By Niy Birden

2018 is truly off to a great start in musical terms. Although the Grammys hit quite a sour spot with their very confusing awards ceremony this season, the results of intersectional feminism and the #TimesUp movement have nonetheless paved a way for female artists to have a more direct platform perfect for their voice. The Grammys were a testament to that.

Janelle Monae is no exception, but is without a doubt one of the rare artists with a genuine spirit. Her story though, is what is most fascinating for her reappearance in music:

If you are like most, Janelle Monae was first introduced to us with her massive single “Tightrope”, which uses musical elements made famous by James Brown, Little Richard and Chuck Berry to form a dance R&B sound as quite an oddity in the early 2000s. The song, using a dance move as a metaphor for one’s own doctrine, has since then become a staple of Monae’s and is what introduced many to the world as a funk-tip toeing signature song for the musical magician.

This was our introduction to Janelle’s altar ego and the center of the stage, Cindi Mayweather, a rogue android in a dystopian future who has been declared as an outlaw.

But if you are a mega-fan of Janelle’s, you’ll know very well that the introduction to this songstress was more like during active Outkast days, when her song was added on Big Boi’s Got Purp? compilation album, and soon after made two appearances on Outkast’s Idlewild album, which was actually a soundtrack to their film of the same name. Not long after, she released her first official solo album, which is a very rare copy of her earlier works.
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By Armando

Fresh off his Grammy win earlier this year, Childish Gambino is set to hit the road for his North American tour, Gambino announced on Twitter ahead of ticket presale on Tuesday.

The tour is in support of his third studio album from record label Glassnote Records, “Awaken, My Love.” The tour will kick off Sept. 6 in Atlanta and wraps up in Vancouver on Sept 30.

The Atlanta native’s recent hit “Redbone,” received three Grammy nominations including Record of the Year, and Best R&B Song, eventually winning Best Traditional R&B Performance. The song was prominently featured in Jordan Peele’s award winning blockbuster “Get Out.”

childish gambino 2018 tour. pre-sale tuesday. general onsale friday. https://t.co/O5xfZSWl2J

— donald (@donaldglover) March 5, 2018

“Childish Gambino” is the musical stage name of actor, writer, director, comedian Donald Glover, and has won a Golden Globe best actor award for FX’s comedy-drama tv series “Atlanta”. He is set to play Lando Calrissian in this summer’s Solo: A Star Wars Story movie.

Hip hop duo from Tupelo, Mississippi Rae Sremmurd will be Gambino’s opening act.

See the list of dates and venues below:

Sep 6 Atlanta, GA – Infinite Energy Arena
Sep 8 Chicago, IL – United Center
Sep 10 Toronto, Ontario – Air Canada Centre
Sep 12 Boston, MA – TD Garden
Sep 14 New York, NY – Madison Square Garden
Sep 18 Philadelphia, PA – Wells Fargo Center
Sep 19 Washington, DC – Capital One Arena
Sep 22 Houston, TX – Toyota Center
Sep 23 Dallas, TX – American Airlines Center
Sep 26 Inglewood, CA – The Forum
Sep 27 Oakland, CA – Oracle Arena
Sep 29 Seattle, WA – KeyArena
Sep 30 Vancouver, British Columbia – Rogers Arena

By Armando

Former Talking Heads frontman David Byrne is set to release a new album on March 9, titled ‘American Utopia’ due out through Todomundo / Nonesuch Records.

Featuring songs co-written with English musician Brian Eno and previously released collaborations with composer Oneohtrix Point Never (0PN) and British singer, songwriter and record producer Sampham, as well as songs with Jam City, the full album is available for streaming ahead of the release date via NPR Music’s First Listen series. Head over to npr.og website to listen to the album.

Recorded at various locations such as in Byrne’s own home studio, XL Studios, Oscilloscope, and London’s Livingston Studio 1, ‘American Utopia’ is Byrne’s first solo album in 14 years since 2004’s Grown Backwards. Byrne’s last album was “Love This Giant,” a collaborative effort with St. Vincent (Anne Erin “Annie” Clark) in 2012.

Byrne will head out on a world tour featuring Perfume Genius in support of the album. Perfume Genius’ gorgeous songs are filled with unexpected sounds and deeply personal — and his costumes would have made David Bowie jealous. I am looking forward to sharing the stage with Mike during some #AmericanUtopia dates this Spring!,” Byrne posted on his Twitter account.

Regarding the album title, Byrne stated: “The album title refers not to a specific utopia, but rather to our longing, frustration, aspirations, fears, and hopes regarding what could be possible, what else is possible. The description, the discontent and the desire — I have a feeling that is what these songs touch on.”

Byrne was the founding member of acclaimed ’80s band Talking Heads, which was one of the major acts that helped define the new wave music genre. He won an Academy Award, Golden Globe and Grammy Awards for scoring Bernardo Bertolucci’s The Last Emperor (1987) with Ryuichi Sakamoto and Cong Su.

By Niy Birden

Kendrick Lamar is Killmonger. If he hasn’t made it clear before, the album he’s curated definitely puts it into a higher perspective now.

We’ve seen him state that he wanted to be a villain in Black Panther-and for quite obvious reasons. The film version of the Marvel comic book series has created a wave in the film industry with its Afro-futurist, Black diaspora atmosphere that has re-surged discussion of African Americans in cinema.

Released one month after Black Panther’s film debut at the Dolby Theatre, Kendrick Lamar’s curated album is an exploration into the world of Wakanda-or, at least, Killmonger’s world.

With song highlights such as “Paramedic” taking such a strong homage to the narrative of African Americans in urban settings, “Black Panther The Album: Music From and Inspired By” is a very dark, flow-heavy, gritty environment. The artistic, lyrical and even musical content does not do the whole film justice, for many reasons. While the film was heavy on female-empowerment and showing both sides of a common race to liberation for Wakandans, this album only featured 4 females and played on a very rebellious theme catering to the unapologetic Black Panther lover. The kind of fan who would probably agree with the main antagonist, Killmonger’s style of conflict. A bit of backstory:

In the film, Killmonger is a fellow Wakandan whose father is killed by the King T’Chaka because he tried to sell off their most valuable resource-a metal that has kept Wakanda an independent nation with advanced technology unlike any other. Killmonger’s father is betrayed by his aid who works for the King, and Killmonger is left in 1990’s California fatherless, and to experience a Black experience that is now well-documented in American history. He feels abandoned, but seemingly for the cause, and sets out to take over Wakanda, in order to use its resources to liberate fellow Africans all over the world, but mainly for sake of knowing that he was able to take the King’s son- T’Challa, who has now ascended the throne- and replace him.
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By Creative Media Times

Its an end of an era. CDs, once the bread the butter of the music industry, is on their way out.

Best Buy, once the major music merchandiser in the US, will soon be pulling CDs from all of its stores by July 1, Billboard reports.

The article also claims that Target will follow suit if their consignment condition is not met. Specially, Target is only willing to pay labels for sold CDs. Currently, Target takes inventory risk by paying for goods shipped within 60 days, and ships back unsold CDs to the label for credit.

With strong performance of streaming services like Apple Music and Spotify continued unabated, dominating US music industry revenue last year for up to 62 percent of the total market, the news is both heartbreaking and unsurprising. There is also growing competition from smart speakers like Google Home, Sonos One, Amazon Echo which is changing the way people listen to music.

Last year, CD sales in the US were down 18.5 percent. while Best Buy, once the biggest seller of CD units in the US, now only sells $40 million annually. Overall CD sales dropped from its peak of 800 million in 2001 to 89 million in 2017, according to Consumer Affairs.

The good news: Best Buy looks to continue offering vinyl to customers, at least for the next two years. And for good reason. Vinyl seems to be making some sort of a comeback, with sales growth for the 12th consecutive year, or 14% of all physical album sales in 2017.

By Creative Media Times

It was a big night at the 60th annual Grammy Awards for Bruno Mars, who took home three awards out of the four major categories for “24K Magic” and “That’s How I Like It,” and a total of six Grammys overall. Kendrick Lamar followed with five Grammys.

Mars and Jay-Z led the nominations heading into the awards, but the latter was completely shut out and went home empty handed.

Hosted by James Corden, the event featured live performances by Elton John, Miley Cyrus, Little Big Town, Kesha, U2, Lady Gaga, Pink, Bruno Mars, Khalid and many others.

Below is a list of the night winners:

Album of the Year: 24K Magic — Bruno Mars
Record of the Year: “24K Magic” — Bruno Mars
Song of the Year: “That’s What I Like” — Christopher Brody Brown, James Fauntleroy, Philip Lawrence, Bruno Mars, Ray Charles McCullough II, Jeremy Reeves, Ray Romulus & Jonathan Yip, songwriters (Bruno Mars)
Country album: “From a Room, Vol. 1,” Chris Stapleton
New artist: Alessia Cara
Comedy album: “The Age of Spin & Deep in the Heart of Texas,” Dave Chappelle
Rap album: “DAMN.,” Kendrick Lamar
New artist: Alessia Cara

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By Armando

They may be a couple of steps behind the streaming landscape but on Friday, Def Leppard is finally ready to get rocked as the classic catalog of the band is now available for streaming, the English rock band announced on it’s website and social media.

“It’s officially #DefLeppardDay! For the first time EVER stream & download our entire catalog globally.” the band posted on Twitter. The band’s catalog is now available for streaming and download on Apple Music, Spotify, Amazon, Pandora and many other digital platforms.

Def Leppard is one of the world’s best-selling artists, having sold more than 100 million records. In 1987, they released their fourth album which would become their best-selling album to date “Hysteria.” The album spawned seven hit singles including their lone chart topper, the power ballad “Love Bites.” They remain one of the only five rock bands with two original studio albums that sold over 10 million in the U.S.

The band’s sentiments about streaming platform wasn’t always a positive one. They were one of the major artists opposed to streaming and were on holdout for a long time. Back in 20015, lead singer Joe Elliott remained ambivalent about the streaming format. “When you get on Spotify, it’s very insular. Which the whole industry has become. Everybody is on headphones now. It’s just Zombieland, and we’re all guilty of it,” says Elliott in an interview with Maxim.

Since then, a lot has changed with the band. As noted by Billboard, the band was at odds with former label Mercury Records over licensing and compensation, but later resolved their digital song rights with Universal Records.

The streaming space have also seen the likes of the Beatles and Prince finally embracing the platform in recent years.

The announcement couldn’t be more perfect as the band is set to co-headline a North American tour with another 1980s staple Journey this coming summer.