We like to rehearse like crazy. We don’t believe there’s any magic in music. It takes hard work and practice. | | | | Trombonist Ryan Porter performs with Kamasi Washington at the North Sea Jazz Festival, Rotterdam, July 9, 2017.
(Dimitri Hakke/Redferns/Getty Images) | | | | |  | “We like to rehearse like crazy. We don’t believe there’s any magic in music. It takes hard work and practice.”
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| | rantnrave:// In the past 72 hours, the GASLAMP KILLER has been dumped by LA club night LOW END THEORY and lost multiple gigs after a woman accused him of raping her and a friend in 2013; ALEX CALDER has been dropped by his label, CAPTURED TRACKS, because of a sexual assault allegation; the band REAL ESTATE has revealed it fired lead guitarist MATT MONDANILE last year because of "allegations of unacceptable treatment of women"; and the AUBURN, WASH., police department has said it would continue investigating NELLY even after a woman who accused him of rape said she won't testify and she wants the investigation dropped. The woman did not retract her story, though. Her lawyer reaffirmed the accusation and said, "She wishes she had not called 911 because she believes the system is going to fail her." Is this the beginning of the "witch hunt" that one famous filmmaker fears in the wake of the sudden, shameful downfall of that one famous film producer? Or is this the beginning of the end of a witch hunt that's been going on for decades, centuries even? In an actual witch hunt, men are the hunters. In an actual witch hunt, men are petrified of women and don't believe anything they say. In an actual witch hunt, women and the men who stand up for them are officially silenced. It is only when the witch hunt ends that large numbers of women can feel safe to say "me too" and openly share their stories, and it is only when the witch hunt ends that powerful abusers can be called to account. So, yes, let us hope we never witness a witch hunt again. Is it reasonable to fear that someone, somewhere will now be falsely accused of something horrible, or may already have been falsely accused? Yes, it is always reasonable to fear that. That's why we must listen to all sides, and be careful and respectful—as we should have been doing all along. All the men named in the first sentence above have the right to be presumed innocent. "I think it's important that I be a part of this conversation," WILLIAM BENSUSSEN, aka the Gaslamp Killer, wrote in his defense; he claims the act in question was consensual. All the women, including Bensussen's accuser, who tweeted, "i've been silently suffering over this for many years," have the right to be listened to as well. Many more will no doubt come forward soon, in the music biz, in the film biz, in media, in tech and elsewhere. Is there anything more respectful we can do right now, as a culture, than to listen? And to not interrupt? And to remember who the victims are, and have been all along? And to put a stop to the behavior that victimizes them, which was not OK in the '60s and '70s, and not OK in the '80s and '90s, and not OK now?... RIP ZUZANA RŮŽIČKOVÁ. | | | - Matty Karas, curator |
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 | The Oregonian |
| His parents yearned for their son to have a life of dignity, purpose and meaning. | | |
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 | Red Bull Music Academy |
| The story of the executive who signed the Human League and Can, and made Virgin Records the most popular and avant-garde label of the '70s. | | |
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 | The Globe and Mail |
| The internet changed how people write and read about music. In Canada, music journalism is finding a way to carry on in books | | |
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 | Rolling Stone |
| Lower-register pipes once thrived on the airwaves, but rap caused a paradigm shift. Artists and producers reflect on how we got here, and what's next. | | |
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 | Vanity Fair |
| Bruce Springsteen’s run on Broadway begs a question: does he have a backup? The author imagines the audition process. | | |
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 | Village Voice |
| Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith's wondrous new album, The Kid, was hatched in a sound garden attached to her home in Glendale, California. A compact chamber that appears to be a converted garage, the studio is crammed with vintage analog synthesizers. | | |
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 | Pitchfork |
| As the AMC ensemble drama ends its run, we look at how a punk soundtrack helped to define its true protagonist, Cameron Howe. | | |
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 | The New Yorker |
| During the Obama era, he mostly dropped out of the pop-culture conversation. Since last year, his anger has seemed relevant again. | | |
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 | Salon |
| With a new album coming, can we reconcile his music and his toxicity? | | |
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 | The Verge |
| 10 essential tracks to try when sampling a new pair of cans | | |
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 | The Washington Post |
| Thirty years later, those who were there reflect on the 1987 concert that remains the defining moment of D.C.’s homegrown genre. | | |
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 | Brooklyn Vegan |
| "how is Olbermann on my side of the fence (politics) but not on my side (hip hop). I mean nothin shocks in these numb times but lol Bernstein saw beauty in the Beatles. You have to have your mind SET to shut out hip hop. This more or less tells me who he is & who his inner circle is (as far as cultural influencers are concerned) but there is a deeper story. | | |
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 | Vulture |
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| The New Yorker |
| Giggs’s bona fides and disinterest in adapting are his strongest assets, and they explain his rigid status as a U.K. rap icon. | | |
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 | Music Industry Blog |
| OK, you're going to have to bear with me on this one, but let me take you back to 2nd century Rome. | | |
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 | The New York Times |
| Her electric performances in the 1960s made her an elusive cult heroine. A Numero Group boxed set unravels her true story for the first time. | | |
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 | Genius |
| His perseverance got him a job as a Street Execs engineer for 2 Chainz and Skooly. | | |
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 | Lefsetz Letter |
| He believes in artist development. This is another thing the old guard has wrong. Stuck in the last decade they don’t know the ball has been moved. Mike finds an act, brings him to the studio for a week and sees if the act has what it takes. | | |
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 | Billboard |
| “I just hire people that are great and get out of their way,” says the man who was the enfant terrible of ’80s music video. | | |
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 | Okayplayer |
| Eminem’s “The Storm” freestyle has shaken hip-hop to its core, so we decided to look back at past moments when Slim Shady got political on America’s arse. | | |
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 | YouTube |
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