| There is this big misunderstanding that in guitar bands real men are working real instruments—evening after evening—while in a synthesizer band like Depeche Mode nobody works, because it’s all machines. But that’s bulls***. |
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| "The tall guy in the background": Depeche Mode's Andy Fletcher in Rotterdam, Netherlands, Oct. 26, 1990. |
| (Rob Verhorst/Redferns/Getty Images) |
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| quote of the day |
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“There is this big misunderstanding that in guitar bands real men are working real instruments—evening after evening—while in a synthesizer band like Depeche Mode nobody works, because it’s all machines. But that’s bulls***.”
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- Andy Fletcher, Depeche Mode, 1961 – 2022
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| rantnrave:// |
Behind the Wheel
He was, he once told an interviewer, "the tall guy in the background, without whom this international corporation called DEPECHE MODE would never work," and there may be no better way to describe the invisible cool of ANDY FLETCHER. He was the founding member of one of the all-time great synth-pop bands who didn't write, didn't sing, wasn't known for his musicianship, didn't cut quite the same fashion figure as his bandmates and yet may have been Depeche Mode's punk-rock spirit, pop heart *and* chief operating officer. By all accounts, Fletcher had a principal role—maybe *the* principal role—in guiding the band's business affairs. The questions of what else he did, whether in the studio or onstage, were part of the Depeche Mode mystery. "Nobody seemed to know if his keyboard was even plugged in," ROB SHEFFIELD wrote in a lovely remembrance for Rolling Stone. "As [singer DAVE] GAHAN once mused, 'Maybe we should set a fax machine up for him onstage.'" But that fax machine never did show up on a DM stage, and Fletcher was, in reality, one of the men behind one of the banks of keyboards at the heart of Depeche Mode's being. The "ambiguity," he told that same interviewer, for Germany's Die Welt newspaper, was part of the design: "Bands like KRAFTWERK or Depeche Mode actually work as divisions of labor collectives. The contribution of each individual remains invisible." Which is to say, people are people and songs are songs and the tall guy in the background, standing at a bank of keyboards, was one of the former who was essential in bringing all of the latter to life. RIP.
New Business
MATT PINCUS, late of SONGS MUSIC PUBLISHING, where he signed the likes of the WEEKND and LORDE before selling to KOBALT, has raised $200 million for a new venture that will invest exclusively in music properties. Unlike everyone else with a few hundred million music bucks to spend these days, Pincus seems less interested in publishing and recorded music catalogs and more in what Bloomberg describes as "music technology, artist management and infrastructure." The company, Bloomberg's LUCAS SHAW wrote, "may invest in some song catalogs, but... will be more focused on the companies powering the modern music business." The company's name is MUSIC, and if you're wondering how that's possible, so was I, so I asked. "I learned something with SONGS and RECORDS," Pincus wrote back. "If you use a generic enough dictionary word, no one can sue you." Startup tip of the day... Speaking of companies hoping to power the modern music biz, SHERRY SAEEDI, late of the livestreaming platform VEEPS, has joined with BLINK-182's MARK HOPPUS and manager NICK LIPPMAN to get in on the label-alternative market with a startup called VERSWIRE. They say they'll work with bands less as a traditional label and more as venture capitalists, investing as equity partners and allowing artists to control their masters and participate in revenues from the start. "Traditional record label deals never really allow the artist to make money off of, or own, their content, which still baffles me to this day,” Saeedi told Variety. "No other industry functions this way." Verswire's first signing is Los Angeles rock band BEAUTY SCHOOL DROPOUT... And speaking of investing in publishing, the BLACKSTONE-backed HIPGNOSIS SONGS CAPITAL (not to be confused with its publicly traded sister, HIPGNOSIS SONGS FUND) has bought JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE's catalog, reportedly for a little over $100 million.
Etc Etc Etc
The NRA's horribly timed "Grand Ole Night of Freedom" concert is reportedly on the verge of being canceled after nearly every artist involved changed their mind about playing an NRA party in Houston four days after 19 schoolchildren were murdered by a gunman on the other side of the state. LARRY GATLIN seemed to inspire the mass exits when he announced Thursday that while he's an NRA supporter, he's now also a supporter of background checks for all firearms purchases and "I cannot, in good conscience, perform at the NRA convention in Houston this weekend." Good. Let it be noted that any NRA sponsored event, ever, going forward will still be taking place after 19 children were gunned down in Texas... BTS headed to the White House... HARRY STYLES, musical foodie.
It's Friday
And JAMES BLAKE wants to put you to sleep, literally, with WIND DOWN, an album of ambient soundscapes made with the help of artificial intelligence from the wellness/meditation app Endel. Technically the album came out four days ago, but we slept through release day... When it's time to wake up, there's a new DEF LEPPARD album, just sayin'... THIS IS BRIAN JACKSON is a new album from Gil Scott-Heron's 1970s and '80s musical collaborator that mixes a handful of unreleased songs from that era with a collection of songs made with a new collaborator, Phenomenal Handclap Band founder Daniel Collás." It is a testament to the success of the writing sessions helmed by Jackson and Collás," Piotr Orlov writes in Bandcamp, "that repeated listens to 'This is Brian Jackson' don’t reveal the older tracks amidst the newer pieces. Neither do the album notes nor friendly interview haranguing"... 18-year-old Canadian singer/songwriter TATE MCRAE, discovered via a viral YouTube video, mixes throwback R&B and pop-punk with current pop on her debut album, I USED TO THINK I COULD FLY, which is the only album coming out this week that will earn a comparison to Wheetus' "Teenage Dirtbag" in the British press, or any press for that matter... WILCO's CRUEL COUNTRY is a 21-song double album that, writes the New York Times' Jon Pareles, "sets out to engage the notion of 'country' as both a musical style and a nation." And with strummed acoustic guitars setting the tone on most of the songs, it "makes a modest first impression for a magnum opus",,, 700 BLISS is the duo of experimental poet/musician Moor Mother and fellow Philadelphian DJ Haram and on their disorienting, cacophonous full-length debut, NOTHING TO DECLARE, "Techno, grime, synth-pop, and lo-fi hiphop productions come together at the same moment only to be mutated into monstrous new things," says the Quietus' Antonio Poscic, approvingly... A month after releasing its first English-language single, "Darl+Ing," K-pop's SEVENTEEN drops its first album in three years, FACE THE SUN.
Plus new music from Umi, Millyz, Lobby Boyz (Jim Jones & Maino), Big Moochie Grape, Jayson Cash, Nduduzo Makhathini, Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith & Emile Mosseri, Maria BC, Bright Eyes Dehd, Julia Reidy, Sofie Birch, Haai, Sean Paul, Steve Davis, David Virelles, Steve Earle (Jerry Jeff Walker tribute album), Your Old Droog, Jeshi, Liam Gallagher, Jukebox the Ghost, Miraa May, Alfie Templeman, Bruce Hornsby, Dean Fraser & Ernest Ranglin, the Frightnrs, Decapitated, Scary Kids Scaring Kids, Hollow Front, Just Mustard, Dead Waves, Slang, Stars, Total Slacker, First Hate and, I have no idea if this was planned or not, Frank Sinatra tribute albums from Shaggy (produced by Sting) and Creed/Alter Bridge guitarist Mark Tremonti.
Rest in Peace
The great prog-rock drummer ALAN WHITE joined Yes in 1972 and stayed with them for most of the rest of his life, through peaks and valleys and breakups and reformations (sometimes all in the space of the same song). That's the gig that got him into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, but he'd already had a pretty good career as a drummer-for-hire before that. His credits include landmark albums by both John Lennon and George Harrison... DEBORAH FRASER was a popular South African gospel singer, as well as a widely traveled backup singer who worked with the likes of Hugh Masekela and Ladysmith Black Mambazo at home and Cyndi Lauper and Jennifer Rush abroad... JOE GILCHRIST, co-owner of the Flora-Bama Lounge, a country songwriters' haven on the Florida/Alabama border.
Programming Note
MusicREDEF is taking a long weekend for Memorial Day. We'll be back in your inbox Wednesday morning, June 1.
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| - Matty Karas (@troubledoll), curator |
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Chicago Reader |
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| Horsegirl and the dream of a teen rock scene |
| By Leor Galil |
| Horsegirl’s new Matador album has made them the most visible members of a thriving musical and artistic community that’s still too young for most clubs. |
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The FADER |
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| The life and death of Ethel Cain |
| By Salvatore Maicki and Hayden Anhedönia |
| Hayden Anhedönia discusses "Preacher’s Daughter," her staggering debut LP as Ethel Cain, on the latest episode of The FADER Interview. |
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Trapital |
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| Why the Golden State Warriors Launched a Record Label |
| By Dan Runcie and David Kelly |
| The Golden State Warriors took the phrase "every company is a media company" and did one better, launching a first-of-its-kind organization, Golden State Entertainment. THe Warriors' chief business officer David Kelly, joined me on this episode of the Trapital podcast to discuss the new endeavor. |
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Pollstar |
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| Rocking The Residency: From Harry Styles To Billy Joel To George Strait |
| By Ariel King |
| After Celine Dion changed the world of Las Vegas residencies in 2003, a cultural shift within the music industry emerged. What was first considered a move done by artists dwindling toward the end of their careers turned into a lucrative position: instead of traveling across the globe with full production for shows, have the audience come to you. |
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Tidal |
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| Bruno Mars: Island Style |
| By Nate Chinen |
| When we talk about one of pop history’s most dynamic entertainers -- and one of its most culturally complex -- we need to talk about Hawaii. |
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The New York Times |
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| The Colorful Mozart of Gen Z |
| By Whitney Bauck |
| Jacob Collier, the singer, songwriter and composer, who fancies crayon colors, clashing patterns and tie-dyed Crocs, doesn’t fit easily into any box. He’s OK with that. |
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Tidal |
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| Def Leppard Interview: ‘Diamond Star Halos’ |
| By Ian Christe |
| Hard-rock heroes Joe Elliott and Phil Collen on glam, technology, mass appeal and how they made arena-ready new music from the comfort of their own homes. |
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| what we're into |
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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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