new ADELE song coming out on Oct. 15 and an album, possibly called 30, to follow. Will she save the music business again, or maybe just Las Vegas this time? It's been a minute.
Rest in Peace
Irish folk musician ROBIN MORTON, co-founder of the Boys of the Lough... DEBBY KING, a longtime attendant to the stars at Carnegie Hall's fabled Maestro Suite. She was "the soul of Carnegie Hall," according to Yo-Yo Ma.
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| Matty Karas (@troubledoll), curator |
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Los Angeles Times |
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| Jesus, drugs and rock 'n' roll: How an O.C. hippie church birthed Contemporary Christian music |
| by Randall Roberts |
| "The Jesus Music" documentary traces the roots of contemporary Christian music to Costa Mesa's Calvary Chapel, now a megachurch, then a haven for hippies. |
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DJ Mag |
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| AI Futures: how artificial intelligence will change music |
| by Declan McGlynn |
| Artificial intelligence is at the heart of a fundamental shift in music's role in our lives, and for electronic music, the transition will be seismic. But will it result in a harmonious and utopian new landscape for creators and fans, or is intelligent automation the beginning of a new deepfake culture war? |
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The New York Times |
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| How YoungBoy Never Broke Again Hit No. 1 From Jail |
| by Joe Coscarelli |
| The 21-year-old rapper, currently awaiting trial on gun charges, has tallied billions of streams and just scored his fourth chart-topping album despite having little mainstream profile. |
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Teen Vogue |
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| Olivia Rodrigo at the Crossroads |
| by P. Claire Dodson |
| The 18-year-old “drivers license” scribe opens up about growth, perception, songwriting, and the pressure of getting it all right. |
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CDM Create Digital Music |
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| As Facebook reveals fundamental flaws, music tech might reexamine the platform’s role |
| by Peter Kirn |
| In just 48 hours, we've been treated both to whistleblower testimony that questions Facebook's impact on society -- and a massive technical outage that shows our dependence on it (and its fragility). Maybe it's time for the world of music to stop treating Facebook as inevitable and entirely benign. |
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NPR |
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| How Taylor Swift and her master recordings play into the Virginia race for governor |
| by Ben Paviour and Acacia Squires |
| Terry McAuliffe, who is running for governor in Virginia, is slamming his GOP rival, Glenn Youngkin, for his former company's role in a controversy involving Taylor Swift's back catalog. |
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Bloomberg |
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| YouTube Removes R. Kelly’s Channels, But Still Offers His Songs |
| by Nico Grant and Lucas Shaw |
| YouTube banned R. Kelly from its video platform, taking an unusual step to distance itself from the disgraced recording artist recently convicted of sex crimes. |
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Digital Music News |
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| When Will Concerts Finally Come Back? It All Depends on the Band (And Their Fans) |
| by Paul Resnikoff |
| Lots of shows — even crowded indoor shows — are going forward as planned, depending on whether bands (and their fans) are willing to take the risk. |
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BuzzFeed News |
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| Diplo May Face Criminal Charges For Sexual Misconduct |
| by Rosalind Adams and Scaachi Koul |
| The Los Angeles city attorney is reviewing allegations that stem from an October 2020 police report. |
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The Guardian |
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| ‘I saw something in Bruce Springsteen that nobody else saw’: the world according to Stevie Van Zandt |
| by Michael Hann |
| The Boss’s trusty sideman has many plans - from saving central America to TV Hogmanay at the Playboy Mansion - and he’s more than happy to share his rock wisdom. |
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Pollstar |
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| How Questlove Created A Music Doc Masterpiece With ‘Summer of Soul’ |
| by Andy Gensler |
| At the heart of “Summer of Soul (…Or, When The Revolution Could Not Be Televised),” a groundbreaking new documentary chronicling 1969’s all-but-lost Harlem Cultural Festival, is something this industry knows exceedingly well: incredible live performances. |
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NPR |
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| Reggaeton rules Latinx music, but not at the Latin Grammys |
| by Ari Shapiro, Miguel Macias, Sarah Handel... |
| NPR's Ari Shapiro speaks with Julyssa Lopez, writer for Rolling Stone magazine, and NPR's Felix Contreras, about the controversy around this year's Latin Grammys nominations. |
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Music Business Worldwide |
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| Here’s what women are earning (compared to men) in the UK music industry |
| by Murray Stassen |
| Three majors plus Spotify and Live Nation reveal their figures as required by UK law. |
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The New York Times |
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| Why I Keep Listening to Green Day’s ‘Boulevard of Broken Dreams’ |
| by Lora Kelley |
| Sometimes you need an overwrought antidote to the overwhelming events of daily life. |
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Pitchfork |
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| Pitchfork Reviews: Rescored |
| by Quinn Moreland, Marc Hogan, Sam Sodomsky... |
| We’ve all thought about it: Here are 19 album review scores that we’d change if we could. |
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Music x |
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| Artificial scarcity isn’t bad and it’s not just a jpeg (on NFTs) |
| by Bas Grasmayer |
| This piece addresses two common questions and critiques about NFTs: "It's just a jpeg everyone can see, so anyone paying for it is [delusional / getting scammed / etc]." "The internet's supposed to be about abundance - why are we creating unnecessary artificial scarcity and financializing everything?” |
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VICE |
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| Please, Pop Stars and Rappers, Stop Making Really Long Albums |
| by Thomas Hobbs |
| Kanye, Drake and anyone else -- all we want is a record with ten songs. |
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Billboard |
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| Expect a Crowded Stage Following Grammy Rule Change for Album of the Year |
| by Paul Grein |
| After four years with stricter rules, the Academy is back to saying anyone who worked on an album, even if for just one track, is eligible. |
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The Guardian |
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| ‘No established disco would have played this music’: 30 years of legendary Berlin club Tresor |
| by Erik Morse |
| A new compilation surveys the enduring influence of a German landmark that fuelled a techno revolution from a damp, fungi-riddled bank vault on the old East side. |
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Bandcamp Daily |
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| ‘95 is Nothing Without You: Connecting the Dots of ’90s Indie Rock in Boston |
| by Erin Margaret Day |
| Fourteen releases showcasing the wide range and interconnectedness of Boston indie rock in the ’90s. |
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From "Talk Memory," out Friday on XL Recordings.
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| Video of the day |
| "The Girls in the Band" |
| Artist Tribe/One Step |
| Judy Chaikin's doc about female big-band and jazz musicians struggling to be treated as equals. |
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YouTube |
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Judy Chaikin's doc about female big-band and jazz musicians struggling to be treated as equals.
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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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