Jonah Matranga is the latest guest on The Wasting Time Podcast.
Jonah Matranga on New Podcast
Brian Fallon Talks With Guitar.com
Brian Fallon talked with Guitar.com:
Fallon points at the floor of the café, a collage of album sleeves. “That’s what I feel like I am,” he says. “But also books and TV shows, people, and places I’ve been. I feel like that’s what makes me up. It just comes out. Everybody has influences, even if a lot of people pretend they don’t. I’m not about trying to be original with every new thing. I’m not like: ‘I was born fully formed with all my ideas and I didn’t get this from anybody.’”
In 2018, just as Fallon was beginning to conceptualise his next solo move, The Gaslight Anthem regrouped to tour The ’59 Sound in its entirety to celebrate the LP’s 10th birthday. The experience was enormously validating at times but it also steeled his resolve to carry on under his own steam. The run, which featured dates on the east coast of the US, as well as in the UK and Europe, stirred complicated emotions. “It was not fun,” he says, with emphasis.
The 100 Greatest Emo Songs of All Time
Vulture put together a list of the “100 greatest emo songs” of all time. By and large, pretty damn good list. It’s full of great songs and there’s some massive nostalgia factor in there. Obviously, I have a pretty strong attachment to this genre of music. And, I thought the authors handled the issue of Brand New about the best you can:
Initially, they were considered a viable candidate because telling the story of emo without Brand New would be like making a 1980s list without Thriller. “More broadly speaking, there’s a difference between not supporting a band going forward and writing them out of history,” Garland noted. But on further reflection, this isn’t simply a historical account of emo, but rather a series of subjective opinions organized to quantify greatness. Especially after witnessing Leaving Neverland and Surviving R. Kelly in the time since the initial voting, it became impossible to include Brand New on this list and not replicate the same mistake that’s plagued popular music throughout history — condoning an artist’s actions and minimizing the victims if the music’s good enough.
This is a topic I think about a lot and I still have no good answers. I keep thinking one will come, but maybe I’m just lying to myself that I’ll be able to think my way to some kind of clarity. I’ve started and stopped various essays on this topic multiple times because I still feel too close to it and it always ends up with me in a weird headspace. But, how the authors handled this feels right to me.
Roddy Ricch Tops the Charts
Roddy Ricch once again has the number one album in the country this week.
Rock band Green Day collects its 11th top 10 effort, as Father of All… arrives at No. 4 with 48,000 equivalent album units earned. Of that sum, 42,000 are in album sales, enhanced by purchases of merchandise/album bundles via the group’s webstore.
The 1975 Are Always Teasing
The 1975 sent out an email to this a website called Mindshower.ai. There’s a countdown on it.
Director Warren Fu Talks to MTV About ‘Petals for Armor’
Warren Fu, the director of Hayley Williams’s recent videos, talked with MTV about the project:
Williams’s initial notes to Fu revealed that she wanted to have “unexpected combinations of beautiful and grotesque imagery.” She also gave Fu the seed moment that would define the rest of the video: “eating oysters while taking a bath.” This idea played a large part in the video for “Cinnamon,” in which Williams gets chased by creepy house-made creatures who she eventually dances with in an ecstatic display of emotional unshackling.
Neck Deep Release New App
The 1975 to Only Play Festivals With Gender-Balanced Lineups
Matty Healy confirmed to the The Guardian’s Laura Snapes that The 1975 will only play festivals with gender-balanced lineups:
Take this as me signing this contract – I have agreed to some festivals already that may not adhere to this and I would never let fans down who already have tickets. But from now I will, and believe this is how male artists can be true allies. […] It’s not a geopolitical nightmare: it’s the music industry, and it’s something that if everyone gets on board, we can fix.
Hayley Williams on Making Her Fashion Week Debut
Rachel Hahn, writing for Vogue:
Each season, Taymour carefully curates the artists whom she works with, based on both their shared values and their genuine interest in the brand. Last spring rising New York singer-songwriter Zsela performed alongside a verdant farmers market, while this season Taymour tapped Williams as well as Colombian-Canadian singer Tei Shi to take part in the show. “Hayley and I just met, but I was so impressed with her demeanor,” Taymour says. “She definitely has a similar energy to mine and was very easygoing…having people like that who are supportive of the brand makes the show much stronger because you can tell that they want to be there.”
Hayley Williams Talks With WMagazine
Hayley Williams talked with WMagazine after performing at New Work Fashion Week:
The ethos I think is summed up best in the title. Even if you just look at the words, ‘Petals’ and ‘Armor’ are so opposite from each other. For me, the mantra of fighting through life with a new sense of vulnerability is really important. But I think being soft like that, in my experience, requires me to be very realistic about things and find time to still hope. I think it’s been interesting going through therapy and learning a lot of things about myself and why my coping mechanisms are what they are, and all that. I just am drawn to dark narratives. I tend to cock my head and not really trust if things have this veneer. I like to earn things and I also like to know that what’s on the front of something isn’t all; I want to know that there’s stuff underneath there to dig into. Petals for Armor has a bit of all of it. There’s self deprecation, which I’m very good at. There’s also defiant angst and rage, but as it moves on it gets lighter. A bunch of real life shit.
Lil Wayne Tops the Charts
Lil Wayne has the number one album in the country this week:
Funeral is the fifth leader for Lil Wayne, and it enters with 139,000 equivalent album units earned in the U.S. in the week ending Feb. 6, according to Nielsen Music/MRC Data. The album was released on Jan. 31 via Young Money/Republic Records and follows Lil Wayne’s chart-topping Tha Carter V, which was released in 2018.
Dustin Kensrue Launches New Podcast
Dustin Kensrue of Thrice has started the Carry the Fire Podcast.
The show aims to dig deep into those big questions through the lens of the good, the true, and the beautiful. While these days it may feel like our disagreements and divisions threaten any hope of building a broad and beloved community, could it be possible that we all share some innate common belief in the value of these three transcendentals? By exploring our differences through this common ground, I believe our individual worldviews can be enriched by our interactions, becoming more good, true, and beautiful every day. To this end, we will be speaking with people like you, from a wide variety of backgrounds, beliefs, and professions. Whether the conversation is with a musician or author, a scientist or philosopher, we will together glimpse the world anew through their unique perspectives.
The show also has a Patreon.
Netflix Makes Autoplay Optional
Netflix has finally made autoplay of previews an option. About-fucking-time.
Spotify Acquires The Ringer
Spotify has acquired The Ringer.
Spotify has purchased The Ringer, Bill Simmons’ sports and culture site, the companies announced today (February 5). The move follows the streaming service’s expansion into podcasts. (The Ringer has 30 podcasts.) The Ringer, which was previously in partnership with Vox Media, also has a video network, film production division, and book imprint, as The New York Times notes.
Simmons, the former ESPN commentator who founded The Ringer in 2016, said in a statement: “Spotify has the unique ability to truly supercharge both content and creator talent across genres. We spent the last few years building a world-class sports and pop culture multimedia digital company and believe Spotify can take us to another level. We couldn’t be more excited to unlock Spotify’s power of scale and discovery, introduce The Ringer to a new global audience, and build the world’s flagship sports audio network.”
I know I’m probably not like most casual podcast listeners, but the moment any of this content goes behind any kind of Spotify exclusive wall, I’m out on the shows. Neil Cybart’s take on why Spotify spent the money here feels right to me. The economics of streaming music isn’t great and they’re betting on sports radio/talk and podcasts.
Ryan Key and Adam Russell Launch ‘Star Wars’ Podcast
Ryan Key and Adam Russell from Story of the Year have started a new Star Wars podcast called Thank the Maker. It’s available now on all podcast platforms.