Tag: Vince Staples

NEWS ROUNDUP: Gender Equalizers, Night Mayors & More

NEWS ROUNDUP: Gender Equalizers, Night Mayors, & More

By Jasmine Williams

An App for Gender Equality: 

On Thursday, in honor of International Women’s Day, Spotify and Smirnoff partnered together to launch the Smirnoff Equalizer, a tool that reveals the gender breakdown of the artists you are listening to. The streaming platform created that app after collecting data that revealed that 100% of their most streamed tracks in 2017 were performed by men. The equalizer analyzes each listener’s history to produce percentages of male to female artists. It then provides a slider tool so that listeners can discover artists of different genders, including non-binary. You may be surprised by your streaming habits! It turns out that the feminist writer of this news breakdown has been listening to 88% of tracks by male performers versus 13% females. The shame!

Try the Smirnoff Equalizer here.

NYC’s 1st Night Mayor:

It’s a new era for New York City nightlife! Last year the archaic Cabarat Law was repealed and the city has named its first ever Night Mayor. Despite the vampiric title, Ariel Palitz will spend a lot of daylight hours smoothing over the relationships between rigid community councils and venues who often have trouble applying for liquor licenses and getting permits. Palitz is a seasoned promoter and was owner of the club Sutra for ten years. In theory, she will be making it easier for DIY event spaces to operate throughout the five boroughs. Fingers crossed!

Other Highlights:

Anderson .Paak’s new single, “Til It’s Over,” gets the Spike Jonze treatment for an Apple Music video starring FKA Twigs as a working stiff who escapes reality through dance.

On Wednesday, In response to recent criticism of his live shows, Vince Staples launched a GoFundMe page so that he can leave the music biz, he states, “You can decide to donate to the cause of $2 million, which will allow me to shut the fuck up forever and you will never hear from me again…If not, you can choose to let me do what I want to do, when I want to do it…” The next day it emerged that the crowd fundraiser was actually a stunt in promotion for new track, “Get the Fuck Off My Dick.”

Shamir, Pussy Riot, Jeremih, Sade and Warpaint’s Theresa Wayman also released new music this week. Beach House debuted another track off of their upcoming album, 7 and unveiled the tracklist and plans for an extensive tour. Mitski, Dirty Projectors, Twin Shadow, Lily Allen, and serpentwithfeet (who just put out a new video) will also be hitting the road in the near future. serpent’s NYC stop will be a part of Redbull Music Festival’s 2018 lineup which also includes Robyn and Fever Ray among others.

Nick Cave announced an unconventional tour this week, he’ll be inviting audience members for open Q&A sessions at spots along the East Coast. He stops at Murrmrr Theatre in Brooklyn on May 5th.

On the film front, Yo La Tengo and King Krule have released special performance footage, the former played a set at National Sawdust and the latter gave a concert “on the moon.”

Q-Tip was recently named advisor-at-large and artistic director of the new Hip-Hop Culture Council at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

Billy McFarland, the promotor behind doomed island disaster, Fyre Music Festival, pled guilty to two counts of fraud this week.

 

NEWS ROUNDUP: The White Stripes, Amber Coffman & More

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  • Amber Coffman Releases Solo Song, Video

    “This is a mantra, a pep talk, a love song to yourself,” the former Dirty Projectors member said about her new song, “All To Myself.” “A small reminder not to spend too much time fretting and just to get out there, live your life and do what makes you happy.” The dreamy song opens with a buzzing hook, the video showing her walking along a beach shore and buried in the sand. Current Dirty Projectors’ member David Longstreth has also recently released new music; Longstreth’s stretched the band’s sound to a deeper, darker place, while Coffman’s veers in a more positive, pop direction. Watch “All To Myself” below:

  • The White Stripes Reunite Against Donald Trump

    The Trump campaign used “Seven Nation Army” in a campaign video, and The White Stripes responded with a Facebook post saying, “[fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”yes” overflow=”visible”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”][We] are disgusted by this association, and by the illegal use of [our] song.” They made their stance on Trump even clearer on Thursday night by making “Icky Trump” t-shirts on the Third Man Records website. It’s a play on the Stripes’ 2007 album Icky Thump, and contain lyrics to the song on the back: “White Americans, what? Nothing else to do?/ Why don’t you kick yourself out, you’re an immigrant too.”

  • Listen To The Tut’s Ode To A Terrible Manager

    “1982” tells the tale of an unfortunate situation the West London punks found them in: After taking a DIY approach to their musical affairs, they signed with a manager who did nothing for them, blaming them for his incompetence. They eventually found out his last contract with a client had ended in 1982, making him severely out of touch with today’s musical scene (and reality, we assume)?  But as the fiercely fun video shows, they’ve managed to rise above- without a manager. Watch below:

  • Watch The Making Of A Seat At The Table

    A Seat at the Table, Beginning Stages contains footage of the early stages of Solange’s latest album, giving insight into the “jam sessions, exploring of sounds and ideas, and experimentation” that created A Seat At The Table. It’s an interesting look at an artist’s process, and you can check it out below. And if you haven’t yet, go listen to the album itself.