My album Changephobia is about resisting our fear of change. I feel like Covid and global warming are connected symptoms of a careless world. In the next decade, we're going to have to unlearn a lot of the things we believed were OK to do to the environment. I was thinking a lot about gender and the realisation that a younger generation haven't been poisoned by this adherence to gender that I certainly felt as someone growing up in the 90s. Homophobia, transphobia and racism are rooted in fear of the unknown and of change.
We were due to release an album when Covid put the brakes on everything. Then I got what turned out to be long Covid, which has been a nightmare. I've had everything from extreme tiredness to problems breathing to tinnitus. I stopped working, smoking, drinking and did a total reset.
Since last February, I had been in conversation with colleagues who were approaching music from a therapeutic context: doctors, paediatricians, music therapists, neuroscientists. When the pandemic hit, we started to ask more about what's been shown in music to support stress relief and started exploring the connections between immune health and stress.
[For Triangle], we drew from raga, Sufism, and of course, the lineage of Black American music. There's no way to separate the technology of this music from its intended effect, which is healing, liberation and bringing us together. We knew we couldn't create a musical antidote to the virus itself, but we wanted to see what we could offer to support people using music as a medium.
I did think putting music out during the pandemic could be seen as insensitive, but I thought back to the beginning of it – I immediately focused on positive things that can make you feel better. This album came off the back of that feeling.
Leaving a major label, it felt like I got some of my soul back. I was the smallest fish in the pond and I was made very aware of that, which meant my voice got smaller and smaller. Demos I made by myself weren't given any attention. It was: "Please go in with this producer" – usually male. It's difficult to respect yourself when other people don't. If you start reflecting positive things, I feel like that gets you further and people still take you seriously. I signed to Fiction over lockdown, which I wouldn't have done if not for taking that time out and realising what I wanted.
We were flying from Berlin to Portugal on tour and had just checked in our bags when the WHO announced a global pandemic. It was very chaotic. Getting home and shutting the door was surreal. The idea that all of a sudden you have all this free time to work is paralysing for a lot of people. Being home, we felt really lucky that Portland's close to nature, though we had these terrible wildfires. The album title is Earth Trip – to me, it felt like the Earth was trying to tell us something, if it wasn't already. In nature there's so much beauty and so much devastation at the same time. I took a lot from that.
The best new rap and R&B music from the DMV in April 2021 - The Washington Post
With the region's hip-hop and R&B scene in a state of perpetual invention, area artists continue to generate music worthy of national attention and hometown adoration. This column rounds up some of the most captivating, entertaining and essential new songs, projects and music videos coming from the DMV — from Northern Virginia to Baltimore and everywhere between.
Southeast D.C.'s Ankhlejohn is one of the area's most interesting rappers because his music is the opposite of what the majority of his well-known regional peers are creating. DMV rap is distinguishable not only by artists' accents, but also by their production choices and their flow patterns. For that reason, you might not even think Ankhlejohn is from this area on your first few listens. His rhymes are canine sharp, his stories are pleasingly vivid, and the beats he fancies most are what you might expect from underground emcees above the Mason-Dixon Line.
In the hybrid musical/documentary film " Dark City: Beneath the Beat ," which premiered on Netflix in mid-April, Baltimore's homegrown genre of club music is the main character. Directed by TT The Artist, "Dark City" doesn't go through the history of the 30-year-old musical form. Instead, it takes an on-the-ground approach by demonstrating how crucial the genre is to people in Maryland's port city through choreographed scenes in which the pulsating 808s, claps and high-hats soundtrack gripping visuals of the dance moves that go along with club music.
There have been several moments throughout Gallant's career when he was being framed as the next breakout R&B star. Yet despite music that has progressed in skill, clarity and overall quality, the D.C.-born, Columbia, Md.-raised singer has yet to have that signature moment. His debut album, " Ology ," was met with critical acclaim, even being nominated for a Grammy for best urban contemporary album in 2017. But a struggle with his label was one of the obstacles he was trying to maneuver around at the time.
Those bumps in the road don't sour Gallant's legacy, though. His sophomore album, " Neptune ," was released independently in late March. One of the best efforts on it is " Dynamite " with R&B deity, Brandy. The track boasts somber piano play and features Gallant singing in a sweet falsetto about a love that seemed fractured from the start. In her verse, Brandy shares those sentiments, singing "With Neptune in retrograde / Got used to the shine (of rose-colored haze) / Now we're restless in the cosmic bed we made."
Goonew and Lil Dude, whose collaborative music has been some of the area's most influential over the past five years, show up on " Gilbert Arenas ," named after the former Washington Wizards star. That one rattles the speakers with more intensity than anything else on "OSSHMOB." Goonew's unbothered slick talking, Lil Dude's nimble slur of a delivery and Black Fortune's nasal squawks make it a little more tragic that we can't hear this one at peak volume through a local venue's speakers at the moment.
Serving their country and making music | KELOLAND.com
Army bands are meant to boost morale for soldiers, veterans and civilians alike. The 147th Army Band’s history of making music dates all the way back to 1885. But, much of the music they play now wasn’t around back then.
“Our group splits into a rock band, a country band, more of a newer pop group with some hip-hop and we’ve got a brass group and then a small, I call it coffeehouse pop,” Commander Terry Beckler, a percussionist, said.
Beckler says the band has at least 30 performances in a year, sometimes 70 or more if they go on school tours. But due to COVID-19 they only publicly performed once between March of 2020 and the beginning of this month.
“We’ve had a lot of rehearsal time and time to get some new music into our repertoire, but it’s been weird,” Beckler said.
Last year, the whole band got to perform during the Fourth of July celebration at Mount Rushmore with former President Donald Trump. That was one of the largest audiences they’ve ever had.
“It was an experience,” Staff Sergeant Daniel Heier, a percussionist, said. “It was a lot of people, it was a lot of fun and it was cool to see some of the behind-the-scenes and be a part of that and all the production. It was unlike anything else I’ve ever played at before.”
“The crowd was amazing,” Sergeant Kimberly Meyer, a vocalist, guitarist and clarinetist said. “They were so appreciative of what we did and just being able to be on the stage while the president’s plane flew over, it was a great feeling.”
“My favorite part about performing is, like I said, the impact we have on people, the community, the soldiers, their families especially because it is a really hard thing, you know, being a family member and having a soldier gone or deployed or anything like that,” Meyer said. “So, just using music as a way to communicate. It really is the universal language.”
“It’s always fun because we like to recognize veterans within the community and so we get to recognize them and get to meet them,” Staff Sergeant Dan Iverson, a trombonist, said. “We love chatting with people afterwards and I just like, you know, the sense of comradery that we can build through a performance.”
How to share song lyrics in Apple Music - 9to5Mac
One of the cool new features in iOS 14.5 is the ability to share lyrics directly from Apple Music. In fact, Apple has built out a custom UI flow to share up to 150 characters of real-time lyrics with friends, straight from the Now Playing screen. Here’s how to share lyrics from Apple Music.
iOS 14.5 includes various changes, from new emoji to Shortcuts and Podcasts . The Apple Music app has also seen its fair share of improvements, including the ability to manage your Up Next queue from the song list just by swiping to the left.
As far as lyrics are concerned, Apple rolled out the new real-time lyrics screen back in iOS 13. You could tap on a sentence to jump to that part of the song, but long-pressing on a lyric snippet previously did nothing. Well, that’s all changed now…
The actual content that is shared is a rich representation of the lyrics and possibly interactive depending on where you share it. Share to your Instagram or Facebook story, and the Music app generates a very pretty sticker design featuring the lyrics in the center of the screen. When you share with Messages, the recipient sees a preview of the lyrics inline including a button to actually play the matching audio snippet from the song, right from the conversation thread.
Apple Music is a streaming service that includes 50 million songs and is available on iOS, macOS, HomePod, Apple TV, Apple Watch, Sonos, Fire TV, Amazon Echo, and Android.
Sony Doubles Profits Thanks to Music, Games, Film - Variety
Music, games and pictures all contributed to a doubling of full year net profits at Sony , the Japanese electronics and entertainment group, despite disruptions caused by the coronavirus.
Reporting its financial results for the January to March quarter and 12-month results from April 2020 to March 2021, Sony said that annual sales increased by 9% to JPY9.00 trillion ($83.3 billion). Annual net income increased from JPY582 billion ($5.38 billion) in 2019-20, to JPY1.17 trillion in 2020-21 ($10.8 billion).
The pictures division, which incorporates the Sony Pictures movie studio, as well as TV networks and television production operations, increased its operating income from $628 million in 2019-20 to $762 million for 2020-21, despite sales dropping by 23% from $9.32 billion to $7.16 billion.
The games and network services division enjoyed a 32% increase in full year sales, rising from JPY1.98 trillion ($8.3 billion) to JPY2.66 trillion ($24.6 billion). The division’s operating profits increased by 43% from JPY238 billion ($2.20 billion) to JPY342 billion ($3.17 billion).
The division’s profitability improved due to lower theatrical marketing costs, the improved home entertainment sales, and a decrease in the charges related to the channel portfolio. For the year now underway, the corporation issued guidance indicating a 50% revenue rebound as theatrical releasing restarts and as licensing of television productions, notably “Seinfeld,” recover. Profitability is forecast to edge ahead by 3%.
The 10% gain in the music segment revenues reflected stronger sales of recorded music to streaming services, and stronger sales of “Visual Media and Platform,” the business unit that includes sales of music for mobile game applications and its Japanese anime business. “Demon Slayer The Movie: Mugen Train” has been a record breaker.
For the current year (to March 2022) Sony is forecasting a further 5% gain in music segment revenues reflecting continuing sales to streamers. However, it forecasts a $240 million drop in operating income, reflecting lower Visual Media and Platform business and the absence of gains it enjoyed by selling part of Korean music label Pledis.
The games division was lifted by the launch of the PlayStation5 console and add-on software. Software and network services boosted operating income, but Sony said that it incurred losses as PS5 hardware was priced lower than manufacturing costs. It also pointed to shortages of semiconductors as negatively affecting the segment, but said that demand continues to exceed supply. Its guidance for the new financial year points to the games division further increasing sales, but for operating income to retreat as games development costs increase.
How DJ Steve Aoki's NFT Launch Is Shaping Future Music Collaboration
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - NOVEMBER 07: All Nippon Airways partner DJ & producer Steve Aoki performs ... [+] exclusive preview of Neon Future IV, set to drop spring 2020, to celebrate the airlines' newly redesigned seats on its 777-300ER aircraft at a launch event in New York City on November 07, 2019. (Photo by Bryan Bedder/Getty Images for All Nippon Airways)
In partnership with Impact Theory Studios, the new art and music NFT collection is inspired by a "Neon Future" sci-fi comic book series co-created in 2018 by Aoki, writer Jim Krueger and Impact Theory CEO Tom Bilyeu. Aoki released five new tracks with the collection, along with the expectation that NFTs will guide the future of music with collectible valuables and experiences stored in digital wallets.
"The Neon Future collection encompasses my passion for the series and takes an irreverent look at the themes about the future of technology that we've been exploring in the story world of Neon Future," Aoki said in a statement. "The convergence of comics and music produces a powerful collectible art experience that's more than just a snapshot."
Nifty Gateway, a premier marketplace to buy, sell, and store NFTs, uses blockchain to enforce scarcity and prove authenticity. The platform also makes it possible for artists and collectors at all levels to access and find long-term value in art and commerce.
"As a creator, collector, and entrepreneur, I'm looking forward to what this new (NFT) platform will offer the world," Bilyeu said in a statement. "In the short term it's incredibly exciting, and when you step back and look long term, it will be nothing short of revolutionary."
UKRAINE - 2021/04/20: In this photo illustration a NFT ( Non-fungible token) sign is seen on a ... [+] smartphone screen. (Photo Illustration by Pavlo Gonchar/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
The monetization opportunity that NFTs offer creators also extends to record labels exploring the crypto world. Factory New VR record label is one such operation laying the groundwork for artificial intelligence, augmented reality, NFTs, tokenization and decentralized finance models. The company is using Vydia end-to-end music technology platform for services including supply chain, global distribution, analytics, rights management and detailed revenue reporting.
Martini's business partner Brandon Le has designed some of the highest-selling video game covers of all time and says that, as blockchain technologies like NFTs become more widely accepted, he and Martini are determined to forge new and recreate old business models of the music industry. He carries Aoki's prediction one step further and says that blockchain will lead to more widespread decentralization of power, thereby altering the future of music industry fixtures like Spotify.
Yousician raises $28M to make music education more accessible – TechCrunch
By his own admission, Chris Thür wasn’t the most obvious person to start a music education startup.
Thür (previously a laser researcher) recalled an early meeting with an investor who asked whether he and co-founder Mikko Kaipainen (an electrical engineer) were music teachers or musicians, ultimately going “down the list of all the things that would somewhat qualify us for that world.” Each time, they had to tell him no.
“We were just two people who wanted to play an instrument and felt we were missing out,” Thür said. “Obviously, we were not the only ones.”
While they didn’t convince that unnamed investor to write a check, Thür and Kaipainen did start Yousician , which now reaches 20 million monthly users across its two apps — the music education app Yousician and the guitar tuning app GuitarTuna. And the Helsinki-based startup is announcing today that it has raised $29 million in Series B funding.
Thür (Yousician’s CEO) said that it’s been “a bit of a journey” to get here. The company, previously known as Ovelin , was founded a decade ago, and it originally focused exclusively on kids before finding success with a less age-specific strategy.
Thür said Yousician allows people to learn music on their own schedule, at a much lower cost than in-person lessons. At the same time, he suggested that it’s not a “zero sum” competition with music teachers; there are teachers who recommend Yousician to their students as a way to keep practicing and learning between lessons.
As an example of how Yousician can help its users, Thür pointed to the story of Karen Gadd, who (as told in the video below) “in one year went from never having played an instrument to performing on-stage” with her band — though he hastened to add that the app is beneficial even if you never perform for anyone else.
“We want to make musicality to be as common as literacy,” Thür said. “Everyone should play from time to time and get all those benefits […] I think learning with a teacher works for many, but unfortunately it doesn’t work for everyone.”
Yousician has now raised a total of $35 million. True Ventures led the round, with participation from new investors Amazon's Alexa Fund and MPL Ventures, as well as Zynga founder Mark Pincus, LAUNCH Fund founder Jason Calacanis, Unity Technologies founder David Helgason, Trivago co-founder Rolf Schrömgens, Cooler Future founder Moaffak Ahmed and Blue Bottle Coffee Company executive chairman Bryan Meehan.
Florence Welch to Write Music, Lyrics for 'Great Gatsby' musical - Rolling Stone
Florence Welch attends The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute benefit gala celebrating the opening of the "Camp: Notes on Fashion" exhibition on Monday, May 6, 2019, in New York.
Florence and the Machine’s Florence Welch will write the music and lyrics for an upcoming musical adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby .
Welch will compose the music alongside Thomas Bartlett. Bartlett makes music under the name Doveman and previously earned an Oscar and Grammy nomination for his collaboration with Sufjan Stevens, “Mystery of Love,” from the Call Me By Your Name soundtrack.
A production timeline for a pre-Broadway run will be announced shortly. An original cast recording will eventually be released on Warner Music as well.
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