Day in Pop Report for 07/08/2014
"I don't care what you do in life, everybody needs a day off, everybody has the right to say, 'You know what, I need a minute to breathe'. I want to bring my family to the movies without 30 motherf-ers following me. Everybody here, they like sex right? Sex is great when you and your partner are like, 'Hey, this is what we both want to do'. But if one of those people don't want to do that, what is that called? That's called rape. That is called violation. So if I walk around and say look sir, I'm not feeling so good today, I need some space, can you please not f*** with me today? I need cut-off space, not violation," Kanye might have fumbled with that metaphor but he at least managed to pull off another one, ironically while defending himself against how the media portrays him. "The media paint me as if I'm some sort of villain or like I've got a bad bone in my body," he said as reported by Billboard. "I'm really more of a porcupine or a blowfish. And the photos they always take is when that blowfish is blown up or when that porcupine is defending itself from the lies and the control and the manipulation that you deal with if you are an artist. Sometimes my only response is to go 'Aaargh!'" More including video of his rant here.
As her opening line suggests, she looks at where she sees the future of the music business is heading, where it is at today and the major change within the business in the digital age. Swift wrote, "In mentioning album sales, I'd like to point out that people are still buying albums, but now they're buying just a few of them. They are buying only the ones that hit them like an arrow through the heart or have made them feel strong or allowed them to feel like they really aren't alone in feeling so alone. It isn't as easy today as it was 20 years ago to have a multiplatinum-selling album, and as artists, that should challenge and motivate us. "There are always going to be those artists who break through on an emotional level and end up in people's lives forever. The way I see it, fans view music the way they view their relationships. Some music is just for fun, a passing fling (the ones they dance to at clubs and parties for a month while the song is a huge radio hit, that they will soon forget they ever danced to). Some songs and albums represent seasons of our lives, like relationships that we hold dear in our memories but had their time and place in the past. "However, some artists will be like finding 'the one.' We will cherish every album they put out until they retire and we will play their music for our children and grandchildren. As an artist, this is the dream bond we hope to establish with our fans. I think the future still holds the possibility for this kind of bond, the one my father has with the Beach Boys and the one my mother has with Carly Simon." Read her full editorial and find out more of her thoughts including why she thinks that this moment in music is exciting, here.
Vibe reports that the altercation occurred at a concert in Racine, Wis., on Friday (July 4). After having extended his arm into the crowd, an attendee tried to get onstage via the rapper's help - and he wasn't having any of it, with video of the incident showing him berating him as what appears to be security surrounds him. He ends up managing a parting shot before being pulled away - not a forceful hit, it seemed, but certainly enough to be cause for discussion. Another angle posted by TMZ shows the moment the ill-fated attempt - "I thought he was trying to shake my hand," Rich Homie Quan says in the video - occurred. Watch video and read more here.
World Peace Is None of Your Business is out July 15th, but NPR has a full stream of Morrissey's tenth album over on their site right now. Click here to stream the 56-minute album, Moz's first new album in five years. The album features long-time producer Joe Chiccarelli and his backing band Boz Boorer (guitar), Jesse Tobias (guitar), Solomon Walker (bass), Matthew Walker (drums) and Gustavo Manzur (keyboards). more on this story
Cyrus, Coyne and co. released a new video today (July 7) that's a short film of strange, trippy proportions. Bringing Moby along for the ride, Blonde SuperFreak Steals the Magic Brain is every bit as odd as it sounds, perhaps something expected on Coyne's part but something that continues to emerge as a result of Cyrus' newfound friendship with the band. Basically, the premise is this: Cyrus has a brain. Someone steals it. She yells obscenities as she tries to get it back. There's static. Psychedelic colors. Video clips seemingly spliced in with neither rhyme nor reason. Pink goo. In short, it's about everything you'd expect from the parties involved. Watch it here.
According to NME, over the weekend Public Enemy hype man Flavor Flav set off thousands of dollars worth of fireworks at his annual Fourth of July party in Las Vegas. But the party ended shortly after the fireworks went off as police arrived at Flavor Flav's home in Las Vegas Valley after neighbors called and complained. Once police arrived, the rapper received two citations from police for the illegal fireworks display. This isn't the first time Flav has caused turmoil in his neighborhood. Since 2009, it's estimated that he has set off thousands of dollars worth of illegal fireworks each July 4. more on this story
Billboard and Nielsen have released their joint mid-year report, which tabulates radio, streaming and sales numbers for the year so far - from individual songs to albums of all formats. Following in close second behind Pharrell's "Happy" with 550,000 plays is John Legend's "All of Me", reaching 3.2 billion people compared to Williams' 3.3 billion reach. Three other hit songs in "Dark Horse," "Team" and "Counting Stars" - all songs that, like "Happy" and "All of Me," came out in 2013 - rounded out the top five. Meanwhile, as expected, the top album of 2014 is still the soundtrack to Frozen, which has been spurned on by monstrous ticket and DVD sales and a hit single in "Let It Go." The album has moved 2.7 million units this year. The rest of the report was full of some expected data (CD sale death) and some not-so expected data, like the 40.2 percent increase in vinyl sales. More details here.
Royalty: The Prequel is a seven-song set that will be the first release from the singer's new label, Contra Paris.The mini-album sees Nash reuniting with creative partner Tricky Stewart, and is prefaced with Nash proclaiming: "Me and my Partner Tricky Stewart will do our best at showing you the world through the eyes Of the Young Black Dreamers. We want to change how you feel about Life through music and Culture and also change what we see in each other!" Listen to Royalty: The Prequel here.
At his show Saturday night in Albany, N.Y., McCartney spotted a couple in the crowd holding signs. One, from a woman, read "He won't marry me til he meets you!" Her significant other confirmed the promise: "I have the ring and I'm 64," which of course is a perfect age given the Beatles' classic hit "When I'm Sixty-Four." For his second encore, Consequence of Sound reports, McCartney decided to make something happen, bringing the duo onstage. After meeting the former Beatle, the man sings a line from - naturally - "When I'm Sixty-Four" before getting down on one knee to propose, having fulfilled his end of the bargain. Watch what happened here.
Now, with the second taste of their September follow-up, a song titled "Left Hand Free," it might be safe to assume that the new Alt-J record will start where the last one left off, and with even more radio appeal. The track sounds like it could have been made with Danger Mouse, reflecting not necessarily the music we are hearing already in alternative circles, but more, exemplifying the music we have been anticipating with acts like Portugal, the Man and Cage the Elephant. Stream the song here.
The remastered set will be available as a standard CD and digital download, LP, an expanded 3-disc version and digital download, and a Super Deluxe box set. The new edition has been remastered from the original tapes by Ian Cooper at London's Metropolis Studios, supervised by the album's producer Owen Morris. The expanded 3-disc version features the original album plus rare b-sides, early demos and live recordings from the Oasis archives. more details here.
"Workers immediately named it 'Dolly' as it characterized Dolly's beauty, love, peace, and sweetness just as she had shown fans a few days before while performing on the Pyramid stage," a press release states. When the real Dolly got word of the matter, she took to YouTube to offer a home to the dog if the owner isn't found. "I was so upset," she said in a YouTube video. "I don't know how somebody could leave their little dog behind. I'm hoping that maybe they just lost the dog and that they'll get back together. They've told me that they're going to do everything they can to get the owner and Dolly back together but I was very honored and very flattered that they named her after me." More.
While details are scarce - phones were not allowed at the listening party - Vulture reports West played a private gig after his second performance at Wireless Festival. According to a few listeners who were able to leak information, the new songs played were "dark," "hellish" and "ground-shaking." These are words not unlike how you would describe any club at any given moment, so perhaps take them with a grain of salt. According to KTT, the premier forum for Kanye goings-on, Kanye was quoted as saying in his monologue that he was "onto the next album" after this tour. more on this story
In the interview for the magazine's August issue - Solange graces its cover - Beyonc�'s younger sister references the incident in which she punched and kicked Jay Z while her sister took idly by, but there's little new information tendered other than what had already been noted in the original statement. "What's important is that my family and I are all good," she said. "What we had to say collectively was in the statement that we put out, and we all feel at peace with that." In the original statement, the families noted that "families have problems and we're no different," and that "our family has worked through it." But that's not all the interview touches on, of course - Solange revealed that she's been working on material for a new album, which is due out this fall. More about that.
In Glorious, everyone is perfectly coiffed, has a perfectly maintained hardbody and no one seems to speak. The idea of animatronic, soulless suburban sprawl is artfully captured in these white-boarded houses and plush lawns. But every now and then we see the facade slip: the woman with a bandaged head, implying recovery after plastic surgery; the scarred, imperfectly tanned belly of a woman in a bikini; a woman floating by on a pool toy with her neck in a sling; a ginger boy with a coral sweater wrapped around his shoulders - it's not a real injury but absolutely an injury to fashion and surely that matters in Glorious. What is distressing is that our focal point, Foxes, is hard to differentiate from the citizens of Glorious - aside from her angst-filled lip synching, of course, and one glimpse of her hip tattoo. It renders all the Stepford iconography meaningless by virtue of giving the viewer no point of action to rally around. Everyone slips out of their comas at about the 3:12 mark, just when the track slips into the bit where there is a glorious backing choir to elevate the lyrics. But their rebellion, their newfound sense of liveliness is nothing more than becoming actual moving human beings, like someone hit the power button on a set full of robots at once. By video's end we're left to wonder: is Foxes one of them or one of us? Watch it here.
In an interview with the station, pastor Rudy Rasmus revealed that Mrs. Carter, a member of his congregation at St. John's United Methodist Church, has given millions over the years in service to help Houston's homeless. Rasmus specifically points to a $7 million, 43-unit apartment complex named Knowles-Temenos Place, located only a few blocks from the church, that offers "affordable housing opportunities for extremely-low to low-income persons as well as homeless individuals." more on this story
SummerStage is New York City's largest free performing arts festival, bringing over 100 free performances to fourteen parks throughout the five boroughs. Since its inception twenty-nine years ago, more than six million people from New York City and around the world have enjoyed SummerStage. The festival runs from June 3rd until August 24th. Doors for Central Park shows open one hour prior to the listed show times. Citywide shows do not have door times as they are in open air venues. Show starts promptly at time stated in the schedule. Date - Time - Artist - Park 07/8 7:00 PM The Metropolitan Opera Summer Recital Series - Jackie Robinson Park 07/8 6:00 PM Tony Vega (in association with La Mega) - St. Mary's Park 07/9 6:00 PM LAMC: Beatnuts / Ana Tijoux / Bodega Bamz / DJ Tony Touch - Central Park 07/9 6:00 PM Jose Alberto "El Canario" (in association with La Mega) - St. Mary's Park 07/10 7:00 PM The Metropolitan Opera Summer Recital Series - Socrates Sculpture Park 07/10 6:00 PM Domingo Quino�es (in association with La Mega) - St. Mary's Park 07/11 7:00 PM Ballet Hispanico's BH dos - St. Mary's Park 07/12 3:00 PM LAMC: Babasόnicos / Juana Molina / La Santa Cecilia - Central Park 07/12 7:00 PM Urban Bush Women - St. Mary's Park 07/13 6:00 PM Bonobo / Cibo Matto / ODESZA - Central Park 07/13 4:00 PM Bronx Family Day - St. Mary's Park 07/15 6:00 PM Ismael Miranda / Rebel Tumbao / Joe Claussell - Queensbridge Park 07/16 8:00 PM Ballet Hispanico / A Palo Seco - Central Park 07/16 7:00 PM J Holiday presented in association with WBLS - Queensbridge Park 07/17 7:00 PM Mobb Deep in association with Lyricist Lounge - Queensbridge Park QU Music 07/18 7:00 PM Harambee Dance Company - Queensbridge Park QU Dance 07/19 7:00 PM Lenine & Martin Fondse Orchestra: The Bridge / Maira Freitas / DJ Tutu Moraes - Central Park 07/20 3:00 PM Catalan Sounds On Tour: Mishima / Txarango / DJ sets by Headbird - Central Park 07/20 4:00 PM Queens Family Day: Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra / Rashida Bumbray / Michael Mossman & Copland Jazz - Queensbridge Park More details here.
If you've ever wondered what Young Thug and Rich Homie Quan would sound like singing in sync, "I Got It" answers that question. The song is a proper duet, with the pair harmonizing on the chorus and trading verses. Of course, a duet sung by between Rich Homie Quan and Young Thug means that it's delivered with their unique eccentricities. The track sees the pair endearingly crooning off-key over a skittish beat from producer C4, showing yet another side of Young Thug's dynamic voice. Listen here.
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