INTERVIEWS
NTDC explores Lagos creative communities on Google Arts & Culture
The Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation (NTDC) has concluded plans to explore Lagos creative communities on Google Arts & Culture in five different ways. The project tagged; ‘Eko for Show’, is in partnership with Google Arts & Culture towards celebrating Lagos and its creative communities. The Director-General of NTDC, Mr Folorunsho Coker, who made the revelation in an interaction with the media, said that Lagos is one of Africa’s fastest-growing cities and that its creative scene is taking the world by storm. Coker noted that with over 25 million people, the city’s creative scene is fueled by a young generation of talented individuals and communities spanning music, art, photography, fashion, theatre, literature and food. The Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation, he said ...
How Afrojack’s New Song With David Guetta Could Revitalize the Lost Art of Progressive Rave Music
There’s no limit to the impact of a collaborative song created by artists like Afrojack and David Guetta, two godfathers of modern dance music. Their relationship is actually like a day in the life of a parent. It’s unpredictable, but it gets better and better with age. Guetta and Afrojack have linked up more times in the last decade than breakups and ice cream. And each time seems to give rise to a different kind of sound, triggered by an innate propensity to take risks. They’ve now joined forces once again to test the waters of a risky sonic direction—albeit a familiar one. Afrojack and Guetta today released “Hero,” a soaring progressive house track that turns back the clock to the early 2010s, when the genre dominated the festival circuit à l...
Tomorrowland’s Austin Kramer on Breaking Artists Worldwide, Building Community via New Radio Show
Austin Kramer has come a long way since his first concert in 1997, when he saw the band Boston in Rapid City, South Dakota. The former Global Head of Dance & Electronic Music at Spotify now holds over a decade experience in music and has become widely known for breaking new artists and hits to millions worldwide. Sifting through the overwhelming amount of pitches he receives, he listens to over 100 track submissions per day and has even had a track named after his love of coffee (“Kramer’s Cup”) for consideration. Last month, Kramer announced his next big stop: an official move to another global music brand, Tomorrowland. On April 5th, the music industry plug began hosting his own One World Radio show, UNreleased with Austin Kramer, which promises to bring 10 never-be...
Meet Latin Rap’s MVP: Myke Towers on His New Album Lyke Mike
Nearly a decade ago, Myke Towers was an underground rapper from Río Piedras. To expand beyond Puerto Rico’s borders, Towers started to explore reggaeton and pop music — which led him to international success and to the top of Billboard’s Latin Albums chart. In the past two years, Towers has become a go-to hit-maker for heavy hitters ranging from Cardi B and Selena Gomez to Bad Bunny and Maluma, netting him multiple hits on Spotify’s Global 200 chart. He possesses a piercing rap flow that can leave an impression on any genre. Inspired as a teen by the likes of Biggie and 2Pac, Towers (born Michael Torres) first generated buzz around his name from the rap en español he uploaded to SoundCloud. For last year’s sophomore effort, Easy Money Baby, the 27-year-old embraced reggaeton and saw him re...
Serj Tankian on More New System of a Down Music: “We Might Be Able to Get It Together and Do Something Again”
<span class="localtime" data-ltformat="F j, Y | g:ia" data-lttime="2021-04-28T15:03:46+00:00“>April 28, 2021 | 11:03am ET System of a Down surprised fans back in November by releasing their first new songs in 15 years. Singer Serj Tankian is “extremely proud” that the band was able to put aside their differences, and offers hope that they’ll one day “get it together and do something again.” In the past few years, the band members have made no secret about creative differences hampering their return to the studio. The multiplatinum metal act has not released an album since 2005’s Hypnotize, but came together to record the songs “Protect the Land” and “Genocidal Humanoidz” to raise funds for Armenia and its neighboring state of Artsakh, which had come und...
Andy Hull Says That Manchester Orchestra Is His ‘Life’s Work’
Nearly 15 years after the release of their debut album, I’m Like a Virgin Losing a Child, Manchester Orchestra have established themselves as a career indie rock band. As they prepare to release The Million Masks of God this Friday (April 30), the band has seen every album chart in the top 40 on the Billboard 200 since hitting mainstream rock radio with 2009’s “I’ve Got Friends” and even their 2014 acoustic album (Hope, the followup to that same year’s Cope) landed in the top 100. It’s a level of steady success that’s not common for a group of folksy rockers from Atlanta, but the group’s success is largely attributed to lead singer Andy Hull’s blend of grandiose themes with personal narratives in his songwriting. Hull also happened to be one-half of the Artist x Artist conve...
How Rain Man Reinvented Himself in a Post-Krewella World
They say the strongest swords are forged in the hottest fires. The adage rings true in the saga of Rain Man, whose life became an inferno following the explosive 2014 fallout from the split of his former band, Krewella. But as the embers of the pandemonium flickered out over the years, so did his habit of allowing his past to dictate his future. Rain Man, whose real name is Kris Trindl, recently set alight the kindling of a new chapter with the release of “Still Young,” a poignant, chest-thumping electronic track recorded alongside longtime creative collaborator Oly. The song is a microcosm not only of Trindl’s resilience, but also that of humanity after a lonely year thanks to the wrath of COVID-19. And after some serious reflection, it seems we’re w...
Gojira on New LP Fortitude, Escaping Our ‘Collective Coma’
“We’re all drawn into ourselves — in a collective coma,” Joe Duplantier sings on “Born for One Thing,” the punishing centerpiece of Gojira’s seventh LP. That lyric is crucial to Fortitude, as the French prog/death metal band gaze outward (and occasionally inward) to critique the evils of consumerism and the world’s zombie-like apathy toward watching nature crumble. “Things are happening around us on a big scale: the [destruction of] the Amazon rainforest, the oceans getting drained, the ice caps melting,” the frontman tells SPIN. “All this stuff is pretty alarming. And also on a small scale: Sometimes you don’t know the name of your freaking neighbors. If you live in New York, you get on the subway and everybody’s on their phones. What’s happening? If you took somebody from 100 years ...
Dysphoria Dies at MAGFest: We Are the Union’s Reade Wolcott Comes Out As Trans
In the early days of April, Reade Wolcott entrusted me with something she has been keeping secret for years. “The number of people who know right now that I’m trans I can count on two hands,” she says over Zoom. We are separated by time zones and distance, she’s in L.A. while I’m in Toronto, and while we don’t know each other yet, we know each other’s shared struggle. We are both trans women, and while I have been out for a number of years, this is her coming out as a trans woman. Wolcott is the songwriter and vocalist for ska-punk band We Are the Union. Formed in Ann Arbor, Michigan in 2005, the band rose through the ranks of punk scenes throughout North America before taking a two-year hiatus in 2013, diving back in with a more earnest and open approach to the stories they told in their ...
BLOND:ISH on Her Goal to Eliminate Single-Use Plastic in the Music Industry
Canadian dance music producer Vivie-Ann Bakos, who performs under the moniker BLOND:ISH, and activist Camille Guitteau have come together to combat the environmental crisis enmeshed in our music festivals. While their company Bye Bye Plastic aims to eliminate plastic waste in the music industry, their newly initiated leadership program, Stay’ge Positive, gives DJs and musicians the tools to cultivate climate action confidence as part of their artistic careers. To kick off the launch of the Stay’ge Positive program on May 3rd, Bakos and Guitteau chatted with EDM.com to discuss the environmental issues present in the music industry and what their new initiative is doing to combat them. BLOND:ISH promotes her eco-friendly company Bye Bye Plastic. Bye Bye Plastic EDM.com: Can ...
Beyond the Boys’ Club: Nancy Wilson of Heart
<span class="localtime" data-ltformat="F j, Y | g:ia" data-lttime="2021-04-21T15:33:15+00:00“>April 21, 2021 | 11:33am ET Beyond the Boys’ Club is a monthly column from journalist and radio host Anne Erickson, focusing on women in the heavy music genres, as they offer their perspectives on the music industry and discuss their personal experiences. Erickson is also a music artist herself, recently releasing the song “Eternal Way” under the moniker Upon Wings. This month’s piece features an interview with Nancy Wilson of Heart. Legendary Heart guitarist Nancy Wilson didn’t spend the past year waiting for the pandemic to end. Instead, she worked on her first-ever solo album, You and Me, which was largely written and recorded during lockdown. The 12-song LP...
MitiS Channels Inspiration from Quarantine on Sophomore Album: “It Was Easy to Feel Sad, Lost, or Confused”
Since first launching his project in 2012, MitiS has developed a loyal fanbase through his meticulous approach to electronic music production and emotional messages he shares within his music. The Pennsylvania native’s debut album ‘Til The End arrived alongside praise from both fans and critics alike. Since its release, MitiS has continued on a hot streak of new music ranging from 2019’s laid-back Life of Sin Series to his brilliant Shattered EP. On April 9th, MitiS released his sophomore album Lost on Seven Lions’ Ophelia Records imprint. The album features a number of previously released singles as well as a handful of brand new tunes. Among those fresh tracks are collaborations with Danni Carra, Rico & Miella, Luma, Notelle...
