In the course of creating this ode of rebuttal and revenge, something very different happened. Art overwhelmed anger, and healing, the by-product of courageous introspection, was miraculously achieved. | | | | Free as a bird: Kesha at the Firefly Music Fest, Dover, Del, June 17, 2017.
(Kevin Mazur/Getty Images) | | | | |  | “In the course of creating this ode of rebuttal and revenge, something very different happened. Art overwhelmed anger, and healing, the by-product of courageous introspection, was miraculously achieved.”
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| | rantnrave:// It isn't exactly a secret who KESHA is thinking about when she giggles her way through "I'm a motherf***ing woman, baby all right / I don't need a man to be holding me too tight," or when she turns up the gospel heat for "You brought the flames and you put me through hell / I had to learn how to fight for myself," on the fantastic first two singles from her third album. Taking a cue from MARVIN GAYE'S 1978 classic HERE, MY DEAR, Kesha's RAINBOW turns litigation into inspiration, divorce into muse. Her divorce is a business one, a long, ugly, ongoing legal battle with her longtime producer and label boss, DR. LUKE. The album is, obviously, her side, and her arguments are emotional ones, not factual ones. You weren't expecting a legal brief, were you? But she also asserts her independence by musically separating from her own radio-pop past. With nods to country and rock, she "swerves far from the synthetic sounds that drove her first two albums," the NEW YORK TIMES' CARYN GANZ notes. The album is "largely stripped of production polish and Auto-Tuned vocals, which has a more dramatic effect than you might expect," ALEXIS PETRIDIS writes in the GUARDIAN. And she can sing, really sing, in case that wasn't clear. It's still recognizably Kesha, recognizably 2010s pop, unpredictable weirdness included. And it's one of the decade's most fascinating career reboots/relaunches.... Today's GOOGLE Doodle, wow!... A funding deal that would save SOUNDCLOUD while reportedly pushing CEO ALEX LJUNG aside is expected to close today—assuming shareholders say yes... Note to ALAN KRUEGER and anyone else at this week's MUSIC INDUSTRY RESEARCH ASSOCIATION conference in LA: Surge pricing at car services is *not* universally understood to be a good thing. A necessary clarification, imho, before we decide whether it has a place in the concert-ticket business, too... Speaking of which: AMAZON is competing with everything and everyone else, so why not TICKETMASTER?... It's FRIDAY and, besides Kesha, that means new music from DOWNTOWN BOYS, BOMBA ESTÉREO, BEBE REXHA, FOUR TET, FASHAWN, ALEX WILLIAMS, THE DISTRICTS, 5 BILLION IN DIAMONDS, DAVID RAWLINGS, FRANKIE ROSE, EMILY SALIERS, GUIDED BY VOICES, THE CRIBS, NADIA SIROTA, MATT POND PA and BEN SOLLEE & KENTUCKY NATIVE... But is THURSDAY the new Friday?... Or is TUESDAY, when this SEAN PRICE album came out?... RIP DAVE DEPORIS. | | | - Matty Karas, curator |
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 | The Trichordist |
| This is a long one, but if you really want the skinny, no BS on music and blockchain, you’ll stay until the end. | | |
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 | The Guardian |
| More and more singers are cancelling big shows and turning to surgery to fix their damaged vocal cords. But is the problem actually down to the way they sing? | | |
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 | The New Yorker |
| Krukowski’s six-episode podcast, “Ways of Hearing,” makes us think about the act of listening itself, in ways that feel timely and vital. | | |
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 | Stereogum |
| "I could fight forever, but life's too short." Every lyric on "Rainbow" -- Kesha's first album in five years and the first since initiating a messy legal battle against former producer and label head Lukasz "Dr. Luke" Gottwald -- is loaded, but those words in particular stand out. | | |
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 | The Denver Post |
| The singer stopped going into crowds and had smaller meet-and-greets. | | |
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 | Billboard |
| Alan Krueger predicts study of entertainment business will yield broader economic answers at first MIRA conference in Los Angeles. | | |
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 | The Muse |
| With her single "Bodak Yellow," Cardi B has achieved the improbable-she has parlayed a reality TV career into a bonafide hit single. On the latest Billboard Hot 100 chart, "Yellow" leaps from No. 28 to No. 14. | | |
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 | Noisey |
| We spoke psychologists, a music manager and ex-East India Youth's William Doyle about the ups and downs of always being online. | | |
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 | Fact Magazine |
| From grime's ubiquitous "eski click" to the humble dub siren, this is your guide to some of the most crucial sounds in modern club music. | | |
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 | Paper |
| While Studio 54 reigned as the glitziest disco in the world, the Mudd Club opened in 1978 (and ran till 1983) as a sort of anti-54. On a side street in then-desolate Tribeca, the bare-bones club was a haven for skinny-tied, attitude-y punks, avant-garde filmmakers, and celebrity drop-ins who came to schmooze, dance, snort, enjoy bracing music and be sexy. | | |
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| Billboard |
| “I’ve never made bro-y music,” says Zedd, the winningly affable DJ-producer behind top 10 smashes from Ariana Grande and Alessia Cara, a Kesha comeback hit and a massive protest concert against Trump’s travel ban. | | |
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 | Artist Rights Watch |
| If you let your record company license your recording for AI algorithmic music a la Orwell’s “versificator”, it’s like Silicon Valley making you train your replacement. | | |
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 | Forbes |
| Jimmy Buffett’s classic hit “Margaritaville” is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year. The song that debuted in 1977 has since morphed into a global lifestyle brand that currently has more than $4.8 billion in the development pipeline and sees $1.5 billion in annual system-wide sales. | | |
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 | The New York Times |
| Three years into an acrimonious legal and publication relations battle, the singer and producer remain uncomfortably entwined. | | |
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 | Reuters |
| Amazon.com Inc is seeking to partner with U.S. venue owners to sell event tickets, four sources have told Reuters, a move that could loosen Ticketmaster's powerful grip on the lucrative ticketing business. | | |
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 | Saving Country Music |
| I've always said, one of the greatest moments to witness in a mainstream artist's career is when they realize they've got nothing left to lose. And after years of playing musical politics, they cut lose and do whatever the hell they want to do, devil may care. Miranda Lambert is going to do whatever the hell it is that she wants to do. | | |
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 | The Daily Beast |
| The pop star’s former choreographer is criticizing the singer for sleepwalking her way through her summer tour. Us? We think her phoning it in is an inspiration. | | |
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 | Los Angeles Times |
| Finally, it's here. "Hamilton" starts previews at the Hollywood Pantages on Aug. 11 and officially opens Aug. 16, but first: a move from San Francisco that's way more complex than you might think. | | |
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 | The Fader |
| Dru Ha, Sean Price's wife Bernadette, and the couple’s daughter open up about the making of Imperius Rex, P’s private side, and the infamous Sean Price Twitter block list. | | |
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 | Dazed Digital |
| As rave documentary "The Agony and The Ecstasy" airs on Sky Arts, we speak to Norman Jay MBE about the political impact of the acid house scene and share three exclusive clips. | | |
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 | YouTube |
| | | | | | "Rainbow" is out today on Kemosabe/RCA. |
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