What happens when you take Q-Tip The Abstract, dancers clad in black and gray and two metal poles used to simulate additional motion? Why, it’s the brand new Chemical Brothers video, Go, directed by Michel Gondry.
Iconic Singer Ian Tyson Releases “Carnero Vaquero” Album On June 16
Acclaimed roots music label Stony Plain Records announces a June 16 U.S. release date for Carnero Vaquero, the 13th album from iconic Canadian singer/songwriter Ian Tyson.
The late blues singer John Lee Hooker, asked at age 85 whether he planned to retire, told a reporter: “It’s too late to quit now.” That may well be the motto of Ian Tyson, whose ongoing career began in the folk music boom of the early ‘60s.
Now 81, Tyson has just recorded a new album for Edmonton-based Stony Plain Records — and he still plays some 40 concerts a year as well as manages the Tyson Cattle Ranch south of Calgary. U.S. dates on his upcoming tour in support of the new album’s release include May 16 at The Birchmere in Alexandria, VA; and July 16 at The City Winery in New York City.
Carnero Vaquero includes 10 songs that can be described as true and clear as the western sky, the foothills of the Rockies and the changing cowboy tradition. The album’s title — “Carnero” is the Spanish word for ram, and “Vaquero” is Spanish for cowboy, and, indeed, the cowboy tradition, particularly in the south-western United States — is an accurate indication of the music.
The songs range from the traditional (“Doney Girl”) to co-writes with Calgary’s Kris Demeanor. There are five new Ian Tyson songs, as well as a tuneful remake of “Darcy Farrow” (originally recorded in the early ‘60s Ian & Sylvia folk duo days). “Wolves No Longer Sing” is written with Tom Russell — the pair co-wrote “Navajo Rug,” one of Tyson’s biggest hits.
Tyson’s voice, which has recovered from the accident that severely damaged it in 2007, recorded the album with his core touring band. Instead of a formal studio, Tyson cut most of the CD in a 100-year-old stone building, a mile down a gravel road from his ranch house; it’s the building where Tyson works every day when he’s not on the road. “I think that the ghosts of all the songs I’ve written here approve of the new ones,” he says.
Universal Music Group Nashville Chairman/CEO On How Much it Costs To Break An Act
On April 19, the Academy of Country Music Awards drew more than 70,000 fans to AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, and 15.8 million viewers (according to Nielsen) to its CBS telecast thanks to superstars like Taylor Swift, Blake Shelton,Luke Bryan and Brooks & Dunn. But that weekend Mike Dungan, chairman/CEO of Universal Music Group Nashville, was just as focused on bringing key radio programmers to nearby Dallas for showcases by eight of his labels’ most promising artists.
Though Dungan, 61, says “radio is still the primary driver” for breaking new acts like the showcased eight — newcomers Mickey Guyton, Canaan Smith and Joey Hyde, along with more established artists including Brothers Osborne and Easton Corbin — he’s exploring as many avenues as possible to expose his artists. Those include tentpole TV events and festivals like the 2015 Country Music Association Fan Fest (June 11-14 in Nashville) and CMT Awards (June 11), as well as streaming services like Spotify, YouTube, Pandora and iHeartRadio. It’s the latter category that Dungan credits with helping to break Sam Hunt, whose 2014 albumMontevallo and such hits as “Take Your Time” and “Leave the Night On” have been streamed more than 200 million times. “Our streaming activity has rocketed over the last year, and we are not far behind our pop brethren in that respect,” says Dungan. “This is a real business for us.”
Country’s global profile has increased dramatically thanks to the C2C festival in Europe and the popularity of the show Nashville. Would you sign an international country act?
I’ve got probably the premier Universal [U.K.] country artist, a band called The Shires, coming here in June. I have no projection as to whether we’re going to sign them here, but we’re trying to help them. This is expensive — you don’t get a small shot here. That’s how this company runs. It’s costing a million-and-a-half dollars every time we put out a release [with] three singles. So we can’t just throw shit out there until something sticks.
Via Billboard
8-year-old Lois asks Neil deGrasse Tyson about dyslexia in the field of astrophysics. He answers brilliantly.
8-year-old Lois asks Neil deGrasse Tyson about dyslexia in the field of astrophysics. The response of the people who approached her following her question was heartwarming.
Never Seen Bob Marley In Concert? Watch This Video, Then.
Three years before Bob Marley died of cancer at 36, the reggae legend blew away the hot and sweaty crowd at Boston’s Music Hall. Check out this footage of War as proof.
Marley’s family released the intimate footage, which will appear on Easy Skanking in Boston ’78, a compilation of once-private videos and live audio from June 8, 1978 — to celebrate what would have been Marley’s 70th birthday. Bob Marley & The Wailers: Easy Skanking In Boston ’78, features two historic live shows from Boston’s Music Hall, June 8, 1978. This new and unreleased performance is from the Marley family giving unprecedented access for the first time to their personal material from their private collections and their vaults. The album will be available on blu-ray/cd combo pack as well as dvd/cd and standalone cd versions. Additional newly created animated material will also be a part of this release, marking the first time the family has incorporated this technology into any official Marley releases.
The 46-minute video features seven of the 13 songs from that 1978 show:
“Rebel Music”
“I Shot the Sheriff”
“No Woman, No Cry”
“Lively Up Yourself”
“Jamming”
“War/No More Trouble”
“Exodus”
This Is What The Very First McDonald’s Restaurant Looked Like
he McDonald’s restaurant concept was introduced in San Bernardino, California by Dick and Mac McDonald of Manchester, New Hampshire. It was modified and expanded by their business partner, Ray Kroc, of Oak Park, Illinois, who later bought out the business interests of the McDonald brothers in the concept and went on to found McDonald’s Corporation.
In 1937, Patrick McDonald opened “The Airdrome”, an octagonal food stand, on Huntington Drive (Route 66) near the Monrovia Airport in Monrovia, California. Hamburgers were ten cents, and all-you-can-drink orange juice was five cents. In 1940, his two sons, Maurice and Richard (“Mac” and ” Dick”), moved the entire building 40 miles (64 km) east, to West 14th and 1398 North E Streets in San Bernardino, California. The restaurant was renamed “McDonald’s Famous Barbeque” and served over forty barbequed items.
In October 1948, after the McDonald brothers realized that most of their profits came from selling hamburgers, they closed down their successful carhop drive-in to establish a streamlined system with a simple menu of just hamburgers, cheeseburgers, french fries, shakes, soft drinks, and apple pie. The carhops were eliminated to make McDonald’s a self-serve operation. Mac and Dick McDonald had taken great care in setting up their kitchen like an assembly line to ensure maximum efficiency. The restaurant’s name was again changed, this time to simply “McDonald’s,” and reopened its doors on December 12, 1948.
Awesome Punk Flyers & Posters from The 80s
D.I.Y. at its finest, featuring Dead Kennedys, Fugazi, Minor Threat, Bad Brains, Husker Du and The Cramps.
Surprisingly Amazing: The Words Associated with Every Kind of Music
Music fans, prepare to lose a few minutes. Possibly hours. The latest in time-sucking music data entertainment:
‘Genres In Their Own Words’
This is a massive list that pairs nearly 1400 genres with the words that are most distinctive to the song titles from each genre, from Spotify data alchemist Glenn McDonald. If you’re anything like us, it will make for surprisingly compelling reading — we say “surprising,” because nobody wrote these words; they simply emerged out of the data, as being associated with certain genres of music.
Alternative Pop comes off as about sweet as one might expect, with titles including (ranked by frequency): “it’s down pretty song star like girl little around everything your don’t than never here baby time what this you’re.” Brutal Death Metal, on the (very) other hand, is all about “flesh dead blood collapse wrath death chaos suffering slaughter existence upon torture souls reign within divine human remains weak oblivion.”
There’s all kinds of odd trivia to glean from this list, including regional insights. Chinese Indie Rock is about the city: “city live song love night don’t your.” Chinese Opera is more about the country: “aria spring story mother river song.” Chinese Traditional is even more about the country: “lowing plum spring autumn blossom silk lake mountains tune yang village variations moon palace ensemble lotus melody river flowers water.”
Another one that caught our eye: Chill Lounge, which has a lot to do with the sun and the sea — quite relaxing indeed: “sunset beach sunrise remix original ocean love slow summer rain soul your instrumental come time days mind away part lost.”
Meanwhile, the states of Texas and Oklahoma come in first and second as most distinctive to Cowboy Western titles, as do honky-tonk, lonesome riders, trucks, and more: “texas oklahoma honky truck boogie cowboy tonk lonesome riders trail country i’ll recorded guitar rose don’t heart that again valley.”
It’s a really fun list is fun to explore on your own, if you’re the type.
Back The Other Way
You can spend minutes or hours working through the above list, and you won’t even be done. McDonald built another list out of this data — this time going from the words to the genres — called “Words In Their Own Genres.” (You can also get there by clicking on any word in “Genres In Their Own Words,” so it’s possible to jump back and forth, ostensibly for days.)
There, you can find out that the genres that most concern themselves with fools tend to be southern, or northern, or soulful. In order, songs about a “fool” are: Neo-Rockabilly, Blues-Rock Guitar, Soul Blues, Southern Soul, Doo-wop, Deep Southern Soul, Memphis Soul,Chicago Soul, and Northern Soul.
For songs about being “foolish,” however, your best bet is Adult Standards. Want to hear a song about bears? Try Nursery. Songs about getting “rich?” That would be Hyphy. Looking for “action?” Try Punk Blues, Trash Rock, Garage Rock, or Protopunk.
For whatever reason, the genre most associated with “Larry” is Smooth Urban R&B.
These lists go on and on, to the probable delight of music nerds and the curious:
Via Spotify
Record players up 240% in UK; Vinyl album sales are up 69%
The UK nation is getting back into the groove with a resurgence in sales of record players alongside music on vinyl. Sales of turntables are up by a staggering 240 per cent at John Lewis in the first few months of this year compared to same period in 2014. It was widely believed that digital music, the iPod and the internet had killed vinyl, the record player and record shop, however the sales figures paint a very different picture.
Just last month a new official chart for vinyl record sales was launched to reflect the revival. Vinyl album sales reached a 20 year high of 1.29million in 2014 following seven years of unbroken growth, according to the Official Charts company. And this trend has continued in the first few months of 2015 with sales of albums up by 69 per cent versus a year ago and vinyl single sales up 23 per cent. Young adults are driving the trend and at the top of the vinyl album chart are acts like the US rock band Alabama Shakes, Scotland’s Biffy Clyro, and the American singer songwriter Sufjan Steven. The singles chart is headed by David Bowie with the 1970s classic Changes, ahead of songs by Noel Gallagher, the Manchester Indie band 1975 and even ‘Take on me’ by A-Ha.
Via Daily Mail
Sparks Gunna Fly? BFFs Forever? It’s Streaming Sites Vs/And Record Labels at CMW Panel
What can musicians and music marketers do to cut through the noise to be heard and discovered using streaming? How do playlists and curations help bands and labels? What opportunities are there for indie artists and how can they get the most out of streaming sites in Canada? Come to Canadian Music Week on Thursday, May 7 at the Osgoode Ballroom East at 2:30pm and find out.
Moderator
Eric Alper (that’s me!)
Director of Media Relations and Label Acquisitions
eOne Music Canada
Toronto, Canada
Director of Media Relations and Label Acquisitions
eOne Music Canada
Toronto, Canada
Panelists
