The Simpsons has been renewed through it’s 40th season.
‘The Simpsons’ Renewed Through 40th Season
Mood Playlist Widgets From Apple Music
The new version of Apple Music lets you trigger “mood” playlists from control center:
Opening the Music app will continue being the main way most of us interact with Apple Music, but I love what Apple’s doing with iOS 18.4’s new Ambient Music controls. The ability to assign a mood playlist button to your iPhone’s Lock Screen, Action button, or Control Center removes friction from the music playback experience.
MusicHarbor Brings Music News to App
MacStories details the release of the latest version of MusicHarbor:
My favorite new section of MusicHarbor is News, which pulls articles about the artists you follow from a dozen sources. It’s an excellent set of publications that includes chorus.fm, NPR Music, Pitchfork, and others. If there are any feeds among those listed that you don’t like, though, you can turn individual publications off, so they won’t appear in the app.
If you follow a lot of artists like I do, you’ll appreciate that you can also search for artists by name or using keywords found in the headlines of articles. The app includes a row of profile pictures of the artists you follow for whom the app has found news, which is a nice visual shortcut to those stories, too.
Hey, that’s us. Cool feature.
I launch MusicHarbor every Friday morning to make sure I haven’t missed any new releases from artists I follow.
Vancouver’s Neptoon Records Discovers Rare Beatles Recording
CBC:
Last week, late at night, when Rob Frith was wrapping up a work session at a friend’s studio, he decided to throw on one last tape for a listen.
It was labelled “Beatles 60s demos” and had been sitting around Neptoon Records, one of Vancouver’s most well-known record shops, unplayed. Frith, who owns the shop, had never listened to it, but had brought the recording to his friend’s studio that night, knowing he had the right player for the tape.
”I thought it was just a reel-to-reel tape that somebody had put bootleg things on,” Frith said.
But when the tape played, the quality of the sound was clear and bright.
Apple Music Opening Catalog to DJs
Michael Burkhardt, writing at 9to5Mac:
In a statement today, Apple announced that it would be integrating the Apple Music catalog with a number of popular tools, allowing for DJs to create mixes with Apple’s robust catalog. Users will also be able to explore a new DJ with Apple Music page starting today.
With these changes, Apple Music subscribers will be able to mix their own sets using the Apple Music catalog. This integration will be available in some of the leading DJ software and hardware platforms, including AlphaTheta, Serato, Engine DJ, Denon DJ, Numark, RANE DJ, and Algoriddim’s djay Pro software.
Daniel Nigro Announces Partnership with UMG
Daniel Nigro has announced a label partnership with UMG:
Read More “Daniel Nigro Announces Partnership with UMG”Universal Music Group has announced a partnership with Daniel Nigro, the producer best known for his work with Olivia Rodrigo and Chappell Roan, with the record company partnering with Nigro through his record label Amusement Records.
Nigro has become one of the most lauded producers in pop music, thanks to his famed partnerships with Roan and Rodrigo. Nigro produced both of Rodrigo’s albums, Sour and Guts, as well as Roan’s The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess and singles “Good Luck, Babe!” and “The Giver.” He’s also worked with Caroline Polachek, Sky Ferreira and Conan Gray. Back in February, he won the Grammy Award for Producer of the Year; he was nominated for the award the year prior as well.
Sublime Working With Travis Barker and John Feldmann
Sublime are working on a new album with Travis Barker and John Feldmann. From the recent Rolling Stone interview:
Nowell, 29, just spent a week in the studio with Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker and producer John Feldmann to write songs for the project. “Dude, those guys are awesome,” says Nowell, who plans to start recording with Wilson and Gaugh soon. “Travis is an old-school fan and scholar of the Sublime catalog… They feel like family members now too, man. There was that feeling from everyone that what we’re doing here is something generational and special on an emotional, spiritual, familial level.” (“This is going to be really special,” Barker added in a statement. “Bradley comes through his son Jakob… Chills every day in the studio when he sings and plays guitar.”)
Nowell, who also records alt-pop under the band name Jakobs Castle, isn’t interested in modernizing Sublime’s sound. “The goal is not to create something that is, like, ‘This is what Sublime would be today in 2025,’” he says. “No, just more of a solid respect and homage to the works of Sublime.”
The Greatest Two-Hit Wonders
Chris Dalla Riva did a deep dive on the greatest two-hit wonders of all time:
But if one hit is a miracle, then two hits is a near impossibility. Two-hit artists sit in a weird space, though. Pop stars a remembered because they are very famous. One-hit wonders are remembered for the opposite. Their un-memorableness makes them great answers to bar trivia questions. Two-hit wonders are stuck in the middle. Some might be able to parlay those two hits into careers, but others are lost in a musical no man’s land, too many hits for trivia, not enough to be legends. Still, there’s got to be a greatest two-hit wonder.
Lossless Audio and Ultra‑Low Latency Audio Come to AirPods Max
Next month, a new software update will bring lossless audio and ultra-low latency audio to AirPods Max, delivering the ultimate listening experience and even greater performance for music production. With the included USB-C cable, users can enjoy the highest-quality audio across music, movies, and games, while music creators can experience significant enhancements to songwriting, beat making, production, and mixing.
AFI to Release New Album This Year
I missed this last month, but it looks like Adam Carson confirmed AFI have completed their new album:
“It’s a matter of trying to figure out where it slots into the year. As far as recording, it’s done and I’m excited.”
When I ask him how this album stands apart from the rest, Carson’s face lights up with boyish enthusiasm. Like it’s the first time he’s ever promoted a record. “It’s the first time we’ve made a focused record. We leaned into post-punk influences, and it feels cohesive. From start to finish, it’s got a natural flow—a specific time, a specific place.”
Former Eminem Employee Charged With Selling Unreleased Music
The FBI has charged a former Eminem employee for selling his unreleased songs for bitcoin:
In a statement shared with Variety, Eminem’s longtime spokesperson Dennis Dennehy said that the rapper is pleased with the latest development in the case. “Eminem and his team are very appreciative of the efforts by the FBI Detroit bureau for its thorough investigation which led to the charges against Joe Strange,” he said. “The significant damage caused by a trusted employee to Eminem’s artistic legacy and creative integrity cannot be overstated, let alone the enormous financial losses incurred by the many creators and collaborators that deserve protection for their decades of work. We will continue to take any and all steps necessary to protect Eminem’s art and will stop at nothing to do so.”
U.S. Reaches 100 Million Paid Music-Streaming Subscribers
Variety, reporting on the RIAA’s 2024 data:
For the first time, paid streaming subscriptions hit the 100 million mark in the U.S. last year, while vinyl sales continued their nearly two-decade resurgence with $1.4 billion in sales, according to Recording Industry Association of America’s annual recorded-music revenue report.
Despite that milestone, streaming growth continues to slow — it was up just 4 million for the year, continuing a slowing trend over the past five years.
And:
Meanwhile, vinyl’s 18th straight year of growth scored nearly three-quarters of physical format revenue at $1.4 billion — the highest since 1984. For the third consecutive year, it outsold CDs, shipping 44 million vinyl records compared with 33 million CDs.
Vision Pro as Concert Device
M.G. Siegler, reviewing the new Metallica “Apple Immersive” concert (er, three songs) that was released for the Vision Pro:
It’s St. Patrick’s Day, 2025. It’s late, the family is asleep. I grab a beer and head out to watch a rock concert. But by “head out” I mean, put on the Vision Pro. Minutes later, I’m in Mexico City – over 5,000 miles away from my home in London – watching James Hetfield walk up to the stage. I’m right behind him. His cigar smoke wafting in my face. The crowd roars as he emerges into the stadium.
It felt very close. Very real.
Honestly, I was blown away by the “Apple Immersive” Metallica concert that was released for the Vision Pro this past weekend. I like Metallica – like any red-blooded teenager in the 1990s, I grew up with ”The Black Album” – but I was more of a grunge kid. But my god, Apple (and the band) nailed this experience. It’s only about 30 minutes – just three songs – but I easily could have watched that for another few hours.
I’ve been ho-hum about the Vision Pro, mostly because for that price I see no real need in my life. This kind of immersive concert experience does sound fun though.
Lucy Dacus Talks with The New Yorker
Lucy Dacus talked with The New Yorker about her upcoming album:
This spring, Dacus, who is twenty-nine, will release “Forever Is a Feeling,” her fourth solo record. It’s a gorgeous and tender album about falling in love—Dacus is now in a committed relationship with Baker—and how the tumult of that experience has forced her to reckon with the unknown. “This is bliss / This is Hell / Forever is a feeling / and I know it well,” Dacus sings on the title track. Her voice sounds pure and soft over a tangle of synthesizers, gamelan, harp, and drum machine. Dacus described the album as being partly about the idea of “coming to terms with change—of knowing that things aren’t forever,” and of finding freedom in the various ways we are asked, relentlessly and repeatedly, to reimagine ourselves and our lives
2025 NCAA Bracket Challenge
It’s an annual tradition to have a NCAA bracket challenge over on ESPN. (And the community is a great place during games.)