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8 years ago
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David Bowie was a musician of almost immeasurable influence. His last name echoes amongst the likes of Fitzgerald, Lennon, Presley, Ramone, Nicks and Cobain as one of the people responsible for music today. For almost half a century, he graced genre after genre with his albums, exploring each with an obsessive eye. From folk rock to krautrock-laced funk to art rock and experimental, there seemed to be no undertaking that Bowie couldn’t master. He fathered sub-genres and inspired others to do the same.
He became known not only for his songs, which climbed the charts like English ivy, but also his oddities. His hair, his face paint, his outlandish outfits. During the era of Ziggy Stardust from his station in glam rock, he made being an outsider ‘in’. He challenged gender norms, racism, politics, and a whole manner of preconceived notions of how music was supposed to be. He was an idol, a style icon, a pop star, the star of your favorite childhood movie and in his final effort he was a blackstar.
Bowie’s final album Blackstar was released on January 8th, coinciding with his 69th birthday. The record is a short, emotional, and strange departure from the various forms of pop that Bowie is best known for, but fittingly so. Bowie was never going to be predictable. Two days after the album’s release, the seemingly immortal Bowie died after a long battle with cancer. Blackstar then took on its intended meaning. It was his swan song. With every subsequent listen it seemed increas[...]
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8 years ago
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David Bowie was an incredible genius that has been a massive influence on the fashion world from ready-to-wear to high couture, trailblazing trends for both men and women alike.
Since news of David Bowie's tragic death on Sunday, January 10 hit the internet the following Monday, a deluge of mournful tributes on sites like Twitter and Facebook have brought back to attention many of his gender-fluid, enigmatic looks throughout the music legend's career, which span six decades.
His constant sartorial evolutions have left indelible mark on fashion, as evident in the multitude of status updates, images, and video, paying homage to Bowie.
Bowie as Ziggy Stardust. Photo Credit: Ilpo Musto / Rex Features
From Jean-Paul Gaultier's 2013 "Rock Stars" collection to Haider Ackermann's latest Spring 2016 line, it's no doubt that Bowie's influence still impacts fashion these days.
On Monday, Gaultier told The Associated Press, "personally, he inspired me by his creativity, his extravagance, his sense of fashion that he was constantly reinventing, by his allure, his elegance and his androgyny."
Below: 1) Jean-Paul Gaultier spring 2013, 2) Haider Ackermann spring 2016, and 3) Dries Van Noten men’s fall 2011 collections.
Photo Credit Jacques Brinon/Associated Press, Valerio Mezzanotti/Nowfashion, Francois Guillot/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
To Karl Lagerfeld, Bowie was "a great artist, and a timeless icon...who will remain a reference."
And on Tue[...]
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8 years ago
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The turkey has been eaten, the in-laws have left, the traffic has settled and the flurry of the Thanksgiving has finally subsided. We were meant, during the holiday, to reflect and give thanks for all that we have in our lives, but those sentiments sometimes get lost in the craze surrounding Black Friday/Small Business Saturday/Cyber Monday. We forget the “giving” part of Thanksgiving. To counteract this, “Giving Tuesday” was launched by organizations like 92nd Street Y, the United Nations Foundation, the website Mashable and the brand (RED). The day is meant to remind us to pause our consuming (figuratively. you can keep working on those leftovers if you want) and give back this holiday season. Here are five charitable organizations, both for the music and by the music, that you could give to this Tuesday:
Dear Jack Foundation
The Dear Jack Foundation (DJF) was founded by Andrew McMahon of Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness. While on tour with his first band, Something Corporate, McMahon was diagnosed with Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia (ALL). After undergoing treatment, he resolved to ‘initiate change and provide a voice for the generations of young adults who have been diagnosed with cancer.” With the specific aim of helping adolescents and young adults (AYA), DJF aims to support organizations, ‘which recognize the unique challenges the AYA community faces, during and post-treatment.” The programs that have benefited from DJF include the UCLA stem cell transplant progr[...]
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8 years ago
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Hot Sugar’s Cold World, Adam Bhala Lough’s engaging new documentary, begins with the title musician/producer recording the sound of Pop Rocks candy dissolving in a young woman’s mouth. It’s as good an introduction to the iconoclastic Hot Sugar (Nick Koenig) as any: this New York-based musical alchemist creates highly atmospheric compositions out of myriad everyday sounds. His moody, multi-layered electronic music has become the main soundtrack for Comedy Central’s Broad City and has graced tracks by rappers Antwon and Heems, in addition to many other Koenig collaborators. (One of his first high-profile production credits was for the song “Sleep” from The Roots’ 2011 concept album undun.) The movie invites us to watch -- and ultimately marvel at -- Koenig's unorthodox, intensely personal process.
Something of a wunderkind, Koenig found his MO years ago as a young hip hop fan, when he realized that “everyone winds up using the same sounds,” so he decided to make his own. Hot Sugar's Cold World follows Koenig over several months as he creates his music in a variety of environments and cities; collaborates and hangs out with assorted luminaries including Jim Jarmusch, actor Martin Starr and Heems (Himanshu Kumar Suri); queries astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson about the nature of sound; and talks about his process and his life. At one point in the film, he breaks up with his girlfriend, Internet-famous rapper Kitty, seemingly due to conflicting touring schedules and the [...]
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9 years ago
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Hosted by nonprofit Art for Progress and Brooklyn Fashion Week, the event will take place at Habana Outpost during Brooklyn Fashion Week on Friday, October 23rd from 7-11pm. The event will serve as a fundraiser for Denim Day, which serves to raise awareness of campus sexual assault worldwide.
The $10 cover charge includes live DJ’s, a free margarita and a fashion show. We are asking all participants to wear denim jeans during the event to represent the Denim Day cause. AFP's DJ Gatto and Brett from Boundless will be dropping the beats!
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9 years ago
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CMJ 2015 is in full swing. The festival takes its name from the College Media Journal, which was started by Robert Haber in 1978. Haber’s publication was aimed at college radio programmers and their audiences, a crowd which is still well represented at each year’s festival. This year the CMJ speaker schedule includes talks and workshops on the radio resumes, interviews and the history of student-run radio as well as the CMJ College Radio Awards.
As much as the five day, non-stop marathon still honors its history in college radio, it also delves into the live scene. Well over a thousand bands with varying levels of exposure play venues all over New York. From the basement-like space of Cake Shop to the expansive Brooklyn Bowl, artists gather to play their best and celebrate music. This year’s line-up includes bands of every genre and size. Seeing all of them is infeasible, but here are about dozen acts that you can’t miss.
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Glass Animals
Genre: Indie Rock
Set Time:
Thu, October 15, 8:00 PM
@ Terminal 5
Listen To: "Black Mambo"
Girls with Brown Hair
Genre: Indie Rock/Comedy
Set Time:
Thu, October 15, 8:06 PM > 8:16 PM
@ The Unicorn
Listen To: "Dad Rap"
Panda Bear
Genre: Experimental
Set time:
Thu, October 15, 9:00 PM
@ Bowery Ballroom
Listen To: “Boys Latin” off of Panda Bear Meets the Grim Reaper
The Maccabees
Genre: Indie Rock
Set Time:
Thu, October 15, 11:00 PM > 11:45 PM
@ Me[...]
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9 years ago
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To celebrate the release of their first release on Fueled by Ramen Records, The Front Bottoms played Brooklyn’s Rough Trade. Entry to the show was granted with purchase of the album, Back On Top, and came with a signing after the show. The formula is one Rough Trade is a) known for and b) built for. The combined record store/concert space has the stage in the back and the floor space within the shop itself to accommodate both events.
Before the show fans, most of whom were hugging a recently purchased vinyl of Back On Top, lined up along the wall of the store, chattering excitedly about the record. It was a fairly young crowd, some members bragging about how they had cut class to line up early. The guy handing out 21+ wristbands didn’t have much to do. Despite the age difference, one thing was clear. Everyone was there for the band.
Not that only die hards are capable of showing up to an early show on a weekday evening. Everyone is and was welcome. It wasn’t the show that collected passersby or casual listeners. Partially because Rough Trade is tucked somewhat away from the rest of Williamsburg and partially because the nature of the show attracted the more “serious” fans. The majority of the crowd accumulating in Rough Trade really, really liked the band. That’s why they showed to the concert/signing, not just the band’s gig later in the month at Irving Plaza. In fact, many talked about going to both shows. Some even buzzed about seeing the band earlier in the summ[...]
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9 years ago
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It’s been a great summer for music. Taylor Swift is on tour, both the Cobain and the NWA documentary hit theaters, someone finally told off Miley Cyrus and One Direction is going on hiatus. Joy. Although summer isn't officially over until mid-September, the steady drop in temperature and fading light make it feel like it is almost fall. Before the leaves start to brown and fall, let's look back at the season and all the great releases that came with it:
1. “Run Away With Me” by Carly Rae Jepsen
Carly Rae Jepsen has gone from that one girl who sang that one sort of creepy song that everyone loved a couple summer ago to a legit pop artist. 2012’s one-hit-wonder has triumphantly returned with possibly one of the best pop albums of the summer. Maybe even of the year. Her new record, E•MO•TION, which was released last month, has already surpassed the popularity of “Call Me Maybe” and her sophomore album, Kiss. It’s no 1989, but it’s shockingly close.
2. “Leave A Trace” by Chvrches
In a recent interview with the Guardian, Martin Doherty of Chvrches told the publication that the band "could have sold 200,000 more albums” if they had “put Lauren [Mayberry] on the cover of every magazine." However, Chvrches didn’t want to be "that band with the pretty frontwoman" and chose to sell themselves as their full outfit. The issue of female representation has been brought up repeatedly this summer, starting perhaps with Sophy Ziss and Mariel Loveland’s Pixable article that animate[...]
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9 years ago
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The AFP crew was inspired and motivated for the road trip up to the great city of Montreal. By the time the Greenpoint (Haven) rooftop event was in the books, it was late Sunday afternoon and Friday morning gave us just enough time to rest up for the 3 day festival. We mapped out the car ride and the artist performance schedule. Our Day 1 (Friday) plan was to arrive at Parc Jean-Drapeau by 3:30pm to see Run the Jewels. After a couple of snags we arrived a little later, but we did make it on time to see one of our more anticipated performances- The Kills.
Sadly, the band had some technical issues on stage, but despite their frustrations they rocked on and ended with a killer rendition of No Wow. Thirsty from the ride, we found ourselves guzzling Molson's at a rather rapid pace as we strolled over to see Chet Faker on an adjacent stage. He quickly went into his popular hits like Gold and 1998 with the electric soul vibe that we have been digging. It was obvious that many festival goers were excited to see the Australian perform, and he didn't disappoint.
As we made our way to the main stages (Riviere and Montagne), some of the original sculptures and art installations caught our attention. By the way, Osheaga is not just a music festival, but also an arts festival (heavy on the music). Some of the work was highly creative (images below) and seriously involved. The participating artists for 2015 were Station 16 Gallery, animators from the NFB, graduates of UQÀM’s D[...]
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9 years ago
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PropertyOfZack began as a “blog with daily coverage and commentary of the underground music scene.” It was founded in late 2009 by Zack Zarrillo and Emily Coch and in the past several years has grown to be a staple in the diet of many music fans. The site’s "Tours You Should Know About" and "Albums Out This Week" posts kept readers apprised on what was on the horizon and it’s podcasts “Off The Record” and “Simpler Sound” spurred discussion within the community. POZ was a place to turn to for not only news, but dialogue, insight and the occasional blink joke. But all good things must come to an end.
Earlier this week, in a post entitled “RIPOZ”, Zarrillo announced that the website would be ending. Thomas Nassiff of Bad Timing Records/Absolute Punk spoke further on the sudden departure of the beloved website in a post entitled “Blogging’s Dead. We Got Jobs.” Kind of self-explanatory. Long story short is by the end of the week there will be no more POZ.
After that there will be a hole in many a morning route and something missing from most Twitter feeds. There will no longer be a point in the day where you habitually check POZ for updates. Zarrillo’s voice and the voices of the rest of the POZ writer will surely arise elsewhere and continue conversations on other platforms, but until then the music community will be a little quieter.
In the meantime, what do we read? Here are some ideas:
The Runout
The Runout was founded in 2014 by Bryne Yancey, former editor for P[...]
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9 years ago
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Is there a such thing as a stupid question?
According to our second grade teachers and parents, no. However, in the world of music journalism, the response not as positive. According to some outlets, yes, there definitely are stupid questions. Especially when it comes to interviews.
About six months ago, Nosiey ran a piece about what to ask and what not to ask during an interview with a band. The article amounted to a list of taboo questions that the author, Dan Ozzi, determined to be “shitty.” The list was drawn up based on the the premise that if a question could “be asked of literally any band ever...[then] it is a bad question. Do not ask it." Questions like "What does your band name mean?" and "What are your influences?" were the first to be stricken from use. Both those questions are fairly popular, so it makes sense that Ozzi would want them taken out of circulation. However, this unforgiving stance on the content of interviews fails to address several things.
Firstly, how old a band is. Not how long have they been a band or whether they're tweenie-boopers, but rather how long have they been in the public eye. Are they a known band? How long have they been sitting down for interviews and fielding questions? If the band has only ever done an interview with their hometown newsletter, it’s safe to ask about the origin of their name and how the band members met. If the band is The Foo Fighters, those kinds of questions are best left off.
Ozzi has a point in[...]
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