Coachella is a celebration of music of all kinds, it’s very open to all genres and I think cumbia is a rhythm that you feel in your heart, your soul, your body and I think that will help us connect with everyone there. | | | | Welcome to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Miss Simone.
(Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images) | | | | |  | “Coachella is a celebration of music of all kinds, it’s very open to all genres and I think cumbia is a rhythm that you feel in your heart, your soul, your body and I think that will help us connect with everyone there.”
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| | rantnrave:// It's one of those kinds of weekends: COACHELLA, aka BEYCHELLA, begins today, the ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAME inducts its class of 2018 Saturday and the country community makes an emotional return to LAS VEGAS Sunday for the ACM AWARDS. Spring has reached the East Coast. And there's a new MR. FINGERS album. Wherever you are, may there be a song (or two) in the air... I love when the Rock Hall embraces pop, whether it be the new-wave bubblegum of the CARS or the hair-metal sweetness of BON JOVI, both massively influential on music in 2018 in the way that all good pop is massively influential. Perplexing as their Rock Hall case may be, there's something to be said, too, for DIRE STRAITS, whose biggest hit is sung from the vantage point of an older dude who doesn't understand kids and definitely doesn't understand pop and which became a pop smash almost in defiance of itself (moral: pop will not be denied). My humble suggestion for making the Hall a bit more pop- (and rock- and hip-hop- and metal-) friendly than it generally tends to be: Shorten the length of time it takes to be eligible. Almost every worthy act has made its case within probably 10 years of starting out. Add a five-year cushion and let bands in after 15 years instead of the current 25. Let voters vote on DEPECHE MODE or JUDAS PRIEST or JANET JACKSON when their impact is still visceral and loud instead of waiting until they’re basically debating encyclopedia entries. This might also make the Hall itself a little more relevant to people under 50. Also, of course, keep doing the work that has allowed you to fill in previous blind spots by inducting NINA SIMONE and SISTER ROSETTA THARPE this weekend. A big tent is a harmonious tent. MusicSET: "Just What We Needed: Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Class of 2018"... If you're not in INDIO this weekend, you can live-stream sets by BEYONCÉ, the WEEKND, MIGOS and others on YOUTUBE and on SIRIUSXM... If you are in INDIO, here's a sobering and important reminder of exactly where you are... A seemingly important, and timely, SPOTIFY acquisition... It's FRIDAY and that means new music from TINASHE, SOFI TUKKER, MR. FINGERS, JASON ALDEAN, JOHN PRINE, PRINCESS NOKIA, GLACIER BOYZ (allegedly), MOUSE ON MARS, JULIANA HATFIELD, LAURA VEIRS, YOUNG THUG, BAZZI, ELIANE ELIAS, MANIC STREET PREACHERS, BREAKING BENJAMIN, KING TUFF, SAY SUE ME, JOSH ROUSE, BUSH TETRAS, THE DAMNED, A PLACE TO BURY STRANGERS and, um, DEREK SMALLS... And two for your covers collection: TAYLOR SWIFT v. EARTH, WIND & FIRE. The TEMPTATIONS v. the WEEKND... And two docs of note: GRACE JONES: BLOODLIGHT AND BAMI, in theaters today, and ELVIS PRESLEY: THE SEARCHER, premiering Saturday on HBO. | | | - Matty Karas, curator |
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 | REDEF |
| In 2018, the Rock Hall welcomes soul, jazz and gospel pioneers along with paragons of new wave, hair metal and of course classic rock. | | |
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 | Red Bull |
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 | Billboard |
| Spotify is inspiring a handful of other music tech companies to consider launching their own IPOs. But is this nudge grounded in substantial evidence of the music industry’s newfound financial strength -- or just another instance of unfounded hype? | | |
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 | The Guardian |
| Thirty years on from the second summer of love, a cohort of fiftysomething DJs are refusing to hang up their headphones, fuelled by nothing stronger than caffeine. | | |
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 | Los Angeles Times |
| If you're thinking of starting a festival or line of sandals with the term "chella" attached, think again--that particular suffix belongs to Goldenvoice. | | |
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 | Longreads |
| Spending time in California’s Coachella Valley, journalist Gabriel Thompson explores how the region’s Latino communities have adjusted to a life of fear and uncertainty under a Trump administration. | | |
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 | Pitchfork |
| Bill Callahan and Damien Jurado underscore this controversial docuseries that, at its heart, is about a minority religion seeking basic freedoms. | | |
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 | The Associated Press |
| An international crackdown on illegal logging in tropical forests has ensnared the makers of some guitars and other musical instruments, whose top-end products require small amounts of rosewood, a material prized for its rich, multicolored grain and resonant sound. | | |
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 | The Conversation |
| The last movement of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony gave us 'Ode to Joy', one of the most famous tunes of all time. But the composer initially thought he'd made a grave mistake with it. | | |
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 | The New Yorker |
| Part of the point of sampling Hill is to tap into her cult of seriousness. As an artist, she represents a purity almost to the point of abstinence. | | |
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 | The Outline |
| Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu a.k.a Bobi Wine, is one of a number of rappers leaving music for politics. | | |
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| Billboard |
| Services shouldn’t be filing NOIs for songs that can identify and pay for – and some observers have suggested it’s illegal to do so. But the only thing that’s easy to understand about this entire mess is why they’re doing so. | | |
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 | Variety |
| The area’s current crop of home-owners read like a who’s-who of music industry power brokers, from UMG’s Lucian Grainge, Justin Bieber/Kanye West manager Scooter Braun, Coachella founder Goldenvoice’s Paul Tollett, Apple Music’s David Dorn, Irving Azoff and mega-manager Brandon Creed to artists like longtime resident Shelby Lynne and former Guns N’ Roses drummer Matt Sorum. | | |
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 | The Tennessean |
| “We look around and we’re like, ‘Wow, we’re part of this fraternity of musicians and entertainers now and it seems like it’s real. It seems like we’ve been accepted,’” Cameron Duddy said. | | |
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 | Genius |
| Four decades before The Weeknd’s latest EP, Marvin Gaye took a different approach to similar heartbreak. | | |
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 | Bloomberg |
| Spotify is buying rights company Loudr in a move to beef up its ability to track and pay royalties to music publishers amid attempts by U.S. Congress to simplify the royalty system for artists on streaming services. | | |
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 | Music Business Worldwide |
| How Platoon is discovering huge breaking artists - and mystifying the major labels. | | |
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 | Noisey |
| Frontwoman Frances Quinlan talks about how the band's new album 'Bark Your Head Off, Dog' sees her finding confidence in her identity.. | | |
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 | Slate |
| There’s one universal tip every DJ will tell you when you ask about what to look for when buying your first record player: Don’t buy a record player. Turns out what you actually want is a turntable. | | |
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 | Los Angeles Magazine |
| They've tried to tap into the zeitgeist--it isn't working. | | |
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 | YouTube |
| | | | | | From "Cerebral Hemispheres," out today on Alleviated Records. |
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| © Copyright 2018, The REDEF Group |
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