jason hirschhorn's @MusicREDEF: 06/24/2022 - New Music Friday, Rethinking Platforms, Drum and Bass Revival, Meta Charli XCX, Jimmie Allen...

The world is still so mind-bogglingly oppressive for so many in [the queer] community that it remains radical to be joyful. Open in browser Friday June 24, 2022 Naomi McPherson, Katie Gavin and Josette Maskin (top to bottom) of Muna. (Isaac Schneider/Grandstand Media) quote of the day "The world is still so mind-bogglingly oppressive for so many in [the queer] community that it remains radical to be joyful." - Naomi McPherson, guitarist/keyboardist for Muna, whose third, self-titled third album is out today on Saddest Factory Records rantnrave:// It's Friday And GIVE OR TAKE is the slightly belated first studio album from GIVEON, who already has a gold record and major collaborations with Justin Bieber (the 2021 pop blockbuster "Peaches") and Drake to his name. He's hardly the first would-be pop star to wait a minute or two to drop his debut full-length, but "Give or Take" is a genuine 2022 rarity in another way: a showcase for a baritone R&B crooner inspired by Frank Sinatra. Giveon (that's his real given name) told Rolling Stone he felt awkward when his voice dropped in middle school, but hearing Ol' Blue Eyes' "Fly Me to the Moon" during a summer music history program at the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles opened his eyes: Until then, he said, "I hadn't heard anyone that sounded like me"... Speaking of baritones with old-school inspirations, JIMMIE ALLEN was in a car with his father when he first announced he wanted to be a country singer. "But I can't," he told his dad. "They're all white dudes." At which point dad played him Charley Pride's "Does My Ring Hurt Your Ringer," and that, Allen told Billboard, "is when it all made sense." Allen's third album, TULIP DRIVE, features the single "Down Home," in which he tells his father, who died in 2019, how hard he's working and how far he's gone. Make two "indie-pop" albums for a major label, get dropped, become an actual indie band, and start sounding like major label pop stars. That's the strange yet organic trajectory of the SoCal trio MUNA, which is basically reintroducing itself with its self-titled third album, its first for Phoebe Bridgers' label, Saddest Factory. The calling card this time around is the TikTok hit "Silk Chiffon," a celebration of the joy of queer love, featuring the label boss as a guest vocalist. Writing unabashedly upbeat songs—some variation of the word giddy seems to show up in every article about Muna these days—is "the most punk rock thing" a onetime major label indie pop band can do, guitarist Josette Maskin told Pitchfork (whose 7.7 score of the band's last album is literally tattooed on all three bandmembers; click on that link for the story)... "I'm probably at a place and an age where I want to get closer to the source," says 84-year-old tenor saxophonist CHARLES LLOYD, who recorded CHAPEL in a gothic chapel with guitarist BILL FRISELL and bassist THOMAS MORGAN. It's the first of three albums Lloyd plans to release in 2022 with three different trios. Each one, he told NPR, is "another chance to tell the truth"... The soundtrack to Baz Luhrmann's ELVIS—the movie opens today—features YOLA (covering Sister Rosetta Tharpe, who she plays in the film), JAZMINE SULLIVAN, DOJA CAT, KACEY MUSGRAVES, TAME IMPALA, fake Elvis AUSTIN BUTLER and actual ELVIS. Also today: New albums from Luke Combs, Soccer Mommy (produced by Daniel Lopatin aka Oneohtrix Point Never), Zola Jesus, Nayeon (solo EP from member of Twice), Trixie Mattel, Don Q, French Montana & Harry Fraud, Lupe Fiasco, Juicy J & Pi'erre Bourne, Conan Gray, Sessa, Ibrahim Maalouf & Angélique Kidjo, Chris Brown, Petrol Girls, Automatic, Hollie Cook, Joan Shelley, Empress Of, Regina Spektor, Ron Trent, Braxe + Falcon, Akusmi, Félicia Atkinson, Porcupine Tree, Coheed and Cambria, Candy, Alexisonfire (first album in 13 years), Art d'Ecco, Mikey Erg, Young Guv, Jack Johnson, Damien Jurado, Elizabeth King, JB Dunckel (of Air), Martin Courtney (of Real Estate), Tim Heidecker, Ohyda, Katie Alice Greer (formerly of Priests), Hatis Noit, Glenn Jones, Goose, Noah Reid, James Vincent McMorrow, Katie Bejsiuk, Caamp, G. Love, Peter Rowan. Plus the second volume of the five-volume, 242-song "Birdsong Project"—birdsong-inspired songs to benefit the National Audubon Society. Vol. 2's birdsingers include Beck, Beach House, Terry Riley, Tyondai Braxton, Karen O and Jim James... And the first legal release of "Not About to Die," an oft-bootlegged collection of Wire demos. Etc Etc Etc BILLBOARD's country power players... PINK FLOYD for sale... WARNER MUSIC CEO STEVEN COOPER stepping down. Rest in Peace MASSIMO MORANTE, guitarist and co-founder of Italian prog-rock band Goblin, celebrated for its horror-film scores including Dario Argento's "Suspiria" and George A. Romero's "Dawn of the Dead"... ARTIE KANE, a Hollywood piano legend who scored "Looking for Mr. Goodbar" and "Eyes of Laura Mars" and conducted and played piano on countless other films... OVE BOSCH, German bassist and bass teacher best known as the host of Germany's Warwick Bass Camp. - Matty Karas (@troubledoll), curator we're caught in a trap Appetite for Distraction New Rails for The Music Industry By Yash Bagal Platforms exercise autocratic control over artists' careers-but it doesn't have to be this way. Rolling Stone 'Sounds That Actually Have Feeling': The Drum-and-Bass Revival Is Finally Here By Michaelangelo Matos How the resurgent U.K. dance genre points to changing attitudes about music and nightlife. Refinery29 I Went To A Charli XCX Metaverse Concert & The Future Isn't Here Yet By Kayti Burt Metaverse concerts are still very much in their infancy -- and one with some highly visible seams. Billboard Behind the Remarkable Rise of Jimmie Allen, Country's Most Ambitious (And Bowling-Obsessed) New Star By Melinda Newman Stardom for him didn't come fast or easy. But with the laser focus he brings to all his passions, he has become a one-man industry - and he's not slowing down. GQ Steve Lacy Is a New Kind of Guitar Hero By Jeremy Gordon His languid playing style helped make him one of music's hottest collaborators, working with the likes of Tyler and Kendrick barely out of high school. On his new album, he's ready to be more than just the sideman. The New York Times For a Kyiv Techno Collective, 'Now Everything Is About Politics' By Tom Faber Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the team behind Cxema parties have shifted its focus, but political engagement is nothing new for the artists. Variety Why Did T Bone Burnett Record a Song With Bob Dylan That Only One Person Can Own? To Disrupt the Art Market By Chris Willman The new Dylan recording of "Blowin' in the Wind" that Burnett produced and played on will be auctioned by Christie's in July. The producer talks about the song, the new format it's being "released" on, and whether all art needs to be mass-produced. SPIN Olivia Harrison: 'I Wanted People To Know About George' By Lily Moayeri Olivia Harrison's "very personal" new poetry collection 'Came the Lightening: Twenty Poems for George' reveals an intimate and sensual side to life with her husband. Bellona Magazine Sound Money: On Bandcamp, Neil Young Derivatives and the Financial Imagination of Music Production By Gabriel Meier With the recent buy out of Bandcamp as a starting point, finance's increased presence in the culture industries is analyzed as both a novel phenomenon and an intensification of logics internal to the music commodity. Catalog rights speculation, derivative trading and uneven development in the world-system are all posed as products of finance's mediating influence. Fast Company 10 years after its demise, a requiem for the Microsoft Zune, the little gadget that couldn't By Jack Denton Although it was the subject of much ridicule at the time, the Zune's ungainliness is sort of charming from our present perch of digital oversaturation. i can't walk out Los Angeles Times It's 2022. Does Elvis Presley still matter? By Stephen Thomas Erlewine Baz Luhrmann's splashy "Elvis" biopic attempts to make the King relevant to a new generation. But 50 years after Presley's last hit, is it simply too late? The Conversation Was there anything real about Elvis Presley? By Michael T. Bertrand Elvis seems to serve as a barometer measuring America's various tensions, with the gauge less about Presley and more about the nation's pulse at any given moment. Billboard Vinyl Prices Might Seem High Today, But They Were Worse in 1978 By Glenn Peoples After vinyl album sales peaked in 1977, prices reached a zenith the following year -- $30.18 in today's dollars. Kulture Hub Do posthumous albums exploit or celebrate an artist's legacy? By Nina Collavo When seeking to decide the morality of a posthumous release, the waters are muddy. The Guardian Country-soul star Yola: 'I have a mission. I'm extremely bloody-minded about it' By Kate Hutchinson The Grammy-nominated UK singer on her journey from guesting on dance bangers to starring in Baz Lurhmanm's "Elvis," and her long battle for recognition in the white, male-dominated Americana scene. The Liner Notes How The Roots Helped Me Embrace Jazz By Marcus J. Moore The band's third album, "illadelph halflife," was an 80-minute collage of R&B, poetry, hard-charging rhymes and smooth jazz. The New York Times Opera's Lack of Diversity Extends to Offstage, a Study Shows By Javier C. Hernández Opera America's study found a striking dearth of minorities in the administrative ranks of opera companies. DJ Mag The Martinez Brothers: reaching new heights in Ibiza By Mick Wilson As they kick off their Tuesday night headline residency at Hï Ibiza, New York natives The Martinez Brothers catch up with DJ Mag Ibiza's Mick Wilson about their love for the White Isle and their big plans for the coming season. The Guardian 'One good song can do more than 5,000 protests': the queer revolution in the Middle East By Lindsay Poulton Mashrou' Leila were one of the biggest bands in the Middle East, with a lead singer, Hamed, who is the firstly openly gay rock star in the Arab world. Known globally, their gigs were regular sell-out successes until an event at their 2017 Cairo concert changed everything.  what we're into Music of the day "Baby, I Had an Abortion" Petrol Girls From the Austrian/British band's third album, "Baby," out today on Hassle Records. Video of the day "Elvis" Baz Luhrmann In theaters today. 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