Happy sunday, PressPlay fam. I’m Josh, the new North American managing editor here at PressPlay, and every week, on Sunday afternoons and evenings, we’re going to be bringing you the top-to-bottom run down of all the need-to-know news from our side of the music industry, for the week that was.
We know that the people who read PressPlay are a certain type — typically (but not always) younger, internet-savvy, and forever curious as to how music as we know it will evolve before our eyes. We’re going to take the hard work out of it for you and scour the internet sewers (yes, even Gawker) for the most important information that impacts us as music lovers, consumers, and professionals. Designed to inform you of everything you need to know from the week that was to the week ahead, The PressPlay >>Rewind is your one-stop shop for being the smartest music fan you know.
Without further ado, here’s this week’s news:
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///TOP STORY\\\ GORILLAZ, BLOC PARTY, RADIOHEAD ALL SET TO RETURN WITH ALBUMS IN 2016
>>Jamie Hewlett of Gorillaz confirms work on new album is underway and coming in 2016. “That’s next year. I’m working on it at the moment and it’s going very well. I’m very excited,” he told DIY Mag in an interview last Monday. Damon Albarn confirmed the news in a short Rolling Stone interview on Wednesday — http://wearepressplay.com/2015/10/12/jamie-hewlett-of-gorillaz-confirms-new-album-is-underway/
>>After a brief hiatus announced in 2013, Bloc Party have reunited for another studio album called HYMNS, Pitchfork reports. Produced by Tim Bran, Roy Kerr, and David Wrench (who boast credits for the likes of La Roux, Scissor Sisters, Ladyhawke, Little Boots, Caribou and FKA twigs among themselves), the album is due out 29 January 2016 via Infectious Music/BMG/Vagrant. See tracklist and cover art on P4K — http://pitchfork.com/news/61584-bloc-party-announce-new-album-hymns/
>> Radiohead guitarist Jonny Greenwood confirmed in an interview to Russia’s Silver Radio this week, before clarifying his comments on Twitter after ‘over enthusiastic’ translation. “lots has been recorded, and we’re about to go through it all … to see if it’s any good … And we HOPE to tour next year.” — http://consequenceofsound.net/2015/10/radioheads-new-album-is-finished-band-plans-to-tour-in-2016/
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~ACTUAL NEWS~
>>CONDE NAST ACQUIRES PITCHFORK: The multi-national media publishing conglomerate added the entirety of Pitchfork Media to its roster on Tuesday. Fred Santarpia, Chief Digital Officer of Condé Nast, curiously cited Pitchfork’s “very passionate audience of millennial males” as an asset in a quote to the New York Times. Ryan Schreiber, Pitchfork founder and CEO, expressed gratitude “to have found in Condé Nast a team of people who share our commitment to editorial excellence.” Coverage from Staley Sharples and myself, H/T NYT — http://wearepressplay.com/2015/10/13/news-conde-nast-acquires-pitchfork/
The Hard Times had the best joke about the odd millennial males comment: “Condé Nast Acquires Millions of Angry Readers” — http://thehardtimes.net/2015/10/13/conde-nast-acquires-millions-angry-readers/
>>MOVING AND SHAKING: LessThan3’s recent relaunch has attracted the attention of industry EKG monitor Billboard, giving an exclusive interview to Editor-In-Chief Josh Bennet, to discuss their rebrand as a video platform and in-depth blog. “We don’t feel that electronic music currently has a good outlet on which to display video …We didn’t want to be associated with [click bait] … We got into this because we wanted to expose good music and be a curatorial source for music and write well-thought out, well-written editorial.” — http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/dance/6723027/lessthan3s-mtv-edm-generation-exclusive
>>REACTION NYE ANNOUNCES NYE LINEUP: Announced exclusively in Billboard via Matt Medved, React Presents rolls out their New Years Eve lineup and it’s shaping up to be a winter music festival the first of its kind for the Chicago-area. Going down in nearby Rosemont (5 mins from O’Hare), the 30-31st December festival is featuring Deadmau5, Chvrches, Run The Jewels, Robin Schulz, Bonobo, Cherub, Jamie Jones, Thundercat, Rezz, and more on the first night; Skrillex, Chance The Rapper, Get Real (Green Velvet b2b Claude Vonstroke), Purity Ring, Cashmere Cat, The Floozies, Mija, Autograf and more on night two. And just like that, the midwest bass music set has their NYE plans sorted — http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/dance/6730104/reaction-nye-2015-lineup-deadmau5-skrillex-chvrches
>>BUSINESS: DEEZER LOOKS TO RAISE $344m/€300m IN FRENCH IPO: The French answer to Spotify hopes to go from David to Goliath when they start trading publicly on the Paris stock exchange on 30th Oct. — http://www.billboard.com/articles/business/6730105/deezer-looks-to-raise-344-million-in-paris-ipo
>>ELECTRONIC MUSIC POPPING OFF IN CHINA? Jemayel Khawaja at Thump has an essential quick look at the Chinese market for dance music ahead of IMS Shenzhen next month. — http://thump.vice.com/en_us/article/is-the-edm-scene-in-china-about-to-pop-off
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~MUST READS~
>>LOU REED POST-HUMOUSLY ACCUSED OF RACISM, ABUSING WOMEN, AND BETRAYAL BY FAMILY, FRIENDS: “Lou Reed was a monster,” writes Nico Hines at The Daily Beast, summing up the words and findings of Howard Sounes, Reed’s biographer. Since Reed’s death, Sounes has interviewed more than 140 of Reed’s “school friends, band mates, girlfriends, and family members,” revealing a litany of reports of misogynist violence (including beating his first wife) and racist tirades in which he labeled Donna Summers “a n—r” and Bob Dylan a “pretentious kike.” A disturbing read for certain, but a vital reminder of why we should never elevate beloved musicians to superhuman standards. — http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/10/10/lou-reed-was-a-monster.html
>>SHMURDA WASN’T THE CASE: Epic Records’ CEO L.A. Reid defended his label’s refusal to pay the $2m bail for Bobby Shmurda in an interview with Rap Radar Podcast. “It made me feel like people don’t know anything about my business, right? It’s really not their business … we’re not at liberty to disclose how we do business. It’s fair practice, I can tell you that. But, it’s not the industry that it once was …We seriously don’t make the money we used to make… Bobby Shmurda is not the same as Snoop Dogg and Murder Was The Case.” — h/t: http://www.vibe.com/2015/10/la-reid-sounds-off-not-bailing-out-bobby-shmurda/
>>THINK OF THE WEEK – ‘YOUNG THUG ISN’T RAPPING GIBBERISH, HE’S EVOLVING LANGUAGE’: Charley Locke in Wired picks apart the fascinating image of Young Thug in a way that casually weaves in linguistic theories and invitations to question how we process music as listeners. 5 min read — http://www.wired.com/2015/10/young-thug-evolution-of-language/?mbid=social_fb
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~OF INTEREST~
>>BILLBOARD ROLLS OUT INAUGURAL ‘DIGITAL POWER PLAYERS’ LIST: Billboard lists who they judge to be the 25 most important executives “leading the industry into its brave new cloud-based world.” Notables on the list: Steve Boom (VP digital, Amazon), Robert Kondrk (iTunes VP Content), Richard Sanders (President, Kobalt), Sara Clemens (Chief strategy officer, Pandora), Erik Huggers (CEO, Vevo), bunch of other white folks. Not on the list: any black or hispanic people, anyone younger than 33… Seems odd to us, but also possible this list speaks to the reality of the industry that we apparently don’t have any power players who don’t fall in those categories. Decide for yourself. — http://www.billboard.com/articles/business/6730126/billboard-digital-power-players-list-2015
>>PIONEER ANNOUNCES ANOTHER CD-LESS CDJ, THE XDJ-700: Features a full color touch-screen, jog-wheel, and the ability to play files from computer, flash drive, or smartphone, and is fully compatible with Rekordbox (including HID control). Will retail for $699/€699 and hit stores in time for Christmas — http://djtechtools.com/2015/10/13/xdj-700-pioneers-699-touchscreen-compact-player/
>>2CHAINZ WELCOMES HIS FIRST SON: 2Chainz welcomed his first son to the world this week; Halo was born October 14th. Halo is 2Chainz’ third child and there’s already a track about him on Trapvelli Tre that features appearances from older sisters Harmony and Heaven. Congrats and well-wishes to the entire family — http://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/the-juice/6730020/2-chainz-baby-boy-halo-picture
>>BILL MURRAY CASHING IN ON BEING BILL MURRAY: On the heels of his forthcoming big-budget comedy/Behind The Music mockumentary “Rock The Kasbah,” Bill Murray also announced he’s taking to the Christmas special market, as Netflix’s also-first foray into such territory. Notable to music fans as it features Murray doing a rendition of the always-fucking-creepy “Let It Snow” with Miley Cyrus, in addition to confirming an appearance from Phoenix, along with a whole slew of A-list celebs and comedians. The special is directed by Sofia Coppola (Lost In Translation) and premieres on Christmas — http://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/pop-shop/6730016/a-very-murray-christmas-netflix-miley-cyrus-teaser
~GOSSIP~
>>YOUNG CHOP ACCUSES KANYE OF JACKIN’ BEATS: CHOP SAYS YOU’RE JACKIN BEATS, HOMIE. The ‘Don’t Like’ producer lashed out at Kanye in a video on social media. “[He will] use you, try to soak up everything n—s know, get you to write songs for him, and then don’t call you after that.”
video: http://www.worldstarhiphop.com/videos/video.php?v=wshh580y1Sn9T1380WEb
h/t: http://pigeonsandplanes.com/2015/10/young-chop-kanye-west/
>>BIEBER TEASES “ANOTHER ONE” WITH SKRILLEX: A single tweet from the Biebs hinting at a follow-up to this summer’s smash, “Where Are U Now.” No word or clue if it’s on his forthcoming album dropping Nov. 13th on Warner. — https://twitter.com/justinbieber/status/654141555662565377
~SUPER LOLz~
>> WALMER: “CARNAGE PROVES ALL HIS HATERS RIGHT WITH STUPID TUTORIAL VIDEO”: We’re inclined to agree. Our favorite part (aside from “makes everything super louder”) are the three-smash cuts of Carnage plugging in a USB cord. Hashtag EDM at its finest, hilarious coverage from our fave Canadian, Walmer Convenience: http://walmerconvenience.com/2015/10/14/carnage-proves-all-his-haters-right-with-stupid-tutorial-video/
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MUST-HEARS:
>>NEW BENOIT + SERGIO 10-MIN TUNE, “500 ROOMS”: http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/dance/6729985/benoit-sergio-house-with-500-rooms-exclusive-premiere
>>ODD: EX-KMART EMPLOYEE UPLOADS DOZENS OF HOURS OF IN-STORE MUZAK: https://archive.org/details/attentionkmartshoppers
>>BEN KLOCK ESSENTIAL MIX: The Berghain resident delivers 2 hours for BBC Radio 1 — https://www.mixcloud.com/TechnoTechSounds/ben-klock-essential-mix-10-oct-2015/
>>RUSTIE MADE A BEAT WHILE IN HOSPITAL, IS FIRE: https://soundcloud.com/rustie/rustie-160-hospital-riddim
>>CASHMERE CAT REMIXES HUDMO WITH NO DRUMS, IS HEAVENLY: https://soundcloud.com/cashmerecat/forevercashmere
>>NEW CARMACK, “BLOWING MONEY FAST”: https://soundcloud.com/mr_carmack/blowing-money-fast
>>UNRELEASED 2012 SKRILLEX + KNIFE PARTY, TEASED AT ADE: https://soundcloud.com/basspugginton/skrillex-id-old-demo-from-2012-new
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PRESSPLAY’S WINNER OF THE WEEK: MOLLY HANKINS
>>Lots of people killed it this week, but industry writer Molly Hankins killed it hardest, publishing two of the most essential feminism-and-music-related reads this week in NEST HQ and Thump, respectively.
Her #Napgirls piece on NEST puts a well-deserved spotlight on the most important feminist movement in modern music, with quotes from and shouts to industry players Dani Deahl, Mija, Reid Speed, Sarah Sue Epperson, Braelinn Frank, Kathryn Gosik, and group founder Liz Garard. We’re proud to claim our own Editor-in-Chief Staley Sharples as a #Napgirl as well. Read Molly’s examination on the movement and get napplied for Nap Girl membership.
NEST HQ Piece: http://nesthq.com/feature-nap-girls-gender-equality-movement/
Napplication: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/FND6FVQ
Meanwhile, her piece “What It’s Like Being A Feminist And Working For Borgore,” on Thump, is undoubtedly one of the most eye-opening reads of the year. A five-minute read filled to the brim with quotable, unflinching, impactful lines that get to the speak directly to the heart of cognitive dissonance in feminism in electronic music, cutting far beneath the surface and examining several sides of the issue.
“So I ask who’s worse – the guy who’s a shock value misogynist in the streets and a gentleman in the sheets or someone with a clean image who speaks about and treats women like disposable cum dumpsters?” Guys, girls, everyone — read every word of both of these, if you read nothing else this week, and have some critical thought on the topic: https://thump.vice.com/en_ca/article/what-its-like-being-a-feminist-and-working-for-borgore.
Check out Molly’s writing at IFoundMolly.com and follow her on Twitter – @YouFoundMolly55
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>>Rewind is compiled, written, and edited by Josh Messer and Staley Sharples, with contributions from PressPlay’s staff. Views expressed in this column do not necessarily reflect those of PressPlay or its individual writers. Send tips, questions, comments, corrections, and hate mail here.
The PressPlay >>Rewind is inspired in format and style by Politico’s Playbook, by Mike Allen and Daniel Lippman. It can be viewed daily at Politico.com/Playbook.
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