When Orson Welles was asked, 'How did you make "Citizen Kane" when you were 23?,' he said it was the confidence of ignorance. He didn't really know what the rules were. That's what it was like going into the studio at 24, 25. It was daunting, but I didn't know what the rules were and I used that ignorance it to my advantage. I'd say, 'Can we do this?' They say no. I said, 'Let's do it then.' | | | | Andrew Weatherall in London circa 1994.
(Mick Hutson/Redferns/Getty Images) | | | | | |  | "When Orson Welles was asked, 'How did you make "Citizen Kane" when you were 23?,' he said it was the confidence of ignorance. He didn't really know what the rules were. That's what it was like going into the studio at 24, 25. It was daunting, but I didn't know what the rules were and I used that ignorance it to my advantage. I'd say, 'Can we do this?' They say no. I said, 'Let's do it then.'"
| | | | | | rantnrave:// "A series of beautiful, totally futile gestures" is how DJ/producer/plus ANDREW WEATHERALL once described his life's work, and it's as good a description of a great art career as anyone has come up with, even if the second half of the description sort of contradicts the first half, as great art itself sometimes does. Beauty is never futile. Though perhaps trying to make a producing career out of asking your clients to record their parts and then get lost while you finish the record without them is at least a little bit so. How many bands or labels are going to agree to that? But musicians are pesky people who "want their record to sound how they want," so what else is a producer of a certain temperament and vision to do? Andrew Weatherall's career invited a number of descriptors—remixer, artist, DJ, curator, label head, journalist—but to more people than not, he's best known as the primary producer of PRIMAL SCREAM's 1991 dance-rock classic SCREAMADELICA, a project he began by remixing an older Primal Scream song beyond recognition until it became an entirely different one; he then proceeded to have his way with the band's work as per the above. Beyond those nearly mythical 1991 sessions lay a (much too short) lifetime of left turns, in which a THROBBING GRISTLE and dub reggae fan who eagerly planted himself in the middle of the UK's acid house scene ("I've always been confused," he once said; "am I a punk rocker or am I a soul boy?") followed his muse and his ever-expanding tastes through dance clubs and warehouses, recording studios, his own bands and projects and, why not, a publishing house, all while trying to avoid any sense of a career that "might involve me having meetings with people I don't want to have meetings with." There was a great production career, just a different one than the producer of "Screamadelica" might have chosen to follow were he a needier, less ambitious man. He was also, by pretty much unanimous consent of the dance music world, an extraordinarily nice guy, as generous as he was uncompromising. Shocked and saddened fans shared remixes, DJ mixes, productions and anecdotes across social media Monday as news of his death, at age 56, spread. Sharing the art and beauty he left behind. A career's worth of meetings—that would have been futile. RIP... "ALEXA, play songs produced by Andrew Weatherall on TIDAL." No dice. "Alexa, play songs produced by Andrew Weatherall on APPLE MUSIC." Nope. "Alexa, play songs produced by Andrew Weatherall on SPOTIFY." Hey now. In order: Primal Scream, HAPPY MONDAYS, the ASPHODELLS, BETH ORTON, NEW ORDER, SLY & LOVECHILD. That may be as much about how Spotify is integrated with AMAZON's voice assistant as it is about Spotify's programming, but either way, it's a win for the service. This stuff matters, a lot, and it's going to matter that much more as we become increasingly reliant on electronic voices to find our music. Figure out those integrations... Not that human voices are automatically better than the electronic ones as musical park rangers. According to new data from the tireless researcher and equality advocate JADA E. WATSON, female artists occupied exactly 10 percent of the space available on country radio in 2019. That, Watson says, is "barely enough to be heard." Barely enough for an entire gender to be heard, that is. Imagine if Alexa interpreted the request "Alexa, play some country music" as "play some country music by men." That's what the human programmers of country radio are actually doing. Watson calls it an act of erasure, and she's challenging programmers to start closing the gap by making in 20 percent in 2020, 30 percent in 2021 and so on... RIP also ASHLEY AKABAH. | | | - Matty Karas, curator | | | |  | Mixmag | | Andrew Weatherall is a dance music legend who was uncompromising until the end. | | | |  | Consequence of Sound | | AI songwriting tools have exploded recently; what tools exist, and will they replace your favorite artists? | | | |  | Hyperallergic | | With venues shuttered in the wake of the COVID-19 "coronavirus" outbreak, China's indie musicians are live-streaming shows and organizing "bedroom" festivals. | | | |  | CBS News | | A new study by Country Music Television found only 10% of airtime is dedicated to female artists. | | | |  | The Philadelphia Inquirer | | Taylor Swift's Netflix movie documentary 'Miss America' chronicles her growing self-awareness and political engagement. She's one among many artists under pressure to take sides this election year. | | | |  | The Duke Chronicle | | It's not easy being a new artist. Finding an audience and dedicated listening base requires a whole lot of networking and positive word of mouth. | | | |  | Billboard | | Sophie Allison strategically opened for all of her favorite artists over three years - now, she's selling out her biggest venues yet. | | | |  | The Future of What | | Most podcasts contain at least one musical work, likely unlicensed, which means those episodes you're downloading are no different than the unauthorized downloads of the past. Will the industry coalesce around a standard blanket license to solve this issue? Or will podcast hosts develop a YouTube-like Content ID system to identify these unlicensed works? | | | |  | Level | | There's a reason so few Black people go to the symphony. | | | |  | The Guardian | | After three decades as a disco maverick, the acid-house DJ tells us why he's still got an ear for 'full-knacker panel-beaters-from-Prague-'ere-we-go techno.' | | | |  | The New York Times | | The conductor John Eliot Gardiner talks about a life listening to and performing the world's most-played symphonies. | | | |  | Gibson | | In this episode of "Icons," GibsonTV sits down with Heavy Metal pioneer Tony Iommi to learn about his early years in Birmingham, England, the accident that almost ended his career as a guitarist and his 55 year musical journey with Black Sabbath. | | | |  | Attack Magazine | | Harold Heath makes the case that "streaming won't kill the DJ star". | | | |  | The Trichordist | | One lone songwriter against the US federal government, Amazon, Google, Pandora, Spotify, The National Music Publishers Association (NMPA) and Nashville Songwriters Association International (NSAI). | | | |  | Texas Monthly | | The eclectic band and R&B singer discuss how long drives and their teenage adventures in sneaking out alike informed the album. | | | |  | Rolling Stone | | The country-music vet is responsible for upholding the culture of one of Nashville's most vital, legendary institutions - a job that can keep him working 24 hours at a time. | | | |  | Red Bull Music Academy | | Explore the Red Bull Music Academy archive, tracing the global music institution's more than 20-year history | | | |  | The New Yorker | | There isn't a single song in which the recalcitrant post-punk guitarist Andy Gill, who died on February 1st, plays like a person you could walk up and talk to. | | | |  | Slate | | The "novelty" label almost doesn't apply to Al's catalog of parody songs with surprising wit and nuance. | | | |  | KCRW | | Diltz was the official photographer for historic concerts like Woodstock and Monterey Pop. He tells how he captured the iconic cover image of the Doors' album "Morrison Hotel." | | | | |  | | YouTube | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | © Copyright 2020, The REDEF Group | | |
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