A vibrant imagination is where the best songs R found. Make-believe characters wearing make-believe clothes all 2gether creating memories & calling it Life. | | | | Moses Boyd performing at a Jazz re-freshed showcase at SXSW, Austin, Texas, March 14, 2018.
(Jason Bollenbacher/Getty Images) | | | | |  | “A vibrant imagination is where the best songs R found. Make-believe characters wearing make-believe clothes all 2gether creating memories & calling it Life.”
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| | rantnrave:// I'm not sure what to make of a man who beseeches his listeners to "hold the selfies / put the 'GRAM away" on Sunday—the Lord's day, the day CHICK-FIL-A closes—but who's using his TWITTER account on this particular Sunday to promote his own internet livestream in all capital letters and who used his Twitter account the previous Sunday to promote his own new album in equally capitalistic letters. There's a specific word or two that comes to mind. There are a number of moments within the 27 minutes that constitute JESUS IS KING where you might find the same words dancing around your head. But I don't want to judge another man's relationship with his god, or with himself. I don't know where he is on his path. I do know he's still a hell of a producer, a master of sonics and aesthetics, and that there are a number of other moments where my nonbelieving soul is stirred. The choir urging us to "sing till the power of the Lord comes down" on the opening "EVERY HOUR." The sublime falsetto soul of "WATER," with guest singer ANT CLEMONS. The conscious hip-hop throwback of "FOLLOW GOD," with an agitated KANYE WEST (this is his record, after all) wrestling with competing fathers and taking a stand against social media "like" buttons. He got 434,000 likes on that tweet last Sunday, but only 39,000 on this Sunday's tweet. And there are moments where his rapping and singing will have you missing Clemons and assorted other guests and, especially, that choir. "I go hard," he raps. "That's on God." You may want God to go a little harder on him. On a purely musical level, that is. There are deeply complicated questions within all if this, and they don't all have satisfying answers, or any answers. Writing for BILLBOARD, NAIMA COCHRANE has important ones to ask about West's relationship with the black community. It's a question on a lot of people's minds right about now. The NEW YORK TIMES' JON CARAMANICA has a different question: Has he changed at all?... PRINCE narrates his life through age 19, and his co-writer DAN PIEPENBRING uses a variety of sources from Prince's vault to take the story forward another decade—till he disbanded the REVOLUTION—in the memoir THE BEAUTIFUL ONES, out Tuesday... You may find yourself thinking "Gee, ELTON JOHN is a lot like me" as you read his memoir, "ME," but (spoiler alert) Elton John is not in fact like any of us, friend-of-REDEF BILL FLANAGAN writes for AIR MAIL... DISCOGS looks back on the 2010s through the lens of the albums its users have bought or wanted to buy (a random way of accessing a decade's memories, as it were), while NPR reviews a decade in the life of BANDCAMP. Those and more in our continually expanding MusicSET: "Alright Alright Alright: The 2010s in Music"... RIP PAUL BARRERE, LEYNA GABRIELE and MARTA KURTAG. | | | - Matty Karas, curator |
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 | NPR |
| Since its founding in 2008, Bandcamp has become a buzzing, artist-friendly hub for music lovers, with pay-what-you-want pricing and lots of rabbit holes leading to music you won't find anywhere else. In this episode of All Songs Considered, CEO and co-founder Ethan Diamond says that when an artist succeeds on Bandcamp, Bandcamp succeeds. | | |
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 | The Guardian |
| The man behind two decades of hits for Britney, Ariana, Taylor and and more is ‘thankful’ singers still put themselves out there. Now, 30 of his songs are getting a second life from Shakespeare. | | |
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 | Billboard |
| For years, we made up our own excuses for Kanye, needing to identify an impetus in his erraticism. Now, we’ve had to start accepting maybe that this is just Ye. | | |
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 | The New York Times |
| On “Jesus Is King,” his ninth album, the rapper turns to gospel music, suggesting a shift in his public image that’s actually not much of a change at all. | | |
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 | The Undefeated |
| In the past, we’ve overlooked his antics because of his transcendent music. That Mr. West is gone. | | |
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 | Superhype |
| Cultural relevance is a two-edged sword, as the Amazon Web Service (AWS) Intersect music festival illustrates. | | |
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 | Complex |
| Netflix’s "Rhythm + Flow" isn’t just a hit, it is one of the best television shows of the year, precisely because it embraces authenticity in a television format that so often feels completely fabricated. | | |
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 | NPR Music |
| Carlile's tribute concert established a new approach to canonizing Mitchell's work. And in a video produced for the concert, musicians and friends share their favorite lyrics by Mitchell. | | |
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 | Elvis Costello |
| In very different times, my reaction to having my songs recorded by other singers was downright suspicious, territorial and, at times even a little hostile. To say the least, I lacked grace... | | |
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 | Variety |
| The iPhone 11 ad uses the AWAL artist's song "Brazooka," his fourth collaboration with the tech giant. | | |
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 | Literary Hub |
| When the Sex Pistols, the signature band of the British punk scene, broke up following their San Francisco concert in January 1978, punk rock entered a new era. The Clash, who went on to become the best of all punk rock bands, had not yet released an album in the United States, so there was no natural successor to the Sex Pistols. | | |
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 | Texas Music |
| How a formerly homeless 30-year-old classically trained flautist became this year’s pop superstar. | | |
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 | Music Business Worldwide |
| 'We want artists to be able to do whatever they want, ultimately. That's always been the dream.' | | |
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 | Guitar.com |
| The Fender CEO on how Fender Songs will break down genre barriers for learning your favourite tracks. | | |
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 | Discogs |
| Real people. Real collections. This list of the best albums of the 2010's consists of the most desired and most purchased records by Discogs users. | | |
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 | VICE |
| Mute Records is celebrating its 40th birthday with 58 covers of Cage's trailblazing piece of silent music from artists like Lee Ranaldo and Maps. | | |
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| Complex |
| Myke Bogan is a father and rapper based between LA and Portland. The balancing act between fatherhood and artistry defines his professional and personal life. | | |
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| The Guardian |
| When Prince died, he was three months into work on a deeply personal memoir. Co-writer Dan Piepenbring talks about bringing his idol’s project to completion. | | |
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 | FACT Magazine |
| "Sonic Futures: How Technology is Guiding Electronic Music" is an original mini-documentary exploring British technological innovation in electronic music. | | |
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 | The Washington Post |
| Ray and Dave Davies talk about “Arthur,” their just-reissued 1969 album, which feels newly relevant in the era of Brexit. | | |
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 | YouTube |
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