Eminem has the number one album in the country this week:
Eminem notches his historic 10th No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 chart with his latest release, Music to Be Murdered By. The set debuts atop the tally with 279,000 equivalent album units earned in the U.S. in the week ending Jan. 23, according to Nielsen Music.
The Grammy awards were last night. You can find the list of winners here and all the performances below.
One of my favorite features every year is Federico Viticci’s “Must-Have Apps” over at MacStories. I always end up finding something I didn’t know about and put into my workflow. This year I’ll be looking into moving my bookmarks over into Raindrop.io because the current state of native apps for Pinboard is awful.
This entire story features a collection of the 50 apps I consider my must-haves on the iPhone and iPad, organized in seven categories; whenever possible, I included links to original reviews and past coverage on MacStories.
If you’re looking for great new apps, this is a must read.
Hayley Williams interview with Annie Mac on BBC Radio 1 is now up for your listening pleasure.
The Interrupters will be heading into the studio with Tim Armstrong in February to record a new album:
While touring we’ve also been writing non-stop. That means we have a lot of material to get down. We can’t wait to bring everything together to complete the puzzle.
Ben Sisario, writing for the New York Times:
Deborah Dugan, the suspended chief of the Recording Academy, the organization behind the Grammy Awards, said in a complaint to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on Tuesday that she had been removed as retaliation for uncovering a range of misconduct at the academy, including sexual harassment, improper voting procedures and conflicts of interest among academy board members.
And:
According to the complaint, the nominating committee, when finalizing the ballot for the 2019 award for song of the year, for example, chose as one of its eight final nominees a song that had initially ranked 18 out of 20. The artist behind that song, the complaint alleges, was allowed to sit on the committee and was also represented by a board member.
The complaint also says that the committees can add artists to the ballot who had not first been chosen by the general voting pool. For this year’s awards, it says, 30 such artists were “added to the possible nomination list.”
And:
The document, filed with the E.E.O.C.’s Los Angeles office and technically called a charge of discrimination, alleges that Ms. Dugan’s predecessor, Neil Portnow, had been accused of rape by an artist, and that the academy’s board had been scheduled to vote for a bonus for him even though all of its members had not been told about the accusation. The complaint has little detail about the accusation, but said that a psychiatrist had said that the encounter was “likely not consensual.”
It also says that Ms. Dugan herself had received unwanted sexual advances from Joel Katz, a powerful industry lawyer who represents the Grammys.
Pete Wentz and Patrick Stump of Fall Out Boy were on yesterday’s episode of The Price is Right.
Selena Gomez has the top album in the country:
Selena Gomez earns her third No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 chart, as Rare launches atop the tally. The set, which was released Jan. 10 via Interscope Records, starts with 112,000 equivalent album units earned in the U.S. in the week ending Jan. 16, according to Nielsen Music.
Craig Finn will be scoring a new dramedy from AMC:
A musical dramedy following a family who, after falling down the ladder of American life, needs to figure out what actually makes life worth living. Burns (The Report, The Laundromat) is writing and executive producing along with Mark Johnson (Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul). Craig Finn of The Hold Steady will write original music, and T Bone Burnett will be the music producer.
Radiohead have launched an online library full of videos, photos, merch, music, and more.
Sum 41 had to cancel their show in Paris after an “explosive device” was detonated outside of the venue. No injuries have been reported. The manager of the venue believes it was firecrackers from a nearby protest:
Vincent Le Gall, the manager of the venue, said that the supposed explosion was merely firecrackers set off by “yellow vests” in ongoing protests in the city, the Daily Mail said, citing local reports.
Jeremy Chen, writing for KTNV:
The Boys and Girls Club in Henderson unveiled a generous gift Sunday, allowing kids there to explore their musical passions, thanks to Las Vegas local Brendon Urie of Panic! at the Disco.
“It’s like an expensive new toy,” said Demelle Cooley, who attends the club. “I just can’t wait to unwrap it and start playing with it. It’s something different, it’s revolutionary.”
Anti-Flag sat down with Alt Press to talk about their new album:
Our previous record had come out not that long ago, and it really wasn’t on any of our minds to sit down and write another record so quickly. I just think seeing the xenophobia with the way that Trump was talking about asylum seekers in Central America and Mexico, obviously with the separation of the children from their parents [and] keeping children in prisons and cages and the religious discrimination with the Muslim ban caused it all to snowball to the point where the songs were starting to be written. We just felt like when we look back on history, we wanted people to know during this time where we stood and that we didn’t just stay silent. And we also wanted an opportunity to write our own future, you know? Our record is not just a criticism of Donald Trump, although it’s definitely that, but we also try to offer a lot of optimism with the record. When we organize against these things that are obviously crimes against humanity and crimes against our planet, we can write to share them, and we can point things in a positive direction. So when you look at our songs like “Unbreakable” or “20/20 Vision,” you know that “20/20 Vision” is a song about where we could go. And it’s a very different direction than the current administration.
Stereogum has been sold back to founder Scott Lapatine.
“It’s been a privilege to watch Stereogum grow over the past 18 years — the site saw record traffic in 2019 — and I’m thrilled about our next chapter as an independent, music-only publication. Also, launching later this year, a robust new user experience will be sure to delight and infuriate Stereogum’s dedicated commentariat in equal measure,” Lapatine said.
Congratulations Scott!
Taylor Swift’s new documentary, Miss Americana, will arrive on Netflix on January 31st.
Miss Americana, directed by Lana Wilson, looks at Swift’s career and is “a raw and emotionally revealing look at one of the most iconic artists of our time during a transformational period in her life as she learns to embrace her role not only as a songwriter and performer but as a woman harnessing the full power of her voice,” according to a statement.