The power of the d.j. is the ability to forever fold the past into the present. | | | | Rubber Band man: Bootsy Collins in 1978.
(Fin Costello/Redferns) | | | | | | “The power of the d.j. is the ability to forever fold the past into the present.”
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| | rantnrave:// According to ROLLING STONE's cover story on SHAWN MENDES, the "neurotic teen idol" spent as long as six hours making the six-second VINE videos that catapulted him to fame circa 2013-14. That is, by my quick calculation, one hour per second of video, which is the equivalent of spending 7,200 hours, or 180 work weeks, on a two-hour feature film, which seems excessive even if you're JAMES WAN, never mind a 15-year-old with an acoustic guitar. Or maybe not. I admire sweat, perfectionism and persistence, and I'm not the one who's already booked 95 arena dates for 2019. "I would make it, make it, make it until I got the feeling," Mendes tells writer PATRICK DOYLE about those video clips, "whether it was the way I smiled into the camera or the tone of my voice.” That, to me, is the most telling and fascinating piece of information in Doyle's piece, a portrait of a now 20-year-old man who admits to overthinking absolutely everything, from his lack of "game," to that one time he said the F word onstage, to whether or not he's emitting a "gay vibe." The latter question has been following Mendes around for a few years, and it continues to follow him through this revealing profile, and it kept on following him through the snarky headlines that popped up on the internet moments after it was published, and the question that begs to be asked back is, "It's 2018. Who cares?" Mendes cares; I get that. He now spends his hours fretting about whether he was right to let TAYLOR SWIFT post a video of her putting glitter on his eyelids, Doyle reports. But the only reason Mendes cares is that everyone else cares and everyone else keeps talking and writing and laughing and snarking about it. Which seems excessive, especially in, I repeat, 2018. My favorite reaction on Monday came from PAPER's JAEL GOLDFINE, who noted Mendes' forthright if awkward engagement with the topic, including some wrestling with "his own ingrained homophobia." "Mendes' honesty about his unwilling embarrassment and internal struggle—when he could have skirted the issue altogether or prepared a more sanitized, flattering statement—actually reflects a remarkably self-aware response to a messy situation," Goldfine wrote. And it serves as "a useful model" for others. As for everyone else, maybe the best model is to stop snickering at your local teen pop star and instead try having, I don't know, maybe a regular conversation... MEEK MILL takes to the NEW YORK TIMES op-ed page to call for a new set of rights for prisoners for prisoners. "I know I’m the exception to the rule—a lucky one," writes the rapper, who was recently freed after serving five months on a probation violation... "I am raising the general level of public interest in popular music," says a modest MALCOLM GLADWELL, whose BROKEN RECORD podcast so far has featured interviews with RUFUS WAINWRIGHT, NILE RODGERS and with his podcasting partner, RICK RUBIN... The recording console on which "STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN" was made will go on the auction block in December. The listing does not make clear whether the HELIOS console's shadow is taller than its soul or not... KICKSTARTER of the week: LENCO's 3D-printed record player... RIP EDDIE C. CAMPBELL. | | | - Matty Karas, curator |
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| He has three Number One albums, legions of fans and amazing hair - now, if he could just chill out. | | |
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| Time and again, she’s stood up for labor in her industry. | | |
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| Finding the artist by facing the damage that made me. | | |
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| After beating cancer twice, the 72-year-old Prine is back with a new album, "The Tree of Forgiveness," and it's turning into the biggest record of his career. Anthony Mason pays a visit to Prine (whom Rolling Stone calls the "Mark Twain of American Songwriting") at his home in Nashville. | | |
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| Like many who are now incarcerated, I was the victim of a miscarriage of justice. I got lucky, but because of dysfunctional, discriminatory rules, most don’t. | | |
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| Reports of the death of radio are, as ever, exaggerated -- but it could re-engage with younger listeners. | | |
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| There are few genres quite like metal. It's a style of music that's both beloved and hated, celebrated and criticized. Since it's birth that spawned dozens of subgenres and movements, each more extreme than the last, and nowadays metal is ubiquitous. It's a staple in many people's lives, but where does it all begin? | | |
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| A look at the legacy of the Dallas hardcore band, who recently celebrated their 10th anniversary with a hometown mosh-gala. | | |
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| Lenny Henry discusses preconceptions about classical music and how BBC series 'Our Classical Century' hopes to entice a new wave of young, PoC listeners. | | |
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| A budding underground hip-hop scene is taking over. | | |
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| “It’s a story about art and the resilience of human beings,” says Bronx street photographer Ricky Flores, who captured the nascent b-boy subculture. | | |
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| Songwriter has been performing for prisoners at Washington Corrections Center for 10 years. | | |
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| 'Future Sounds,' a new book on the history of machine-made pop and classical songs, suggests that the radical power of the synthetic has largely been forgotten. | | |
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| The Canadian rapper asserts his connection to an Atlanta legend. | | |
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| From 1996: “I never intended to become a d.j.-to indulge, in a public forum, a private obsession.” | | |
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| "Whiplash" was a great movie that got jazz wrong -- admittedly in subtle ways. Come join me in this half hour (!) exploration of how the movie portrays contemporary jazz culture in NYC. | | |
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| It's been 20 years since the three Mancunian sisters gave black girls pop role models. Cleo Higgins looks back on her experience of fame at a young age. | | |
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| I figured that a journey into the mind of Paula Abdul would be a wild ride, but I had no idea to what extent before she took the stage Saturday night at the Bergen Performing Arts Center in Englewood, New Jersey. Her current tour is called "Straight Up Paula!," and I have no doubt that what she delivered was a pure expression of her humanity and creativity in many of their manifestations. | | |
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| Dance music wouldn't be the worldwide force it is today without Paradise Garage co-founder Mel Cheren and his label. | | |
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| Must be love on the brain? | | |
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| | | | | | | The sample is Tame Impala's "Why Won't You Make Up Your Mind?" |
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| © Copyright 2018, The REDEF Group |
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