Writing a song like that’s a bit like having a wank, really. You want the climax to be good, but you don’t want it to be over too quickly – you want to work your way up to it. | | | | Playboi Carti at Rolling Loud, Citi Field, Queens, N.Y., Oct. 12, 2019.
(Steven Ferdman/Getty Images) | | | | | | “Writing a song like that’s a bit like having a wank, really. You want the climax to be good, but you don’t want it to be over too quickly – you want to work your way up to it.”
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| | rantnrave:// I can't say I was ever close with JAY FRANK, but we crossed paths during my MTV NETWORKS days, when I was at URGE (and later RHAPSODY) and he was, among many other job descriptions, CMT's digital music guru. I remember him as a whip smart, get-to-the-point music guy, as a b.s. detector nonpareil and, because this is how MTV NETWORKS works, as family. That was the culture. If you were there for any length of time, you were family. His death Sunday at age 47 hits hard because of all of that and more. If you work anywhere near music, there's a good chance you crossed paths with him, too, somewhere along his path from THE BOX to YAHOO MUSIC to CMT to DIGSIN to UNIVERSAL MUSIC, where he was SVP of global streaming marketing. Or from reading his books. Maybe you realized, years later, that he was right about all that digital stuff he was talking about when you were still wondering whether streaming music would ever amount to anything. A decade ago, he was telling pop songwriters and anyone else who would listen that attention spans were shortening, that online listening was changing what pop fans were looking for and that, for example, song intros were becoming a thing of the past ("a liability," in fact, as he wrote in his first book). It was becoming more and more important for songwriters—like Frank himself—to get to the point right away. He wrote this in 2009. Remember that the next time someone in 2019 tries to musicsplain how streaming is changing the very sound of pop in that exact way among others. He saw it first. Way way first. He also, I now know, had a particular love of uncool music, which makes me wish I had known him better. RIP... PITCHFORK opened the doors last week and now the 2010s rankings, listicles and thinkpieces are starting to trickle in on the music web. We'll be collecting the most interesting ones here in our MusicSET "Alright Alright Alright: The 2010s in Music," and we'll continue to do so for the next year or so, or however long it takes for everyone to have their say. And, no, you don't have to refer to it as the Conceptronica Decade if you don't want to... "Why would they do that?," LAURIE ANDERSON asked Friday about New York public radio station WNYC's decision to cancel JOHN SCHAEFER's long-running NEW SOUNDS show (along with much of the rest of the station's music programming) by the end of this year. Memo to New York cultural programmers: If Laurie Anderson (and she was far.from.alone) doesn't understand what you're doing, reconsider what you're doing... Also canceled in New York: five (!!!) rappers scheduled to perform at the ROLLING LOUD festival, at the request of the NYPD... DOLLY celebrates 50 years at the OPRY... RIP also: HENRY "GIP" GIPSON, KADRI GOPALNATH, KENNY DIXON and TOMMY UDO. | | | - Matty Karas, curator |
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| A dozen years ago the author unleashed the "dad" modifier, and the world hasn't been the same since. Neither is he. | | |
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| As TV's center of gravity pivots to direct-to-consumer platforms like Netflix and, soon, Disney+, a lack of residuals is having a huge impact on below-the-line workers who create the scores and instrumentals for programming. | | |
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| Blondes, butterflies, Beyoncé and the best of everything and everyone else that moved the musical needle in a decade that began when Billie Eilish was 8 and you were still buying MP3s. | | |
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| Innovator. Iconoclast. Author. Programmer. Husband. Father. Friend. Lover of questionable music. Jay Frank was all those things, and so much more. | | |
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| Atlanta has become the mecca of hip-hop because it has built an infrastructure where each generation helps the next crop of artists “get on.” | | |
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| Tampa Bay has become a hub of house concert activity, thanks in part to the St. Petersburg-based Listening Room Network, which has booked shows nationally since 2006 and curated the local Listening Room Festival each spring since 2012. | | |
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| An oral history of the legendary record, 20 years later. | | |
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| The eclectic radio program that has influenced New York’s music scene since 1982 is going off the air. | | |
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| From Glencoe to Monterey Pop to oblivion: Bloomfield’s huge talent and unique style changed the instrument forever, but while Clapton and Hendrix entered the canon, he faded away. | | |
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| Short answer: no. But having Joaquin Phoenix dance around to disgraced glam-rocker Gary Glitter's "Rock and Roll Part 2" was a loaded directorial decision. | | |
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| Long before legalized same-sex marriage became a reality and the #Metoo movement crashed the patriarchal gates, a women’s music movement existed under radar of mainstream and even the punk rock scenes going back to the 1970s. Performers like Cris Williamson, Holly Near and Teresa Trull separated themselves from the corporate world and, largely, from the male world. | | |
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| The future of music streaming is radio, but not as we know it. Here's what next for Apple Music, according to Oliver Schusser and Zane Lowe. | | |
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| As a new box-set of Mercury’s solo work is released, Nick Levine considers the Queen legend’s mysterious identity -- and his complex relationship with both his race and sexuality. | | |
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| Grammy winner Brandi Carlile will salute Joni Mitchell at Walt Disney Concert Hall on Monday by performing Mitchell's classic "Blue" album in its entirety. | | |
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| CD Baby partners with TME to deliver its catalog of streaming-eligible tracks to QQ Music, KuGou Kuwo. | | |
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| James Supreme, A&R at Universal Music Publishing Group, came on the pod to talk about his role in Lil’ Nas X’s second hit song “Panini.” | | |
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| The recipients should reflect a mix of ages. After all, the award is called person of the year, not veteran of the year or legacy artist of the year. | | |
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| A recent song by Zedd and Kehlani has confirmed one thing: I love spending time by myself. | | |
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| The idea that profiles can provide us real insight is a silly one we should all get over. | | |
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| Eminem, Lewis Hamilton, Kristin Scott Thomas and more ask Elton John everything they’ve always wanted to know about him. | | |
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| | | | | | | From "Two Hands," the Brooklyn folk-rock band's second really really good album of 2019, out now on 4AD. |
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| © Copyright 2019, The REDEF Group |
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