| We tried in 2019, then 2020, then 2021, and it finally looks like 2022 is our year. | | | | |  | Jaimie Branch.
(Dawid Laskowski/International Anthem) | | | | | "We tried in 2019, then 2020, then 2021, and it finally looks like 2022 is our year." | | | | Same Old Lang Syne
I was going over old emails to see what I wrote in my final newsletter of 2020, published a year ago today from my home in Los Angeles, where Covid was at a frightening peak and vaccinations were still a dream for most of us. And yet there seemed to be light on the horizon. I wrote about death, Christmas songs and the fact that the day before, both houses of Congress had passed the SAVE OUR STAGES ACT, which would eventually become the SHUTTERED VENUE OPERATORS GRANT program, which would be signed into law three months later as part of the AMERICAN RESCUE PLAN. At the time, it had been 10 months since I'd seen live music anywhere except the screen of my laptop. My first dose of the PFIZER vaccine was two months away. I was trying my best to be hopeful.
The American Rescue Plan became law halfway between my first and second doses, and in May of this year, I finally saw live music again. My first was a performance of MARK GREY's chamber opera BIRDS IN THE MOON in an empty lot in Brooklyn, part of the NEW YORK PHILHARMONIC's pop-up series NY Phil Bandwagon. I had just moved back to Brooklyn, my old home. My first indoor concert was three weeks later: the trio of trumpeter JAIMIE BRANCH, bassist LUKE STEWART and drummer TCHESER HOLMES at IRL, a gallery in Greenpoint. It was the musical highlight of my 2021, partly because of the sheer thrill of being inside a venue again, and more than partly because holy s*** that trio on that night. Improvisation. Communication. Amplification. It wasn't quite their first show back, but I think all of us, performers, audience, venue staff and crew, were in the process of rediscovering something you don't get to discover all that many times in a lifetime. We were cautious, tentative and masked but it felt like summer was on the way, in more ways than one.
It's December and we seem to be in the process of rediscovering a virus. It's spreading like wildfire outside my door in Brooklyn. Shows are being canceled from New York to London to Melbourne and back. There's a push in Congress to pass the SAVE OUR STAGES EXTENSION ACT because the world's stages, it turns out, haven't been saved. I no longer dream of vaccines for me. I dream of boosters for everybody else. RESY, the restaurant reservations app, sent me an email Tuesday congratulating me for making exactly two reservations in 2021. "What a year, Matty!," Resy wrote. What a year indeed. I ate more than two meals outside my apartment in case you're wondering, and I'm still doing things I wouldn't have dreamed of a year ago, like riding the subway and getting haircuts. But I don't feel all that different than I did 12 months ago. There's still death and there are still Christmas songs.
There's also a year's worth of spectacular recorded music, from LOW, from CAMILO, from IRREVERSIBLE ENTANGLEMENTS, from LITTLE SIMZ, from TAYLOR SWIFT, from CARLY PEARCE, from MDOU MOCTAR, from so many others in so many places and so many circumstances, all compelled to keep making art, to keep themselves alive, to keep the rest of us alive.
This is the last regular edition of MusicREDEF for 2021. Look for a couple of special editions between Christmas and New Year's: our annual in-memoriam newsletter and a roundup of some favorite stories from 2021. And we'll be back ranting and raving and sharing stories of the art, culture, business and technology of music, and whatever else is worth amplifying, the first week of January.
Wishing you a safe and peaceful new year.
| | | |  | | NPR Music |
| | The Fellowship of the Rockers | | by Ann Powers | | How did we get stuck with the idea that four white guys make a rock band? | |  | | The New York Times |
| | TikTok's Music Critics Reflect on 2021 | | by Jon Caramanica, Margeaux Labat, Eric Morris... | | Four of the app's voices on pop name their favorite releases of the year and discuss developing taste in the age of the algorithm. | |  | | Complex |
| | Inside the Mind of One of Music's Most Prestigious Executives | | by Eric Skelton | | Max Lousada, CEO of Recorded Music for Warner Music Group, sits for a candid conversation about the state of the music industry and how he's working to shape its future. | |  | | Billboard |
| | It's Time to Unlock Innovation With More Diverse Founders in Music | | by Jacquelle Amankonah Horton | | A call for curiosity, questioning, and action from the entrepreneur who's raised the most money across music and entertainment as a Black woman. | |  | | Dada Drummer Almanach |
| | The Case for a New Streaming Royalty | | by Damon Krukowski | | (To be paid directly to artists.) | |  | | Above The API |
| | Streaming's Endgame (Part Three) | | by Dave Edwards | | A careful consideration of the power aggregators wield in our digital economy and where music is likely heading in the next decade. | |  | | The Guardian |
| | Snow joke: why the Christmas No 1 single is still big business | | by Michael Hann | | Tis the season for novelty hits, charity records and, now, songs about baked goods. But though everyone wants a festive No 1, they rarely stay up longer than the tinsel. | |  | | Vulture |
| | 2021 Killed the Myth That Rock Ever Died | | by Justin Curto | | The genre wasn't just resuscitated -- it was up and walking around, no signs of atrophy. | |  | | Los Angeles Times |
| | Security shortcomings under scrutiny in Drakeo the Ruler killing | | by Randall Roberts and Nate Jackson | | Eyewitnesses contend that security was lacking at the Once Upon a Time in LA festival, at which rapper Drakeo the Ruler was fatally stabbed backstage. | |  | | Slate |
| | When Drakeo the Ruler Died, He Was Already a Legend | | by Nitish Pahwa | | His death at age 28 is a great loss for hip-hop—and just one of many in recent years. | | | | | Complex |
| | Inside the Video That Changed Everything for 6ix9ine: Book Excerpt | | by Shawn Setaro | | Before "Gummo," 6ix9ine was a struggling rapper from Brooklyn. In this excerpt from the new book 'Complex Presents: Dummy Boy - Tekashi 6ix9ine and the Nine Trey Gangsta Bloods,' Shawn Setaro chronicles how that song and music video blasted Daniel Hernandez into the national spotlight. | |  | | The Ringer |
| | The Perfect Pandemic Christmas Song Is (Unfortunately) Still Relevant a Year Later | | by Michael Baumann | | Last year, Charly Bliss and PUP released "It's Christmas and I F***ing Miss You," a song about not being able to be around loved ones for the holiday. A year later the song still rings true--for better and for worse. | | | | The New York Times |
| | 'Christmas on Death Row' and a Stormy Season for a Storied Rap Label | | by Alex Rawls | | The 1996 holiday album wasn't a smash. But 25 years later, it tells a vivid story about the label's aspirations - and its reality in the aftermath of a devastating series of events. | |  | | Music Business Worldwide |
| | 'The power dynamic between music and tech has changed. We should be more bullish at the negotiating table' | | by Ran Geffen | | Ran Geffen, founder of OMA XR content agency and the CEO of Amusica Song Management, argues that while the music industry has shown a steady recovery since the launch of iTunes in 2003, music's value continues to be undermined by the tech platforms it relies on. | | | | Billboard |
| | Spotify is Fastest-Growing Music Service in the U.S., According to Morgan Stanley Survey | | by Glenn Peoples | | From 2019 to 2021, Spotify's share of the average American's listening hours increased from 7% to 10%, according to a new survey by Morgan Stanley. That's well behind AM/FM radio and YouTube, but strong with the younger consumers who will make up the bulk of listeners over the next decade. | |  | | Broken Record |
| | Broken Record: Neil Young, Part One | | by Rick Rubin and Neil Young | | Rick Rubin and Neil Young talk about Neil's new album, "Barn," and the archival projects he plans on releasing in the coming year. They also reminisce about the time they spent working together on some abandoned songs in 1997 that may soon be released. | |  | | Cocaine & Rhinestones |
| | Divorce/Death: He Stopped Loving Her Today, The Grand Tour & A Good Year for the Roses | | by Tyler Mahan Coe | | CR028/PH14: It's a known fact that "He Stopped Loving Her Today" is the best and saddest country song of all time. But… is it? | |  | | GQ |
| | HBO's Juice WRLD Documentary Is an Intimate Showcase of the Rapper's Personal Demons | | by Grant Rindner | | Juice WRLD's rapid rise and tragic death makes him the best lens to explore the last five years in hip-hop. | |  | | Clash Magazine |
| | Bands Who Call Off Live Shows Deserve Support, Not Condemnation | | by Robin Murray | | The treatment of Creeper by some fans was unjust and uncalled for. | |  | | The Independent |
| | Move over 'Santa, Baby': Why the weird festive album is going to save Christmas | | by Ed Power | | Tired of the usual yuletide schmaltz, a new generation of musicians are getting creative with Christmas standards or simply writing brand new alternative anthems. Ed Power finds everything from dungeon synth covers to a forgotten 'Star Wars' spin-off. | |  | | Vinyl Me, Please |
| | Mapping The Meters | | by Jennifer Odell | | An Art, George, Leo and Zig-framed tour of New Orleans' musical past. | | | | For my father, Leo Karas. | | | | | Music | Media | Sports | Fashion | Tech | | "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?'" | | |  | | | Jason Hirschhorn | | CEO & Chief Curator | | |  |
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