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Glassjaw Go Track-by-Track

Glassjaw
Jason Tate

Glassjaw did a track-by-track of their new album over at NPR:

When we were doing Worship And Tribute [the band’s second album, released in 2002], the label was like, “Yo, we need Chris Lord-Alge [engineer who’s worked on records by Prince, My Chemical Romance and Tina Turner] to mix this s***. This is your f****** hit.” We’re like, “All right, crazy guys, we’re cool with Alge mixing it. Whatever you guys want, spend the money.”

We walk in a room and I’m like, “Yo, gotta bring that bass up, man, bring the bass up.” He kind of just moves his hand just to shut me the f*** up. I’m like, “Yo, you gotta bring that bass up because that whole riff is the bass.” He goes, “Listen here, kid, let me guess: you’re the f****** bassist,” and I go, “Actually, d***head, I’m the f****** guitarist.” [Laughs.]

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It’s Not Just Musicians, Sexual Misconduct Is Everywhere

Jason Tate

Hilary Corts has shared her story of working in the music industry and being assaulted while on tour with Hellogoodbye:

As a touring person who has shared many a bed with zero incident, I did not think much of it. Once we were in bed, however, he decided to put his hands on me. I told him “no” as he tried to get up my shirt, kissing my arms and shoulders. He did not stop so I rolled away from him, at which point he pinned me up against the wall. He fell asleep on top of me in what I can only describe as a forced cuddle position. I was freaked out and felt very helpless as I was trapped.

And:

Working with Chase became increasingly more difficult as he was not kind to me and made my job much harder. I called Evan Weiss (Into It. Over It.), my friend at the time, whose band was/is also managed by Chase. Evan brushed off the whole situation as “not a big deal” and told me that Chase was “probably just lonely” as he’d broken up with his longtime girlfriend just days prior. As we’d already agreed I’d be tour managing Into It Over It on their upcoming tours, Evan told me to shut up and “play nice” if I still wanted to work for him. So that is what I did.

Jimmy Iovine Talks With Billboard

Jimmy Iovine
Jason Tate

Jimmy Iovine talked with Billboard about why the music industry may be too optimistic about streaming:

Getting into the weeds, Iovine went on to point out labels’ inevitable hardships over royalties derived from back catalogs amidst this new landscape. As rights for older catalog albums hit their contract reversion dates, it will be hard for labels to negotiate the type of splits they formerly took for granted. Likewise, on newer releases, artists are entering contract discussions with the leverage of millions of fans behind them already and getting better deals than ever before, he said, pounding his fist on the table to accent his point. “That’s a great thing but what I’m saying is that everybody has got an issue … the problem is not solved yet, the solution is not there. And I could poke holes in any of it, because I live it. And some of these things have got to be dealt with.”

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Modest Mouse Singer Isaac Brock Sued for $865k

Modest Mouse
Jason Tate

Aimee Green, writing for The Oregonian:

A 41-year-old Portland city employee struck by the SUV of local rock star Isaac Brock — who said he fell asleep at the wheel — filed an $865,000 lawsuit Wednesday against the Modest Mouse lead singer.

The lawsuit, filed by city employee Cassidy Kane, claims Brock — the frontman of the indie rock band — was “impaired” when he slammed his 2004 Land Rover into the back of Kane’s City of Portland pickup truck at 9:20 a.m. on Aug. 3, 2016.

Glassjaw Talk About ‘Material Control’

Glassjaw
Jason Tate

Jonah Bayer, interviewed Glassjaw for Noisey:

I think it’s probably the cleanest recording we’ve had as far as mental anguish. In the past, you’ve got to deal with people and desires and shit and I’ve said it a million times: It’s always been Justin and myself just spitting out our ideas. On this one, we really tapped into that and didn’t hurt anyone’s feelings, we just kind of went in and did it. The music was written and done and we went in and showed Billy, and Billy was just a fucking beast and caught on really quick. He’s a professional. The whole process was really simple; I couldn’t imagine it being more simple than how we did it. We didn’t stay in the studio in Hollywood for three months, we didn’t camp out at the Oakwood apartments, we didn’t spread the recording over two years and lose the fire. It was just us from front to back maintaining the sound. I love it. I would never want to do it any other way again.

Pixelmator Pro Releases to Mac App Store

Apps
Jason Tate

Pixelmator, one of my favorite image editors on the Mac, has released Pixelmator Pro:

The Pixelmator Team today released Pixelmator Pro, a brand new Mac app that redefines image editing on the Mac, providing professional-grade editing tools in an incredibly intuitive and accessible design. Pixelmator Pro 1.0, codenamed Whirlwind, includes a modern single-window interface, nondestructive, GPU-powered image editing tools, machine learning-enhanced editing features, and more.

MacStories has a good review:

The decision of whether to move to Pixelmator Pro won’t be a clear one for everyone given the price differential. That’s exacerbated by a small, but real learning curve associated with the Pro version because many of the tools have moved and the menus have changed. In addition, Pixelmator remains a solid app that includes many of the features that Pixelmator Pro has. That said, Pixelmator Pro has been built from the ground up with Apple’s current technologies, which I expect will mean that in time, Pixelmator will be left behind its Pro sibling, gaining fewer and fewer of the Pro version’s features.

Fall Out Boy’s Midlife Crisis

Fall Out Boy
Jason Tate

Andy Greene, writing at Rolling Stone:

In August, the band returned to the studio with producer Illangelo – best known for his work with Lady Gaga, Drake and the Weeknd – and decided to start largely from scratch. An intensive songwriting boot camp at Stump’s Burbank, California, studio worked, yielding songs like the trap-infused “Hold Me Tight or Don’t” and the synth-y “Expensive Mistakes.” It helped that the deadline to deliver the album had been extended. “It was Thanksgiving, when the old guy unbuttons his belt and just exhales,” Stump says. “We were relaxed, and the rest of the record kind of wrote itself in a week.”

And:

Stump acknowledges that even after all the work they put in, he won’t mind if the reworked Mania doesn’t connect with radio: “Do I need another hit in my life? I don’t really care. The only reason to put out a record is if it’s really great. And once you are past the radio-hit stage of your career, that becomes even more important.”

Spoiler alert: I think they’ve got another hit in them.

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Trump Shares Inflammatory Anti-Muslim Videos

Jason Tate

The New York Times:

President Trump shared videos on Twitter early Wednesday morning that supposedly portray Muslims committing acts of violence, images that are likely to fuel anti-Islam sentiments popular among the president’s political base in the United States and that prompted the office of Britain’s prime minister to issue a statement condemning the tweets.

Every day is some new “what the fuck is wrong with this asshole?” moment. Remember when waking up didn’t fill you with dread as you reached for your phone to see what notifications were sitting there waiting for you?

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