| If everyone's making music for the TikTok, who’s making the music for my generation? Who’s making the music for my peers? I will do that job, gladly. I'd rather cater to people that are on my level in terms of the amount of time we've spent on Earth and all the things we've been through... The 30- and 40-year-olds that are all committing to themselves and doing therapy, that's my vibe. |
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Adele taping her "One Night Only" special at Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles, Oct. 24, 2021.
(Cliff Lipson/CBS/Getty Images)
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“If everyone's making music for the TikTok, who’s making the music for my generation? Who’s making the music for my peers? I will do that job, gladly. I'd rather cater to people that are on my level in terms of the amount of time we've spent on Earth and all the things we've been through... The 30- and 40-year-olds that are all committing to themselves and doing therapy, that's my vibe.”
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It's Friday
And we're all 30 and we're all drinking wine, except for the 12-year-olds among us, who ADELE really doesn't want listening to her new album. "It's too deep," she told APPLE MUSIC's ZANE LOWE earlier this week. In old-school print journalism, reporters typed the number 30 at the bottom of their articles to signal they were done and no more was coming. As an album inspired by a divorce, there's a certain sense of finality to Adele's album, too, but it doesn't, um, stop there. There are new beginnings afoot, too, and not just in her personal life and her sense of self. "Her songs are getting looser, more conversant in global trends," Craig Jenkins writes in Vulture. "30' is where she realizes that she doesn’t have to always pitch us slow, sad, jilted tunes to stay in the game. This is still every bit the savvy act of demographic outreach the old records were. It’s just better. '30' is the best Adele album."
Lots of other worthy artists and albums are braving this release week in which Adele will be dominating the numbers from streaming to vinyl and in between. The great Chicago jazz drummer MAKAYA MCCRAVEN remixes/reimagines tracks from the Blue Note catalog with help from Marquis Hill, Jeff Parker, Junius Paul and others on DECIPHERING THE MESSAGE... His fellow Chicagoan BEN LAMAR GAY, a jazz cornetist who otherwise defies easy description, has reached the point where "the walls between the various corridors of his artistry—as an electronic musician, a jazz-trained improviser, a postmodern folklorist—continue to disintegrate," as Giovanni Russonello writes of the new OPEN ARMS TO OPEN US... FRENCH MONTANA's fourth album, THEY GOT AMNESIA, features Saweetie, Lil Durk, John Legend and Doja Cat, but not Drake, who reportedly asked that his track be removed because he didn't want to release any new music so soon after his appearance at the deadly Astroworld festival... ROBERT PLANT & ALISON KRAUSS reconvene to tackle Americana by the likes of Merle Haggard, Allen Toussaint, Geeshie Wiley and Bert Jansch on RAISE THE ROOF, which arrives 14 years after their surprise blockbuster RAISING SAND... Venerated hardcore band CONVERGE's first album in four years is a full-length collaboration with singer/songwriter Chelsea Wolfe and Cave In singer/guitarist Stephen Brodsky, and is either "zoned-out stoner-metal," "mutant blues" or an "hour-long morass"... BRIAN WILSON reimagines Beach Boys classics as solo piano instrumentals on AT MY PIANO.
Also, albums and album-ish things from LEO NOCENTELLI (a rediscovered, surprising 50-year-old solo turn from the Meters guitarist), KAYTRANADA (EP feat. H.E.R. and Thundercat), OVLOV, WILLIE NELSON, SNOOP DOGG, STING, MYELE MANZANA, DREAM UNENDING, EXODUS, OBSCURA, ME AND THAT MAN (side project of Behemoth's Nergal), the LURKING FEAR, APOLLO BROWN & STALLEY, MAX B, PARRIS, KLEIN, µ-ZIQ & MRS JYNX, MR TWIN SISTER, LADYHAWKE, K.FLAY, ALEWYA, JESSY LANZA (DJ-Kicks mix), CLAMS CASINO (instrumental mini-album), CHRIS LIEBING, SCOWL, BODY/DILLOWAY/HEAD, WEAKENED FRIENDS, YUCKY DUSTER, FINE PLACE, DION (with Bruce Springsteen, Billy Gibbons, Mark Knopfler and Rickie Lee Jones), JOOLS HOLLAND, the DARKNESS, ELBOW, BEACH FOSSILS (indie-rock band remakes its own songs as jazz ballads), PHIL COOK, DECA, JESSICA MOSS, CASSANDRA JENKINS, HOLY OTHER, MAYDAY PARA.E, DEEP VALLY, MODERN NATURE... And the soundtrack to BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN's 1979 "No Nukes" concerts (the concert film is also out this week for both streaming and purchase),
Rock on TV
Director ALISON KLAYMAN's ALANIS MORISSETTE documentary JAGGED, which traces the creation of the 1995 album JAGGED LITTLE PILL within the context of how women were treated in the '90s music industry, is out now on HBO. Morissette cooperated with the production but has since disowned the film as "not the story I agreed to tell." Klayman told the Guardian this week, "I think it’s really hard to have a movie made about you by someone else." The film launches HBO's BILL SIMMONS-produced Music Box series... The FX/Hulu/New York Times Super Bowl halftime doc MALFUNCTION: THE DRESSING DOWN OF JANET JACKSON premieres at 10pm ET tonight, and JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE and LES MOONVES might want to crawl under their respective couches for a little while... The ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAME induction ceremony, starring LL COOL J, the GO-GO'S, JAY-Z, CAROLE KING and others, bows at 8pm ET Saturday.
Homeland and Life
RUBÉN BLADES (Person of the Year and Album of the Year), CAMILO, JUAN LUIS GUERRA, and the Cuban protest anthem "PATRIA Y VIDA" were the big winners Thursday at the LATIN GRAMMY AWARDS. Among the nearly nonstop performance highlights were spots by Camilo, BAD BUNNY, CHRISTINA AGUILERA (her first appearance at the ceremony in 20 years) and "Patria y Vida" artists YOTUEL, GENTE DE ZONA, DESCEMER BUENO and EL FUNKY (the song's one other performer, rapper MAYKEL OSORBO, has been jailed in Cuba since May because of his opposition to the government. JON PARELES in the New York Times: "I expected 'Patria y Vida' to be passionate onstage. I didn’t expect the entire audience to amplify it. Wow."
Rest in Peace
Celebrated rock photographer MICK ROCK, known as "The Man Who Shot the Seventies." He shot album covers for Lou Reed, the Stooges and Queen and worked as DAVID BOWIE's official photographer during Bowie's glam-rock years.
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Billboard |
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| Inside Ableton, the Music Software Company Everyone Wants to Buy |
| by Steve Knopper |
| Gerhard Behles and his partners wrote the code that makes modern pop sing - and makes investors drool. But they’re not selling. |
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Complex |
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| Why Rap Billboards Are Everywhere |
| by Jessica McKinney |
| If you happened to be driving through a busy intersection in a major American city this September, you might have seen a cryptic message from Drake. Leading up to the release of Certified Lover Boy, dozens of billboards began popping up around the country, dropping hints about who would be featured on the album. |
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The Ringer |
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| Alanis Morissette, 'All Too Well,' and the DNA of the Eff-You Anthem |
| by Rob Harvilla |
| Taylor Swift’s rerecorded 10-minute kiss-off is scathing, hilarious, and even empathetic all at once--things that Alanis helped lay the blueprint for with her scorched-earth "You Oughta Know." |
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The Guardian |
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| ‘Doesn’t change anything about the story’: the documentary denounced by Alanis Morissette |
| by Adrian Horton |
| "Jagged" traces the creation and legacy of the breakout 1995 album by Alanis Morissette, who participated in the film but has since criticised the project. |
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The New York Times |
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| ‘Patria y Vida’: How a Cuban Rap Song Became a Protest Anthem |
| by Oscar Lopez |
| The Latin Grammys' Song of the Year became an anthem for a burgeoning movement of young people in Cuba demanding an end to political oppression and economic misery. |
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The Washington Post |
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| Latin Grammys: ‘Patria y Vida’ wins song of the year and Ruben Blades has a big night |
| by Bethonie Butler |
| Panamanian salsa icon Rubén Blades was the man of the hour at the 22nd annual Latin Grammys ceremony, where he was honored as the Latin Recording Academy's Person of the Year and received the evening's top prize - album of the year - for "Salswing," his collaboration with Roberto Delgado & Orquesta. |
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Tarzan Economics |
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| Global Value of Music Copyright up 2.7% to $32.5bn in 2020 |
| by Will Page |
| Scales tip in favour of labels whose boom in streaming growth offset the bust in public performance for publishers. |
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Los Angeles Times |
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| A festival paramedic reflects on the Astroworld tragedy |
| by Dorany Pineda |
| Jim Bollenbacher wrote about his work as a festival medic in "Molly, Mushrooms and Mayhem." A year later, he draws lessons from the Astroworld tragedy. |
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Interview Magazine |
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| RETRO READ: From Bowie to Blondie, Mick Rock Reflects on a Career of Shooting Stars |
| by Gary Grimes |
| Mick Rock reflects on his most iconic celebrity photos, from the '70s through today. |
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Complex |
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| Young Dolph, Memphis Icon |
| by Harold Bingo |
| Whether you knew Young Dolph through his music or you had the privilege of spending time with him in person, you always had a story to tell. The Memphis rapper's braggadocio was underscored by a gift for introspection and a willingness to make sure that everyone went along for the ride with him. |
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Slate |
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| How Justin Timberlake Came Undone |
| by Maria Sherman |
| First there was *NSYNC. Then Britney. Then Janet. Through it all, he remained an untouchable golden boy--until finally his image fell apart. |
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The New Yorker |
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| Taylor Swift’s Quest for Justice |
| by Carrie Battan |
| With “Red (Taylor’s Version),” Swift seeks to reclaim control in her business affairs and in matters of the heart. |
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Billboard |
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| What Are Bored Apes & Why Are They Forming Virtual Bands? |
| by Kristin Robinson |
| Billboard explains the sudden surge of NFT-based virtual music groups. |
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NPR |
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| The limitations of the 'sapphic anthem' |
| by Emma Madden |
| The sapphic music label turns lesbian identity into a homogenous category. |
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Texas Monthly |
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| How a Band of Hippies and Potheads Kept Western Swing Alive |
| by John Spong |
| Asleep at the Wheel celebrates fifty years of championing a genre once considered all but dead. |
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TechCrunch |
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| Spotify finally rolls out real-time lyrics to global users |
| by Sarah Perez |
| After years of ignoring consumer demand for in-app lyrics, particularly in the U.S., Spotify announced will make a new Lyrics feature available to all global users, both Free and Premium, across platforms. |
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Song Exploder |
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| Song Exploder: Hans Zimmer – 'Paul's Dream' From 'Dune' |
| by Hrishikesh Hirway and Hans Zimmer |
| When Hans Zimmer first started working on the music for "Dune," he made what he calls a “sketchbook” – creating motifs and themes that might occur in the film. In this episode, he takes us through the first sketch he did. It’s called “Paul’s Dream.” |
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GQ |
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| How Wale Learned to Stop Worrying |
| by Jayson Buford |
| The rapper's new album 'Folarin II' marks a new mood of being less bothered. |
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The New York Times |
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| The Meters’ Leo Nocentelli Gets a Solo Career, 50 Years Late |
| by Nate Rogers |
| In the 1970s, Nocentelli recorded a folk album drastically different from his band’s funk music. Barely anyone heard it -- until it ended up at a swap meet. |
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Black Music and Black Muses |
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| Revolutionary Barber Shop Unblues |
| by Harmony Holiday |
| Malcolm X at the barber shop with my radio imagination. |
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The Commercial Appeal |
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| 'They are grieving and they are supporting us': Memphis rallies around Makeda's after Young Dolph killing |
| by Corinne S Kennedy |
| Makeda's has seen an outpouring of support after Young Dolph was killed Wednesday, and the owners are thinking of ways to honor the Memphis rapper. |
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From "Open Arms to Open Us," out today on International Anthem/Nonesuch.
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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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