|
Track Listing
1. Killers
2. Valley Of Bones
3. 7X Down
4. The Moment
5. We Got The Love
6. What if I Say
7. Blood of the Innocent
8. Picturebox Voodoo
9. Paper Crown
10. August
|
|
Full Devil Jacket Reveal New Album Details
Everyone Listens To Music, But How We Listen Is Changing
From Neilsen:
Music consumption has changed, but consumers’ appetite for music is as strong as ever.
According to Nielsen’s Music 360 2014 study, 93% of the U.S. population listens to music, spending more than 25 hours each week jamming out to their favorite tunes. In fact, 75% of Americans say they actively choose to listen to music, which is more than they claim to actively choose to watch TV (73%). Whether in the car (25%), at work (15%) or while doing chores (15%), we spend big chunks of our time listening to music. The difference from times past, however, is that the way we individually tune is as unique as the ear buds or headphones we sport while listening.
And when it comes to how we’re listening, the story is largely a digital one. Americans streamed 164 billion on-demand tracks across audio and video platforms in 2014, up from 106 billion in 2013. Not only did the number of streams in 2014 surge past the number a year earlier, but the pace of weekly streams hit new heights. For example, the week ending Nov. 9, 2014, marked the first time that total streams for one week surpassed 4 billion. Of those, 3.9 billion were on-demand audio and video streams (1.845 billion audio, 2.05 billion video). In any given week across America, 67% of music fans tap into the growing pipeline of streaming music to get their feet moving or just tune out the rest of the world.
While 2014 was a monumental year for music streaming, it highlighted how the music landscape is fragmenting, just like the entire media arena is. CDs and cassettes declined, while vinyl reported its ninth consecutive year of sales growth. With 9.2 million units sold in 2014, vinyl sales roared past the 6.1 million units sold in 2013 by nearly 52%. Given the more-than-two-year trend of rising sales, vinyl now accounts for 6% of physical album sales.
On average, U.S. consumers report spending $109 each year on music. So aside from albums, what other types of music options are consumers spending their money on? Surprisingly, live events are gaining momentum, as they now account for more than half of total music activity spending each year.
But despite the ramp up in events and festivals, albums and songs themselves remain the heart of any true discussion about music. Overall, 2014 was a bifurcated year for physical music sales. While physical album sales were down overall, there were some bright spots as well as areas of opportunity.
Firstly, physical album sales (CDs, cassettes and LPs) were down across most, but not all channels. Notably, physical sales increased by more than 5% through non-traditional avenues like the Internet and direct-to-consumer channels. That didn’t offset the overall decline, but it does indicate that some channels are more viable than others.
Aside from format, however, no discussion about the music industry in 2014 would be complete without recognizing the effect of two individual releases, each of which sold more than 3.5 million units. That hasn’t happened since 2005. Combined, Taylor Swift’s 1989 and the Frozen soundtrack accounted for almost half of the year’s top 10 album sales. So the takeaway here is that two releases had a big impact on keeping the annual dip in overall in music sales from being much bigger.
Despite the fragmented landscape, there’s no doubt that music remains a vital part of Americans’ entertainment diet. Consumers will continue exploring digital channels, but vinyl, which now accounts for 6% of the physical album sales in the U.S., is poised to continue growing as long as labels and artists create unique offerings they find desirable.
But it’s not simply a matter of physical and digital. For example, rock remains the dominant genre for album sales, while pop stands out on a track-by-track basis. So as with achieving success in any market, winning in 2015 and beyond will hinge on having clear insight into what consumers are looking for and finding ways to deliver.
METHO
Arts & Crafts To Release Tobais Jesso Jr.’s Debut Album March 17
Tobias Jesso Jr.’s upcoming debut LP, Goon is set for release in Canada on March 17 via Arts & Crafts with True Panther Sounds releasing the album in the rest of the world. Goon, has already been named one of the most anticipated albums of 2015 by Time, Pitchfork, WXPN, and Stereogum. “Hollywood” and “True Love” were named as Pitchforks’s Best New Tracks and were included in Pitchfork’s and The Fader’s Best New Tracks of 2014. The Grant Singer directed video for “How Could You Babe” has now premiered courtesy of NPR.
Written on a piano at his parent’s house in North Vancouver, Goon, is an honest document of a modern songwriter. Drawn in by the strength of Jesso’s songwriting, producers Chet “JR” White (Girls), Patrick Carney (Black Keys) and Ariel Rechtshaid (Vampire Weekend, Haim, Sky Ferriera, The XX), strove to find the way to honour the songs’ emotional pulse, without overpowering their rawness.
“In 2008 I moved to LA to play backup bass for a pop singer,” says Jesso. “That job didn’t work out, but I ended up staying in LA for four years. I returned to North Vancouver because my mother had been diagnosed with cancer. She’s better now. I wrote most of the songs on my album Goon about my time spent in LA. It was a reflection that included, like the most popular of love cliches, a tough break up.
In my haste returning to Vancouver, I had left all my instruments in a storage locker in LA. My sister had moved out and left her piano at my parent’s house, an instrument I had yet to explore. The first song I wrote on that piano was ‘Just A Dream’. It was also one of my first attempts at singing. I have yet to come to terms with my singing voice, but at the time I was left with no other option.”
Tobias will embark on his first North American headline tour in March including shows in Toronto (March 22) and Vancouver (March 30). Goon is now available for pre-order and all tour dates are listed below.
TRACK LIST
01 – Can’t Stop Thinking About You
02 – How Could You Babe
03 – Without You
04 – Can We Still Be Friends
05 – The Wait
06 – Hollywood
07 – For You
08 – Crocodile Tears
09 – Bad Words
10 – Just A Dream
11 – Leaving Los Angeles
12 – Tell The Truth
INTERNATIONAL TOUR DATES
Mar 22 – Toronto, ON – The Drake
Mar 24 – Washington, DC – Sixth & I
Mar 25 – Philadelphia, PA – Boot & Saddle
Mar 26 – New York, NY – Mercury Lounge
Mar 27 – Brooklyn, NY – Baby’s All Right
Mar 28 – Boston, MA – Middle East Upstairs
Mar 30 – Vancouver, BC – Electric Owl
Mar 31 – Seattle, WA – Barboza
Apr 1 – Portland, OR – Doug Fir Lounge
Apr 3 – San Francisco, CA – Brick + Mortar
Apr 4 – Los Angeles, CA – The Echo (early show)
May 1-4 – Leeds, UK – Live At Leeds
May 6 – London, UK – The Courtyard Theatre
May 7 – London, UK – The Courtyard Theatre
May 8 – Manchester, UK – Night & Day Cafe
May 10 – Dublin, Ireland – Unitarian Church
May 12 – Paris, France – Cafe Carmen
May 13 – Brussels, Belgium – TBD
May 14-16 – Brighton, UK – The Great Escape
May 19 – Hamburg, Germany – The Sage Club
May 20 – Berlin, Germany – Grüner Salon in der Volksbühne
May 28-30 – Barcelona, Spain – Primavera Sound Festival
Erykah Badu’s How to Make it in Music as a Female
Erykah Badu’s How to Make it in Music as a Female is a tongue-in-cheek but what I’ve heard, of course, quite accurate depiction of what women have to go through in the music business. I’d be crying if I wasn’t laughing.
I think.
1. Get breast implants.
2. Get butt implants.
3. Buy a new scalp. Hair extensions are so early 2000s.
4. Get calf implants.
5. Wear stilettos. This is apparently a must. The taller the better.
6. Do some “ho sh*t.”
7. Kiss another woman.
8. Just be naked.
9. Sell super deluxe tampons.
10. After all of that, try to squeeze in some actual music…
…wherever and however you can.
http://youtu.be/skEvdFYtj4A
Zakk Wylde Guitarist of the Year – 4th Annual Loudwire Music Awards
Kudos to guitar great Zakk Wylde, who further cemented his musical legacy by being voted by Loudwire’s readers as the 2014 Guitarist of the Year in the 4th Annual Loudwire Music Awards.
It turned out to be one of the tightest and most competitive races of the 4th Annual Loudwire Music Awards as less than 1 percent of the vote separated Wylde from his closest competitor, Slash. Meanwhile, Sixx: A.M / Guns N’ Roses guitar slinger DJ Ashba and Linkin Park’s Brad Delson finished third and fourth respectively.
Wylde enjoyed a stellar year, as Black Label Society returned to the music scene with one of the year’s better albums, ‘Catacombs of the Black Vatican.’ The disc offered the frontman a chance to show off his guitar mastery, bringing the heavy, bluesy, swampy and moody in equal parts on the disc. Wylde also stepped outside the group for a handful of solo performances as well, including an appearance on Motorhead’s Motorboat Cruise.
Congrats to Black Label Society’s Zakk Wylde on being voted as Loudwire’s 2014 Guitarist of the Year in the 4th Annual Loudwire Music Awards. Fans in Europe will be able to catch Wylde riffing and rocking throughout the spring and during a portion of summer at these stops.
Via Loudwire
Canadian Arts/Media Job Posts For February 4, 2015
The City of Coquitlam has an opening for a Communications Coordinator.
Manitoba Liquor & Lotteries has an opening for a Marketing Assistant.
The City of Calgary has an opening for a Communication Advisor.
Evergreen in Toronto has an opening for a Director, Marketing & Communications.
Noise Digital is actively seeking a community manager to join their Toronto Office.
Top Writing Tools of Famous Authors
Have you ever wondered how your favorite books were written? The writers must have spent endless hours conceptualizing the characters and events that leave you sleepless on rainy nights.
Everybody loves reading books (or watching the movies based on them), but we rarely dig deeper into the work of the writers we admire. What is the first scene that comes to your mind when you imagine a contemporary author working on their novels? A powerful laptop and a peaceful coffee shop, perhaps? Wrong!
You would be surprised that most writers don’t appreciate high-tech devices as much as we do. Some of their writing methods are traditional, whereas others are a proof that a person with such extraordinary imagination cannot work in a usual way.
When you think of it this way, maybe we should all reach out to a piece of paper and a pen from times to times? You wouldn’t mind doing that if your pen was as cool as Neil Gaiman’s exceptional writing gadget. And if you have an old typewriter lying around somewhere in your home, do not get rid of it by any means! Someone could still use it.
From Mark Twain to everyone’s favorite George R.R. Martin, here is what some of the most famous writers used to produce their works!
Via NinjaEssays
A Child’s Introduction to Jazz by Cannonball Adderley, with Louis Armstrong & Monk
In 1961, Julian “Cannonball” Adderley, the jazz saxophonist best known for his work on Miles Davis’ epic album Kind of Blue, narrated a children’s introduction to jazz music.
Part of a larger series of educational albums for children, this 12-inch LP offered an “easy-going, conversational discussion of the highlights of the jazz story,” highlighting the “major styles and great performers” that began in New Orleans and spread beyond. Included on the album are some legendary jazz figures — Louis Armstrong, Fats Waller, Jelly Roll Morton, Duke Ellington, Coleman Hawkins, Sidney Bechet, Thelonious Monk, and, of course, Cannonball himself. The album, A Child’s Introduction to Jazz, has long been out of circulation.
The team behind this record, Bill Grauer Productions, writes, “This is one of a series of 12-inch long-play records designed to take children into a delightful and exciting world of entertainment. They can learn wonderful things from these albums, but it never has to seem like learning. That’s part of the magic – for on these recorded tours into our “Wonderland” your children’s guides are celebrated performers, including some of the most famous and most sparkling names in the entertainment world: actors, singers and musicians whose skill and charm are well known to both children and grownups.
The story of jazz is the story of an exciting and truly American art form – a music bursting with the vitality of American life. Characterized by a regular beat and a direct emotional appeal, jazz can-if properly presented-have deep fascination and rich meaning for young children from the time they first begin to show an interest in music.
To insure such proper presentation, we have enlisted the aid of one of today’s most famous jazz musicians – Julian “Cannonball” Adderley, who is also noted as a highly articulate and well-informed writer in this field. His commentary is neither an over-formal history nor a technical ‘music lesson.’ Instead, it is an easy-going, conversational discussion of the highlights of the jazz story in terms of the major styles and great performers from New Orleans Up to the present-illustrated at every step of the way by excerpts from the celebrated Riverside catalogue.”
Included are such notable jazz names as Louis Armstrong, Bix Beiderbecke, Fats Waller, Jelly Roll Morton, Duke Ellington, Coleman Hawkins, Sidney Bechet, Thelonious Monk, and Cannonball himself.
Adderley wrote in the liner notes, “This record is concerned with telling you, and letting you hear, something about what jazz is. Not in a ‘music lesson’ way, but something about what jazz sounds like, and why it sounds that way, and about some of the many people who have played it and are playing it…
One thing that you should remember in listening to this album, and to any jazz you hear anywhere, is that jazz is very much a matter of people expressing their feelings, their thoughts, their ideas about life, and doing it of course through their music.
Via Open Culture
Awesome Mash-Up: A Flock Of Seagulls Vs Black Sabbath
Black Sabbath’s “Paranoid” meets A Flock of Seagulls’ “I Ran (So Far Away).”
Vintage Monster Valentines From 1966
From Freddy In Space:
