Brian Ferguson, writing at Scotsman:
Chvrches singer Lauren Mayberry will be the first face and voice of BBC Scotland’s new TV channel – after her band were asked to record a brand new version of one of their songs.
The Glasgow-based pop and electronica group joined forces with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra to record a special orchestral version of their hit Miracle for a sequence lasting nearly three minutes which will herald a new era in Scottish broadcasting this weekend.
Chris Payne, writing at Billboard:
There’s a song that we refer to as “Paris” that’s really awesome. It was actually a beat I made for Juice WRLD and before I ever got in the studio with him, I played it randomly, and Mark [Hoppus] said, “Oh what are you working on?” They were like, “Whoa, we really like this.” And it morphed into a Blink song. It’s probably our favorite right now.
David Wallace-Wells, writing at The New York Times:
If we had started global decarbonization in 2000, according to the Global Carbon Project, we would have had to cut emissions by only about 2 percent per year to stay safely under two degrees of warming. Did we fail to act then because we thought it was all over already or because we didn’t yet consider warming an urgent enough problem to take action against? Only 44 percent of those surveyed in a survey last month cited climate change as a top political priority.
This is the most depressing part of the article for me. I remember 2000 and arguing with people in the AbsolutePunk.net forums about climate change. We did virtually nothing and now we’re in some real bad shit. Awesome.
Mandy Moore is on the most recent episode of the Marc Maron podcast.
Matty Healy of The 1975 sat down with GQ:
n just under an hour, the topic switches from albums – specifically the next one they’re releasing before August, Notes On A Conditional Form. “We’re at a time now when people enjoy that level of emotional investment, as long as it’s rewarding. And I make albums. I don’t make singles. So I’ve just got to make another album. Also, to feel like I have a purpose, because otherwise what the fuck am I doing?” To social media, “Awful stuff happens and great stuff happens every second and we wake up in the morning and tune in to this algorithm that keeps us informed on every single bit of chaos that happens until we go to bed.”
Ariana Grande has the number one album in the country:
The set launches with the biggest week for a pop album in over a year and garners Grande her fourth No. 1 — and second in less than six months. Of Thank U, Next’s starting unit sum, 116,000 were in album sales.
George Gene Gustines, writing at The New York Times:
My initial inspiration was a few different things. I had been such a fan of the Marvel Silver Age, and I grew up reading Chris Claremont’s X-Men. Marvel characters had a lot of issues and problems, but I wanted to give them deeper, more complex problems. I was also reading Hellboy by Mike Mignola, and to me that was a postmodern horror comic. There was nothing like that for superheroes. I usually try to make things that I wish existed that I would want to listen to or read.
Eriq Gardner, writing at Hollywood Reporter:
The U.S. Copyright Office is skeptical about Fresh Prince of Bel-Air actor Alfonso Ribeiro’s ownership claim over the signature “Carlton Dance,” which became famous after a 1991 episode of the Will Smith series. […]
Take-Two Interactive, publisher of the game NBA 2K, is now seizing upon the refusal in support of the argument that movements for the “Carlton Dance” are not protectable. Ribeiro is suing Take-Two as well as the publisher of Fortnite over special features that allow game players to have their avatars perform the dance.
The FBI has opened an inquiry into Ryan Adams’s alleged communications with a minor:
In response to The Times’s article, F.B.I. agents in the bureau’s New York office on Thursday took the first steps to open a criminal investigation, according to the official, who declined to be identified because the person was not authorized to discuss it publicly.
Ryan’s upcoming album, Big Colors, has been pulled from all retailers.
Billboard reports that Social Distortion will release their new album on Epitaph Records:
Concord said on Wednesday that a new album is in the works via Epitaph, while Craft Recordings, which represents Social D’s earlier albums along with Ness’ solo LPs, is working on various archival releases for later this year.
Laura Snapes, writing for The Guardian:
The concept of male genius insulates against all manner of sin. Bad behaviour can be blamed on his prerequisite troubled past. His trademark sensitivity offers plausible deniability when he is accused of less-than-sensitive behaviour. His complexity underpins his so-called genius. As I wrote for this paper in 2015: “Male misogynist acts are examined for nuance and defended as traits of ‘difficult’ artists, [while] women and those who call them out are treated as hysterics who don’t understand art.” This was after, in response to an interview request, Sun Kil Moon’s Mark Kozelek told a crowd that I was a “bitch” who wanted to have his babies. Note, too, how many female geniuses are dismissed as divas, their art depicted as a symptom of disorder, their responses to mistreatment and calls for respect characterised as proof of an irrational nature.
Holy Pinto’s new song “Adult #2” can be streamed over at Radio Milwaukee.
Some now say that Adams’s rock-star patronage masked a darker reality. In interviews, seven women and more than a dozen associates described a pattern of manipulative behavior in which Adams dangled career opportunities while simultaneously pursuing female artists for sex. In some cases, they said, he would turn domineering and vengeful, jerking away his offers of support when spurned, and subjecting women to emotional and verbal abuse, and harassment in texts and on social media. The accounts have been corroborated by family members or friends who were present at the time, as well as by correspondence from Adams reviewed by The New York Times.
[T]he feature-length movie will be a sequel revolving around Aaron Paul, who will reprise his Emmy-winning role as Jesse Pinkman. Sources also confirm that Netflix will have first-run rights to the top-secret project, which will then air on AMC. (Representatives for AMC, Netflix and producers Sony Pictures TV all declined to comment.)
Hawthorne Heights have launched a Patreon:
We have heard many of you ask this question. “When are you going to do another Hawthorne Heights Explains It All Podcast?” If we reach 250 patrons, then we will continue the podcast in either audio or live video format. When we really start ramping up the songwriting, it is hard to dedicate the 5 hours per week to get a quality podcast. With your support, we could utilize some of the funds for a better set up, that will allow us to be able to record remotely in places that aren’t just HHHQ,