Rumors of Mariah Carey's demise have been greatly exaggerated, she proved last night during the first of six sold-out, Christmas-themed concerts at New York's Beacon Theater. For much of the show, she was in as good of a voice as you could expect from a diva who's in her 25th year of wailing for the public's consumption.
After a 14-year wait that seemed like it might last 140, D'Angelo released his new album Black Messiah tonight on iTunes and Spotify.
The United States Agency for International Development—the same government agency that funded "Cuban Twitter" and sent undercover youths to stoke civil unrest in the country—infiltrated Cuba's hip hop scene for two years with hopes of "[sparking] a youth movement against the government," according to an Associated Press investigation.
Jack Conte of the YouTube-famous band Pomplamoose caused a stir last week when he posted an account of his tour financials on Medium. "Being an independent artist is so difficult" was the thrust of his essay—true, no doubt—and tucked into the back half was a mention of an apparent way out: Patreon, a crowdfunding service that Conte cofounded last year.
On March 30, 1988, at the second annual Soul Train Music Awards held in Los Angeles's Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, Whitney Houston was booed.
If you'd like to hear Tiny Doo's mixtape No Safety, you can do so here. But be aware that by listening to it, you may somehow be implicated in nine California shootings for which 14 men are about to stand trial. Tiny Doo himself is one of those men, and even prosecutors admit that the only crime he committed is releasing his music.
As we told you last month, major media company Vice (whose average salary is allegedly $70,000 a year), will be displacing several beloved institutions in the South Williamsburg area in order to build out its own 75,000-square foot new office space. The first to close, on November 22nd, is DIY music venue Death By Audio.
Zoe Fennessy, who suffers from a rare condition called musicogenic epilepsy, doesn't particularly dislike Ne-Yo's music, it's just that whenever she hears it, she freezes up and begins vomiting uncontrollably. In June, the 26-year-old had brain surgery in an attempt to ease her symptoms, but it didn't work.
On Wednesday, the Japanese heavy metal/teen-pop hybrid band Babymetal played a nearly sold-out show at New York City's Hammerstein Ballroom. I didn't go, and after watching a few of their videos this morning, I'm really, really regretting it.
Yesterday it was announced that Taylor Swift sold 1.3 million copies of her new album 1989, meaning that she moved more records in one week than any other artist has of any new album in the entirety of the past 10 months. This was appropriately being noted as a historic feat before it was even confirmed, but it is not the most impressive capitalist achievement the music industry has seen in 2014. That, instead, would be everything Drake has done this year.
This weekend, the internet circulated a supposed leaked internal memo detailing Beyoncé's next album—an expanded version of last year's BEYONCÉ, which came out of nowhere (as far as the average civilian music fan was concerned) and with a video for each track. Per the document, which features the logos of Beyoncé's management company (Parkwood Entertainment) and the record label she is signed to (Columbia), a digital version will drop a week from Friday (Nov. 14), and a 4-disc physical set is due Nov. 25. The re-release will feature the original BEYONCÉ album, a new disc of 11 new songs (including the already released "***Flawless" remix with Nicki Minaj), a DVD of both albums' videos, a DVD of her Mrs. Carter concert, and a final DVD of her On the Run show with Jay Z.
During the three times I listened to Taylor Swift's new synth pop album, 1989, I felt like I was being screamed at for over an hour. Her vocals are amplified above all else, and generally what that all else is are loud block waveforms of electronic pop. Often, she is shouting politely, to boot. Her yelps are more BratCitibike than Bratmobile, but they add to the racket, nonetheless. Her voice is to my ears what fluorescent lights are to my eyes.
Dan Snaith's most recent album as Caribou, Our Love, spans genres from house to prog ballads, all with a pointed sense of warmth. It's among the year's very best releases. The Canadian producer/singer recently told me by phone that the album was intended to give back to those who'd strongly responded to his last Caribou album, 2010's Swim. Below is a condensed and edited version of our chat, in which we discuss how to balance self-expression with intentionally pleasing listeners.
Lena Dunham's best friend released her new song tonight—co-written with Dunham's boyfriend The Other Guy From That Band—and, for anyone out there who has drawn a sprawling map of Taylor Swift's relationships on their bedroom walls, it's the one everyone thinks is written about Harry Styles.
Music producer Steven Ellison, also known as Flying Lotus, has the kind of career that contemporary artists dream of. He's respected, acclaimed, constantly working, and seems to be having a great time. His wild fifth studio album, You're Dead!, explores the titular concept through boisterous jazz, leftfield hip-hop, blaxploitation throwback sounds, and smooth slow jams. Released this week, Ellison says it is "probably the most accessible record" yet.
