The Warners Music Group has been practicing some hardcore artist divestment over the last 5 years, more or less, basically selling off entire subsidiary labels and/or the complete catalogs of artists for whose music they hold the rights. (Interestingly, the artists in question have the right to oppose the divestment.)
Question: Couldn’t they make a killing on the licensing of all that music? Or have they figured that a lump sum is a better deal? And what’s the endgame here? (OK, that's three questions...)
6/30/2018
6/21/2018
6/19/2018
Dr. Dre To Bring Marvin Gaye Biopic To The Screen
Variety:
Dr. Dre is working on a movie about the late singer Marvin Gaye, Variety has learned. The rapper, whose film credits include 2015’s Straight Outta Compton, on which he served as producer and inspiration for the film, is in the early stages of getting the project off the ground. And rights to use Gaye’s music have been secured, according to sources. Sony/ATV Music Publishing is home to Gaye’s songwriting credits.Stay tuned.
6/18/2018
6/17/2018
Somebody Needs To Get In Touch With Their Attorney
Aside from the very similar name and being led by a singing bassist, there's very little in common between Skeleton Key, the NY-based '90s Primus-meets-Tom Waits quartet, and modern rockers The Skeleton Keys from Portland, OR but lawsuits have been filed over less than that, so...
6/16/2018
Happy Birthday: Femi Kuti (56)
The crown prince of Afrobeat and an old favorite 'round these parts...
6/10/2018
Take A Break, Michelle
It's only three episodes in but The Break with Michelle Wolf, a weekly show on Netflix from the popular comedian, is proving to be not much more than a low-rent version of The Daily Show. And that's the best thing one can say about the show, so far.
Missing the incisive bite of Wolf's standup, The Break sputters to its conclusion every week, leaving one grateful for its Domino's Pizza-approved running time. Which is a shame since Wolf is a gifted standup and so, hopefully, she can imbue her show with some of that same magic down the road.
Missing the incisive bite of Wolf's standup, The Break sputters to its conclusion every week, leaving one grateful for its Domino's Pizza-approved running time. Which is a shame since Wolf is a gifted standup and so, hopefully, she can imbue her show with some of that same magic down the road.
15 Years Ago: 'Hail to the Thief'
RADIOHEADHail to the Thief
[Parlophone-2003]
At the time, the initial burst of faux studio verité that opens the album—a guitar being plugged into an amp—may well have been an inside joke, signaling to Radiohead fans that the quintessential rock and roll instrument, and a big part of the band’s early sound, was back to the fore. But the fact that the very next sound is an anxious, programmed beat is what’s most telling: the promised return to The Bends-era guitarplay was not to be this time out. However, the beloved six-string is featured more prominently than on the previous two releases and ultimately lets Hail To The Thief come across as a more conventional record—for Radiohead, anyway—than either Kid A or Amnesiac. And while that may not be an important or even relevant distinction 15 years later, at the time it was at the core of a discussion regarding Radiohead's past and what direction their music would be taking ever since the release of Kid A drew a line in the proverbial sand.
Regardless, the songwriting and arranging are both close to the same level of artistry found on their masterpiece OK Computer, with Hail To The Thief including some of their very best work (“2+2=5”, “Sail To The Moon”, “Go To Sleep”, “There, There”, “A Punch-up at a Wedding”). This is the work of a band trying to find a compromise between classic songwriting and progressive/avant-garde experimentation; struggling between being true to the muse and not alienating and leaving its loyal fans behind. In lesser hands, this could spell death to a promising career. But looking back it's clear Radiohead succeeded here way more often than not, and in the end that’s what makes this album such a wonderful listening experience: a love/hate relationship between man and machine that humbles one and humanizes the other. And we get to sit back and enjoy it.
Hail to the Thief was released June 10, 2003.
6/08/2018
Anthony Bourdain's Appetite for Rock and Roll
The late celebrity chef was an old punk rocker who loved music and brought the rock and roll attitude to the culinary world. Ultimate Classic Rock has more.
[UCR: How Rock Music Shaped ‘Bad Boy’ Chef Anthony Bourdain]
[UCR: How Rock Music Shaped ‘Bad Boy’ Chef Anthony Bourdain]
New Smashing Pumpkins Song: "Solara"
The semi-reunited Chicago quartet has just released the Rick
Rubin-produced “Solara”, the first recorded material from Billy Corgan, James
Iha and Jimmy Chamberlin in almost 20 years.
The band will hit the road next month.
The band will hit the road next month.
6/07/2018
6/02/2018
Skeleton Key - "Watch The Fat Man Swing"
In the midst of the late '90s electronica craze, at a time when many looked to The Prodigy and their brethren to point us all in a new direction, this NYC quartet not only revved up the guitars, but actually enlisted a dude to bang on a collection of junkyard objects, seemingly underlining the point of proudly distancing themselves from the then-current status quo.
Though largely forgotten these days Skeleton Key's groovy, four-on-the-floor, Primus-meets-Tom Waits formula was not just a cool, refreshing vibe but underscores how a variety of non-mainstream music managed to attract major label attention in the '90s, at a time when the suits had no clue what "the kids" were into or jonesing for.
"Watch The Fat Man Swing" is the leadoff track from their critically acclaimed, Grammy award-winning major label debut Fantastic Spikes Through Balloon [Capitol-1997]
Though largely forgotten these days Skeleton Key's groovy, four-on-the-floor, Primus-meets-Tom Waits formula was not just a cool, refreshing vibe but underscores how a variety of non-mainstream music managed to attract major label attention in the '90s, at a time when the suits had no clue what "the kids" were into or jonesing for.
"Watch The Fat Man Swing" is the leadoff track from their critically acclaimed, Grammy award-winning major label debut Fantastic Spikes Through Balloon [Capitol-1997]
Happy Birthday: Jason Falkner (50)
A founding member of the late, great San Francisco power poppers Jellyfish, Falkner is a talented solo artist who once teamed up with fellow producer/multi-instrumentalist Jon Brion to form The Grays (whose sole release was 1994's underrated and out of print album Ro Sham Bo on Epic Records) and has collaborated with the likes of Air, Beck, Brendan Benson, Chris Cornell, and Paul McCartney.
Currently on the road as lead guitarist and backing vocalist for the aforementioned Beck's European tour, Falkner's "I Live" is a delicious slice of '70s AM-radio power pop from his 1996 solo debut album Jason Falkner presents Author Unknown [Elektra].
Currently on the road as lead guitarist and backing vocalist for the aforementioned Beck's European tour, Falkner's "I Live" is a delicious slice of '70s AM-radio power pop from his 1996 solo debut album Jason Falkner presents Author Unknown [Elektra].
6/01/2018
"The Band You've Known For All These Years..."
It wasn’t really until the second half of the 1960s that the album became popular music’s main format to not only disseminate an artist’s work but, in many cases, to make a musical statement by said artists. With that in mind, it’s not a stretch to state that Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band [Parlophone-1967] marks the specific point in time in which the album format established itself in that regard.
Considered by many the greatest album in the history of popular music, time has not been completely as kind to its status, even within The Beatles’ catalog itself, as befits such a designation. But its release was indeed a watershed moment that showed what was possible for a pop combo to achieve and has proven to be immensely influential.
As the folks over at Pitchfork acknowledged in their 2009 appraisal of the Fabs’ remastered catalog, the shadow cast by Sgt. Pepper’s, even in these fractured times, is “so pervasive and so instructional regarding the way music is crafted and sold to the public that [the album format] is still the predominant means of organizing, distributing and promoting new music…decades later, well after the decline of physical media.”
Not too shabby.
Released on May 26th in the UK and June 1st in the US, 1967.
Considered by many the greatest album in the history of popular music, time has not been completely as kind to its status, even within The Beatles’ catalog itself, as befits such a designation. But its release was indeed a watershed moment that showed what was possible for a pop combo to achieve and has proven to be immensely influential.
As the folks over at Pitchfork acknowledged in their 2009 appraisal of the Fabs’ remastered catalog, the shadow cast by Sgt. Pepper’s, even in these fractured times, is “so pervasive and so instructional regarding the way music is crafted and sold to the public that [the album format] is still the predominant means of organizing, distributing and promoting new music…decades later, well after the decline of physical media.”
Not too shabby.
Released on May 26th in the UK and June 1st in the US, 1967.
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