Tuesday, December 22, 2020

Video Day #tzaholiday

You may already know I’m not big on Christmas, but every year there are videos - and some aren’t so bad.  Here are a couple that are worth a mention:  U.S. Girls released my kind of Christmas song, Santa Stay Home ft. Rich Morel.  Kacey Musgraves goes Glittery in her video from The Kacey Musgraves Christmas Show ft. Troye Sivan. Out of the blue, for better or worse, Meghan Trainor is back with this single Holidays, which honestly I’m only posting because it features Earth, Wind & Fire!

Bonus: Big Freedia is feeling festive with their new single and video for Better Be.  

Wednesday, December 16, 2020

Video Day #tzaupbeat

I want to live in MARINA’s world after hearing her new single for Man’s World!  Hot Chip just released this hyper-fun new video / single for Straight to the Morning feat. Jarvis Cocker. Troye Sivan’s Easy got a second life with Kacey Musgraves and Mark Ronson in this re-worked song & video.

Bonus:  I’m just catching up with this fabulous/fantasy video from Aluna & KAYTRANDA for The Recipe (feat. Rema). 

Wednesday, November 11, 2020

Ben Gage Trio (11/6/20)

Another rare live performance during COVID - on a rare warm evening in November.  I can’t think of a better place to see live music on a Fall evening, during a pandemic, than the patio at Forest City Brewery.  I can’t think of much better music to listen to than the Ben Gage Trio, who you may remember I recently saw at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.  What a fabulous night of music, beer, and friends (outside, at a distance).

Ben Gage Trio  11 6 20

Side Note:  While Ben Gage is an excellent singer-songwriter, incidentally this is now the 2nd Gillian Welch song he’s covered that I’ve recorded!

The Evovlving State of Live Streaming Shows

I’m sure we’ve all seen a streaming performance by this point, right?  Mostly it’s been an artist in front of a camera in their living room (I’m thinking Ben Gibbard here).   There have been a few others that have a been a little more planned/produced as well (I’m thinking like  Robyn’s DJ Set and the Pitchfork Listening Club with Perfume Genius.)  What’s expected with all these performances is that they're all free (though tipping is always encouraged).  Something we come to expect with content on the internet.

These past couple (many) months, I’ve been supporting Bandcamp Fridays, buying artists merch, contributing to Kickstarters, etc. etc.  However, I’ve not yet purchased a ticket for a live streaming show.  It looks like that is about to change.  Here are two upcoming performances, by artists that I respect and enjoy, that are putting together online performances that I’m happy to pay for (and feel like I’m getting my money’s worth).  You should check them both out, as they’re both artists you’ve seen on TZA before.

"The Little Red Barn Show premiers November 12th with two special screenings that include a LIVE Q&A session with Kristian at 20:00 Central European Time and 8:00PM US Central Time. The film will be available beginning November 12th through November 21st

Tickets to view are on a sliding 'pay what you want' pricing scale, beginning at $5.00 USD."

(Via (9) The Tallest Man On Earth: The Little Red Barn Show (Trailer) - YouTube.)

 

"Lipa is finally taking the stage on November 27 — exactly eight months after Future Nostalgia's release — for a virtual concert. She's taking the 'future' and 'nostalgia' part of her disco-inspired album seriously and is dubbing the event 'Studio 2054,' a clear nod to the legendary New York City disco nightclub Studio 54. 

The virtual concert will feature tracks from the record, as well as the remix album, Club Future Nostalgia, and promises to turn the warehouse location where it'll be filmed into a bonafide disco heaven. ‘Dua will move through custom built sets; surreal tv shows, roller discos, ecstatic raves, trashy rocker hang outs, voguing ballrooms and diva style dressing rooms,' teases the press release.

Tickets for 'Studio 2054' go on sale October 30, with ticket bundles offering options for exclusive pre-show behind the scenes footage as well as After Show Party access — though it's unclear what the 'party' portion will look like."

(Via Dua Lipa Announces "Studio 2054," A Disco-Themed Virtual Concert.)

PS: Before I put this post together, Ezra Furman had her pay-to-play performance at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.  Here’s a clip of that performance.

 

Monday, November 9, 2020

Video Day #tzachill

Sarah Jarosz takes us to her Hometown on her new single, with this new video.  Shilpa Ray recently released this scathingly good song & video for Heteronormative Horseshit Blues. Finally, I don’t know where Small Black got this vintage content for their new video for Tampa, but it’s gold.

Bonus.  alexmaax is one part of MS MR and has a solo project out.  I find his voice, and this video compelling…  as well as his inspiration.  "It’s about trying to shake off the residual damage from a bad relationship – I wrote it a year after a traumatizing breakup, and it came from the frustration that I couldn’t seem to recover, even after all that time."

Friday, November 6, 2020

Top New Release: Róisín Murphy - Róisín Machine

If you search TZA, you’ll see that I’ve only ever posted videos by Róisín Murphy.  I’ve never had the chance to see her perform live!  I won’t get into her bio (check her out on Wikipedia), but I have been following her since the mid 2000’s, and with every album I've become even more infatuated.  Her music (and style) is always a step ahead of others, showing that she’s only improving with age.  This new album just takes it to a new level.  Check out some clips of articles, a video (repeat), and listen to the full album below!

"Over the course of the last 30 years, Róisín Murphy has made enough classics to fill up the Top 40 of a more fabulous world. To paraphrase the one-time announcer of this awful world’s pop countdown, Murphy has kept her couture-shod feet on the ground and kept reaching for the stars—though her idea of a star is more Cosey Fanni Tutti dancing to Sylvester than your average pop idol. The Irish singer-songwriter’s fifth solo album, Róisín Machine, might seem in some ways like the same old song and dance. But it’s done with such impeccable elan that she has turned the old nightlife songbook into a book of revelations."

(Via Róisín Murphy: Róisín Machine Album Review | Pitchfork.)

 "A grimy and glamorous pastiche of self-mythologising disco, nostalgic British club music, post-punk iconography and Murphy’s ever-sharp hooks, Róisín Machine — which was started over a decade ago, after the release of 2007’s Gaga blueprint Overpowered, but was pre-empted by the torch-singer techno of 2015’s Hairless Toys and 2016’s Take Her Up To Monto — is relentless and brilliant, serving as both a document of Murphy’s youth exploring the underground clubs of Manchester and Sheffield and a love letter to the transformative power of a dancefloor.

 Made largely in collaboration with Murphy’s long-time friend and collaborator Richard Barratt, aka DJ Parrot, Róisín Machine feels like the defining document of Murphy’s solo career so far, casting the 47-year-old as a mysterious, magnetic club denizen, the kind of person you might whisper about obsessively over the course of a lifetime without ever meeting. She switches guises constantly, and yet the record is in thrall of her, obsessed with Murphy as both a musician and a mythological figure almost to a fault. Occasionally an underappreciated or overlooked figure, Róisín Machine fits 20-plus years of overdue idol worship into an hour of tight, bone-rattling club music."

(Via Róisín Murphy is still doing it her way | The FADER.)

"What do you think of the disco revival that’s been happening this year, with the new albums from Dua Lipa and Jessie Ware?

‘Lovely, good for them – but I’m back to snatch their wigs! To me, disco can be anything. It is a disco record I’ve made, but my idea of it is very broad. I can easily think of Depeche Mode and Sylvester as disco.’"

(Via Róisín Murphy on the disco revival: “I’m back to snatch Dua Lipa and Jessie Ware’s wigs!”.)

Just some bonus, gay Q&A for ya:

"I’d like to get very gay right off the top. I was wondering if you tend to get more interest from Queer publications like this one, or are you finding you’re talking to more mainstream publications as your career evolves? Do you notice a shift in demographics with each release?

Well, I guess I have different kinds of demographics in different countries. I do have a very strong gay following across the board. But in some places it’s really gay, like in America, for example. When I played there, it was like wall to wall, lads with their tops off in their underwear. Everywhere. Hardcore! I love it, mate.

You know, the thing about the last tour that I did in America – I didn’t do big venues or anything, but it really made me aware of having to be on top of my game with the singing and all that! Róisín Murphy by Adrian Samson

Why? You mean because with the Gays you have all those other divas to compete with?

Well, just being in a completely gay environment, you know, completely mad people hanging out and sweaty bodies everywhere, and they’re loving it. It’s such a beautiful thing and it becomes a full circle for me, because I was always brought up to understand that the music I was into had been created by gay and marginalized cultures.

So, to then be embraced in that same kind of culture, I mean, maybe I’m not mainstream gay culture in America, I’m not sure if I even have the possibility to be, but certainly the, the parties that I’ve played there have been pretty full on!"

(Via OMG, a Q&A with Róisín Murphy (2020) | OMG.BLOG.)

Look Inside the World's Largest Collection of Pop Music: THE ARCHIVE

Fascinating. 🤓

Look Inside the World's Largest Collection of Pop Music: THE ARCHIVE

What do you do with one of the largest record collections in the world? You put the three million items in a building in lower manhattan. That is, until you're thrown out...VNT goes to see the dressing of the dead at the ARChive of Contemporary Music-- and a look at its next iteration, wherever that might be.

Video Day #tzaupbeat

Channel Tres announced his new mixtape (date tbd) with this easy breezy video for Skate Depot. KAYTRANADA & Tinashe kill it - literally - in their new video for The Worst In Me.Mdou Moctar is back (!!) with this new single and video for Chismiten, also announcing a new album sometime next year.

Bonus:  This new single and video from Dua Lipa for Levitating (feat. DaBaby) is pop confection.

Thursday, October 15, 2020

Article: The Hidden Costs of Streaming Music

An important article. 

"‘The environmental cost of music is now greater than at any time during recorded music’s previous eras.’ He supports that claim with a chart of his own devising, using data culled from various sources, which suggests that, in 2016, streaming and downloading music generated around a hundred and ninety-four million kilograms of greenhouse-gas emissions—some forty million more than the emissions associated with all music formats in 2000. Given the unprecedented reliance on streaming media during the coronavirus pandemic, the figure for 2020 will probably be even greater.

The ostensibly frictionless nature of online listening has other hidden or overlooked costs. Exploitative regimes of labor enable the production of smartphone and computer components. Conditions at Foxconn factories in China have long been notorious; recent reports suggest that the brutally abused Uighur minority has been pressed into the production of Apple devices. Child laborers are involved in the mining of cobalt, which is used in iPhone batteries. Spotify, the dominant streaming service, needs huge quantities of energy to power its servers. No less problematic are the streaming services’ own exploitative practices, including their notoriously stingy royalty payments to working musicians. Not long ago, Daniel Ek, Spotify’s C.E.O., announced, ‘The artists today that are making it realize that it’s about creating a continuous engagement with their fans.’ In other words, to make a living as a musician, you need to claw desperately for attention at every waking hour."

...

“Musically, we may need to question our expectations of infinite access and infinite storage,” he writes. Our demand that all of musical history should be available at the touch of a finger has become gluttonous. It may seem a harmless form of consumer desire, but it leaves real scars on the face of the Earth.

Devine holds out hope for a shift in consciousness, similar to the one that has taken place in our relationship with food. When we listen to music, we may ask ourselves: Under what conditions was a particular recording made? How equitable is the process by which it has reached us? Who is being paid? How are they being treated? And—most pressing—how much music do we really need? Perhaps, if we have less of it, it may matter to us more.

(Via The Hidden Costs of Streaming Music | The New Yorker.)

Wednesday, October 14, 2020

Video Day #tzachill

Jamila Woods just released a new song video for SULA hardcover, which was inspired by the late Toni Morrison and her novel Sula.  Sufjan Stevens has finally released a full proper album to much acclaim, and this is a heavy new video from that album.  Kevin Morby continues to hit all the right notes, including in this video for Wander feat. his wife Katie Crutchfield (of the band Waxahatchee).

Bonus:   

"Paris-based Mathematic Studio produced a lovely animation for Bob Marley's timeless 'Redemption Song.' Directed by Octave Marsal and Théo de Gueltzl, the work draws heavily on imagery and iconography surrounding Ras Tafari, aka Haile Selassie, as well as the pan-African and diaspora political movements."

(Via Bob Marley's "Redemption Song" gets a beautiful hand-animated music video / Boing Boing.)

Wednesday, October 7, 2020

Video Day #tzaupbeat

Disclosure wisely added Channel Tres (who I’ve loved on here before) to their new album and who also stars in the accompanying video for Lavender.  YELLE releases her new video for J’veux un chien, and all I have to say is OTTO!  Petit Biscuit just dropped crisp new pop single and video for Drivin’ Thru The Night.

Bonus:  I’ve always rooted for Jennifer Lopez, and I’m tickled to see her rock it in this new video with Maluma.

Article: Why Disco Is Taking Over Pop, One Feel-Good Banger At A Time

I couldn’t be happier about it...

"Disco originated in the 1970s at a time of economic crisis. The post-World War II economic boom had come to an end and the United States began to endure a cycle of depression that included an oil crisis, a stock market crash, and a recession that caused high unemployment and simultaneously high inflation. At the end of the previous decade, the Civil Rights movement was disrupted by the assassinations of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Deputy Chairman of Black Panther Party Fred Hampton. Mass shootings and labor strikes abounded. With uncomplicated messages of feeling good (i.e., ‘Good Times’ by Chic, ‘You Should Be Dancing’ by the Bee Gees) and empowerment, like Gloria Gaynor’s perennial ‘I Will Survive,’ hefty funk basslines, eclectic percussion via cowbell and woodblock, and four-on-the-floor rhythms, disco was the music of liberation when marginalized, working people — in particular for queer, Black, Hispanic and Latinx, and Italian-American people — needed it badly.

It’s hard not to see parallels between the disco era and the political and cultural shifts happening right now in America. A public health crisis and subsequent recession — one started just barely 10 years after the last — plus a reinvigorated movement for racial justice, fueled by demands of significant societal restructuring in the real service of long overdue equality, make for a heavy load to bear, especially if you’re unemployed or otherwise struggling.

‘When shit’s going bad, people like to indulge in happier music,’ says Ian Kirkpatrick, the producer of ‘Don’t Start Now,’ and Lipa’s 2018 hit ‘New Rules.’ ‘These songs are so uplifting. This is a way of escaping.’"

(Via Why Disco Is Taking Over Pop, One Feel-Good Banger At A Time.)

Tuesday, September 29, 2020

Video Day #tzachill

Sylvan Esso put out another recent single and video, and this one for the subtly beautiful Rooftop Dancing.  I’m not quite sure what’s happening with this new video for Le Queens from Plants & Animals, but it really doesn’t matter. Suzzy Roche and Lucy Wainwright Roche just released this touching new video for I Can Still Hear You. 

Bonus:  Not sure why, but Father John Misty has been releasing some new videos on his channel. One for his single “I'm Writing a Novel” from the album Fear Fun from 2012, which is one of the better montage videos I’ve seen!  Then he released The Night Josh Tillman Came To Our Apartment from 2015 which has an interesting twist.

Thursday, September 10, 2020

Movie: Jazz on a Summer's Day

What a thrilling piece of history being restored and redistributed.

"Filmed at the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival in Rhode Island and directed by world-renowned photographer, Bert Stern. JAZZ ON A SUMMER'S DAY features intimate performances by an all-star line-up of musical legends including Louis Armstrong, Thelonius Monk, Gerry Mulligan, Anita O'Day, Chuck Berry, Dinah Washington, and closes with a beautiful rendition or The Lord's Prayer by Mahalia Jackson at midnight to usher in Sunday morning."

(Via (182) Jazz on a Summer's Day (1959) – Official Re-Release Trailer - YouTube.)

Cory Grinder, Jen Maurer, Stephen 'Tebbs' Karney (8/16/20)

Just catching up with this show.  I was thrilled to get a call to attend this small private performance of 3 great local musicians.  We thought it was going to be canceled, but after a rain delay and a change of venue, the sky parted and the sun came out!  Cory Grinder, Jen Maurer, and Stephen 'Tebbs’ Karney are all individual performers who pulled together to perform some great folk music, pulling out some old timey songs, as well as a cover of Reba’s Fancy!  It was such a delight.

Cory Grinder Jen Maurer Stephen  Tebbs Karney  8 16 20

Cory Grinder Jen Maurer Stephen  Tebbs Karney  8 16 20

Wednesday, September 9, 2020

Video Day #tzaupbeat

Disclosure is killing by bringing on Sydnis and Kehlani on his new release for Birthday. Declan McKenn’a Lyric Videos are cooler than a lot of other music videos out there, having just released his for Rapture. Gus Dapperton keeps us laughing in his new video for Post Humorous. 

Bonus:  I just discovered Cleveland artist MILAN because of their success remixing a Glass Animals track, and thoroughly enjoy this video from 2018

"Just this week, local musician Victoria ‘Tori’ Kurtz, who records and performs as MILAN, became a finalist in a prestigious international remix competition sponsored by the UK indie pop act Glass Animals. She's one of 11 finalists out of 400."

(Via Cleveland’s MILAN Named Finalist in International Remix Competition | Scene and Heard: Scene's News Blog.)

 

Monday, August 17, 2020

Ben Gage (8/15/20)

This was my second Rock Hall show of the weekend (!) with equally as great weather for sitting socially distanced outside.  Ben Gage is an Akron-based singer songwriter who played a lovely set out on the pavilion.  He really won me over when he covered Gillian Welch’s Miss Ohio, captured below.

Ben Gage  8 15 20

Ben Gage  8 15 20

 

Did I mention how nice out it was?

Ben Gage  8 15 20

Video Day #tzaupbeat

Elliphant is making a triumphant return with this beautifully shot video for the perfectly polished Had Enough. Dua Lipa just jumped out of the top-40 fray with this amazing single, Levitating, featuring Madonna (!), Miss Elliott, (!!), and remixed by The Blessed Madonna (!!!). Finally, how could I not post this star-studded video of Erasure’s Nerves of Steel!

Bonus:  You wouldn’t normally see a Rolling Stone video on this blog, but their recent video for Scarlet was actually pretty good - featuring Paul Mescal from Hulu’s Normal People.

Kid Tigrrr (8/13/20)

A return to live music!!  The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has just cemented a lifetime of memberships from me by breaking this drought with a series of shows out on their pavilion (temperatures taken, masks required).  I missed the first couple, but this Thursday night could not have been more beautiful for my first.  

Kid Tigrrr is a local band that I’ve been aware of, but have missed seeing live.  While their whispery indie pop sound would have better served in a small club, they complimented this strange reunion with live music quite well.  Check out some clips from the show.

Kid Tigrrr  8 13 20

Kid Tigrrr  8 13 20

Friday, August 7, 2020

Video Day #tzaupbeat

Austra just released her new video for I Am Not Waiting, off my second favorite pop album of the Summer.  Disclosure dropped their new video with Fatoumata Diawara for Douha (Mali Mali), which you should start for the dancing and stay for the visuals.  YELLE is promoting their yet to be release album with their new dance-centric video for Karaté.

Bonus:  Just ran across this video for Runway Daydream by The Ivy. Who’s not up for a summery pop tune from a cute boy band. 

 

Movie: Love Me Like You Should: The Brave and Bold Sylvester

Sylvester was not of my era, but I’ve become a huge fan. I don’t even remember how I discovered them, but it wasn’t long before I was collecting Sylvester’s music on vinyl and and playing it on jukeboxes.  I was thrilled to see this light shown on this amazing artist over at Amazon Music.  Check it out!

"In partnership with filmmaker Lauren Tabak and writer/consulting producer Barry Walters, we dive into the music career of Sylvester, starting from church choir in South Central LA to his early years in San Francisco. It follows his ascent to stardom through his evergreen, international hits 'Dance (Disco Heat)' and 'You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)'. Through his groundbreaking career, Sylvester blew open the doors for queer visibility and gender fluidity in mainstream music, leaving a legacy that continues to influence today's pop music. The documentary features candid interviews with Billy Porter, Martha Wash (The Weather Girls, Two Tons o’ Fun), Sylvester’s sister Bernadette Baldwin, biographer Josh Gamson, producer/songwriter James Wirrick, and more. Listen to Sylvester on our Pride History playlist: https://amzn.to/37D73XG"

(Via (100) Love Me Like You Should: The Brave and Bold Sylvester | Amazon Music - YouTube.)

Wednesday, July 29, 2020

Video Day #tzaupbeat

Slyvan Esso keeps getting better with every release, including this delicious new song & video for Ferris Wheel.  Declan McKenna takes us on quite a stroll in his new video for Daniel, You’re Still a Child.  After catching Sen Morimoto opening for Lala Lala last year, I excited to see this new video for Woof coming off a new album slated for October. 

Bonus:  Seemingly out of the blue, Jessica 6 is (re?)releasing some videos from some of their best tracks!  I’ll be curious to see if this is just some YouTube catalog completion exercise, or if there’s some more news to come!

Tuesday, July 28, 2020

Article: The Number Ones: Bonnie Tyler’s “Total Eclipse Of The Heart”

I’m not sure when I first heard this song, but I know the drama of it has always captured me.  I loved that Stereogum gave it some treatment in their series, The Number Ones, as to remind me what a spectacle this song can be.  And speaking of spectacle, I don’t remember ever seeing this video - wow!  I have no idea what’s going on in this video, but it surely lives up to the theatrical nature of the song.  There’s much to love about the campiness of this video - except maybe the creepy blue eyed choir boys.  And if there were anything that would cement Bonnie Tyler as a gay icon, it would be this video.

"Nobody’s entirely sure what ‘Total Eclipse Of The Heart’ is about, and nobody needs to know. ‘Total Eclipse Of The Heart’ overwhelms the idea of songwriting specificity in the same way that a tidal wave overwhelms a rowboat. Spend enough time with ‘Total Eclipse,’ and you might find yourself wondering if that isn’t the only way to write songs.

The term ‘power ballad’ doesn’t adequately describe ‘Total Eclipse Of The Heart,’ if only because the word ‘power’ just doesn’t have enough power. ‘Total Eclipse Of The Heart’ is an extinction-level event rendered in musical form. It’s pop music as heart-pounding, chest-thumping, blood-gargling, heavens-falling passion explosion. It’s sheer spectacle. It’s fireworks and lasers and lightning and thunder. It soars and swoops and barrel-rolls. The song flies along from one fiery climax to the next, and right when it seems like it’s about to end, it takes off again and somehow becomes even bigger. Who the fuck cares what it’s about?

Jim Steinman, the writer and producer of ‘Total Eclipse Of The Heart,’ originally came from musical theater. But you knew that. Even if you didn’t know that, you felt it. Only someone from musical theater could’ve gone for that level of cheap-seats bombast."

(Via The Number Ones: Bonnie Tyler’s “Total Eclipse Of The Heart” - Stereogum.)

Video Day #tzachill

Troye Sivan has a new EP coming out at the end of March and released this self-directed video for the single Easy.  I’ve really been enjoying the new Sarah Jarosz album, and wanted to share her new video for Johnny.   Rufus Wainwright is finally making a return to popular music with a new album, and this visually stunning video for Devils & Angels (Hatred).

Bonus:  Max Richter presents us with some beautiful visuals, fluctuating between urban and rural, old and young, and present and past.

Thursday, July 23, 2020

Video Day #tzaupbeat

Disclosure announced their new release, ENERGY (out 8/28), with their typical outrageous video - pleading with us to “not f*ck up My High.”  Glass Animals also announced a new album, Dreamland (out 8/7) by releasing this socially distant video for Heat Waves.  Little Dragon just released this semi-montage video for their smooth new track “Where You Belong."

Bonus:  This new Thundercat video for Dragonball Durag is fabulously fashionable.  In it I noted the band HAIM (with a great new album out), and then found this: "new clip follows Thundercat as he attempts to woo special guests indie sibling trio HAIM, R&B singer Kali Uchis, and comedian Quinta Brunson."

Tuesday, July 14, 2020

Video Day #tzachill

Lianne La Havas is coming out with the beautiful Can't Fight, in advance of her new self-titled album being released on 7/17!    The Avett Brothers just released their timely new video for We Americans.  Washed Out announced the release of their new album (Purple Moon, 8/7) with their new video/single for Time To Walk Away. 

Bonus:  This week we’re getting a double-shot of The Avett Brothers, who just announced The Gleam III out on August 28th.

Wednesday, July 8, 2020

Video Day #tzaupbeat

Plants and Animals are finally (!!!!) back with this blistering, timely new track, showing us our House is On Fire.  Shamir dips his toe back into the world of pop with this great new single for On My Own.  ODESZA has a side project out with others called BRONSON, and they just released this cool new video for Heart Attack.

Bonus:  TZA House Concert Alum, Mike Edel, just stepped up his video game with this fun new video for Hello Universe.

Top New Release: Jessie Ware - What’s Your Pleasure?

UK artist Jessie Ware just blew the top off this Summer with her anthemic disco-inspired album What’s Your Pleasure?   The minute I heard it, I loved it.  In fact, if you’re reading this, I’ve probably already sent you the link personally.  Along with the album have been a series of great videos highlighting just how danceable these songs are.

And since I don’t have much in the way of live music to share these days, I’ll take this chance to spend some time highlighting notable new releases.  Below you’ll find videos from the album, as well as links to some reviews and write-ups.  Dive in and dance out.

 

 

"On her new album, Jessie Ware sounds like the host of the kind of party you heard about in ‘70s Manhattan—velvet banquettes and powdery surfaces, mink coats and cigarette holders, and club names that were enigmatic numbers, or—post-gay liberation and pre-AIDS—sincerely promised sanctuary, paradise. You can imagine Ware taking a scene newcomer under her wing, detailing the venue’s clandestine corners, advising which watered-down liquor to avoid—and anyway, don’t you deserve champagne?

 

Disco has been a shared obsession of late for both chart juggernauts and Ware’s own peers, but her reverence for the era may be the most literal, down to her flash-lit portrait on the album cover, the spitting image of Warhol’s iconic polaroid of Bianca Jagger. Here, Ware is a lycanthropic party girl, coming alive under the mirrorball with breathy flirtations over disco-funk and vibrant Hi-NRG, recreated deftly by chief producer James Ford. Her wonderland is, to quote Fran Leibowitz’s one-time description of Studio 54, made for ‘sex and dancing.’” (Via Jessie Ware: What’s Your Pleasure? Album Review | Pitchfork.)

"Disco’s detractors - and during the genre’s original boom, there were many - fundamentally misunderstood what the music was for.

The rock and punk evangelicals who filled Comiskey Park for Disco Demolition Night in 1979 found it vapid and apolitical, and sometimes that was very much the case: but disco was a different kind of a response to political turmoil than those Black Flag fans deemed proper. Acts like Earth Wind & Fire and Chic turned spaces like Studio 54 into places of escape and liberation: dance music to move joints and break sweats, the reviled escapism deliberately built into euphoric music which provided respite from a racist nation, and growing inner-city poverty. ‘Good Times’ they weren’t, but disco music made the fantasy feel possible.

Jesse Ware’s fourth album sounds like it could have come from that era, and arrives after being delayed three times - for the Coronavirus outbreak, BLM protests and Juneteenth - and now escapism feels urgent again. Made in the wake of 2017’s Glasshouse, an album where she felt encumbered by commercial expectations, Ware answers with twelve fiery cuts which are brighter, salacious and disco to the core.

From the opening Giorgio Moroder synths of ‘Spotlight’, there’s little English about the sound of the record; remarkable considering the very British line-up of the production team. Clapham’s own Ware, UK DJ Benji B, Gorillaz-producer James Ford and Metronomy’s Joseph Mount conjure a rich and referential palette for the record; the title track boasting a New Wave synth line, ‘Ooh La La’ some Bowie downturned guitar vamps and ‘Soul Control’ a shamelessly corny keyboard riff straight out of Prince’s The Revolution. This is music aped by everyone from Bruno Mars to Arcade Fire, so the convincingness of songs like ‘Soul Control’ are a feat in themselves."

(Via Jessie Ware - What’s Your Pleasure? | Album Review.)

Monday, June 29, 2020

Video Day #tzachill

A recent TZA favorite, Khruangbin, released this touching video for So We Won’t Forget.   I just discovered Olivia Dean and really love her rich, soulful voice on this new single for Crosswords. Orville Peck is back with a new single of an upcoming EP, showing us there is No Glory In The West.

Kelly Lee Owens released this *heartbreaking* new video for On.

Tuesday, June 9, 2020

Article: How Bandcamp is changing the way we consume music

Bandcamp is my new favorite platform.

"On a normal Friday, Bandcamp can average around 47,000 sales. On Friday, March 20th, Bandcamp made almost 800,000 sales, or $4.3 million. They then announced that from May through July, 'Bandcamp Day' would happen on the first Friday of each month. On Friday, May 1st, Bandcamp made approximately 1.25 million sales, meaning that $7.1 million was distributed amongst artists on one Friday alone; if that can't convince you that buying music through Bandcamp is currently the most effective way to support artists, I'm not sure what will."

(Via How Bandcamp is changing the way we consume music - EARMILK.)

Wednesday, June 3, 2020

Video Day #tzaupbeat

Disclosure just released this cheeky fun video for Energy.  Greyson Chance made a name for himself 10 years ago with a cover of Lady Gaga in his school concert, and is continuing on with his new single for Honeysuckle.  Four years since her last album, Foxes is putting out this refreshing new pop single and video for Love Not Loving You.

Bonus: I’ve been a long time fan of Shilpa Ray.  She’s always been a force of nature, with a voice that will shake you to your bone.  This is all present in her new single and video for Manic Dixie Dream Cunt.

The State of Live Music

I really miss going to concerts.  I’ve been waiting with baited breath to see when they’ll return, and i’m beginning to see some signs of life.  In the meantime, there have been a whole host of options for seeing streaming concerts.  They’re everywhere, and difficult to keep up with!  There’s also talk of this being a new normal:

Though the post-streaming music industry has been difficult for professional musicians at nearly all levels, the emergence of Couch Tour as a potentially viable income source might be one of the few positive developments in recent years. For now, it may be the perfect activity for a homebound age, both socially present and physically distant. But long after audiences return to venues, the future of Couch Tour will be something to watch."

(Via The Never-Ending Couch Tour: How Livestreams and Social Media Have Already Transformed Live Music | Pitchfork.)

While most of these performance are just of artists and their instruments in front of a camera, some artists are showing a little more creativity.  One example are the “Personal Concerts” that Joe Pug has been offering.
 
 
Big Head Todd & the Monsters have been doing virtual tours, supporting local communities.
 
 
But virtual concerts just aren’t the same.  I’m sure by now you’ve heard of some of these Drive In concerts happening.  One artist making some noise in the streaming space is also looking at the Drive In model as well.

"Marc Rebillet, the electronic artist and YouTuber also known as 'Loop Daddy,' is embarking on what is being called the first-ever drive-in concert tour, taking place in drive-in movie theatres in the U.S. starting in June.

The shows aim to resemble the classic drive-in movie experience by showcasing short films instead of featuring traditional opening acts, with a portion of proceeds donated to GlobalGiving Coronavirus Relief Fund."

(Via Pollstar | Marc Rebillet's 'Drive-In Concert Tour' To Hit Multiple Cities, Kicking Off In June.)

 
 But, things are starting to transition out of the virtual.  Music Box just started to announce the return of some dinner concerts coming in a couple weeks.
 
 
Whether or not the public is ready to jam out in public with Carlos Jones, or laugh with Veranda L’Ni in person, in the same room, is another story.  We’ll see where this goes next...

Saturday, May 30, 2020

Video Day #tzachill

YELLE was rocking my iPod in the early aughts, and happy to see their back with the laid back Je t’aime encore video and single. Long time TZA favorite, Teddy Thompson finally released a new album this weekend, along with this video for Brand New. AURORA released a delicately beautiful video for Exist For Love.

BONUS: Sea Wolf is another aughts favorite with a new album out, and this great fan collaboration video created in this time of social distancing.

Wednesday, May 20, 2020

Video Day #tzaupbeat

Tessa Violet is speaking for all of us in her new single and video for Bored.   You might think two Declan McKennas are better than one in his (their?) new video for The Key to Life on Earth. I caught Boy Harsher back at Now That’s Class just over a year ago and loved their dark, dank synth sound - fully on display in their new video for for Electric. 

Bonus:  I find myself, like many, taken with the rise of DaBaby.  There’s something about him, and his rap style, that I find so satisfying.  While this video may not have usually made my Video Day post, I couldn’t help but also be taken by the sight of a Cleveland Browns jersey in a video!  When was the last time that happened??

Perfume Genius / Streaming (5/15/20)

If you haven’t listened to the new Perfume Genius album, you should. Recently, Pitchfork announced their new Listening Club series with their first live stream happening this past Friday night.  More on that below, but once you got past some awkward live banter and Q&A (I give them credit, it was a first), Perfume Genius took to what I assume was his living room and played a wonderful set.  Almost as wonderful as his cat playing with this mic cord throughout the performance.

"On the first episode of ‘Listening Club,’ special guest Perfume Genius discusses and performs songs from his new album Set My Heart on Fire Immediately, the follow-up to his excellent 2018 album No Shape. The episode will be hosted by Pitchfork’s Editor-in-Chief Puja Patel, Reviews Editor Jeremy Larson, and Senior Editor Jillian Mapes. Set My Heart on Fire is out today via Matador."

(Via Watch Perfume Genius on the Premiere of Pitchfork’s “Listening Club” | Pitchfork.)

Sunday, May 17, 2020

Video Day #tzaupbeat

KAYTRANADA is leaving it all on the dance floor in their new video for Need It feat. Masego.  Charlie XCX finished up her quarantine album, and released this quite satisfying green screen video for claws.  I recently discovered Boniface, and am really loving their 80’s inspired feel of their single and video for It’s A Joke. 

Bonus:  Local synth rock heros, Key to the Mint released their new video for Factory.

Tuesday, May 5, 2020

Video Day #tzachill

Five years (and seemingly 2 kids) since her last full release, Selah Sue puts out this touching new video for her new single You.  If there’s one thing you can rely on, is that Destroyer knows how to make a visually stunning video, which he’s done for his new single foolssong.  Trampled By Turtles just released a socially distant video for the apropos We All Get Lonely.

Bonus:  Glass Animals just released this amazing video, made in quarantine, for the single Dreamland.  I’d really recommend sticking with the beginning and seeing this video through.  It’s pretty spectacular.

Righteous Babe Radio!

Well this is interesting.  Ani DiFranco is starting up a new online radio format!  As big of a fan as I am, I’m not sure I see myself logging on to never-ending Righteous stream often - but I can imagine popping in here and there!  I’ll let them provide the explanation...

"Righteous babe radio will feature some previously unreleased live ani shows from the archives. Many of these will come straight off the board tapes and have not been edited/mixed at all. They are simply, As Is! These shows will air Wednesday, Friday and Saturday nights at 9pm CDT and a new show will be added every week. Some live singles from these shows will be mixed into the daily broadcast too, including new and unreleased songs, so you never know when you’re going to hear something brand new. Before these live shows, at 8pm CDT, to really set the mood, we will feature an hour of music from the many wonderful artists whom I’ve had the privilege of sharing the stage with. We will also be featuring an interview series airing Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays at Noon and again at 5pm CDT."

(Via Radio – righteousbabe.)

Thursday, April 30, 2020

The Zender Agenda Turns 10!

It’s hard to believe that it’s been 10 years since I started The Zender Agenda.  While that may seem like a long time in the online world, this blog is just a continuation of several others that existed before it.  In honor of this anniversary, allow me a self-indulgent trip down memory lane - a brief documentation of my history.

I originally started Roger’s Music Blog back in 2005!.  This was hosted as part of Apple's .Mac suite of services, and I used this iBlogger tool to publish content. It was so much fun to engage with these new online tools.  While that site has long since perished, I was able to capture the contents and have it still it hosted up over on Amazon!  It wasn’t a smooth transition, and doesn’t necessarily look the same - but it wasn’t much to look at to begin with. You’ll find that I have (embarrassingly) included that first blog post ever, below.

I named my next blog Only Music Left, a melodramatic act was spurred by some major changes in my life.  I don’t remember if the transition to Blogger was by force (.Mac depreciation), or if I was just seduced by the features of a real blog platform (tagging! comments! RSS Feeds!).  Either way, it was short lived, running from 2008-2010.

During this time however, I was asked to write a monthly column for a local online lgbt magazine called Spangle being run by a friend of mine.  He had the brilliant idea of naming the column “The Zender Agenda” and from there on out, it just made sense. (thanks Brian!)

In the full transition to becoming The Zender Agenda, I moved to a new Blogger account and a professional logo!  What a relief, and a wildly fun process to collaborate on (thanks Matt & Sean!). I also created my tag line, getting right to the point: Live Music & New Releases - Cleveland, OH.  It was here that I really began to formalize my content and structure.  I also made an attempt to use the pages feature to highlight my Concert Calendar (my most valuable asset), local Music Venues (never completed), my House Concerts (needs updated), local Record Stores (depreciated), About TZA (another nice little summary), and Submit your content pages.  I also tried this wonky DAKS concept that I never consistently employed, but still kinda stand by!

This is also when I fully engaged FaceBook Pages, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Flickr, SoundCloud, Songkick, Tumblr and even FourSquare (remember that?).  It was great to have a reason to play with all these new online social technologies, and a with purpose to do so.  They’re all still active (except FourSquare and Tumblr), so feel free to go subscribe, follow, etc.!  I even started a Newsletter using Mailchimp!

Over the years, I’ve been lucky enough to guest on a couple WRUW shows with friends, DJ a Beachland Brunch, and run a series of AMAZING house concerts.  The House Concerts have been such an fulfilling experience that it deserves to have it’s own anniversary post.  I even have some business cards, stickers and coasters (!). I’ll have those forever because I’m terrible at leaving them places.

The whole point of all this effort is really just a continuation of my formative time working at Finders Records in Bowling Green, OH.  Being a small town kid in love with music and concerts (thanks Kari!), then going to college and being able to work at the "largest independent music retailer in the Midwest" (or something like that) - truly changed my life.  Fun fact: I was the first person to create a website for them, using dial-up!

Being able to experience endless amounts of music, and being able to talk about it extensively with co-workers and customers, really ignited my fire for supporting music (in any form). It all changed after moving to Cleveland in 2000 and transitioning in to a career. I really missed the ability to connect with people about music, but more importantly, connect people with music.

I’ll let my very first blog post take it from here… (remember this is 2005!)

"Only music could drive me to Blog

I’ve never quite understood the point of blogging. It seemed quite self-indulgent and unnecessary, unless you were some amazingly interesting person who was a great writer. I’ve since lowered my standards and have had quite a bit of fun reading some people’s blogs. At the same time I came to this realization that I was gathering so much music information and experiences, and didn't have the means with which to share it. I would constantly read music news, go to see shows, buy lots of CD’s, and then I would try to keep from bombarding my friends with the excitement of my discoveries and from the endless hours of ‘you should hear this.’

One day I was sitting at one of my favorite places on the planet, Barking Spider Tavern , and I heard this woman on the CD player, her voice and music just blew me away. I ran home and listened to her music, bought it from CDBaby.com (great site!) and then signed up on her mailing list (her name is Chris Pureka who I will talk about soon as she'll be coming to the BST). My next thought was asking myself who can I tell?? Realizing that I probably had given all my friends their fill of new music, I thought, why not blog it? Then it all starting coming to me, just how I could incorporate all my interests in music into a website / blog.

This is the first step of a huge website / blog behemoth.

I go to so many shows, many of which are remarkable, and this is the perfect way to document and share the experience. Realizing how boring text is, I decided that I needed a new digital camera that was small enough, with a great zoom, that I could sneak into venues and get decent shots. Enter my new favorite camera! I’m still learning to use it (as you can see from the Lucy picture). I highly recommend this camera. I purchased it at the Apple Store in Legacy Village. You can find out more information about it here .

So in the end, I realize this is completely self-indulgent, but hopefully someone, somewhere will find it informative and/or entertaining.

Posted: Mon - February 7, 2005 at 10:05 PM"

(Via Only music could drive me to Blog.)

So while I may have never become “a huge website / blog behemoth” (thankfully?),  I have consistently enjoyed exploring and blending these worlds of new music and new technology - while expressing some creativity in the process.

It’s not stopping here. We are all experiencing an incredible time of reflection and transition as we are still trying to understand the impacts of this corona virus.  I had already begun strategizing my next move over to WordPress and have been thinking about what the next stage of online engagement and support will look like - and sceptically eyeing all these new online technologies (Stories, SnapChat, TikTok, Twitch, etc.).  However, what I wasn’t considering was a potential massive change to world of live music.  There’s no way to know what it will look like from where we currently stand, but whatever we are about to experience, I’ll be sure to do my part to support it.

Video Day #tzaupbeat

Nick AM is new to me, but his new video, which “contains scenes from protests in Hong Kong, Palestine, Iraq, Chile, America, and more” really caught my attention!  Juls, the Ghanaian-British producer and DJ just released his stunning new video for Soweto Blues featuring Busiswa and Jaz Karis, filmed in the streets of Soweto, one of South Africa's most famed townships.  HUMANS just released their new video for Felony.

btw - The Zender Agenda is 10 years old today!

Bonus:  Christine & The Queens recently released an EP, and alongside it a full 13 min+ video accompaniment. 

Sunday, April 26, 2020

Article: Why We Need To Support Cleveland's Grassroots Music Venues

Great article talking about the importance of structurally supporting our independent music venues, like those of our bigger name cultural institutions!

"‘We view this segment of the music business as business rather than as culture, but there are other segments of the arts that are not having to exist as pure for-profit businesses,’ says Watterson. ‘Would the [Cleveland] Orchestra be able to exist without support beyond just ticket sales? Probably not.’

If we truly want to double down on our Rock Hall fame and make Cleveland a music city, we must first realize grassroots music venues such as the Happy Dog occupy a singular place in the city, and should be treated like it."

"Why shouldn’t small clubs get similar assistance? With the vast value they provide to the community, one could even make a convincing case for zeroing their admissions tax rate out altogether.

At the very least, small clubs need an advocate. A night mayor could help them get up to code, navigate tricky tax situations and have a representative at the table. The position could be an intermediary between artists, venues and government, and promote inclusive, homegrown music. ‘I wouldn’t feel so bad about the admissions tax if some of that money went back to paying for a music promoter,’ says Barber.

By recognizing that these clubs play a unique tune, Cleveland can ensure the survival of its institutions, and stake its claim as one of the country’s great music cities."

(Via Why We Need To Support Cleveland's Grassroots Music Venues.)

Robyn / Live at Club DOMO (4/16/19)

There’s been an incredible flurry of musicians streaming performances, all over the internet.  These are showing up on YouTube, FaceBook, Twitch, and even gaming platforms like Fortnite!  They’re also coming at you at any time of day, depending on timezone etc.  There’s no way one can keep up with all these, particularly knowing about them in advance.  With the lack of concerts to write about for this blog, I thought maybe I’d switch to covering these streams. However, with an exponential matrix of artists, times and platforms, I’ve resigned to just enjoy them as our paths cross naturally.

Of course Robyn would be the exception.  Not in that I knew this live stream would be happening. I just happened to get an alert on this particular afternoon that it was happening.  Being only 4pm (EDT), I quickly shifted modes and set up for a dance party (streaming it to my TV!).  Robyn was a set up in a little mirrored corner with lights going and slicked back hair.  She was playing some amazing music and the best part was her performance behind the decks.  Despite a hot mic, she gave it her all in that corner - and for that I love her even more.  

It was so great to reconnect with an artist I love.  I hope you’re able to cross paths out there with yours… 

Robyn  Live at Club DOMO  4 16 19

Robyn  Live at Club DOMO  4 16 19

"Thanks for tuning in to Club DOMO on Friday! 💜😭 I decided to make a playlist with the songs I played in the set. rbn.lnk.to/club-domo-vol1Fa Below is a track list. Four of the songs aren’t in the playlist, but two of them will be soon! Olof Dreijer made a dope remix of 'Monument' that will be out in just a few weeks and Avalon Emerson's beautiful new remix of 'Honey' will too. I was excited to premier them both for you. I also played a Wendy Williams/Between the lines mash up that Kindness made on tour last year for their djsets ;) and 'Purple Music' by Prince.

1. Do your Best - John Maus
2. I wish u heaven - Prince
3. Gradient - Choker
4. Break 4 love - Raze
5. Chez A. - Untitled
6. Basic cut - Kevin Over
7. Honey - Avalon Emerson
8. OAR003-B - Oni Ayhun
9. Always - Erasure
10. Babe we’re gonna love tonight- Lime
11. Purple Music - Prince
12. Monument - Olof Dreijer
13. Hyper seconds - Lone
14. Got her own thing from Sweden - Kindness
15. Move on up (extended version) - Curtis Mayfield
16. Idontknow - Jamie xx"

(Via Facebook.)

Wednesday, April 22, 2020

Video Day #tzachill

Pantha du Prince draws otherworldly inspiration (expectedly) for his new video for Pius in Tacet feat. Jungstötter.  Sondre Lerche just dropped a couple of new songs that cut right to the heart, releasing videos for I Know Something That Will Break Your Heart and Why Would I Let You Go?.

Bonus:  A stunning video… "On the day they were due to perform a headline show at the Barbican, London-based experimental vocal ensemble Shards release 'Inside I'll Sing' with their newly formed Isolation Choir. Stream and download 'Inside I'll Sing': https://IDOL.lnk.to/inside-ill-sing"

Monday, April 20, 2020

Article: Why Do We Even Listen to New Music?

Looking back at history for lessons on why we find it so difficult to listen to new music.

gregory & headphones
"gregory & headphones" by J. McPherskesen is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

"Stravinsky, having already thrilled Paris with his ferociously complex Firebird ballet three years earlier, was the bright young thing of symphonic music in Paris, and The Rite was to be something essentially unheard of. Drawing from the Slavic and Lithuanian folk music of his homeland and his viscerally atavistic brain, Stravinsky blackened his score with rhythmic and harmonic tension, stretching phrases to their outer limits and never bothering to resolve them. The harmonies were difficult to name and his rhythms impossible to follow. Leonard Bernstein later described The Rite as ‘the best dissonances anyone ever thought up, and the best asymmetries and polytonalities and polyrhythms and whatever else you care to name.’

...

Many members of the audience could not fathom this new music; their brains—figuratively, but to a certain extent, literally—broke. A brawl ensued, vegetables were thrown, and 40 people were ejected from the theater. It was a fiasco consonant with Stravinsky’s full-bore attack on the received history of classical music, and thus, every delicate sense in the room. ‘One literally could not, throughout the whole performance, hear the sound of music,’ Gertrude Stein recalled in her memoir. The famous Italian opera composer Giacamo Puccini described the performance to the press as ‘sheer cacophony.’ The critic for the daily newspaper Le Figaro noted that it was a piece of ‘laborious and puerile barbarity.’"

(Via Why Do We Even Listen to New Music?.)

EDIT: I’ve been pointed to a more nuanced take of this event.

"Of all the scandals of the history of art, none is so scandalous as the one that took place on the evening of 29 May 1913 in Paris at the premiere of Stravinsky's ballet The Rite of Spring.

The Rite descended into a riot, the story goes. Magnified in the retelling, it has acquired the unquestionable certainty that only legend can have. Everyone simply 'knows' that there was a riot.

But is it possible to separate fact from fiction?"

(Via Did The Rite of Spring really spark a riot? - BBC News.)

Saturday, April 18, 2020

Video Day #COVID19

Charli XCX is home making her new album in isolation, and just dropped this uplifting video sourced from an incredible amount of footage (the editing!).  twenty one pilots are taking the social distancing to heart in their new video for Level of Concern. K.Flay put a call out to her fans for her new Dreamers video: "i asked you guys if you wanted to make a music video together. WE DID IT BABY. thank you to everyone for your creativity and spirit and sweetness!”.

Bonus:  Washed out did the same - with amazing results.

"'I went in thinking if I got 100 clips, I’d have enough to make the video I wanted to make,' he says. '30 minutes in, I had the 100 clips, and a few days in, I had over 1,200 clips - from London, Bali, Okinawa, Ann Arbor, Dubrovnik and a few hundred other places around the world. It was pretty amazing for me to see the vids and pics flood in like they did.'"

Friday, April 10, 2020

Article: The My Generation: An Oral History Of Myspace Music

What an amazing time capsule of an article.  Lots of artists and industry folks talking about their memories of MySpace.  Looking back through all this, it was quite magical.

"Like white belts and orange cans of Sparks, Myspace so thoroughly defined the way the ’00s looked, sounded and felt that it was probably destined to not make it out of the decade alive, even if, technically, a website continues to exist at the www.myspace.com domain. But at Myspace’s height — roughly 2005 through 2008 — the website changed the way artists and fans found each other and how record labels and buzz-seeking blogs found fresh meat. Artists like Panic! At The Disco, Arctic Monkeys, Soulja Boy, Lily Allen, and Colbie Caillat would become pop stars in part because of their presence on the site, whereas artists such as Los Campesinos! or Nicole Atkins would eventually settle into cult careers after navigating through the sudden, unexpected attention the site could often generate."

Also a reminder of this massive cultural heritage loss by the company.

"It came to light that Myspace’s new owners ‘lost’ all of the music it hosted from its inception in 2003 through 2015, reportedly misplacing more than 50 million MP3s from upwards of 14 million artists, in essence completely erasing a significant part of this century’s cultural canon. What’s more, it took the company months to own up to their negligence, writing in a statement that ‘As a result of a server migration project, any photos, videos and audio files you uploaded more than three years ago may no longer be available on or from Myspace. We apologize for the inconvenience.’"

(Via The My Generation: An Oral History Of Myspace Music - Stereogum.)

Video Day #tzachill

Moses Sumney self-directed his beautiful new video for Cut Me. I’m excited to see Sondre Lerche has a new album coming out (Patience, 6/5/20) which was announced alongside this new single and video for You Are Not Who.  Baths just announced a new b-sides (Pop Music / False B-Sides II, out 5/29) with is new fashion-forward video for Mikaela Corridor.

Bonus:  I continue to be intrigued by all the widely varying new stuff coming from Alex Ebert, such as his ability to skate so well in his new video for Stronger (Future Suit Mix)

Tuesday, April 7, 2020

Article: Music Streaming Subscriptions Grew by Nearly a Third in 2019

After recently asking if the vinyl & CD business can survive this pandemic, it’s curious to see the flip side of the successful streaming market.  

"Spotify still had a solid lead at the end of 2019 with 35 percent of subscriptions. However, its rivals are growing fast. Apple Music's listener base grew 36 percent to give it 19 percent of streaming, while Amazon's share grew by half to hit 15 percent. This put them comfortably ahead of rivals like Tencent (11 percent) and YouTube Music (6 percent). The remaining 14 percent of tended to be split between regional giants like India's Gaana and Russia's Yandex Music."

(Via Music streaming subscriptions grew by nearly a third in 2019 | Engadget.)

Sunday, April 5, 2020

Video Day #tzaupbeat

STRFKR should win best location for their video for Deep Dream.  Channel Tres is a close second with their vintage video for Weedman.  Glass Animals have been dropping a couple singles & videos lately, this new one is for Your Love (Déjà Vu).

Bonus:  I hate to admit that I have a bit of a crush on Finneas, particularly in his new video for Let’s Fall In Love for the Night.

Article: Can the Vinyl & CD Business Survive Coronavirus?


"Until recently, this year was shaping up to be strong: CD sales are down 8.3% compared to the same period last year, a far slower decline than in recent years, and vinyl sales were up 45%, even amid distribution problems. Retailers believed that this year's Record Store Day -- now postponed from April to July -- was going to be the biggest ever, and retailers are still putting in big orders, according to several labels and distributors.
Consumers still want to buy vinyl, even if many of them may not have as much money to spend for a while. 'The absence of vinyl records for several decades wasn't a death sentence for that format,' says a sales rep for a CD manufacturing plant. 'The landscape of who's left and what they do will surely change, but that doesn't mean there won't be other ways to twist a pipeline to get consumers what they want.'"
(Via Can the Vinyl & CD Business Survive Coronavirus? | Billboard.)

Thursday, March 26, 2020

Video Day #tzachill

Perfume Genius back (!) announcing his new album Set My Heart on Fire Immediately on 5/15, releasing his self-directed video for Describe, following quickly with On The Floor.   Lido Pimienta is also promoting her new album, Miss Columbia out 4/17, with her new video for Nada. 

Bonus: This gay new track, It’s My Parade, was a bit of a surprise coming from Lisa Loeb who’s been focused on family material for awhile now.  I’ll admit I was a fan back in the beginning, and this sounds like she hasn’t skipped a beat (or a year).

The Get Down (3/20/20)

Last Friday, I participated in a streaming dance party hosted by DJ Tasha Blank.  This is a party that is usually hosted at The Get Down in NYC, and is pretty popular on SoundCloud as well.  A friend pointed me to this now happening via Zoom, so I threw in a couple bucks and signed up!   I’m so glad I did.  Tasha is known for having these moments where she pauses the music and has moments of reflection and liberation, encouraging everyone to just dance it out.  That message couldn’t have been more needed.

Sure it was a little strange dancing by yourself in the living room, especially if you’re also trying to flip through the videos of over 400 people who also attended!  It was fascinating to see the environments that everyone was in - and just about everyone was dancing!  Some shots of what I saw...

 

By the way, the next party is this Friday!  From Tasha’s most recent email:

people of planet earth!
 
We are born to move.
We are built to run around, sweat, scream, hug, get loose, get messy, get outside.

These times are weird AF.
They require quick adaptation to massive change.
They demand deep presence, clear thinking, and huge courage.
 
These times require furious dancing. 

In less than a week, our long-distance dances have become the soul-saving magicsaucethat revives our heads + hearts.

Over 1000 of you have joined us on the virtual dance floor so far — 
and we do it again tomorrow at 6pm EST!

Wherever you're at,
we will dance it out.

Dress up
Wear pajamas
Break out the spandex
Pretend it's 80s night
Turn off your video + get nekkid!
WE DON'T GIVE AF

Just. Come. Dance.

Join us here.