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Month: July 2017

Mark and Matt Talks Next Blink-182 Album

Blink-182
Jason Tate

NME sat down with Mark Hoppus and Matt Skiba of Blink-182:

I think this album took Blink back to its roots and what it’s all about, and I think on the next record, we want to push that boundary again. We’ll keep the core of Blink 182 but we’ll get a little more experimental. Kind of like what we did on the untitled record, which we’re all really proud of. It still sounded like Blink and had that Blink feeling, but it was different and a little more thought out.

Music to my ears.

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Geoff Rickly on Bro Culture in the Music Scene

Thursday
Jason Tate

Here’s a great thread on Twitter from Geoff Rickly of Thursday talking about toxic masculinity in the music scene:

There are so many idiotic and arrogant statements made by members of both bands in this article. A lot of muddling of issues and bro culture. There’s a recurring idea that sexual assault, misogyny & worse are all “just rock & roll”- maybe that’s why it’s on the decline? Mocking safe spaces at giant fests while courting an audience comprised of a significant number of minors is fucking gross. Pretending that “dangerous” in the context of punk means degrading women or using the stage to bully someone shows you don’t “get it.” The idea of “danger” in punk has had many meanings. All of them subversive: People of different class, race, gender and orientation infiltrating the R&R boys club is dangerous. Being DIY and going against corporate control of music is dangerous. Even playing with such intensity and abandon that you put the moment over your own physical well being is dangerous. The Clash, Nirvana, Black Flag, Bikini Kill, Fugazi… all dangerous. This nonsense on the other hand. This is a fucking frat party. Gross. Unsafe. But not “dangerous” in the context of punk.

Lynn Gvnn and Tegan Quin Interview Each Other

Lynn Gvnn
Jason Tate

Lynn Gvnn of PVRIS and Tegan Quinn of Tegan and Sara interviewed each other for Nylon:

I think there were genuine fears and concerns that being “out” would hinder our success within our team or the label, but, for us, we saw no future in the mainstream, so once we were embraced by alternative music, we just pushed forward full steam ahead and accepted that we were going to be seen as a “lesbian band.” And we were okay with that. I think being women held us back much more often than being gay. We worked in alternative music for 10 years before we moved to pop. And that’s a man’s world. Us being gay may have helped us there rather than hurt us.

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SoundCloud is in Trouble

Soundcloud
Jason Tate

Bloomberg:

SoundCloud Ltd. is cutting about 40 percent of its staff in a cost-cutting move the digital music service says will give it a better financial footing to compete against larger rivals Spotify Ltd. and Apple Inc.

SoundCloud, which in January said it was at risk of running out of money, informed staff on Thursday that 173 jobs would be eliminated. It had 420 employees. The company’s operations will be consolidated at its headquarters in Berlin and another office in New York. Offices in San Francisco and London will be shut.

Guess I should start giving serious thought to where I’d host the podcast if they go under.

Ted Leo – “You’re Like Me”

Ted Leo
Jason Tate

Ted Leo’s new song “You’re Like Me” can be streamed below. He also sat down with Stereogum to talk about his upcoming album:

He recorded 27 songs total, and there were three versions of The Hanged Man in play at various times. One leaned toward the punk and power-pop that represents “what people would traditionally think I do,” and one leaned toward the exploratory art ballads he used the studio to craft (or as he puts it, one that was “completely the slow, dark, weird stuff”). He settled on a happy medium between the two for the actual album. (His friend Aimee Mann, who’s heard the album, says it has a dash of “mad scientist” about it).

Read More “Ted Leo – “You’re Like Me””

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