He was pulling the guitar in one way and singing the other way. It created a third thing that was profound. | | | | João Gilberto, left, playing with Stan Getz and Chick Corea at the Rainbow Grill, New York, January 1972.
(Bettmann/Getty Images) | | | | | | “He was pulling the guitar in one way and singing the other way. It created a third thing that was profound.”
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| | rantnrave:// Happy Monday. Hope you had a nice holiday, your house is still standing, your drummer search is going well and your masters are in the hands of someone who cares about you... Short takes on a week's worth of earthquakes big and small: TAYLOR SWIFT is sometimes heavy-handed or inelegant in the manner in which she speaks out on industry matters. She's also frequently right/righteous. I'll leave the matters of who promised what to whom and who has whom's best interests at heart to people who are smarter/better informed than I am, and I'll assume there's much that most of us don't know, but if the singer, songwriter and part-time activist has done nothing more than illustrate the powerlessness many artists have over their work while challenging the conventional wisdom of how much power they should have, then A+ for that. Sweat the details if you must but keep your eye on the big picture. Look for opportunities to change the conversation, and change it. MusicSET: "Taylor Swift vs. Scooter Braun and the Big Machine"... (A+ grade in previous item partly in honor of ROBERT CHRISTGAU, who may or may not be finished handing out his infamous letter grades to pop albums)... TED GIOIA's remembrance of seeing JOÃO GILBERTO in San Francisco in 1998 is probably the most beautiful piece you'll read this week on the pioneering bossa nova singer/guitarist, whose death was reported over the weekend. To call Gilberto's style laid-back, as many have, has a surface truth to it but does an injustice to the incredible precision of both his guitar playing and singing, which influenced multiple generations of artists in Brazil and around the world. Here's Gioia, who's writing about much more than a single concert, on Gilberto's ability to sing way ahead of the beat without sounding anxious: "One is reminded of the jets flying high in the sky, which we are told travel at fantastic speeds, yet from our vantage point appear to be moving at a slow, leisurely pace." He was shy, suffered stage fright, was extremely particular about the rooms in which he recorded and performed, and sued EMI for issuing inferior remasters of his classic first three albums. And won. Take note, Taylor Swift and Scooter Braun. RIP... TIDAL's greatly expanded song and album credits are, like Taylor Swift's activism, a little inelegant and a lot righteous. You can now click on the names of mixers, session musicians and lots of other people, and you might want to set aside several hours/days to start doing so. Grade: A. You still can't click on labels. Grade: D. Anyone credited as "lyricist" and "composer" shows up near the top of the credits list; anyone credited as "writer" is near the bottom. Grade: Incomplete... According to ROLLING STONE's bonkers rules for its new albums/singles/artists charts, which are just a little less complicated than BASEBALL REFERENCE's rules for calculating WAR, no one has ever streamed the biggest selling album in US history, EAGLES' THEIR GREATEST HITS, and no one ever will. (See "Song Assignment Rules" at bottom of this page.) Also, deluxe albums are worth more than regular albums and vinyl records are worth more than CDs. Grade: [searching for my calculator]... SPOTIFY is easing out of the direct-distribution business while APPLE MUSIC appears to be doubling down on the direct-deal business. Who do record companies like more right now? Who should they like more? Who should they fear? Is this an inadvertent game of good cop bad cop?... Best wishes, STEVIE WONDER... My favorite earthquake song. Love to all my friends back home in California... While you were at the beach, barbecuing or watching the walls shake, the holiday weekend brought us J COLE/DREAMVILLE's REVENGE OF THE DREAMERS III, the HAXAN CLOAK's MIDSOMMAR score and new music from MARSHMELLO, JADEN SMITH, JESCA HOOP, WESTSIDE GUNN, WILLIAM PARKER, WHIT DICKEY, TRAVIS BARKER & 03 GREEDO, 3TEETH, IMMORTAL BIRD, ABBATH, MACHINE GUN KELLY, the SOFT CAVALRY and MARK MULCAHY... RIP GARY DUNCAN, HELLA SKETCHY, JUDY RUSSELL, MARTIN CHARNIN, SID RAMIN, DJ PERPLEX and MICKEY KAPP. | | | - Matty Karas, curator |
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| A rare concert in 1998 was a chance to see the great musical pioneer emerge from hiding - and why his glorious talent lifted him beyond pop fads. | | |
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| The company’s exclusive album releases died in 2016. Here’s how they resurrected them and why that could be a big deal. | | |
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| The National Recording Academy's President and CEO discusses his leadership style, legacy, and the ins and outs of the Grammys. | | |
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| We’ve gone through all 333 of Meeker’s slides so you don’t have to -- summarizing how her insights parallel the latest trends and innovations in the music business, and, most importantly, what opportunities they reveal for artists with respect to marketing and creative strategy. | | |
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| The sale of an indie label turns into a very public and very personal fight over artists' rights and labels' obligations. Why Taylor Swift is at war with Scott Borchetta and Scooter Braun and why it matters. | | |
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| Right after Swift skewered Big Machine Label Group, her former home, Delta Rae announced they were also leaving the label - and "Swifties" rushed in with support. | | |
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| The Copyright Office said it chose the Mechanical Licensing Collective over the American Music Licensing Collective because the former fulfilled all the qualifications required by the Music Modernization Act, while the latter fell short on some of the qualifications. | | |
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| The 26-year-old rapper changed his strategy for his debut album, Owbum. Will it be enough to recapture his momentum? | | |
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| When Eddie Vedder decided to take on ticket conglomerate Ticketmaster over 20 years ago, writes Ed Power, he had no idea the nightmare that was in store. | | |
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| Running a valuable, reliable, and sustainable distributor is complex, expensive and isn’t for short-term opportunists or companies looking to tack on a new business model. | | |
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| At a time when the music industry has become increasingly focused on viral hits, managers Danny Kang and Daniel Awad pride themselves on finding - and amplifying - viral talent. | | |
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| Even in the age of streaming, vinyl purchases are at a steady incline. And bootleg vinyl - which could be found all over eBay - are part of that equation. | | |
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| Monsta X leads the post-BTS feeding frenzy of K-Pop acts signing to U.S. major labels. But will sold-out arenas and fan armies translate to record sales? | | |
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| The mindf*** of being Black and feeling like an anomaly in a musical genre that Black people created is what inspired the 2003 "Afro-Punk" documentary. Now imagine what it’s like being a Black girl who rocks, trying to make a way for herself and women like her in the white and male-dominated worlds of rock and the music business. | | |
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| We explore the different ways that festivals are tackling their environmental footprints. | | |
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| The fan battle to #FreeBritney raises uncomfortable - and maybe unanswerable - questions that have long plagued her brand. | | |
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| The salvation of Mac Rebennack came after a daughter's ultimatum, countless 12-step meetings and the support of a manager and best friend. | | |
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| The rise of Lil Nas X and the yeehaw agenda have caused me to re-examine my relationship with a genre that seems intent on shutting people like me out. | | |
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| For nearly a century, background music has been transforming the way we experience public spaces. Now, companies have a new mission: to brand every quiet moment of your day. | | |
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| The director of ‘Marianne and Leonard’ reflects on the complicated relationship between Leonard Cohen and the woman he called his ‘muse,’ Marianne Ihlen. | | |
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