Mick and Keith still have that Aquemini chemistry that I only saw in Outkast. The alluvial rock grounding the levitating balloon, that balance of dirt and gloss, the knight versus the pirate. | | | | | Kid Cudi at Kent State University, 2010. (Dana Beveridge) | | | | |  | “Mick and Keith still have that Aquemini chemistry that I only saw in Outkast. The alluvial rock grounding the levitating balloon, that balance of dirt and gloss, the knight versus the pirate.”
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| | rantnrave:// It's easy enough to laugh at, ignore or deny mental illness in any setting; it's especially easy in the universe of pop music, where outlandish, erratic and self-destructive behavior is often encouraged, and where insanity and genius sometimes appear to be synonyms. That's one reason it was refreshing for KID CUDI to announce last week that instead of releasing his album PASSION, PAIN & DEMON SLAYIN', he was checking into rehab for depression and suicidal urges. "I am not at peace," he wrote. "I haven't been since you've known me." It's refreshing to see someone who needs treatment seek it out, and to talk about it in public. It was doubly refreshing to see the overwhelming positivity of the hip-hop community's response. "Thank you for writing about an uncomfortable darkness that invades so many of our minds," wrote AMANDA FRANKLIN in PIGEONS & PLANES. "I’m actually proud of him for realizing that he is a man who needs help and doing something about it," PANAMA JACKSON said in VSB. Rapper ISAIAH RASHAD tweeted, "Don't go through the problems in your head alone. There's nothing wrong with asking for help"... "Around Twitter," noted VULTURE's CRAIG JENKINS, "the #YouGoodMan hashtag hosted vital conversations about mental illness among black men." I'm sure there was snarkiness and meanness, too, on social media, but the overwhelming tone was understanding and supportive. Which means it will be a little easier for the next musician, or music fan, suffering from depression or any other mental illness to recognize it and seek help... Here's a psychological profile of Cudi published three weeks ago in THE RINGER. The last time he ran into Cudi, SEAN FENNESSEY wrote, he "did not seem terribly happy. Not depressed, exactly, but almost as if something was missing"... That line wouldn't have been out of place in TOM LAMONT's eye-opening profile of BRIAN WILSON for THE GUARDIAN, for which he got an unusual amount of access (it not necessarily an unusual amount of quotable material)... JEFF WEISS on OLDCHELLA: "[Y]ou can buy a thimble of red wine for the amount that it would take to feed an East Timorese family of seven until one of their daughters is old enough to marry MICK JAGGER." He loved the STONES' set Friday night, btw... NEIL YOUNG does it in the road with PAUL MCCARTNEY... Alt-rock history mapped like a transistor circuit board... Unofficial mixes arrive at SPOTIFY and APPLE... INSANE CLOWN POSSE's VIOLENT J on killer clowns terrorizing AMERICA. In TIME MAGAZINE(!)... RIP JOAN MARIE JOHNSON and PETER ALLEN. | | | - Matty Karas, curator |
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 | Resident Advisor |
| The real reason for London's club crisis might have been overlooked. | | |
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 | The New York Times |
| In many ways, the South is still a bastion of conservatism, but groups like Drive-By Truckers and Shovels & Rope still carry the banner of progressives. | | |
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 | Music Business Worldwide |
| Powerful voices in the UK music business are questioning the future of BBC Radio 1 following the exit of yet another influential music exec from the station. | | |
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 | Thump |
| From disco parties in the 70s to Daft Punk's carnival-of-lights show at Coachella 2006, here's how lasers became a big part of what defines a rave. | | |
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 | The Guardian |
| Brian Wilson doesn't give long answers, and when one is required he hollers for assistance. It is May. The former Beach Boy is 73, and his great and beloved 1966 album, "Pet Sounds," was released 50 years ago this week. | | |
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 | Vulture |
| To be a fan of Kid Cudi is to inhabit his inner turmoil. It’s there in his darkest moments on record, and it's the subtext of even the happiest. | | |
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| The New York Times |
| Two years after the lead singer of Neon Trees publicly came out of the closet, he is releasing a fiery solo album that questions almost everything he used to believe in. | | |
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 | The Washington Post |
| D.C.-based 1432 R has created a sound that draws heavily on the folk music of Ethiopia. | | |
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 | Noisey |
| For centuries, the Tunisian spiritual music has been misunderstood. Now, musicians like Salah el Ouergli are trying to keep it from disappearing entirely. | | |
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 | Inc.com |
| With the rise of playlists, is it even worth it to release an album anymore? And how will playlists change the way we listen to music? | | |
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 | Decoded Magazine |
| The murky world of ghost producing. | | |
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| Noisey |
| At a festival dubbed "Oldchella," there was something life affirming in watching a band scoff at their expiration date. | | |
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 | Complex |
| An interview with Phantogram about collaboration, suicide, and their new album. | | |
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 | Billboard |
| Universal Music’s top lawyer on negotiating with streaming services, exclusives and the paltry number of black execs in the music business. | | |
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 | HipHopDX |
| Excerpted from Ben Westhoff’s new book "Original Gangstas: The Untold Story of Dr. Dre, Eazy-E, Ice Cube, Tupac Shakur, and the Birth of West Coast Rap," by Ben Westhoff. | | |
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| The Guardian |
| A generation of jazz musicians has grown up with hip-hop in its blood. The result is the thrilling reinvention of a genre that has been guilty of fixating on its past. | | |
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 | ABC News |
| The Chainsmokers’ song “Closer” has been No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for six weeks. Their song “Don't Let Me Down” is also in the top 10. | | |
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 | Texas Monthly |
| On Day Breaks, the Grammy Award-winning singer returns to her roots at the piano. Just don’t call it a back-to-basics album. | | |
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 | The Fader |
| The electronic composer looked inward, and back to his childhood in Chile, for his exquisite new album, "Sirens." | | |
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 | xoJane |
| You're already there to see a performer you love, and then you get a bonus free set from a band you didn't even know you loved? Score! | | |
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 | via YouTube |
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