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The New Chorus.fm Logo

Chorus.fm Logo
Jason Tate

When I drew the AbsolutePunk.net logo all those years ago, I never imagined how many places it would end up. I can’t tell you how many times we needed to shrink it down, or blow it up, or put it on a colored background, and I’d end up laughing at the little red splatters while having no real idea what to do with them. When I started building Chorus I had a color scheme I loved, but I was never able to settle on a logo that felt right. I tried a few different things before deciding to punt and launch with the word mark while using a blue and white “C.FM” placeholder. I wanted to make sure that this time I thought through everything. That if we had a logo, it was something I felt could stand the test of time and was a true representation of this new website.

I had a few goals in mind: I wanted something that represented the website, was easy to recognize, could be used in very large or very small sizes and still be distinguishable, could be used in virtually any color, or even monochrome if needed, and I was looking for something that had a familiar relationship with both our word mark and the Encore podcast logo. And more than anything, I was looking for that feeling of joy when I saw it — that feeling of, “yep, that’s it.” After working with the same designer that helped birth the Encore logo, I know that we found exactly what I was looking for.

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Envy on the Coast Kinda Reunites but Not Really

Envy on the Coast
Jason Tate

Envy on the Coast recently announced three reunion shows, but a statement released today says that it won’t include three of the band’s founding members:

In light of the recent announcement about the upcoming Envy On The Coast dates, we wanted to take the opportunity to officially let everyone know that the three of us will not be participating in these shows. Recently the idea of reuniting to do shows was collectively discussed at length, though we were unable to reach a unanimous decision about how exactly we would move forward, if at all. It was in the aftermath of these discussions that two of our individual members decided that they would go out on their own using the Envy On The Coast name. Rest assured, our not being a part of these shows is not for lack of desire. We hold the legacy of this band near and dear to our hearts, as well as the decade of unwavering support and enthusiasm from the lifeblood of Envy On The Coast — you guys, the fans. However, we do not want the public to be misled that this will be a full reunion with all five original members. We love all of you, we are forever grateful for your continued support, and nothing will ever change that.

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Taylor Swift’s Impact on Jimmy Eat World

Taylor Swift
Jason Tate

Billboard looked at what kind of bump Jimmy Eat World got from the Taylor Swift Apple Music ad.

For their second act, Swift queued up Jimmy Eat World’s hit “The Middle,” (No. 5 on the Hot 100 and No. 1 Alternative Songs in 2002) a track on her “Getting Ready to Go Out” playlist that, she says, she “used to listen to in middle school.” The tune’s bump was even larger than “Jumpman”: between the week before the ad’s April 18 debut and the week after, “The Middle” soared 298 percent in sales and 49 percent in U.S. streams (from 3,000 downloads sold to 12,000; from 614,000 clicks to 916,000) and led to a surprise appearance on Billboard’s Hot Rock Songs chart at No. 16.

In a Room With Radiohead

Radiohead
Jason Tate

Adam Thorpe, writing for Times Literary Supplement, after visiting Radiohead while they recorded their recent album:

This is all layers as well, a millefeuille of epochs and moments, and seems perfectly attuned to Radiohead’s methods. We wander out into the grounds: tree-surrounded lawns, large swimming pool, further courtyards and barns, decayed cottages and a softly roaring mill-race. In one of the larger granges, numerous canvases display abstract explosions of colour. The barn’s speakers are wired up to the recording studios: the band’s resident artist Stanley Donwood reacts in acrylic to what he hears, the results to be modified and manipulated on computer for the LP’s cover.

Ariana Grande’s Billboard Cover

Ariana Grande
Jason Tate

Chris Martins profiles Ariana Grande for Billboard:

As a matter of fact, Grande appears on the cover of Dangerous Woman in shiny black headgear with long ears. It looks like it was designed for American Horror Story by the cartoonists at Warner Bros. The Super Bunny “is my superhero, or supervillain — whatever I’m feeling on the day,” says Grande. “Whenever I doubt myself or question choices I know in my gut are right — because other people are telling me other things — I’m like, ‘What would that bad bitch Super Bunny do?’ She helps me call the shots.”

Her new album is straight up great.

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Interview: Frank Turner

Craig Manning

Frank Turner is about to return to the United States for another leg of the Positive Songs for Negative People tour. I got a chance to chat with Frank about how he feels about the album now that it’s been out for a little while, why his next record will be more “radical” and “experimental” than anything he’s ever done before, how Butch Walker ended up producing the album, why playing shows with Jason Isbell is a realization of a years-old dream, and how recording the mournful “Song for Josh” in a live setting almost made Turner, a “profoundly, sternly atheist man,” glimpse a higher power.

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