Last week, Rick Ross was arrested in Georgia on charges of kidnapping, aggravated assault, and aggravated battery. Ross allegedly pistol-whipped a man working at one of his homes and prevented him from leaving. TMZ reports that the rapper is out of jail after paying a $2 million bond.
He reportedly paid using $1 million in equity from the mansion he owns—formerly the estate of boxer Evander Holyfield—plus $500,000 in cash and a $500,00 corporate surety bond from a bond bailsman. Ross' lawyer promised that the Holyfield property would be turned over to the county if the rapper threatens any witness.
Ross reportedly got into an argument with a groundskeeper working at his home over a party thrown at Ross' property the night before. After interrogating him at gunpoint, Ross allegedly pistol-whipped him, breaking his jaw and injuring his neck.
With the streaming music landscape shifting in a big way this week, it looks like the Jay Z-helmed service Tidal just got a major exclusive. Prince has removed his discography from all streaming music services except Tidal. "Prince's publisher has asked all streaming services to remove his catalog," reads a note on Prince's Spotify artist page. "We have cooperated with the request and hope to bring his music back as soon as possible."
Devonté Hynes' latest SoundCloud offering is a new Blood Orange track called "Do You See My Skin Through the Flames?". He notes that it won't appear on his next album—"just some things on my mind". There are stretches of Hynes talking about his thoughts, and the lyrics address racial tensions and the recent events in Charleston.
At one point, Hynes talks about how with the new album, he's "deconstructing myself, trying to work out who I am—not this painted image of who I was."
There's also a spoken word portion where he discusses the origins of his last name. "I was looking up what my last name means—what its origin is. ... It's an Irish name meaning 'servant'. Not only is my last name a name that originated from slave trade, but it literally means 'a servant'."
frustration and depression breaks me down
descending like they wanted underground
the further our journey the less you care
that's why you laugh at Kanye when he's talking in a chair
but the same conversation but replaced,
is good enough for laughs or a smile on your face,
happy to be singing all our songs to survive,
but when we need help, you don't get off til 5.
it's powerful to feel so alone in a group
let me break this down for you and tell you how we feel again,
your fear is all you hold on to, so when you see me it's not fair
i have nothing left to give when you don't notice what is wrong,
Charleston left me broken down but it's just another day to you
i ain't got nothing left to give you
and i'm too tired, to even talk about it
while watching the fire,
tasting pain coming from a place of truth
to be another in a messy world
to feel like giving in another turn?
you wouldn't listen if i told you
so how can i become anyone?
Watch Blood Orange perform "Champagne Coast" at Pitchfork Music Festival:
The Libertines ended 2014 by announcing their return. They signed a record deal and announced intentions to release a new studio album—their first since their 2004 self-titled album. That album is called Anthems For Doomed Youth and it's out September 4 via Harvest. That's the album art above—find the tracklist below.
The album's deluxe edition comes with four bonus tracks recorded live at Karma Sound Studios on May 20 of this year.
The album features a few songs that the band have recently performed live, including "Gunga Din" (previously reported to be called "Gunga Gin"). Watch them perform that song at Best Kept Secret Festival below.
Anthems for Doomed Youth:
01 Barbarians
02 Gunga Din
03 Fame and Fortune
04 Anthem for Doomed Youth
05 Heart of the Matter
06 Belly of the Beast
07 Iceman
08 You're My Waterloo
09 Fury of Chonburi
10 The Milkman's Horse
11 Glasgow Coma Scale Blues
12 Dead for Love
13 Love on the Dole [Bonus]
14 Bucket Shop [Bonus]
15 Lust of the Libertines [Bonus]
16 7 Deadly Sins [Bonus]
As part of his test run before he takes over David Letterman's vacated late night show, Stephen Colbert hosted an episode of "Only in Monroe", a public access talk show that airs in Michigan. During his guest appearance, he interviewed none other than Eminem. You can watch a video of the interview below around the 22:00 mark.
As you might expect, it's not entirely serious. Colbert opens up by quizzing Eminem (who's introduced as Marshall Mathers) about Bob Seger songs (which go unrecognized) before pushing the rapper to explain his entire career. "Are you one of the slow talking rappers, or one of the fast talking rappers?" Colbert asks. Let's hope this makes it to late night!
Q-Tip has said he's recruited Beck for his upcoming solo album, The Last Zulu, which was first announced back in 2012. In a new interview with Billboard, he alsosaidhe's "talking to Fiona Apple and some other singers" for the album.
"You know how on the old records back in the day, if you're listening to 'Young Americans', you know Bowie had Luther Vandross and he had Nona Hendryx singing background on a couple records," he told Billboard. "They won't be featured, but you'll be able to listen to the songs and pick out their tones, which is important for me."
He added that he and Kanye West have been "talking about some ideas" for the album as well. (So, yes, Kanye and Beck could potentially end up on the same album.) He's still signed with Kanye's G.O.O.D. Music, and he hopes to release the record by the end of the year.
Q-Tip also talked a little bit about Kanye's new record, which he originally said he and Rick Rubin were producing. It seems those plans have changed. "Yeah, Rick and I were gonna do the record, and Kanye went through different phases musically, so we've yet to reconnect on his project," he said. "We've met a few times and he's kept me up to speed here and there on what's happening." He also denied rumors that Kanye has scrapped that record.
Additionally, Q-Tip told Billboard that he'll host a show for Apple Music's Beats 1 station. It'll be called "Abstract Radio", and it debuts on Friday.
Killer Mike was a guest on yesterday's episode of "The Tavis Smiley Show", where he discussed a number of topics such as Nina Simone's legacy, race relations in America, the public's acceptance of rap, and more. You can watch the first part of his interview, which was conducted in two parts, below. (The second part airs tonight.)
At one point, Mike discussed attempts to diagnose rap as a corrosive influence on the black community, and a cause of violence. "To blame it on a culture that children created to have peace in their community is something that’s almost evil and maniacal," he said. "It’s why I have a real problem with [Bill] O’Reilly, because I don’t think he believes these things, and I think he sells this fear to White America and that fear becomes something compounded and evil and allows people to turn their head when children are murdered."
Mike also pointed out that rap doesn't seem to have corrupted its white listeners. "You can't argue that hip-hop rots away the moral character of kids or rots their brain and still see middle class white kids going to college who are listening to hip-hop," he said. "Going on to become healthy adults listening to hip-hop. You have to ask yourself, what are these black kids missing? What are we not giving them?"
On the subject of race relations, he said:
We are smart enough as individuals and as a collective to overcome racism. I truly believe that. But with that said, I want to see the day that someone who truly loves poor and working class people holds the Oval Office. I wish to see the day that the salt of the Earth human being is the person who’s first on the ballot and the statehouses.
Welcome once again to the Pitchfork Guide to Upcoming Releases, our seasonal guide to new music. Four times a year, we round up a list of albums, singles, EPs, and DVDs arriving over the coming months. Hey, maybe you'll buy some of them! This installment covers summer 2015.
Beginning next week, albums will be released on Fridays all over the world. Please note that release dates may change.
July:
07-04
Lil Wayne: Free Weezy Album [self-released]
Young Thug / London on Da Track: Slime Season [self-released]
07-07
Fort Romeau: Frankfurt Versions EP [Spectral Sound]
Lockah: It Gets More Cloudy... [Donky Pitch]
Statik Selektah: Lucky 7 [Showoff/Duck Down]
07-10
Alchemist: Retarded Alligator Beats [ALC]
Aye Nako: The Blackest Eye [Don Giovanni]
Envy: Atheist's Cornea [Temporary Residence]
Eric Copeland: The Remixes EP [DFA]
EZTV: Calling Out [Captured Tracks]
Four Tet: Morning/Evening [Text]
Ghostface Killah & Adrian Younge: Twelve Reasons to Die II [Linear Labs]
Heather Woods Broderick: Glider [Western Vinyl]
Lee Bannon: Pattern of Excel [Ninja Tune]
Little Boots: Working Girl [On Repeat/Dim Mak]
Matrixxman: Homesick [Ghostly]
Negative Scanner: Negative Scanner [Trouble In Mind]
Prefuse 73: Every Color of Darkness EP [Temporary Residence]
Richard Buckner: The Hill [Merge] [reissue]
Sleaford Mods: Key Markets [Harbinger Sound]
Slim Thug: Hogg Life, Vol. 2: Still Surviving [Hogg Life]
Superchunk: Come Pick Me Up [Merge] [reissue]
The-Dream: Crown Jewel [Contra Paris/Capitol]
Various Artists: Nina Revisited: A Tribute to Nina Simone [RCA]
Veruca Salt: Ghost Notes [El Camino]
White Magic: I'm Hiding My Nightingale EP [Leaving]
Years & Years: Communion [Interscope/Polydor]
07-17
The Bird And The Bee: Recreational Love [Rostrum]
Camera Shy: Camera Shy [Run for Cover]
The Chemical Brothers: Born in the Echoes [Astralwerks]
Falcons: Terra EP [Fool's Gold]
Flying Saucer Attack: Instrumentals 2015 [Drag City/Domino]
Happy Diving: So Bunted EP [Topshelf]
Iron & Wine / Ben Bridwell: Sing Into My Mouth [Black Cricket/Brown]
Jason Isbell: Something More Than Free [Southeastern]
Mountain Language: Caustic Surge of Weary Oceans [HeWhoCorrupts, Inc.]
MS MR: How Does It Feel [Columbia]
Peacers: Peacers [Drag City]
Pictureplane: Hyper Real: The Remixes EP [IHC 1NFINITY]
Ratatat: Magnifique [XL]
Tame Impala: Currents [Interscope]
White Reaper: White Reaper Does It Again [Polyvinyl]
07-24
Ashley Monroe: The Blade [Warner]
Capone-N-Noreaga: Lessons [Thugged Out Militainment/Penalty]
Ducktails: St. Catherine [Domino]
Eleventh Dream Day: Works for Tomorrow [Thrill Jockey]
Fox Millions Duo: Lost Time [Thrill Jockey]
Jessy Lanza: You Never Show Your Love EP [Hyperdub]
Joe Satriani: Shockwave Supernova [Sony]
Lamb of God: VII: Sturm und Drang [Epic]
L'Orange / Kool Keith: Time? Astonishing! [Mello Music Group]
Lee Bains III & the Glory Fires: Sweet Disorder! [Sub Pop]
Locrian: Infinite Dissolution [Relapse]
Mas Ysa: Seraph [Downtown]
Philadelphia Collins: Derp Swervin' [Exploding in Sound]
Ricked Wicky: King Heavy Metal [GBV]
Roger Waters: Amused to Death [Columbia/Legacy] [reissue]
Seven Davis Jr.: Universes [Ninja Tune]
Strange Wilds: Subjective Concepts [Sub Pop]
Vacation: Non-Person [Don Giovanni]
Various Artists: Carpark Sweet Sixteen Basketball Picture Disc 12 [Carpark]
Various Artists: Southpaw OST [Shady/Interscope]
Watkins Family Hour: Watkins Family Hour [Family Hour]
07-28
Adult Mom: Momentary Lapse of Happily [Tiny Engines]
Omar Souleyman: Bahdeni Nami [Monkeytown]
The Sediment Club: Psychosymplastic [Wharf Cat]
Titus Andronicus: The Most Lametable Tragedy [Merge]
07-31
Albert Hammond Jr.: Momentary Masters [Vagrant]
CFCF: Radiance and Submission [Driftless]
The Jesus and Mary Chain: Live at Barrowlands [Demon]
Led Zeppelin: Coda [Atlantic/Swan Song] [reissue]
Led Zeppelin: In Through the Out Door [Atlantic/Swan Song] [reissue]
Led Zeppelin: Presence [Atlantic/Swan Song] [reissue]
The Maccabees: Marks to Prove It [Caroline]
Migos: YRN: Tha Album [300 Entertainment/Quality Control/Atlantic]
Rat Columns: Fooling Around E.P. [Blackest Ever Black]
Seaweed: Actions and Indications [Merge] [reissue]
August:
08-01
I'lls: Can I Go With You to Go Back to My Country EP [Solitaire]
o8-04
Jackson C. Frank: Jackson C. Frank: The Complete Recordings [Ba Da Bing!] [compilation] [reissue]
08-07
Blondes: Persuasion EP [RVNG]
Chelsea Wolfe: Abyss [Sargent House]
Deaf Wish: Pain [Sub Pop]
HEALTH: Death Magic [Loma Vista]
Heathered Pearls: Body Complex [Ghostly]
La Luz: Weirdo Shrine [Hardly Art]
Mac DeMarco: Another One [Captured Tracks]
The Mynabirds: Lovers Know [Saddle Creek]
Night Beds: Ivywild [Dead Oceans]
Obie Trice: The Hangover [Black Market Entertainment]
Slim Twig: Thank You for Stickin' With Twig [DFA]
Telepathe: Destroyer [BZML]
Ultimate Painting: Green Lanes [Trouble in Mind]
Worriers: Imaginary Life [Don Giovanni]
Blackalicious: Imani, Vol. 1 [self-released]
Dornik: Dornik [PMR]
The Good Life: Everybody's Coming Down [Saddle Creek]
Palehound: Dry Food [Exploding in Sound]
Parquet Courts / Big Ups: Live 7" [VERA/LIVE]
Slime: Company [Weird World]
Stars of the Lid: And Their Refinement of the Decline [Kranky] [reissue]
Stars of the Lid: The Tired Sounds Of [Kranky] [reissue]
Sweet Baboo: The Boombox Balalds [Moshi Moshi]
Various Artists: Wondaland Presents: The Eephus EP [Wondaland/Epic]
08-18
The Ukiah Drag: Crypt Cruiser [Wharf Cat]
08-21
Carly Rae Jepsen: E•MO•TION [Schoolboy/Interscope]
Christian Rich: FW14 [Good Luck Chuck]
Deradoorian: The Expanding Flower Plant [Anticon/Tugboat]
DRINKS: Hermits on Holiday [Birth/Heavenly]
Gardens & Villa: Music for Dogs [Secretly Canadian]
Ghost B.C.: Meliora [Spinefarm/Loma Vista]
Gwenno: Y Dydd Olaf [Heavenly] [reissue]
Hate Eternal: Infernus [Season of Mist]
Method Man: The Meth Lab [Hanz On/Tommy Boy]
Myrkur: M [Relapse]
Oberhofer: Chronovision [Glassnote]
Owen / Into It. Over It.: Split EP [Polyvinyl]
Reatards: Grown Up, Fucked Up [Goner] [reissue]
Royal Headache: High [What's Your Rupture?]
08-28
Beach House: Depression Cherry [Sub Pop/Bella Union/Mistletone]
Cold Showers: Matter of Choice [Dais]
Destroyer: Poison Season [Merge/Dead Oceans]
Dope Body: Kunk [Drag City]
Foals: What Went Down [Warner Music Group]
Frog Eyes: Pickpocket's Locket [Paper Bag]
Mike Krol: Turkey [Merge]
Motörhead: Bad Magic [UDR/Motörhead]
Natural Information Society / Bitchin Bajas: Automaginary [Drag City]
Tamaryn: Cranekiss [Mexican Summer]
Willis Earl Beal: Noctunes [Tender Loving Empire]
Yo La Tengo: Stuff Like That There [Matador]
Young Thug: Hy!£UN35 [Atlantic/300 Entertainment]
September:
09-04
Against Me!: 23 Live Sex Acts [Total Treble/INgrooves]
The Arcs: Yours, Dreamily [Nonesuch]
Dâm-Funk: Invite the Light [Stones Throw]
Diane Coffee: Everybody's a Good Dog [Western Vinyl]
FIDLAR: Too [Mom & Pop]
Iron Maiden: The Book of Souls [Parlophone]
Joan Shelley: Over and Even [No Quarter]
Max Richter: SLEEP [Deutsche Grammophon]
Painted Palms: Horizons [Polyvinyl]
Public Image Ltd.: What the World Needs Now… [PiL]
Supergrass: I Should Coco [Parlophone] [reissue]
Ty Dolla $ign: Free TC [Atlantic]
Unwound: Empire [Numero Group] [compilation] [reissue]
Widowspeak: All Yours [Captured Tracks]
09-11
Beirut: No No No [4AD]
Ben Folds / yMusic: So There [New West]
Craig Finn: Faith in the Future [Partisan]
Low: Ones and Sixes [Sub Pop]
Petite Noir: La Vie Est Belle / Life Is Beautiful [Domino]
Phil Cook: Southland Mission [Thirty Tigers]
Romare: Rainbow [Ninja Tune]
Shannon and the Clams: Gone by the Dawn [Hardly Art]
Slayer: Repentless [Nuclear Blast]
09-18
Baio: The Names [Glassnote]
The Black Dahlia Murder: Abysmal [Metal Blade]
Bob Moses: Days Gone By [Domino]
Chris Cornell: Higher Truth [TBA]
Darwin Deez: Double Down [Lucky Number]
Destruction Unit: Negative Feedback Resistor [Sacred Bones]
Duran Duran: Paper Gods [Warner Bros.]
Grateful Dead: 30 Trips Around the Sun [Rhino] [compilation]
HeCTA: The Diet [Merge]
Hibou: Hibou [Barsuk]
Lucero: All A Man Should Do [ATO]
Mercury Rev: The Light in You [Bella Union]
Metric: Pagans in Vegas [MMI]
Robert Forster: Songs to Play [Tapete]
Roger Lion: Roger Lion [Team Love]
Rudimental: We the Generation [Major Tom's/Big Beat]
Saul Williams: MartyrLoserKing [FADER]
Skylar Spence: Prom King [Carpark]
Telekinesis: Ad Infinitum [Merge]
Windhand: Grief's Internal Flower [Relapse]
09-25
David Bowie: Five Years 1969 – 1973 [Parlophone] [box set]
Disclosure: Caracal [PMR/Island]
Dungen: Allas Sak [Mexican Summer/Smalltown Supersound]
Graveyard: Innocence & Decadence [Nuclear Blast]
New Order: Music Complete [Mute]
Peaches: Rub [I U She/INgrooves]
Tobias Jesso Jr.: "True Love" b/w "Without You (Alternate Version)" 7" [True Panther]
October:
10-02
Children of Bodom: I Worship Chaos [Nuclear Blast]
Eagles of Death Metal: Zipper Down [T-Boy/UMe]
Girls Names: Arms Around a Vision [Tough Love]
10-08
PJ Harvey / Seamus Murphy: The Hollow of the Hand [Bloomsbury Circus] [book]
10-09
Mogwai: Central Belters [Rock Action]
10-13
Elvis Costello: Unfaithful Music & Disappearing Ink [Blue Rider] [book]
10-16
Dan Friel: Life [Thrill Jockey]
Dave Heumann: Here in the Deep [Thrill Jockey]
Maritime: Magnetic Bodies/Maps of Bones [Dangerbird]
Matmos: Ultimate Care II [Thrill Jockey]
10-27
Carrie Brownstein: Hunger Makes Me a Modern Girl [Riverhead] [book]
10-30
Various Artists: Ork Records: New York, New York [Numero Group] [compilation]
TBA:
ANOHNI: HOPELESSNESS [Warp]
Beak> / <Kaeb: River Avon Blue EP [Invada]
Chromatics: Dear Tommy [Italians Do It Better]
Darlene Love: Introducing Darlene Love [Columbia/Wicked Cool]
Death From Above 1979: Live at Third Man Records [Third Man]
DIIV: Is the Is Are [Captured Tracks]
Drake: Views From the 6 [TBA]
Fucked Up: Live at Third Man Records [Third Man]
Glass Candy: Body Work [Italians Do It Better]
Janet Jackson: TBA [Rhythm Nation/BMG]
Jean-Michel Jarre: TBA [Columbia]
Kanye West: SWISH [Def Jam]
Kate Boy: ONE [Fiction/Island/IAMSOUND]
Kurt Vile: b'lieve i'm goin down [Matador]
Lana Del Rey: Honeymoon [Interscope/Polydor]
Luna: Luna: Long Players (92-99) [Captured Tracks] [compilation] [reissue]
Majical Cloudz: Are You Alone? [Matador]
Nicolas Godin: Contrepoint [Because Music]
The Parlor: Wahzu Wahzu [self-released]
Power: Electric Glitter Boogie [Cool Death]
RiFF RAFF: Peach Panther [Mad Decent]
Rihanna: TBA [Def Jam]
Robyn and La Bagatelle Magique: TBA [Konichiwa/Cherrytree/Interscope]
Run the Jewels: Meow the Jewels [TBA]
Sound of Ceres: Nostalgia for Infinity [TBA]
Symmetry: Still Life [Italians Do It Better]
Tink: Think Tink [Mosley/Epic]
Travi$ Scott: Rodeo [Epic]
The Weeknd: TBA [Republic]
Titus Andronicus have shared The Magic Morning, a short film that comprises six songs from their upcoming The Most Lamentable TragedyLP: "The Magic Morning", "Lookalike", "I Lost My Mind" (a cover of Daniel Johnston's "I Had Lost My Mind"), "Mr. E Mann", "Fired Up", and the previously shared "Dimed Out". You can check it out below. The band's Patrick Stickles has also been annotating the album's lyrics at Genius, which you can check out here.
The video was directed by Stickles, and stars him as the "hero" and the "lookalike"—two sides of the same person, in conflict with each other. There's a lot going on, but without giving too much away, it's key to note there are several dance sequences. At one point, Stickles strips to his tighty whiteys for a very enthusiastic routine.
"People have been putting +@ in a box for too long," Stickles said in a statement on the band's website. "We can do anything we decide to be our will, and I am proud to say this little movie was done entirely ‘in-house,’ in one day. Doubt and deny +@ at yr own peril."
The Most Lamentable Tragedy is out July 28.
Watch Titus Andronicus do "Still Life With Hot Deuce on Silver Platter" for Pitchfork.tv:
Several hours after Apple Music launched, Pitchfork spoke with Reznor over the phone about his role in developing the service, his opinions on other services, and creating a curator-centric alternative to the digital “big box store” experience. As Reznor discussed the service, he didn’t focus on Apple Music's vast library available for on-demand streaming. He’s more excited to talk about Beats 1, the built-in radio station run by a small team of DJs and featuring shows hosted by various musicians and celebrities.
"It’s kind of a miracle to think that a device in your pocket can play pretty much any song that the world has ever created,” he says. "But I think now, the experience is what matters, and my experience with competitors has been less than optimal. I feel like I’m walking into a big box store where all the merchandise is in a cardboard box."
Pitchfork: What has your day-to-day involvement looked like for this project?
Trent Reznor: It’s kind of shifted over time. Initially it was a lot of sitting with Apple’s design team and some of the iTunes engineers, honing in on strategically and holistically what we were trying to pull off—what features mattered in terms of what we were trying to accomplish with Apple Music. It was a lot of design meetings and overall roadmap things. Then, it started to change into some other roles. In the last several months I’ve been a lot more involved with the messaging and marketing that’s come out—the way we were trying to engage artists and try to explain the service to them in a way that feels right and sits right with people.
Pitchfork: How has this experience with Apple been compared to your experience working with Beats?
TR: That’s interesting. I’ve always been a fan of Apple’s, and I think a lot of the frustration we ran into with Beats Music was trying to pull off something that really needed a budget and a head count and resources that were really beyond what we were cobbling together. Then you put something out in the world, and then you realize now you’ve got the burden of trying to convince people what it is and how to install it and then start the seemingly impossible task of expanding across the world, country by country.
I heard about Apple’s buyout of Beats after it was essentially happening. I didn’t know about the agenda any more than the person that read about it—if it was more about the electronics side or more about the Beats Music side. When I sat down with the people at Apple, I found a very respectful, collaborative environment that wanted to take some of the tentpoles that mattered to us at Beats Music, which really was trying to make an experience that didn’t feel like data. Something that felt organic and respectful to music rather than just, “We’re just delivering assets to your mobile device.” They treated music in a way that put an emphasis on curation and taste.
Personally, one of the things that interests me in this space as a fan is that consumption of music is radically different from when I was a kid. You had to make a choice of what you wanted to invest in. There were some good things about that. I listened to some records that I didn’t necessarily like at first, but I listened to them because it was all I had. It shaped the way I think about things. And now that access is ubiquitous and everybody has access, to me, that puts the burden on the service to make music enticing—different portals and entryways and rabbit holes. And what if that experience could be one that turns more people on to great music? I think that’s exciting.
Pitchfork: You’ve said that other services have felt “lacking.” Specifically, what sets Apple Music apart from its competitors?
TR: At the end of the day, every streaming service is kind of the same thing, right? They have essentially the same catalog, give or take a few songs. You go in, you get the same inventory. I think what’s been most surprising in the last few years as I’ve dabbled in this space and met more tech people—because I hadn’t been around them that much—is that you start to pick up on just how culturally different of a place a lot of those companies are coming from. I’m not saying that as a diss, but I’ve always been around people who have something to do with the arts where taste and feel was a virtue. I found in a lot of the tech world, it’s like speaking a different language. I mean, you see these products being launched and you’re like, “Who the fuck put that out? Didn’t they realize that it fucking sucks?” You know? Like a video game where it seems like no one tested it or wearable electronics—there’s shit where you can’t believe that it must have gone through several iterations before it wound up on a shelf.
Having access to all this music and the technology behind it, I’m very grateful that somebody figured out how to do that based on torrenting and other technology. It’s kind of a miracle to think that a device in your pocket can play pretty much any song that the world has ever created. That’s great. But I think now, the experience is what matters, and my experience with competitors has been less than optimal. I feel like I’m walking into a big box store where all the merchandise is in a cardboard box. I mean, it’s there, you can eat all you want. But it’s searching for a book in a card catalog versus a place where you walk in and leave kind of blown away by the stuff you didn’t realize you wanted when you went in there. You’re turned on to the experience of listening or participating or getting engaged.
As everyone has the foundation of technology and the library now, I think the experience is what matters. What we tried to do with Apple Music is make the experience around the catalog feel like people that love music have touched it in the various ways it gets presented to you: playlists that noticeably feel better, radio stations that were programmed by people, recommendations that feel less like a computer and more like someone made you a mixtape and you like their taste.
We thought, "Let’s include music that’s not in that catalog," so we brought in the Connect feature. We did a few things. We allowed a container where an artist can directly upload music or video that lives outside the paywall and is embeddable anywhere and controllable by the artist. They can funnel people into their world.
Pitchfork: That the Connect stuff can exist outside Apple Music’s ecosystem is a major departure from Tidal, for example, where exclusive content is only available behind a paywall.
TR: This was a thought that I’ve had, and there wasn’t any resistance to this: The idea that we’re going to be better by having exclusive content locked behind our walled garden—it reminds me of the terrible days of, “Here’s the CD’s Target version with two extra songs on it, and here’s the Walmart version.” What do you expect fans to do? Buy them all? It feels disingenuous and it’s a bummer. So we just wanted to make a place where if you’re an artist and you want to share something that’s more promotional—you’re not necessarily looking to get paid on it but you want people to hear it and have as wide a reach as possible—put it up here and it’s not locked into anything. You can embed it wherever. It’s not meant to just be over here behind this paywall.
Pitchfork: What’s the incentive for an artist to put their music up through Connect as opposed to a service like Bandcamp or SoundCloud?
TR: Well in the case of Bandcamp, which I’m not extremely familiar with, I’m certain at the end of the day that there’s a goal towards monetization—get your music aggregated out to people. In the case of what we’re doing with Connect, the thought there is empowerment of the artist—that they don’t have to go through a label or anything else. Fresh from the studio and into your ears, if you want. And it’s playing upon the behavior you see a lot right now where people would use SoundCloud, for example, to put stuff up basically just as a container where people can hear it. That’s the incentive behind this. You want something that’s not behind a paywall, that’s fresh, that’s not been ingested by a label or catalog? Throw it up.
The reach of Apple is impressive. Anybody that’s ever purchased anything from the iTunes Store, you have access to that reach as soon as you get verified. It’s a different audience of people you can have instant connection with. And that was really it—it’s just another tool. What we were thinking about a lot was primarily the inclusion of the artist into the place where the music’s being consumed. That’s the biggest miss, I think, with the competitors. I’m subscribing to several competitors now, and it’s like I’m walking into the store and seeing my stuff presented in a way that I had nothing to do with. I can’t touch it and I can’t affiliate my influence on it. It feels a bit disingenuous. We wanted to create a place where the people making the art could feel like they could have a center, and ultimately, monetization, and the ability to be provided with some tools that didn’t exist as elegantly as they do anywhere else. Right in that place where your catalog lives, add whatever you want without rules or limitations, engage your audience in a way that might create a fertile place to hang out and participate.
Pitchfork: Are you going to do your own radio show?
TR: You know, I don’t know. I heard a little bit of Josh Homme’s show the other day and I was thinking, “Man, I should’ve fuckin’ thought about this side of it.” I’ve been so busy thinking about keeping the cord plugged into the wall that I haven’t thought that much about it... I’m going to see what happens in the next couple months here.
But it’s been an exciting process, you know? I’ve got to say this: I’ve been pleasantly surprised, having spent a year now at Apple, to just see how willing to trust and embrace and take chances that they are not knowing what I’d find behind the curtain. I’ve always been a fan of Apple’s products as a company, but I didn’t know what it’s like to be on the inside. I’m surrounded by enthusiasm and support and a company that’s ready to take risks and allow, what I think, is risky good taste to be a fundamental part of what they’re trying to do. It’s pretty cool that the biggest company in the world feels that way. It feels good to me right now.
Kim Deal photo via Facebook, Courtney Barnett photo by Charlotte Zoller
Courtney Barnett and Kim Deal chatted with each other for the latest edition of the Talkhouse Music Podcast. They discussed a number of subjects, such as drinking, the first time they heard their voice recorded, working in the studio, and their experience being 27 years old. You can listen to it above.
At one point, Barnett and Deal discuss their obsessive habits when working on music. “It took me so long to record my first thing," Barnett said. "I kept demoing stuff over and over and fixing it up, and layering twenty of my own vocals. I tried to turn it exactly the other way around and see if that worked, which is kind of—it’s hard to let go, if that’s what your thing is.”
They also discussed the most embarrassing lyrics they've ever written. Barnett pointed toward a demo she recorded when she was 18 or 19, which contain "some serious feelings." Deal, meanwhile, singled out the Breeders' "Hellbound"—specifically, the line that goes "It lives, despite the knives internal."
"I guess it's not so cringey as it's just not good," she said. Don't get it tattooed on you any time soon, Breeders fans!
On August 28, Beach House return with new album Depression Cherry, the follow-up to 2012's Bloom. Now, they've shared its first single. It's called "Sparks", and you can hear it now via the Spanish radio station RTVE, as Gorilla Vs Bear points out. Listen below at the 30 minute mark.
Beach House:
08-18 Portland, ME - State Theatre
08-19 Northampton, MA - Pearl Street Nightclub
08-20 Burlington, VT - Higher Ground
08-21 Buffalo, NY - Town Ballroom
08-22 Millvale, PA - Mr. Small’s
08-24 Albany, NY - Upstate Concert Hall
08-25 Providence, RI - Lupo’s Heartbreak Hotel
08-26 New Haven, CT - College Street Music Hall
09-17 Columbus, OH - Newport Music Hall
09-18 Cincinnati, OH - Bogart’s
09-19 Royal Oak, MI - Royal Oak Theatre
09-21 Milwaukee, WI - Pabst Theatre
09-22 Minneapolis, MN - First Avenue
09-25 Omaha, NE - Slowdown
09-26 Lawrence, KS - Liberty Hall
09-27 St. Louis, MO - The Pageant
09-28 Memphis, TN - Minglewood Hall
09-29 Tulsa, OK - Cain’s Ballroom
10-01 Houston, TX - House of Blues
10-02 New Orleans, LA - Civic Theatre
10-03 Birmingham, AL - Saturn
10-04 Nashville, TN - The Ryman Auditorium
10-06 Atlanta, GA - Buckhead Theatre
10-07 Asheville, NC - Orange Peel
10-08 Saxapahaw, NC - Haw River Ballroom
10-24 Belfast, Northern Ireland - Mandela Hall
10-25 Dublin, Ireland - Vicar Street
10-26 Glasgow, Scotland - ABC
10-27 Manchester, England - The Ritz
10-29 Paris, France - Pitchfork Music Festival Paris
10-30 London, England - Shepherds Bush Empire
11-02 Amsterdam, Netherlands - Paradiso
11-03 Brussels, Belgium - Autumn Falls @ AB
11-04 Koln, Germany - Gloria
11-05 Luxemborg, Luxemborg - Den Atelier
11-07 Reykjavik, Iceland - Iceland Airwaves
11-10 Oslo, Norway - Sentrum Scene
11-11 Gothenburg, Sweden - Tradgarn
11-12 Stockholm, Sweden - Debaser Medis
11-13 Copenhagen, Denmark - Vega
11-14 Hamburg, Germany - Kampnagel K1
11-16 Berlin, Germany - Huxley’s
11-17 Munich, Germany - Freiheiz
11-18 Lausanne, Germany - Les Docks
11-20 Barcelona, Spain - Apolo
11-22 Madrid, Spain - La Riviera
11-23 Lisbon, Portugal - Armazén
11-24 Porto, Portugal - Teatro sa da Bandeira
12-09 Los Angeles, CA - The Fonda Theatre
12-10 Los Angeles, CA - The Fonda Theatre
12-17 San Francisco, CA - The Fillmore
12-18 San Francisco, CA - The Fillmore
Watch "Forever Still", a Pitchfork.tv short film about Beach House:
Today, Pitchfork.tv presents a new episode of "Over/Under", the interview series in which artists evaluate a series of random topics, declaring if they're overrated or underrated. In this episode, Vince Staples discusses sobriety, the Amish, KFC ("Fuck the Colonel. Fuckin' asshole. He's a slave owner"), Tom Cruise, PETA ("Tell PETA to save a fucking rhino and stop worrying about what somebody's wearing"), Oprah, Bill Nye the Science Guy ("Bill Nye is the reason all these kids know how to proportion their lean in their beverage"), and more. Watch his assessments below.
Read our Rising interview with Staples here. His new album Summertime '06 is out this week.
Watch him do "Blue Suede" at Pitchfork's SXSW party:
Today, Pitchfork.tv presents a new episode of "Over/Under", the interview series in which artists evaluate a series of random topics, declaring if they're overrated or underrated. In this episode, Vince Staples discusses sobriety, the Amish, KFC ("Fuck the Colonel. Fuckin' asshole. He's a slave owner"), Tom Cruise, PETA ("Tell PETA to save a fucking rhino and stop worrying about what somebody's wearing"), Oprah, Bill Nye the Science Guy ("Bill Nye is the reason all these kids know how to proportion their lean in their beverage"), and more. Watch his assessments below.
Read our Rising interview with Staples here. His new album Summertime '06 is out this week.
Watch him do "Blue Suede" at Pitchfork's SXSW party:
Modest Mouse have shared the fantastical video for their Strangers to Ourselvessong "The Ground Walks, With Time In A Box". Directed by Jorge Torres-Torres, the clip features the band convening with demons and engaging in dark ceremonies. Isaac Brock reigns over the entire affair with a crown and a scepter topped with a broken lightbulb. Watch below via NPR.
Watch Pitchfork.tv's documentary about The Lonesome Crowded West:
We're happy to announce more additions to the lineup for this year's Pitchfork Music Festival Paris, which returns to Grande Halle de La Villette from October 29-31. Newly added to the bill are Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Ratatat, HEALTH, Hinds, Curtis Harding, Kirin J. Callinan, Hælos, Rome Fortune, Dornik, and Nao.
They join a lineup that already includes Björk, Run the Jewels, Beach House, Battles, Deerhunter, Ariel Pink, Father John Misty, Kurt Vile & the Violators, Destroyer, Hudson Mohawke (live), Rhye, Spiritualized, Unknown Mortal Orchestra, and John Talabot b2b Roman Flügel.
Beach House
Godspeed You! Black Emperor
Deerhunter
Ariel Pink
Destroyer
Kirin J. Callinan
Hælos
Friday, October 30:
Björk
Battles
Kurt Vile & the Violators
Rhye
HEALTH
Rome Fortune
Dornik
Saturday, October 31:
Ratatat
Run the Jewels
Spiritualized
Hudson Mohawke (live)
John Talabot b2b Roman Flügel
Father John Misty
Unknown Mortal Orchestra
Curtis Harding
Nao
Hinds
...
Watch a new preview for the festival. (Yes, we made a real pinball machine! With music and other sounds by none other than Mac DeMarco!):
Amy, the forthcoming documentary about the life of Amy Winehouse, arrives in British theaters this week, with U.S. screenings coming later this summer. Ahead of its release, Billboard spoke to the singer's friends and colleagues about her life, her cultural status in the U.S., and the events surrounding her death. One revelation concerns demos for the follow-up to Back to Black, for which Winehouse had written fourteen songs shortly before her death in 2011. According to David Joseph, Winehouse's label boss at Universal U.K., demos for those tracks will never see the light of day, because he's destroyed them.
“It was a moral thing,” Joseph said. “Taking a stem or a vocal is not something that would ever happen on my watch. It now can’t happen on anyone else’s.” That would likely make Winehouse's 2011 outtakes collection, Lioness, her final release.
Prince has shared a new song called "HARDROCKLOVER" through his Soundcloud. You can listen to it above. It follows previously shared recordings such as "Baltimore" and the "Dance Rally 4 Peace" concert.
If you missed the Lewis saga last year, here's the short version: Last May, Light in the Attic reissued the lost 1983 album L'amour by the mysterious auteur. Lewis' story was largely unknown; other than his real name (Randall Wulff) and vague tales of bounced checks and fancy cars, he was believed to be missing or dead. Then, a second album called RomanticTimes surfaced. Finally, Light in the Attic found Lewis, who was alive and well and living in Canada and had recordedmore music.
He's not too forthcoming with information. He brushes off questions about L'Amour ("Oh, that was a long time ago, a long time") and his days on Wall Street. He divulges where he got the name Lewis (it's his great-grandmother's last name) and talks about the time he hung out with George Harrison at the Chelsea Hotel.
Most notably, he hinted that more new music might be released "in a few months."
It's also revealed why his later "Randy Duke" records sound so different from L'amour and Romantic Times—the owner of the studio where they were recorded added production and a backing band to Lewis' otherwise minimal songs.
It needed to be said, because I think it’s important for our progress, and other people in Odd Future’s progress, to shed that name. It’s a badge. It’s a great thing. Everything has to move on. Everything has to have closure. I think what rose from that is what really matters. A lot of great careers spawned from that, and a lot of great careers will continue to spawn from that.
The Internet's Ego DeathLP came out yesterday. Watch "Girl" (ft. Kaytranada) below.
Watch Odd Future do "Radicals" at Pitchfork Music Festival:
