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5 Absurd 2021 EDM Stories That Are Not April Fools’ Jokes
It’s April Fools’ Day, so odds are you’ve read a number of sensationalistic, completely false stories today that would normally appear in The Onion. Here are five absurd stories which actually happened this year that could be mistaken for pranks, but are completely real. A porn star purchased the $4 million castle Avicii used to produce his final album AVN Award-winning porn superstar Mia Malkova purchased a piece of electronic dance music history when she forked over $4 million for the massive Oregon castle that Avicii rented to produce Tim, the album that would ultimately prove to be the legendary EDM artist’s last. “It’s a porn castle now,” said the listing agent at the time of the sale. Porn star Mia Malkova purchased the $4 million Or...
How Mobile Technology could Provide Food Security for Rural African Communities
Climate change combined with unsustainable farming practices has exhausted African soil — leaving much of the ground unfarmable. In the future, a major reduction in crop yield and productivity is likely to be seen as a consequence of the extreme weather conditions and unviable farming techniques. In fact, the production of maize could decrease by as much as 10%, even if no climate adaptation actions are taken. /* custom css */ .tdi_3_560.td-a-rec-img{ text-align: left; }.tdi_3_560.td-a-rec-img img{ margin: 0 auto 0 0; } According to the African Development Bank (ADB), this is not only unsustainable but unaffordable as the continent spends close to $65 billion importing food — a number that is expected to grow exponentially within the next decade. In addition to the growing lack...
Oil and Water: How ArtGrails.com is Changing the NFT Space Through Unusual Collaborations
In the business world they say “you can mine either mine for gold or you can sell pickaxes.” In brothers Avery Andon and Alec Monopoly‘s case, they’ve got both bases covered and then some. Andon, a veteran art consultant and founder of ArtLife Gallery, and Alec, a prolific visual artist and pop culture phenomenon, are the latest to join the NFT arena, and they’re tackling the space thoughtfully, from all angles. The duo recently launched ArtGrails.com, an NFT platform bringing a uniquely collaborative vision to the flourishing blockchain-powered digital art space. The launch also saw the minting of several new pieces from Alec Monopoly himself, a renowned street artist who is taking the opportunity to explore new artistic avenues. ArtGrails.com launched with a...
Making Music Theory Entertaining
To me, music theory is as foreign a concept as the intricacies of cooking meth, and I don’t think I’m alone in that. Sure, I have a basic grasp of scales, and I can read sheet music from my piano lesson days, but as soon as someone mentions the Dorian scale and E-flat-diminished-seventh chords, my eyes start to glaze over. So, when I found myself on the other side of an Adam Neely YouTube wormhole, I was a little surprised. Not only had I just sunk four hours of my life into content discussing those aforementioned topics, but also that I was thoroughly entertained by it. And I’m not alone. Neely, 33, has garnered 1.25 million subscribers with his music theory-drenched video content. It’s all highly polished, cleverly edited and consistently funny. Some of his videos are simple Q&...
The History of the Funky, Fun Subaru BRAT
Once upon a time there was a brat—and no, it wasn’t a tantrum-throwing two-year-old inside the grocery store, but rather a little trucklet parked out front. It was the Subaru BRAT, which stood for Bi-Drive Recreational All-terrain Transporter. Bi-drive meant that there was a part-time all-wheel-drive system, actuated with a switch. Now, was the BRAT acronym actually dictated by that super technical, unexciting name, or did a team of rebellious marketing folks come up with a half-hearted retcon? That’s an investigation for another time. A lot of people wouldn’t know a BRAT from a bratwurst, and even fewer would be able to recall the last time they spotted one on the road. Indeed, it’s an obscure automotive specimen that hasn’t been imported to the United S...
Queen Latifah’s Anthem “U.N.I.T.Y.” Still Spells Out a Critical Message About Women’s Rights
Editor’s Note: As Women’s History Month draws to a close, arts critic Okla Jones looks back at the indelible legacy of Queen Latifah and the long-lasting influence her anthem “U.N.I.T.Y.” had on women’s rights, especially in the hip-hop world. The contributions of women to the arts have often been overlooked throughout history. In music (specifically hip-hop), the female artist has been held to an unfair critical standard. The industry requires women to be both talented and desirable, only to allow them to be negated by public opinion if they come across as overtly “sexy” or if their content doesn’t fit some status quo. For quite some time, the music business has served as a microcosm for society’s treatment of women overall: including the verbal and physical abuse, lack of appreciat...
“Like a Journey Back In Time”: Claptone on Reimagining a Unidisc Classic to Celebrate the Evolution of Dance Music
Established in 1977, Unidisc Music has grown exponentially over the years to become one of Canada’s largest independent record labels. With a lifespan over four decades long, their extensive catalog has been immersed in pop culture through the years, even appearing in iconic television shows such as The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Sex and the City, and Grey’s Anatomy, among others. To celebrate the evolution of dance music, Unidisc has enlisted some of the world’s most renowned electronic music artists to produce exceptional remixes of the label’s music. This endeavor, called the “Reimagining Campaign,” was created by Francis Cucuzzella—son of founder George Cucuzzella—as a way to modernize some of the imprint’s timeless classics. Francis’...
5 Things to Do After a Ransomware Attack
In South Africa, 42% of ransomware victims pay the ransom to restore access to their data. Yet for 19% of those, paying the ransom did not guarantee the return of stolen data. However, as public awareness of potential cyber threats grows there is the reason for optimism in the fight against ransomware. Ransomware is a type of malware which criminals use to extort money. It holds data to ransom using encryption or by locking users out of their device. According to a report from Kaspersky, whether they paid or not, only 24% of victims were able to restore all their encrypted or blocked files following an attack. 61% lost at least some files, 32% lost a significant amount, and 29% lost a small number of files. Meanwhile, 11% who did experience such an incident lost almost all their data. “Thi...
A Quiet Revolution
“I don’t even think about being an Indigo Girl unless I’m getting interviewed about it,” an upbeat Emily Saliers tells me, as she makes her daughter Cleo, eight, a peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwich. “I’m just, like, slogging through life,” she says, though not at all downtrodden, more in a relatable I’m-a-person-like-everyone-else sort of way. “Got sober–the most important thing that’s happened to me—got married [to Tristin Chipman in 2013], had a child. I’m making mistakes and learning from them. I’m working on my insecurities. I’m working on all the negative voices in my head that say I’m not good enough, just like everybody else.” In spite of the obvious influence on both music and culture, and the quiet inspiration for decades of positive change, she adds: “To be an icon, no–it’s incomp...
5 Takeaways from KSHMR’s Candid 2021 Reddit AMA
When KSHMR finally released Harmonica Andromeda, it was a long time coming. The album lit a fuse in his fanbase that exploded with adoration for the famed dance music producer and DJ, who had been refining his sound and brand for years. Fresh off the release of his long-awaited debut album, KSHMR hosted a candid Reddit AMA to answer questions from his global fanbase. Here are five takeaways. KSHMR released Harmonica Andromeda on March 19th, 2021 via his own Dharma Records, an imprint operating under the Spinnin’ Records umbrella. The most challenging career hurdle he has overcome A career as fruitful as KSHMR’s comes with many hurdles. Prior to his debut as KSHMR, he created pop and hip-hop music as one-half of The Cataracs, a prolific production team w...
Women’s History Month Tribute: Björk
The brilliance of Björk can extend interminably outward, filling out the starry firmament from which she finds inspiration and unity. To call Björk unique is an infinite understatement. She’s more of a protean polymath exploring the outer rims of the psyche with an unflappable lust for life. Because, in her own words: “The unknown turns me on.” As an impressionable teenager of the late ‘70s, Björk was bedazzled by the punk conquest. She drifted in and out of mainly arty, transient post-punk projects from the self-formed Exodus to Tappi Tikarrass to KUKL, the last of which morphed into her most well-known pre-solo band, The Sugarcubes, in 1986. That final installment of short-lived groups garnered enough attention to break out of domestic Icelandic success only, and for her to break out of ...
Why Private Cellular Networks are Critical to Trade
Increases in global development and international populations have put bigger demands on trade and in turn, ports and shipping. To manage the boom, ports are improving operations and efficiency with automation, powered by 5G-ready private cellular networks. According to the World Bank, trade represented more than 60% of the global gross domestic product (GDP) in 2019. And 90% of the world’s trade is facilitated by the shipping industry, according to the International Chamber of Shipping. The vast importance of future ports to shipping makes them a vital element for the function of the global economy. According to statistics data from the United Nations Conference on Trade Development, of the four main types of shipping vessels (oil, bulk cargo, general cargo, and globally standardised cont...
