It’s sure been a year. Here are some of the year-end photo lists that look back on 2019 in photographs.
The Year in Photos 2019
LATEST ARTICLES - PAGE 23
‘The Far Side’ Is Back. Sort Of.
Just shy of 25 years since its last original installment, the offbeat comic strip “The Far Side” has returned. In a manner of speaking, but please don’t call it a comeback.
“I’m not ‘back,’ at least in the sense I think you’re asking,” said Gary Larson, the cartoonist who created it, via email last week ahead of a website revival. “Returning to the world of deadlines isn’t exactly on my to-do list.”
Beginning Tuesday, the “Far Side” site will provide visitors with “The Daily Dose,” a random selection of past cartoons, along with a weekly set of strips arranged by theme. There will also be a look at doodles from the sketchbooks of Larson, who said: “I’m looking forward to slipping in some new things every so often.” (Previously, there was no content on the site.)
Finally, I also concede I’m a little exhausted. Trying to exert some control over my cartoons has always been an uphill slog, and I’ve sometimes wondered if my absence from the web may have inadvertently fueled someone’s belief my cartoons were up for grabs. They’re not. But it’s always been inherently awkward to chase down a Far Side–festooned website when the person behind it is often simply a fan. (Although not everyone is quite so uncomplicated in their motives; my cartoons have been taken and used to help sell everything from doughnuts to rodent control. At least I offer range.) So I’m hopeful this official website will help temper the impulses of the infringement-inclined. Please, whoever you are, taketh down my cartoons and let this website become your place to stop by for a smile, a laugh, or a good ol’ fashioned recoiling. And I won’t have to release the Krakencow.
Creeper Talk New Album
Creeper talked with Alternative Press about their new album and what to expect:
Well, it’s unrecognizable, I’d say. It’s changed forms quite a drastic amount. For instance, there are no fast songs on this record. There are no double-time beats on this record. We haven’t made a punk record at all. I wasn’t inspired to do that. It didn’t seem relevant to be doing that at this exact point for us. So, when things are punk here, it’s in a more aggressive delivery, perhaps, rather than a double-time beat. I feel like we were using that as a crutch sometimes when we were writing. Listening back to the other records, I’m very proud of them, but I felt like every time we started trying to make something that was a little bit more challenging, we would deliver it, but then we would immediately feel like we’d need to do a standard punk song to make up for the fact that we had done something that was challenging our listeners. I just don’t want to do that anymore. I want to make a record that’s exactly in the image of these challenging ideas.
Billboard 200 to Include Official Video Plays From YouTube, Streaming Services
Video and audio data from YouTube, along with visual plays from several music streaming services, will soon be factored into the Billboard 200 albums chart, it was announced on Friday. In addition to YouTube, officially licensed video content plays from Apple, Spotify, Tidal and Vevo will be included in the album chart’s calculations.
The inclusion of video data into the Billboard 200 arrives five years after audio streams were added, marking the chart’s shift from a measure of pure sales to a consumption model. The addition of video will also impact Billboard’s genre album consumption charts, such as Country, R&B/Hip-Hop, Latin and others.
Craig Manning Writes About His Top 200 Favorite Albums of the 2010s
After launching our best of the decade feature yesterday, Craig Manning took to his blog to write about his top 200 favorite albums of the 2010s; because he’s a mad man. It’s a great walk back through the decade, and it made me realize I forgot to put Yellowcard’s Southern Air on my list because I’m an idiot.
You have summers all your life, but you only have summers when you’re young. If you grew up in a place where summer was the season you lived for, then you know what I’m talking about. Sticking out the grueling winters with the knowledge that hot, sunny days would surely come again. Counting down the weeks in the spring, waiting for that first day when the temperature went above 50 so you could roll down your windows, crank the volume, and pretend it was already July. Making every waking minute of every August day and night count, because you knew Labor Day was coming way too soon. More than maybe any other band, Yellowcard understood what made a summer a summer. Songs like “Ocean Avenue” and “Miles Apart” defined a certain brand of beachside pop-punk that sounded perfect on teenage mixtapes traded during summer flings. Southern Air was the pinnacle of that sound, and the end of it. Because you can only have summers when you’re young, and we all have to grow up eventually.
Anti-Flag Talk With Substream Magazine
Anti-Flag talked with Substream Magazine about their new album:
“You realize, like, lives are literally being destroyed. Whether it’s LGBTQ people seeing their suicide rates going up in that community — you’ve seen obviously what’s happening with undocumented people with kids being put in concentration camps, so, it goes on and on,” Sane says when voicing his frustration and dismay with how the United States is currently operating under Trump’s administration.
PUP’s Stefan Sladkowski Writes About The Clash
PUP’s Stefan Sladkowski wrote for Consequence of Sound about The Clash’s London Calling:
The thing I learned from repeated teenage listening to London Calling — something that held true through my 20s and remains true as I listen to it on my turntable as I write today — is that it is one of the exceedingly-rare examples of a perfect record. (I’ve already recounted my first experience with the perfect physicality of the record, which cannot be overstated; it is something that I obsess over in both creating and purchasing records to this day.) Even if you want to make the argument, as one almost always should with any double-record, that there is some filler somewhere — that filler comes maybe 13 to 15 tracks into the record. By today’s standards, putting that many tracks on a record without filler is a borderline impossible task.
Billboard Announces New Rules For Merchandise/Album Bundles
Colin Stutz, writing at Billboard:
Moving forward, in order for an album sale to be counted as part of a merchandise/album bundle, all the items in the bundle must also be available for purchase concurrently and individually on the same website. In addition, the merchandise item sold on its own will have to be priced lower than the bundle which includes both the merchandise and the album. Further, merchandise bundles can only be sold in an artist’s official direct-to-consumer web store and not via third-party sites.
Fall Out Boy to Appear on ‘Price Is Right’
Kat Bein, writing at Billboard:
Rock, rap and electronic music will each get their own special episode. Fall Out Boy’s Pete Wentz and Patrick Stump will represent for rock with a taping on Dec. 9. Anderson .Paak will come through for rap to tape on Dec. 9 as well, while Diplo will have his electronic taping on Dec. 10.
These tapings are public and fans of each act are encouraged to fill the stands, so register to attend your favorite of the shows (or all three) at priceisright.com.
Apple Launching ‘Apple Music for Business’ to Provide Music to Retail Stores
Benjamin Mayo, writing at 9to5Mac:
Apple Music is now partnering with businesses to play music at retail stores. In a partnership with PlayNetwork, businesses can sign up to Apple Music for Business plans and get licensed music to be played in their retail locations with Apple providing human-curated playlists and even custom recommendations matched to the individual store brand.
Apple Music Introduces Replay, a Playlist of Your Top Songs of the Year
Sarah Perez, writing at TechCrunch:
With Apple Music Replay, subscribers will get a playlist of their top songs from 2019, plus playlists for every year you’ve subscribed to Apple Music, retroactively. These can be added to your Apple Music Library, so you can stream them at any time, even when offline. Like any playlist, your Apple Music Replay can also be shared with others, allowing you to compare top songs with friends, for example, or post to social media.
Here’s mine for 2019. Looks about right.
New Releases with MusicHarbor
Federico Viticci, writing at MacStories:
For people who want to stay on top of every new music release from their favorite artists, the tools available in Apple Music alone aren’t enough. And I understand why Apple doesn’t want to invest in this aspect of the service: not everyone runs a music-focused publication or needs to know about every single release for hundreds of artists every week. Since the unfortunate demise of Record Bird – the app that encapsulated my ideal new music release discovery tool – I’ve been building a new system to stay on top of music releases, and I’d like to explain how.
It’s a blogception! I, obviously, agree with everything here and plan to take a look at this MusicHarbor app later today.
The Kacey Musgraves Christmas Show
Kacey Musgraves is teaming up with Amazon for a holiday special:
The Kacey Musgraves Christmas Show invites fans in as Musgraves prepares for a most joyful Christmas gathering with a whimsical set and dazzling wardrobe influenced by the artist’s fresh aesthetic. Equal parts heart-warming and cleverly absurd, Musgraves pays tribute to holiday specials of the past whilst also reinventing just what a Christmas special can be, with a magically modern twist.
Grayscale’s Unique Merchandise Passion
Collin Walsh of Grayscale talked with Quentin Singer at Forbes to talk about the band’s unique merchandise and business model:
From a simple glance at the band’s online store, their merchandise is undoubtedly a major step above most young bands, and even many mainstream artists. From the photography, the designs, and just the overall presentation of their apparel, some might confuse Grayscale as a new streetwear brand, rather than one of the alternative rock scene’s finest new bands. Elaborating on how the band created such a successful merchandise model, vocalist Collin Walsh and creative director Jordan Mizrahi, detail the evolution of Grayscale and how it’s become a clothing brand just as much as an alt-rock band.
Chris Conley Talks About the Music that Influenced ‘Through Being Cool’
Chris Conley of Saves the Day talked with BrooklynVegan about the songs that inspired Through Being Cool:
Lifetime usually played fast and loud and sounded like Bad Brains with poetic lyrics, but this song was mid tempo and catchy and emotional and raw. I must have listened to this song a thousand times in my lifetime and its essence is fused with my DNA. This song is a major reason why Saves The Day slowed down a bit on Through Being Cool and started playing more mid tempo melodic rock and roll.