| Any idea that you have when you’re young, just try to do it because you’re not going to have the balls to do it again. I think the more knowledge and understanding of people, places, things you have, the less willing you are to step out of those constructs. |
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| Kilo Kish at the Wiltern in Los Angeles, Jan. 25, 2020. |
| (Ella Hovsepian/Getty Images) |
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| quote of the day |
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“Any idea that you have when you’re young, just try to do it because you’re not going to have the balls to do it again. I think the more knowledge and understanding of people, places, things you have, the less willing you are to step out of those constructs.”
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- Kilo Kish, whose "American Gurl" is out now on Kisha Soundscaps + Audio
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| rantnrave:// |
Drivers License to Confuse
One of the concerns raised when Omicron pushed the GRAMMYS to a slot just seven days after the OSCARS was that the hangover from the movie party could suck a good deal of the air out of the music party. LOL. The hangover from the 2022 Oscars could still be sucking the air out of rooms when the *2023* Grammys are going down. (Sorry ADELE and/or KENDRICK LAMAR.) Kudos to whoever had the foresight to move this week's party to Las Vegas, which will at least give the music celebrants some physical separation from the scene of the movie crime. The two shows have never aired this close together and, as Billboard recently noted, on the multiple occasions when they've run two weeks apart, the Grammys have always gone first, giving music a week largely to itself. No such luck this time. If there's a silver lining, maybe the Oscars' ratings turnaround—the numbers were still dismal, but this year's show did a lot better than last year's all-time least-viewed edition—will rub off on the Grammys. Awards shows: Exciting again! Billboard, for what it's worth, is predicting an OLIVIA RODRIGO sweep of the big four categories, which would be only the third time that's ever happened, and the second time in three years. Stereogum agrees. I wouldn't bet against that result either, with the perennial caveat that the Grammys are weird and there's an ABBA single nominated for Record of the Year, which I'm not sure anyone in the RECORDING ACADEMY could hum or even name but I still have faith in the voters' ability to do something strange.
Some Good News in the Meantime
A year-old partnership between UNIVERSAL MUSIC and Nashville's MUSIC HEALTH ALLIANCE has provided access to insurance to 333 artists and songwriters, many of whom had lost their insurance during the pandemic, Billboard reports. The magazine leads with the story of DEATHRAY DAVIES frontman and composer JOHN DUFILHO, who has an independent contractor relationship with Universal and hadn't had a physical in 10 years. When he finally saw a doctor, he learned he needed a quintuple bypass. He's recovering from surgery now, and will be back on stage next week... UCLA has announced the Hip Hop Initiative, which it hopes will be "the leading center for Hip Hop Studies globally." East Coast rap expat CHUCK D will be the inaugural artist in residence at the initiative, which the LA Times says will include artist residencies, books, lectures, postdoctoral fellowships and, maybe most intriguingly, an oral history and digital archive project. It will live within the school's RALPH J. BUNCHE CENTER FOR AFRICAN AMERICAN STUDIES... Kyiv-based online radio station 20FT RADIO is programming "peaceful mixes" and "soothing performances" this week under the banner Grains of Peace, with which it hopes to raise $100,000 for humanitarian causes... Billboard's top music lawyers.
Rest in Peace
Electronic producer and sound artist MIRA CALIX... KEATON PIERCE, lead singer of Lexington, Ky., emo band Too Close to Touch... '90s R&B singer KEITH MARTIN... Nigerian gospel singer CHINEDU NWADIKE.
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| - Matty Karas (@troubledoll), curator |
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Money 4 Nothing |
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| Mat Dryhurst and the Case for Crypto in Music (Part 1) |
| By Saxon Baird, Sam Backer and Mat Dryhurst |
| Mat Dryhurst has long been one of the most active and articulate proponents of Crypto's evolving place in the music industry (and the social formations developing around them). While we don’t agree on everything, this is the kind of conversation that’s needed to push forward our understanding of the billionaire-backed, contractually-decentralized, AI-drenched future. |
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Stereogum |
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| Beach Bunny’s Big Breakthrough |
| By Nina Corcoran |
| The Chicago pop-rockers and surprise TikTok darlings take us deep inside the making of their new album, the vulnerable and infectious "Emotional Creature." |
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The New York Times |
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| Debating the Grammys’ Biggest, Oddest Category |
| By Joe Coscarelli, Jon Caramanica, Caryn Ganz... |
| Only in record of the year could Lil Nas X and Olivia Rodrigo face off against Abba and Tony Bennett. Our critics break down all 10 nominees in a new “Diary of a Song” video. |
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Saving Country Music |
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| How The Ernest Tubb Record Shop’s Future Was Put in Peril |
| By Kyle 'Trigger' Coroneos |
| It seemed just about perfect. In hindsight, perhaps it was a little too perfect. The owner of Robert's Western World on Lower Broadway---JesseLee Jones---would purchase one of the oldest operating businesses in Nashville, housed in one of the oldest buildings. |
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Audiohype |
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| Generative Music NFTs -- A Deep Dive |
| Web3 is poised to create massive changes in the music industry, and if the massive interest in generative art NFTs seen over the past year is anything to go by, generative music NFTs will definitely be an area to keep an eye on. |
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BBC Radio 6 Music |
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| RETRO WATCH: Taylor Hawkins Drumming Masterclass |
| By Taylor Hawkins |
| What does it take to become a drummer? What inspires someone to pick up a pair of drumsticks in the first place? And just how important is the drummer to a band? |
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| what we're into |
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| Music of the day |
| “Death Fantasy” |
| Kilo Kish (ft. Miguel) |
| From "American Gurl." |
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| Music | Media |
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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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