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![[LISTEN] Various Artists - 'Music For Containment' (Full Album Stream)](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/61cb91c18cbd5c31ee4ab0fd/1671489834185-RDY42THF2ASDOL8ZULSX/image-asset.jpeg)
[LISTEN] Various Artists - 'Music For Containment' (Full Album Stream)
I don’t know about y’all but I’ve noticed that the longer I’ve been in quarantine the better my deep listening skills have gotten. Recently when I’ve been playing records I assumed I had memorized forwards and backwards I’ve been picking up little details that I’ve never noticed before. To a certain extent, even in spite of everything anxiety inducing that is happening around me in the epicenter of the pandemic, the act of shifting my brain’s focus on soaking in every last detail of a song has really brought me some peace.
If I’m being honest I think miraculously stumbling into Music For Containment a few weeks back when I was really anxious was partially responsible for this. This is an effort organized by French artist, Molécule, with all proceeds going to the Fondation de France, who are using donations towards caregivers whether or not they’re in hospitals, as well as to finance research projects and anything else they can contribute towards those most vulnerable. The compilation contains 33 different French artists and it’s almost three and a half hours long, so there’s more than enough here to soothe your senses. The artists range in varying levels of popularity, too. A lot of them I had never heard of until then, but I was definitely delighted to see Étienne de Crécy and Rone amongst those who contributed (who are coincidentally also on this week’s diSKOAver weekly update).
If you’ve been having trouble staying calm during the day, or falling asleep at night, this is at least worth putting on once. If it works out for you, think how interesting you’ll sound at future gatherings telling folks you got through a pandemic by listening to French ambient music. 💖
An Attempt At Mitigating Concert Related COVID-19 Contamination
Photo by Anthony DELANOIX on Unsplash
WHEW it’s getting real up in here y’all!
Cancellations galore in the music industry is increasingly stressing everyone out, both fans and industry folk alike. As a person who doesn’t want to see anyone get hurt from this, I have been weighing this decision heavily about how to proceed as a person for the next few months. I think we can all agree that missing your favorite band is better than someone getting really sick or dying.
THAT ALL SAID. If you’re going to give it a shot, here are some tips for how to navigate going to shows in a COVID-19 infested world:
Don’t go to the show! No but really, REALLY have a conversation with yourself if it’s worth potentially being exposed and subsequently exposing someone to something that can get you killed is worth seeing someone.
Social distancing is the most effective way to make sure no one gets hurt. It absolutely fucking sucks, but assume that the second things are free and clear that bands will be clamoring to hit the road so they can be adored by you. If you feel bad about missing the show, I strongly suggest you find their online merch store and buy enough merch to cover the ticket price you would have paid PLUS what you would have probably spent at the show on drinks/merch.
Give that band all your fuckin money.🤑🤑🤑
It’s an intentional move they will absolutely appreciate. If they don’t have enough of a variety and you have to buy multiples of the same thing, who cares!? Give it to a friend. You’re actually doing the band a bigger favor because merch is a gift that keeps on giving in terms of marketing. SPEAKING OF! Since we’re all about to be Very Online™ for awhile, now would be the time to like, RT, share, etc. as much of the band’s content as you can. I imagine some folks are gonna get really creative with ways to entertain you while we’re all laying low. Make it worth it to them! SHARE THAT SHIT.
Fuck okay you actually wanted to read more which means you’re actually gonna try go go okay remember I’M NOT A DOCTOR I’VE JUST BEEN READING A LOT THROUGH THE LENS OF A SHOW-GOER OKAY. Also industry fam if you see this and have thoughts I am SO HAPPY TO EDIT THIS!!!!
Wash your fucking hands: Don’t be gross. Wash your hands. Use hand sanitizer if you can’t get to a sink. We’re all sharing the WashYourLyrics memes. Use that fuckin thing. 20 seconds minimum. No exceptions. Touch a thing you didn’t see someone wipe down with a fresh sanitizing wipe of some sort? Yep, you gotta do it fam. Your hands will sting by the end of the night, so this better fucking be worth it.
Don’t touch your face: This doesn’t really have a lot to do with being a person at a show specifically, but you touch your face way more than you think you do, so if I tell you again not to do it, hopefully you’ll be more mindful of it. In general be really mindful of where your hands are going in general when you’re among other people. You should be doing this at shows anyway—keeping your hands to yourself, that is.
Cough/sneeze into your elbow/shoulder: Remember that whole ✨we’re not tryna spread a deadly disease✨ thing? Even if you never get COVID-19, at least help other people stay calm by doing everything you can to keep your potential germs to yourself. If you find yourself in a coughing/sneezing fit, try to get the fuck away from everybody. WHO is saying you gotta be at least 3 feet away from someone who’s coughing. If you use a tissue or something, get rid of that shit ASAP. No pockets. Garbage can. Now. Not later. No chances.
Arrive early to the show: This sounds weird and possibly uncool (*gag*), but if you’re the kinda stan who needs to be in the front row and don’t wanna have to push through people…. get there early! See all the openers instead of just the band you came to see! Oh no poor you, you saw more music in the process and possibly got another favorite band out of it. Wah wah You know what’s worse? Death, but you’re still doing this anyway.
Bouncer/Ticketing interactions: these brave souls have to touch your IDs, put wristbands on you, stamp you, etc. Offer to put on your own wristband to limit the time you have to interact. Hand sanitizer is your bff. Consider being a fucking hero and bringing some disinfectant wipes and wipe the counter in front of any ticket windows. Pave that good germ free shit forward when you can.
Limit your drinking: Try and be hydrated before you get to the show so you don’t have to pee and wash your hands a billion times. Also you don’t know who is taking the same precautions as you, so wading through a crowd, resting your hands on bars while you wait for your drinks, etc etc is just asking for more opportunities to make your hands sting with hand sanitizer. If you’re into green things, consider that instead and (I hate saying this) be greedy and don’t share. You don’t *need* a substance to enjoy a show. That said, if you don’t want to pregame, hand sanitizer is your friend. Tip the shit out of the bartenders because they’re taking risks too. Avoid cash if you can. Credit Cards + Hand Sanitizer/Wipes. Ugh. Are your hands not fucking burning yet?
Avoid using your phone: Unless you have the receipts to prove that you wiped your phone down with a sanitizing wipe as you walked through the door of the venue, your phone is probably gross as fuck with god knows what. You should be paying attention to the band anyway, but that’s for another rant.
Limit convos. See how fucking annoying this is getting to be outside? Having conversations at shows requires you to get super close to people because it’s loud as hell. Being super close to people is how this kinda germy stuff gets around real fast, which is why everyone is championing social distancing. Are you hype to have a really awkward time at a show? Welcome to #COVID19Concerts, my friends!
Don’t touch anyone, especially not the band: I know you wanna shake their hand or give them a hug and tell them their show was so fucking worth risking your life and the lives of others, but for fucks sake have you been reading any of this? The band is already risking their livelihood by touring, don’t complicate shit any further. People are crushing it with the high elbows and foot tapping, if you insist on human contact of some sort, do that. Also, be content with where you’re at in the room. I imagine shoving your hand in between people to get through a crowd right now will result in someone screaming at you or worse, so just hold still.
IRL MERCH interactions: Speaking of interactions with the band, think about your options here. Cash? 😬 Credit Cards? 😬 It’s already gonna be kinda iffy with the handing merch off bit (we are assuming bands are taking precautions obvi), but in an effort to spare everyone’s hands, offer to use Venmo or Paypal if you’re able to. If I were a band/merch person, I wouldn’t want you touching my device that has Square/whatever on it, although you might get lucky and they have one of those credit card machines with the tapping or where you could insert the card in yourself, but again with the screen touching on someone else’s device. Again, be mindful. If you’re too weirded out to touch shit, just make note of what you could get online and do that.
Don’t come if you kind of feel sick: Tucking this here at the bottom because I’m trying to give y’all the benefit of the doubt, but don’t be an asshole and show up if you think you might be sick at all. You shouldn’t do this ever anyways, btw.
So yeah if all that seems doable for you, best of luck out there. Remember: you don’t have to be in full panic mode, you just have to be smart and more thoughtful of others around you than we have in the past. Common sense, facts, and keeping your hands clean are your new best friends when you go outside now. Also, moisturize your hands when you get home and wash your hands one more time before bed. This is gonna be a rough few months on your hands.
Spread love, not germs. 💖
2019 Wrap Up Coming ASAP - For Now, Here's Some Love
I remember not too long ago someone criticizing people who make comments like, “This song literally saved my life” hinting as if it alluded to a larger more serious mental issue. I see this as a great deal of shortsightedness in terms of how powerful, quickly, and deeply transformative the effect the ongoing practice that is the act of loving unconditionally can have on a person. Although we’re approaching 10 years of operating as a site, as I’ve played in my digital sandbox that is Some Kind of Awesome over the course of the past 2 years, I have increasingly found myself reclaiming bits and pieces of my heart that I thought had been destroyed but actually had just been caked under layers of shame that I took on from people I came in contact with throughout my life. For a little while there I’ll admit I sort of lost my way. Trauma has a weird way of intensifying your deepest and darkest of insecurities to a point where operating in the world like a normal human person is really fucking disorienting.
I am so very grateful that my music fandom acted like a failsafe beacon and helped me find my way back home to myself. I literally do not know what I would have done if I hadn’t been able to scour random corners of the internet in search of ways to continue to attempt to properly demonstrate everything going on simultaneously inside of me and share those moments with other people along the way. Every micro connection over a song or album with someone gradually ate away at the fear and shame that weighed so heavily on me some days it felt like it was going to crush me. The love filled me up so much that it spilled over everywhere. The artists whose songs were delighting me, my loved ones who I was afraid of then balking at the intensity that I wanted to love them, and most importantly myself.
The most powerful thing I’ve learned in this whole experience has been that if someone doesn’t respond positively to you as long as you’re coming from a place of thoughtful sincerity that it most likely has less to do with anything you’ve done and more with something going on with them, a lesson I know very intimately because until this experience I have found myself on the rejecting side of the equation more than I’d like to admit. When that lesson alone finally clicked I’m not sure if I’ve ever felt so free in my life. Sure, occasionally some of the fear and shame attempts to creep back in. I don’t know if anyone is truly every free of that. Love after all, as they say, is a practice. The thing that people don't often explain is that we all get to practice differently to get towards the same result. There's not a single formula for reclaiming love. You just have to commit to practicing as much and as often as possible.
As I look forward to 2020, I hope to make it clear that SKOA is a practice space for love and the multitude of degrees of intensity that we all feel for the music that lights us up and allows us to best express ourselves.
To the future friends on the internet that unknowingly kept me going, the bands who pushed themselves creatively, and the loved ones who were my mirror, patiently waiting for me to see what they saw….thank you.
More importantly, I love you.
So much that of course I cried a few times getting this all out because I am so grateful that the awful things I projected on everyone when I hid under my blanket of shame never actually came true.
On that note, since I am living that ✨LOVE-FILLED + SHAME-FREE LYFEEEE✨ my impending year end wrap up will probably be up by the beginning of next week and I will be spending the rest of 2019 figuring out how to get back to playing in my favorite sandbox on the daily. 💖
![[RANT] Cancel Culture & Community Accountability: Inaction Isn't An Option, Band Dudes](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/61cb91c18cbd5c31ee4ab0fd/1671490709048-M2YXH9CXVZZMVTK2NMSB/image-asset.jpeg)
[RANT] Cancel Culture & Community Accountability: Inaction Isn't An Option, Band Dudes
I have to talk about this shit with Morrissey because a band I have invested a lot of time and invested a ton both emotional and financial energy into is now involved with this.
For folks catching up at home, Morrissey has publicly outed himself as, well…..a fucking racist. If you’re publicly rocking swag from a far-right organization in the UK that was founded by an anti-Islam activist not just once on national TV but actually multiple times at shows and are quoted saying things like (and I kid you the fuck not), “I don’t think the word ‘racist’ has any meaning any more, other than to say ‘you don’t agree with me, so you’re a racist.’ People can be utterly, utterly stupid.”, either you’re a fucking racist, or, as you yourself would say….are utterly, utterly stupid.
This stuff has been swirling for a minute that dude was problematic af, but has really come to a head shortly after it was announced that aforementioned band I’ve invested a lot of energy into, Interpol, was heading out on tour with this racist turd of a human in the US. Yesterday, Pitchfork pointed out a little ditty in which Hot Press very directly asked Paulie Banks what his thoughts were on the reactions from folks who weren’t pleased that they agreed to hit the road with someone who’s trending at the moment because he’s a bigot. Dude’s response?
"We thought it would be a good show for our band. That's how I'm looking at it. I don't get too much into the other stuff."
My guy, are you for real?
You live in New York fucking City, one of the most famous if not actually the most famous cultural melting pots, full of immigrants and people that your headliner has very strong and troubling opinions on, and you’re just gonna white privilege your way through this shit and cash your checks without a second thought? I expected way more than this from you.
To muddle this even more, Nick Cave decided to chime in on the subject via a response to a fan-submitted letter about separating the art from the artist, essentially saying that Morrissey’s political views are “irrelevant” to him as a musician.
…….uggghhhhh
Just so we’re clear, that’s the tl;dr version of what he said. He definitely stated very bluntly that Morrissey’s views were hella problematic af and even encourages fans to try and reason with Moz, but his whole thing is he believes it’s a disservice to oneself as a fan to deprive yourself of art you’ve become invested in just because they suck. His whole rationale is that once a song is in the wild that essentially there’s an immediate disassociation of art from artist. Here’s his direct quote:
“I think perhaps it would be helpful to you if you saw the proprietorship of a song in a different way. Personally, when I write a song and release it to the public, I feel it stops being my song. It has been offered up to my audience and they, if they care to, take possession of that song and become its custodian. The integrity of the song now rests not with the artist, but with the listener.”
While this is certainly an earnest argument, imma have to call bullshit on this, or at the very least kind of point out how many holes there are in this argument.
Before I go off, I’m just going to give Nick Cave the benefit of not knowing what it’s like to *solely* be a music fan. I certainly respect his perspective and am grateful to hear the thought process behind his artistic expression. Unfortunately, I feel like when your self-determined role in the symbiotic relationship that is fandom is mostly to receive, react, support, and provide feedback, that disassociating is basically next to impossible.
This line of thinking he’s trying to semi-sell through here says that when I went to see Interpol for the 7th time at Madison Square Garden and bought a tank top dress and an enamel pin that I was there giving my money directly to “PDA”, “Not Even Jail”, “Cmere”, or “The Heinrich Maneuver”.
Nope. Not even close.
Fans operate under the notion that in order for more of the notes and words mixed together that makes their heart happy, that they have to feed, clothe, encourage, etc. the human persons who contribute to that art, which is why we are told to support artists by buying albums/merch, to attend their shows, and so on. I did not walk into Madison Square Garden to be in the presence of sounds I love that have a lot of meaning behind them. Music isn't something we all simply appreciate on our own in private. Music is literally everywhere all day every day. It's so embedded deeply in our culture that while Netflix can somehow get away with taking ‘The Office’ away on Netflix, if a popular album were to be pulled indefinitely the general public would have an even bigger meltdown before probably running off to pirate said album because we can’t live without it. Within the cult of celebrity we looove to love a rockstar, all the way to we collectively mourn them when they pass away. Music festivals are now the hottest events of the summer.
Speaking of festivals, live performances specifically are all about human connection. The experience of seeing the persons who made the art you like recreate it directly in front of you. We take for granted the amount of skill that is needed for these kinds performances. On top of that you’re in a room full of people who connected to the same thing as you, so it’s fair to assume that you have common interests with all of these future friends (also read: strangers).
It’s important to also consider that fans default at the assumption that when they’re at shows that they will be safe when they’re there. While recent gun related events make that assumption waver a bit, people go into a show with the understanding that that everyone will be remotely pleasant, accepting, and welcoming. If someone at the show sucks, well…..
….do you see where I’m going with this?
When someone comes in and spoils the fun at a show, what happens? They (hopefully) get ejected (hopefully) immediately.
It’s really hard to keep enjoying something when the experience has been tainted for you, especially when the person who wrecked it for you happens to be center stage. I still think about the dude who flailed around in front of me when I saw Alt-J at Mercury Lounge or the guy who groped a close friend at Fidlar. It’s really unfortunate that those experiences stick out very distinctly with those events because I wasn’t allowed to simply get lost in the art like I wanted to.
It’s certainly a lovely notion to try and pretend like the possibility of Morrissey attempting to not to sway people to his beliefs, but just like fans of music proudly wear band swag often in hopes of finding fellow fans, fans are also advertising and evangelizing with their merch, too. Ol’ Moz coulda been racist and kept his trap shut leaving fans none the wiser about his beliefs so they could continue to idolize and support him, but obviously he’s hoping that his recent behavior has a specific reaction and it’s not exactly the one I’m having right now. It’s pretty clear that he’s trying to elicit and enlist support for his troublesome beliefs, and honestly that might as well be a dude dumping beer on your head during your favorite song every fucking time it comes on.
So no, I’m sorry Mr. Cave (we’re not close enough yet for me to call you Nick), but it’s a little impossible to separate the art from the artist and their problematic behavior. Ain’t gonna happen. The part that the community has control over, on the other hand, is how we choose to use this kind of information to make educated decisions. In the same way that most fans these days know that if you buy albums directly from the band vs at a store or by streaming that the bands get more money and are then given the option to decide how they want to support, we get to look at Morrissey tightly bound to his bigotry right now, and decide if he deserves our attention anymore. We get to ponder whether or not we think it’s distasteful that Paul Banks doesn’t think it’s that big of a deal to earn money off an outspoken racist and not at the very least try to have the guts to speak directly to whether or not they share the same beliefs. In the face of discriminating against the marginalized, silence can literally be deadly.
Cave closes the fan letter with, “We should thank God that there are some among us that create works of beauty beyond anything most of us can barely imagine, even as some of those same people fall prey to regressive and dangerous belief systems.” Call-out/cancel culture in its current state doesn’t exactly have a universally agreed upon roadmap for what happens next when it becomes public knowledge that someone among us is being hateful or harmful with no intent to stop any time soon. We especially don’t know how to effectively handle the people who idly stood by and didn’t do anything to stop or prevent them from acting maliciously.
Swiftly smacking down on the cancel button could be really easy here. I mean I’ve never exactly been huge on The Smiths or Morrissey, but in his current state of personal growth I can’t consider stepping within even a mile radius of that kind of toxicity. There’s always a chance that he could come around, but at this point given his track record….not gonna hold my breath on that one.
With regards the other two who have a lot more eyes on them than I probably ever will, I really hope that Paulie Banks takes time to reflect on the amount impact he has on his fans. If I still have the occasional residual panicky moment from that time Interpol got trapped inside their tour bus in a blizzard, unfortunately this current missed opportunity to take a stand against discrimination is gonna be part of my Interpol fandom history as well. I hope the next page with them is that they take advantage of the platform that they have and take a stand against discrimination. There are ways to tour with a bigot and still take a stand. They can speak directly against their headliner’s beliefs, they can donate a portion of their merch to combat Islamophobia, or they can do something even more creative and unique to who they are that I haven’t thought of yet but would probably love them all the more for choosing to respond in that way. For now, no button smashing, but the button is definitely not being put away just yet.
As for Mr. Cave, while I appreciate his thoughtful follow up response to his fan’s question, I hope he comes to realize through this experience how deeply he is loved as person by learning that his fans can’t possibly love his music without involving him in that lovefest. I hope that message is relayed so loudly to him that the love-filled lesson stays with him forever.
To fellow concerned fans, you have your tweets, your likes, your comments, your attendance, your dollars, and all sorts of other methods to respond to this. If you’re feeling guilty about being in the mood for some Moz, you can offset his intent to spread harmful beliefs by donating to a charity that combats Islamophobia and even opt to donate on his behalf. You definitely should let him know that you don’t share his beliefs and that he should consider the root of why he holds them. How you choose to approach your feedback to Nick Cave and Interpol are up to you, but I definitely urge you to not stay silent or cancel them and then check out.
The only way that our community stays safe and inclusive is if we hold each other accountable.
![[SONG OF THE DAY] Tycho - "Japan"](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/61cb91c18cbd5c31ee4ab0fd/1671491606927-0Y6UIXPI5S6DYG3Y3IOY/image-asset.jpeg)
[SONG OF THE DAY] Tycho - "Japan"
photo credit: Scott Hansen
San Francisco soundscape crafters Tycho have returned with a new track, “Japan”, from their forthcoming album WEATHER, out on July 12th. "I had just returned from spending some time in Hakone, Japan with my wife's Japanese relatives," shares project brainchild Scott Hansen. "I was thinking a lot about the kinds of electronic music instruments I had been using when I first started making music in the late '90s. With 'Japan,' I was trying to recapture a part of that sound and combine it with the imagery and experiences from my trip to Hakone. I sent the song to Hannah with nothing more than the title of 'Japan' and she wrote all of the lyrics." As with the recent string of singles they’ve released from this album cycle, the band has offered a 2-pack, which includes the album version and an accompanying instrumental.
Speaking of said instrumental, I wanna talk about how frustrating it was to watch a large portion of the Tycho fandom essentially have a total fucking meltdown about the addition of angelic vocalist Saint Sinner to the mix. As previously mentioned, Hansen has shared how he’s really excited about incorporating the most “organic instrument” on the planet into the Tycho soundscape. I even admitted it was gonna take me a second to get used to the idea. That all said, as someone who lives to watch bands evolve and challenge themselves to push beyond any self or fan-made boundaries, to say I’m disappointed that some folks can’t see the opportunity the band is giving us to reflect on how truly powerful either type of performance is would be an understatement. Hansen is quick to detail the amount of thought that goes into each version, "I wanted to explore the idea of approaching songs from two entirely different perspectives,” he explains, “Similar to 'Pink & Blue,' the instrumental versions are not just the songs with vocals muted, they are different arrangements with different instrumentation and melodies in place of the vocals."
Even before skimming the press release to do this post, just this morning (almost a full month since the “Pink & Blue” writeup mind you) I found myself lost in thought while listening to both versions of “Japan”. I couldn’t help but reflect on how fascinating it is to watch this band begin to be able to articulate into words certain things that maybe their music hadn’t been able to previously. Maybe prior to now Tycho music was akin to those in religious settings who speak in tongues, not sure the exact or best way to fully express themselves, but deep down the sound does enough to speak for itself.
It’s certainly a concept that is worth taking some time to sit with, if only to deepen your appreciation for the band. I hope that those who were upset come around. Personally it just makes me love this band all the more knowing that they’re the ultra meticulous musicians I’ve grown to appreciate them to be busily fretting over every painstaking detail every step of the way with this release.
PS - have you pre-ordered Weather yet? Do you have your tickets for their extensive af world tour coming up? If not, get on that shit, fam!
TYCHO
"WEATHER WORLD TOUR"
2019
JULY
21 - Byron Bay, Australia - Splendour In The Grass *
23 - Melbourne, Australia - Forum Melbourne
24 - Sydney, Australia - Sydney Opera House
26 - Niigata Prefecture, Japan - Fuji Rock Festival '19 *
SEPTEMBER
5 - Los Angeles, CA - Greek Theatre **
6 - Berkeley, CA - Greek Theatre #
7 - Portland, OR - Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall #
8 - Seattle, WA - Paramount Theatre #
11 - Denver, CO - The Mission Ballroom #
13 - Minneapolis, MN - Palace Theatre #
15 - Chicago, IL - Aragon Ballroom #
16 - Toronto, ON - Sony Centre for the Performing Arts #
18 - Boston, MA - Wang Theatre - Boch Center #
19 - New York, NY - Summerstage #
20 - Philadelphia, PA - Franklin Music Hall #
21 - Slippery Rock, PA - Resonance Music & Arts Festival *
23 - Detroit, MI - The Masonic #
24 - Columbus, OH - Express Live #
26 - St Louis, MO - The Pageant #
27 - Kansas City, MO - CrossroadsKC #
2020
FEBRUARY
9 - Oslo, Norway - Rockefeller #
10 - Stockholm, Sweden - Vasteatern #
11 - Copenhagen, Denmark - Vega Main Hall #
13 - Hamburg, Germany - Uebel & Gefahrlich #
14 - Cologne, Germany - Live Music Hall #
15 - Paris, France - Elyse Montmartre #
17 - Brussels, Belgium - AB Ballroom @ Ancienne Belgique #
18 - Amsterdam, Netherlands - Paradiso #
19 - Berlin, Germany - Huxley's #
21 - Warsaw, Poland - Praga Centrum #
23 - Prague, Czech Republic - Roxy #
24 - Budapest, Hungary - Akvarium #
25 - Vienna, Austria - WUK #
27 - Milan, Italy - Fabrique #
28 - Bologna, Italy - Estragon #
MARCH
1 - Barcelona, Spain - Sala Apolo #
5 - London, UK - Printworks #
* Festival Performance
** Chrome Sparks
# Poolside
![[RANT] Please Stop Downgrading Women’s Fandom To Romantic Adoration](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/61cb91c18cbd5c31ee4ab0fd/1671497065052-TYT67KL98XTP47O862RE/image-asset.jpeg)
[RANT] Please Stop Downgrading Women’s Fandom To Romantic Adoration
See this man? I love his music and therefore love and support him in every way I can. That doesn’t mean I want to have sex with him. I can’t believe I have to even say this. 🤦🏼♀️
Over the weekend, news broke that seven time Grammy winner and one of the most important artists in my life, Beck, had filed for divorce from his wife of 17 years.
Less than a week prior, the world saw him snag 2 of said Grammys at the 61st Annual Grammy Awards show. Earlier in the week I had been discussing with fellow Beck superfans how great it must feel to finally be seeing the amount of success and recognition for his art that we all thought he should’ve had for basically decades now. In my mind, Beck had to be super happy, therefore I was super happy for him.
Sadly, that doesn’t seem to be the case.
I don’t know why they’re getting divorced and frankly I don’t care because it’s none of my business.
What I do care about, is that I couldn’t have a moment of empathy for someone who means a lot to me without having to be on the defensive for my level of fandom and feeling the need to tweet something like this when the news broke:
The quick “cute” comments I’ve received from people I either barely know or are relatively close to have been all something to the effect of, “Get in there, girl!”, “You’re in”, “Where’s my wedding invite?”, and my new favorite from today where someone suggested that the reason I finally changed my profile picture across the internet after 10 years is because I “didn’t want Beck to get the wrong idea now that he’s getting a divorce”.
Yes, I celebrate the man’s birthday like it’s a friend’s birthday. Yes, I was the person who claimed /r/Beck from becoming a portal for Glenn Beck on Reddit. Yes, I occasionally sit in private Facebook groups analyzing his Instagram posts. Yes, I have a stockpile of bootlegs. Yes, I’ve seen him perform live over a dozen times. Yes, I will most likely mourn his inevitable death to the same level I have for friends and family (perhaps more tbh).
Yes, I am a superfan to the extent that people in my life think of me when his music comes on.
….so why the HELL does that equate to me wanting to essentially just fuck the man?
Let me do my best to explain to what happens in my brain simultaneously when people make comments like this to me.
On a top level:
I’m immediately downgraded from a full human being to a female sex object. Am I really just on the planet to be sexualized and fuck a lot? NO.
I’m frustrated that my career in the music business isn’t where I hoped it would be at my age and a lot of that has to do with not getting afforded the same chances men get in music thanks to sexism.
I relive dodging gropey men at music industry winter holiday parties.
I remember how many times I’ve had to shrink my level of interest talking about music at label jobs because I didn’t want to get dismissed as a “groupie”.
Speaking of that triggering ass word, I remember how many times I’ve had someone say. “Oh so are you like a groupie for them or something?” When I spoke passionately about a band that had men in it.
I remember the time I had to tell a band whose label brought me out to meet them for potential coverage that seemed uncomfortable to my general friendly demeanor, “I don’t wanna suck your dick. I just want to help you get famous” and how their mood changed immediately.
I remember the time I co-hosted a CMJ showcase with The Audio Perv and all the other music blogger dudes who showed up thought I was someone’s girlfriend instead of the person who bought this domain, built the site, solicited pitches from publicists, etc. etc.
I get angry on behalf of the women in music who have had it much worse than I have.
Most importantly my capacity for love is immediately confined. Not just my capacity for love, but for every woman who loves music.
That’s really depressing if you think about it and that’s just me as a HUMAN PERSON!!! As a woman who has to choose every day to interact with male musicians, there is so much of my head space that I occupy with trying to overcome the above as I write reviews, leave meaningful comments on artists social posts, and just generally try to be the person I know I am. Imagine if I could just like….spend all my brain power seeking and reporting on Turkish goth bands carving out a space in the Turkish music scene, the badass house DJ who helped pioneer the first music production course at a Girls Rock Camp, or any of the other artists out there that could end up being the thing that YOU get as hopelessly devoted to as I am to Beck.
I wanna talk about that, too. Since I’ve addressed above the way my capacity for love gets shrunken to whatever box people think my fandom should fit in. When my fandom gets discounted as something silly or seen as anything other than just, well, fandom, it dismisses:
The degree of loyalty that I am capable of.
The fact that I’m not sure if I’d be where I am today writing this very thing without Midnite Vultures because that record gave me the permission to be as different or weird as I wanted to be.
The transformative power music has over me and my desire to share that with others.
The money I’ve invested in something I believed in.
The love-centered the community I have to turn to for more than just Beck’s music.
The ways his music informed details in my methods of self-expression.
….and a ton of other things that I can easily identify has deeply rooted bits that factor into my identity. Whether we want to admit to it or not, music shapes all of us to some varying degree. Just because I express my gratitude for that by providing as much support as I am able to should not make me less of a person. I’d say it’s the opposite, honestly.
So please. For the love of the song that makes you feel things the most, just let me love whatever music I want to, however hard I want to, without your preconceived ideas of how you think loving art works or any assumptions rooted in patriarchal garbage nonsense.
![[Interview] Goo Goo Dolls Bassist Robby Takac: "Life's Good In The Bubble, Man"](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/61cb91c18cbd5c31ee4ab0fd/1671498310151-DGJ1NH98NDED5FEWWHW3/image-asset.jpeg)
[Interview] Goo Goo Dolls Bassist Robby Takac: "Life's Good In The Bubble, Man"
"(...) There are some people (and I was one of them) whose lives could not be shaped correctly if they weren't exposed to these things because that's just where your mind operates. Their minds don't operate in the classroom all that well. You know, they're not debate team folks. They're not gonna star on the college basketball team or even be able to dribble a ball for that matter, you know? BUT, you put a paint brush or a guitar in their hand and they realize that they can move on. So they have that. I think if you rob young people of that then you're really doing an unbelievable disservice to a huge amount of kids out there."
Robby Takac @ Beacon Theatre 10/15/2018. Photo credit: Angela Cranford/MSG Photos
After speaking with Goo Goo Dolls bassist Robby Takac the Friday before their show at Beacon Theater as part of their 20th Anniversary Dizzy Up The Girl Tour, I can confirm that he is indeed Some Kind of Awesome. The music community, not just Goo Goo Dolls, are truly beyond blessed to have someone so passionate about music the way that he is. In addition to his rhythmic duties in a band whose career spans across more than three decades, he's also been running the music non-profit Music Is Art and the boutique record label Good Charamel Records for over 15 years in addition to owning the recording studio GCR Audio in his hometown of Buffalo, New York. "You know, owning a recording studio is very akin to owning a boat," Takac jokes over the phone last Friday, "You do it because you enjoy it. It's not necessarily a cash cow, that's for sure."
Some people would find keeping themselves so busy to be exhausting, especially given the extensive amount of touring that Goo Goo Dolls do (including the tour they’re currently on), but it actually has the opposite sort of effect on Takac. "All these things, Music Is Art included," he explains, "helps to exercise parts of my brain, my emotions, my creativity, that probably might have driven me crazy to not be able to exercise."
He went on to detail the beginnings of the Goo Goo Dolls from a business standpoint, " We did everything, you know, Johnny [Rzeznik] and I did 30 years ago. Everything. We had this hilarious briefcase that we used to carry around with us like all our papers, and it was pretty much our whole world was in that briefcase." As the band became more popular obviously the briefcase became an inefficient form of handling the band's business."Little by little we let started letting go of parts," he recounted, "It took many many years, but since then we found people who did it better (...) and all these people took a little piece of what we did in the beginning and started doing a much better job of it, but that didn't mean that those things weren't still inside me, you know, clamoring to be exercised, and so I think that that's why I still keep up with all of this stuff. Because it allows me to be better at being in the Goo Goo Dolls if that makes sense at all."
Of his three side passions, Music Is Art is by far his biggest focus outside of the Goo Goo Dolls. The most admirable part about his approach to the non-profit is his acknowledgement for the need for art/music comes from personal experience. As he shared:
“(...) There are some people (and I was one of them) whose lives could not be shaped correctly if they weren’t exposed to these things because that’s just where your mind operates. Their minds don’t operate in the classroom all that well. You know, they’re not debate team folks. They’re not gonna star on the college basketball team or even be able to dribble a ball for that matter, you know? BUT, you put a paint brush or a guitar in their hand and they realize that they can move on. So they have that. I think if you rob young people of that then you’re really doing an unbelievable disservice to a huge amount of kids out there.”
To be clear, Music Is Art does incredible things for the music community. In addition to its yearly cornerstone event, the Music Is Art festival, which boasted 20 stages this year, they also organize a variety of battles of the bands both in corporate and public settings. Most importantly, they've been doing instrument drives and to date have donated a half of a million dollars worth of both new and refurbished instruments to schools and communities in the Maryvale School District in Buffalo, New York. While the organization never has an issue with finding volunteers from both musicians and the general public, even with it's rockstar affiliation they share the same struggles that arts-centered not for profits have when it comes to funding. "The hard part is actually keeping it going, you know," he admitted, "and all the realities that you have to face when you go to a lawyer or an accountant. As the festival grows bigger it becomes more and more of a responsibility."
It's not often that I get to speak with someone who has been in the business of music for as long as Takac has, so obviously the conversation drifted to technology. Like any music lover who was actively collecting music pre-iPod, living in this new era of streaming services is the biggest change in music that has him buzzing with excitement. "(...)Coming from a guy who collected records when I was younger like that is MIND BLOWING man.(...)If you and I are talking about something I could play it for you right now just on my phone. That is MIND BLOWING. Seriously."
He also had nice things to say about our friend The Algorithm™. He even shared that Discover Weekly had gotten him into The Heavy and Beach Slang recently. He raved, "(...) The ability for Spotify to build algorithms and like expose you to things that it's discovering that you might like, I think that's unbelievable." A kindred spirit, he too has mixed feelings about how algorithms like Discover Weekly are lessening the emotional connection that is made between people when they share music with each other. "(...)It's a little bit sad because I used to have those same experiences but I would have it with my friend Gary Sperrazza down at Apollo Records in Buffalo, or I would have it down at The Record Mine with my friend Dave, you know? It's sad that human interaction is taken from it, but I think the resources that are at hand with music is just unbelievable."
Another big difference is obviously the way social media has shaken up the music landscape. To an extent Goo Goo Dolls were pioneers in the early age of fan interaction, dating back to the early America OnLine days. Now the band has amassed a massive online fan base, with over 3 million fans on Facebook at the time of print. When they started, fan engagement was primarily about promoting a single, album, or tour. These days Takac observed that having a digital presence has a different impact on musicians, specifically when it comes to access. "You know, we always laugh about guys like Jimmy Page, like you've got this image of Jimmy Page living in his castle somewhere, you know, like whatever," he observed, "Or this weird image of what Led Zepplin was like or all of these bands cause there was a mystique to them, but this current social atmosphere of immediacy, you can't really be that way anymore." He's also a realist when it comes to fans having their smartphones at concerts, as he noted, "It's all out there and it's all out there in unprofessional, unairbrushed, you know, like 'here's our pimples' kinda world. It's changed."
In Takac's mind the archetype for the modern day musician on social media is Kanye West. He further clarified:
"Kanye makes some cool music but like it's not so much about that with him, you know? A little bit of it is, but it's more about everything else, you know it's about his social media. It's about his wife. It's about his wife's family. It's about their TV show. It's about his sneakers. It's about like all these things that the music is sort of in the background as something that he sort of does, you know? It's why he's such a big star, 'cause I don't think the music can make you that big of a star anymore... It's all this stuff, you know, that figures in now that, you know, didn't figure in when I was thinking about Jimmy Page in his castle. I never thought about any of that stuff with him. He was just that dude in Zepplin. That's what he did, you know? It's way more than that now."
“I don’t think the music can make you that big of a star anymore... ”
Things that are also very different than when Robby and Johnny started Goo Goo Dolls over thirty years ago: the two are both sober, with Robby over ten years sober and Johnny around four years sober. It's easy to assume that backstage while on tour is packed with opportunities to slip back into substance abuse, but Takac was quick to shut that fallacy down:
"It is what you make it," he said, "It's your bubble man. You're in a bubble when you're out here [on tour] but it's your bubble. Like we say 'life's good in the bubble, man'. You know, for a lot you get to choose what's there and what's not, you know? So we just kind of keep it sane back there, and there's not a lot of parties and that kind of stuff. Not that there's not but there's not a lot."
“Like we say ‘life’s good in the bubble, man’.”
While they've admittedly had a few decades to get heavy partying out of their system, it was refreshing to hear that there are legacy musicians that acknowledge their ability to be personally responsible for the toxicity level of their touring environment. These days Takac's number one tour essential is his teapot, which is his way to bring a piece of home with him while he's out on the extensive touring schedules with Goo Goo Dolls. "It's just you need those kinds of things to keep you warm, you know, keep you happy," he offered, "It's tough but you try to get a little bit out here."
Make sure you catch Robby Takac with Goo Goo Dolls while they're still out on their 20th Anniversary Dizzy Up The Girl tour. I can attest that it is an energy packed night that you won't want to miss even if you're a casual fan.
This interview has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity.
[2016 Recap] A Few Of My Favorite Things
bless Topsters for assembling this graphic infinitely easier than prior years
Surpriiiiseee!! I'm going to do my year end wrap up differently than most of the ones I've seen. Mostly because I have so many to share, but mostly because I like to let the music do the talking and help you get better connected to the artists themselves. Instead of recaps of each record, I'm going to point you to my favorite tracks so if any of these are new to your ears you'll have the best starting point I can give you.
Personal Observations for 2016
This was a weird year for me in terms of listening/discovery habits. Instead of fighting against music consumption trends, I decided to play along. I dove head first into my Discover Weekly playlist. I even followed some of my friends' in order to see what I would find and set up an IFTTT recipe to archive everything recommended to me so I could go back and reference it later if I wanted. I barely touched my SKOA inbox, which probably upset a lot of publicists. Anyway, according to Last.FM's data (since Spotify never ended up sending me mine), I listened to 1,919 new artists this year, which is ABSOLUTELY INSANE. But really when you think about how much music Discover Weekly puts in front of you, it's really less than what everyone had the potential to check out (which is 1,560 if you figure we get 30 new tracks a week for a year). I am in the 98th percentile in music listening per Last.FM (meaning I listen to more music than 98% of people who still scrobble to Last.FM) and I found myself panicky and overwhelmed by the sheer volume of music that Spotify thinks I can get through on TOP of the music I already love and want to enjoy, or the random rabbit holes I end up falling into that typically bring me great new baby bands. I guess most people approach Discover Weekly differently than I do, letting artists come and go as they please, but knowing the transformative power that music possesses, I'm always wary of passing on an opportunity to be affected and share those experiences with others.
It's crazy to think that 20% of what stuck with me this year was randomly generated by The Algorithm and not delivered to me by humans. I almost said that the human delivery was through cosmic forces, but really, if music finds its way to your ears/hearts by friend or by Algorithm, both are cosmic in a way, no?
This is my struggle at present. I value the connection that happens when a humans experience music together, whether it be by recommendation or attending shows together. I worry this experience will continue to be diminished the more we silo ourselves into our algorithm-based echo chambers. I really hope I'm just out of touch and someone will point me to where this is the opposite, but I can't ignore how self-serving shows feel now every time I treat myself to a Night Out. This has been on my heart/mind too much lately to ignore it, so expect some changes to how things go down on the site (starting with making more time for this now that my new job isn't crazy busy for awhile).
What music moved you this year? Did you like some of these records but different tracks? I'd honestly love to know so please drop me a comment. Also if you want more than favorite tracks out of me for these records, feel free to bug me on Twitter I am happy to share!
