jason hirschhorn's @MusicREDEF: 10/18/2022 - BTS Army, Trax Records Sued, Dirtbags, Fangirls, Lil Baby, Bad Bunny...

Critiquing masculinity while maintaining his position within the enduring hierarchies that put those bad boys on top, [Matty Healy]'s the one you love to roll your eyes at. He's a dirtbag, baby, in a long line of antiheroes who interrogate the shapes of male privilege from the inside, even as they benefit from its persistence. Open in browser Tuesday October 18, 2022 In the beginning: BTS at the K-Pop Expo in Asia, Incheon, South Korea, Sept. 21, 2014. (Choi Soo-Young/ImaZinS/Getty Images) quote of the day "Critiquing masculinity while maintaining his position within the enduring hierarchies that put those bad boys on top, [Matty Healy]'s the one you love to roll your eyes at. He's a dirtbag, baby, in a long line of antiheroes who interrogate the shapes of male privilege from the inside, even as they benefit from its persistence." - Ann Powers, "Love Songs of a Dirtbag" rantnrave:// Seven Sensation Army I don't pretend to know what will become of BTS' supernova-like run atop the pop universe once its members start slipping into and out of the South Korean military, or what would have become of that run if they'd been allowed to skip that step of Korean citizenship. But I think it's safe to say the group has already surpassed any reasonable expectations for even the most superstarry of superstar pop acts. Six #1 albums and five #1 singles in the US (despite singing primarily in Korean). Billions of streams. Sold-out stadiums around the world. Cultural ubiquity. An army of their own. And all that notwithstanding, I think it's equally safe to say it wasn't going to last. It never does. The supernova part of any pop career has a shelf life. BIG HIT MUSIC's Monday announcement that the seven members of the group will honor their mandatory service at staggered intervals over the next few years triggered analyses noting how BTS is committed to carrying on with both solo and group projects, while Big Hit's parent's company, HYBE, has its own plans to weather the storm with a growing, diversified roster of artists and business interests. Other Korean bands like SEVENTEEN and TOMORROW X TOGETHER will contribute to the company's bottom line in BTS' absence, but so will American acts including ARIANA GRANDE and JUSTIN BIEBER and a variety of tech products and platforms. HYBE's stock took a bit of a hit Monday, Billboard reported, but "for now, the market seems to have priced in the reality that... this version of BTS would not be able to stay together for much longer." But the market doesn't know any more than I do what will become of BTS' run. Spreadsheets are only of so much use when it comes to pop music. Big Hit says it expects BTS to be working again as a full civilian group in 2025, three years from now. For some pop groups and their audiences, that would be a lifetime and a half. But it's only half as long as RIHANNA's been on hiatus since she last released an album or toured, and she's about to headline the SUPER BOWL. So it's either four, five seconds or four, five years until BTS is BTS again; it's hard to say which. In the meantime, solo projects... and one of BTS' newest acquisitions is the AI voice synthesis company SUPERTONE, so maybe there's a BTS album with virtual J-HOPE and JUNGKOOK and real everybody else to come sometime in the near future? Would the army—either army—be good with that? Then there's the example of rappers GUCCI MANE and the late DRAKEO THE RULER, who kept recording and releasing albums while locked behind bars, without access to the technology, budget or support system BTS will have. So maybe they'll keep working. Or maybe they'll make like Rihanna or GEORGE R.R. MARTIN and just stop for a minute. Maybe pop will quietly pass them by. Maybe they'll come back with a quiet storm R&B album and do a small theater tour. Maybe they'll play Super Bowl LX with special guests BLACKPINK and NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK. Maybe Oct. 15, 2022 in Busan was BTS' last concert. A few things are safe to say but we can't pretend to know the rest, not yet. Etc Etc Etc About that ALICE COLTRANE bumper sticker... The ROCK HALL OF FAME case for manager GARY KURFIRST... Video game music at the GRAMMYS... QUESTLOVE wants to teach you how to be creative. Rest in Peace R&B singer/songwriter JOYCE SIMS, who left an enduring mark on house music in the US and UK with '80s singles like "(You Are My) All and All" and "Come Into My Life"... Ukrainian conductor YURIY TERPATENKO, murdered by Russian troops after refusing to participate in a Russian-sponsored concert in the occupied city of Kherson... Clannad guitarist/singer NOEL DUGGAN... MIKE SCHANK, Milwaukee guitarist best known for his featured role in the 1999 documentary "American Movie," which he also scored... Retail and distribution exec BURT GOLDSTEIN. - Matty Karas (@troubledoll), curator army dreamers Rolling Stone Iconic Chicago House Label Trax Records Sued For Decades of Illegal Business Practices By Michaelangelo Matos The artists claim the label engaged in fraud and copyright infringement. Billboard Is HYBE Ready for the Challenge of BTS' Military Service? By Alexei Barrionuevo The group may not perform again with its full-seven member lineup until 2025 - putting a lot of weight on solo projects and new bands like Seventeen and NewJeans. NPR Music Love Songs of a Dirtbag By Ann Powers On "Being Funny In A Foreign Language," the new album by his band The 1975, Matty Healy makes romantic music for cynical outsiders who insist they're ready to give love a try. The Guardian I used to be ashamed of being a fangirl. Now I see how joyous and creative it was By Ruchira Sharma Lady Gaga was my idol, but I didn't dare tell anyone. Now a new wave of books and films shows us why female obsession is such an important part of growing up. TechRadar iOS 16 was supposed to bring an Apple Music Classical app, but it's MIA By Al Griffin Classical music fans want answers. The New York Times How Atlanta History Shaped Lil Baby and Generations of Rappers By Joe Coscarelli The city is home to one of the world's most important musical ecosystems, and the 27-year-old is one of its biggest new stars. Backseat Freestyle A Bad Bunny Primer For Hip-Hop Heads By Jayson Rodriguez My Twitter timeline is filled with folks gawking at his reported September haul of $123.7 million in touring revenues and subsequently also saying they never hear his music anywhere. Both certainly can be true, which speaks to the phenomenon that he is and trying to understand what's happened in 2022, his mainstream breakout year.  The Sydney Morning Herald 'Totally devastating': New threat to Australia's live music industry By Carla Jaeger It was supposed to be the year that Australia's live music scene returned. So, why are so many festivals cancelled? The Guardian Risks, rising costs and 'relentless demands': why so many musicians are cancelling their tours By Eilish Gilligan Flights are expensive, festivals are being axed and ticket sales are slow, as exhausted artists in Australia and abroad are putting their health and finances first. Los Angeles Times Does anyone still want to be in the Kanye West business? By August Brown and Anousha Sakoui After a week in which West promoted antisemitism and white supremacy, his business partners, from Adidas to Def Jam, may be distancing themselves from the star. army of me NPR Music Our biggest orchestras are finally playing more music by women. What took so long? By Tom Huizenga As the new concert season gets underway, composers and orchestra administrators say they are feeling a shift in whose music gets heard. WMUR Clarified: How mariachi musicians provide healing By Lauren Lee After the tragic mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas, mourners brought cards, candles and toys - others brought music. The New York Times Dry Cleaning: It's Spoken Rock 'n' Roll, but We Like It By Simon Reynolds The British rock band's distinctive sound comes from the vocalist Florence Shaw's carefully delivered observations that float somewhere between stand-up, poetry and comedy. 5 Magazine Ultra, Simply Ultra By Terry Matthew With house music history again part of the mainstream conversation, Ultra Naté steps forward with a brilliant new album that shows everyone how it's done. Music Industry Blog TikTok Music could change the game By Mark Mulligan It is a logical leap to assume that if TikTok becomes a key force in music discovery, it could do the same for consumption. Los Angeles Times The eternal harmonies of Nate Dogg live on in L.A. Nobody did it better -- and never will By Jason Parham Like our greatest practitioners of the form, Aretha and Marvin and Whitney and so on, Nate's voice was a bridge, scrubbing away the pain of life and making room for its simple sweetness. Rolling Stone 'It Turned the World Upside Down': How New York City's 1977 Blackout Jump-Started the Hip-Hop Era By Jonathan Abrams In an excerpt from the new book "The Come Up: An Oral History of the Rise of Hip-Hop," author Jonathan Abrams tells the origin story of the sonic revolution that became a global force. PopMatters Who Put the Pop in Gen Z's Pop Punk? By Iain Ellis Gen Z's pop punk may also be punk's most hated form, yet its roots are deep in "pure punk" soil. Global News Music generated by artificial intelligence is coming to the radio sooner than you think By Alan Cross One of the hottest areas of computer research involves teaching artificial intelligence to make credible, creative, and engaging music. Science may be further along than you think. The Atlantic ABBA's Triumphant Return By James Parker At a purpose-built arena in East London, ABBA has orchestrated an immaculate 3,000-person, 95-minute digital hallucination. Chicago Reader Indie rock, immortalized By Jonah Nink Local filmmaker Dan Stewart spent the summer shooting "Local Band," a feature film dedicated to Chicago's DIY music scene. what we're into Music of the day "Therapy pt. 2" Robert Glasper ft. Mac Miller From Robert Glasper's "Black Radio III: Supreme Edition," out now on Loma Vista. Video of the day "Sirens" Rita Baghdadi Rita Baghdadi's documentary about the all-female Lebanese thrash band Slave to Sirens, in theaters. Music | Media SUBSCRIBE Suggest a link "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 HOME | ABOUT | SETS | PRESS Redef Group Inc. LA - NY - Everywhere Copyright ©2021 UNSUBSCRIBE or MANAGE MY SUBSCRIPTION