Musicians travel for a living, and almost everywhere I have travelled I have been met with kindness and generosity. Do we really want a white-breaded Brexited flatland? A country that is losing the will to welcome the world? | | | | Sarah Shook and the Disarmers: More than a little bit country, more than a little bit rock and roll.
(Anthony Nguyen/Bloodshot Records) | | | | | |  | "Musicians travel for a living, and almost everywhere I have travelled I have been met with kindness and generosity. Do we really want a white-breaded Brexited flatland? A country that is losing the will to welcome the world?"
| | | | | | rantnrave:// It can seem so casual, so matter-of-fact, so harmless. And that's exactly what makes it harmful. An article about "The Rise of SARAH SHOOK AND THE DISARMERS," a great young country-rock band, starts out by informing us it's "tough being a woman" in the country biz, which, yes it is. And then, before we've had a chance to absorb that fact, the article tells us that "to understand the rise of Sarah Shook, you first have to"—know the stories of the women who struggled before her? Know something about the difficulties facing any traditional country-rock band in Nashville in 2018? Nope and nope. To understand the rise of Sarah Shook, we first, apparently, have to know the story of her ex-boyfriend. Really know it. There will be five paragraphs about a singer, songwriter and drummer named JOHN HOWIE JR. before Sarah Shook's name comes up again. Later, there will be a couple paragraphs about Howie's new album, a note about how his breakup with Shook gifted her with some great breakup songs and then, and I am not making this up, an admonishment that "the story of Sarah Shook shouldn't just be framed through the lens of Howie Jr.'s aid." On that point, at least, Sarah Shook would agree. Meanwhile on the indie-rock circuit, CHERRY GLAZERR singer-guitarist CLEMENTINE CREEVY says her band has become accustomed to walking into clubs and being ignored or laughed at by the staffs of the venues that booked them. Because, guess why. Hint: Their touring sound engineer tends to be called "Miss, Missy, 'The Lady,' sweetie." Stage managers ask the band what they're doing here. Perhaps there's some hip-hop being played in the background at these clubs, and perhaps there's someone rapping about gold diggers or "down chicks." Please click on both of those links, by REFINERY29's SESALI BOWEN and THE OUTLINE's MELINDA FAKUADE, which explore ideas about women that are casually, matter-of-factly baked into so much pop music, and which may be harmless in any given song but start becoming harmful when they repeat in song after song after song. This is not new, obviously. I offer the entire output of the ROLLING STONES as a thing you first have to know in order to understand what exactly rappers like G-EAZY and DRAKE are getting at at least some of the time. I like a hell of a lot of Rolling Stone songs. I like plenty of Drake songs. This isn't about them and it isn't about him and it certainly isn't about Sarah Shook's ex-boyfriend. It's about ideas that are pervasive in all of these cultures, ideas that seep out a verse here, a chorus there, through the speaker of a car radio or a laptop or a high-end stereo system, and into the ears of fans stuck in traffic on the 405 and executives idling in corner offices of record companies to the east and to the west... WorkingMusicianREDEF: How the Nashville number system works, minor keys be damned. How to arrange your guitar pedals, according to STEVE VAI. Where you can go to school to major in electronic digital instruments. How to build an app that classifies your drum samples. How to budget your tour. How to manage your finances in general. Is your music too damn loud? Seriously, is it too damn loud?... JENNIFER LOPEZ is this year's winner of MTV's VIDEO VANGUARD AWARD... RIP LEEKELEEK and RAY COOPER. | | | - Matty Karas, curator | | | |  | The Outline | | Every rapper wants a woman who will do anything, except be her own person. | | | |  | Refinery29 | | We have a culture that does not trust Black women, especially those with money. But the numbers tell a very different story. | | | |  | The New York Times | | It has been a bruising time for the music trade publication, involving allegations of editorial interference and inappropriate behavior for top executives. | | | |  | Vulture | | In his ongoing, disastrous quest of "healing the divide" in our country, this week's "Who Is America?" episode finds Sacha Baron Cohen's Dr. Nira Cain-N'Degeocello character traveling to Atlanta to engage in a rap battle with local legend Ness Lee. | | | |  | Dazed Digital | | Data and recent trends suggest that pop songs are getting shorter - we asked the experts how streaming and social media are making new rules. | | | |  | RTÉ Brainstorm | | An influx of female death metal performers has raised many issues around the misogyny prevalent in the genre. | | | |  | Forbes | | Author of "Playing to the Crowd: Musicians, Audiences and the Intimate Work of Connection," Nancy Baym offers her insight on how technology has altered historical power structures in the music business and transformed what it means to be a music fan. | | | | | Vulture | | The rapper Future helped carve out a lane for the specific brand of rap we're hearing today, but to get there he had to figure out how to perform pain and plumb the depths of his soul during his darkest moments. | | | |  | Slate | | "It reminds me of the early days of iPod, when I started noticing white earbuds everywhere I went," Cook said. | | | |  | The Guardian | | Festival co-founder urges government to make it easier for international artists to perform in Britain. | | | |  | Consequence of Sound | | A throwback to the days when your favorite festival came to you. | | | | | The New York Times | | The rapper and Chicago leader, 25, recently announced he bought the local outlet to resurrect it. But nobody should expect him, or anyone, to be local media's superhero. | | | | | The Outline | | Seeing your favorite band live will probably cost you more in data than in dollars. | | | | | The Guardian | | Stars used to keep quiet about their pregnancies, fearing they could ruin their career. Now they are celebrating them -- and Cardi B is leading the pack. | | | |  | The Quietus | | Getting Nine Inch Nails' signal to cut through the insane noise of the digital marketplace has been 1% inspiration and 99% immolation, says Trent Reznor to John Doran. But does latest album "Bad Witch" mark the start of a new phase in their career? | | | |  | NPR Music | | Though they emerged in the 1990s, the impact of musicians like Missy Elliott, Britney Spears, Gillian Welch and Lauryn Hill can be felt all over our list of the greatest songs of the 21st century. | | | |  | Rolling Stone | | From Kamasi Washington's rise to the effects of #MeToo and Trump, critic Nate Chinen discusses the key players and themes featured in his up-to-the-minute new jazz history 'Playing Changes.' | | | |  | Okayplayer | | Delicious Vinyl recently celebrated it's 30th year, making the label one of the oldest indies in history. Read how one Tone Lōc hit started a dynasty. | | | |  | Pitchfork | | Getting past the surreal Hollywoodification of Mount Eerie because these two actually make sense | | | |  | The New Inquiry | | This is what the end of the world sounds like. | | | | |  | | YouTube | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | © Copyright 2018, The REDEF Group | | |
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